AAW News

The AAW Symposium concluded yesterday in Hartford, CT. For collectors there was a tremendous amount of work to see and over the next few days I'll try and recap and track down as many photos as I can or at least find a place for you to link to.

The highlight of the weekend was the Teapot auction to benefit the Professional Outreach Program within AAW. Approximately 36 artists were invited to make teapots for this exhibition/auction. The work was outstanding. There is a fine small full color catalog you can purchase for $10 available from the AAW. The real big news is that the auction turned out to be a buying bonanza for a teapot collector.
I wasn't there so this is heresay but Sonny Kamm via phone purchased 30 of the 36 teapots.
The Saturday night auction included some nice work and pieces sold from a few hundred dollars up to $5000. Again, I'll try and get some real images/prices directly from AAW when they get a chance to recover from putting on a very well done conference.

The Instant Gallery remains the largest display of wood art in this country. There was lots of good work displayed. I think there was a fair amount of buying. Bob Bohlen did a walk thru on Friday and I understand he is putting together a travelling collection.

Lastly, I want to thank all the members who stopped by the CWA session on Friday night. It was the best attended session I have seen to date with some great ideas about what we are doing well and areas where we might want to focus.

For another point of view you might want to check out Andi Wolfe's blog. She posted every day, is a great photographer and I'll bet she gets some great pictures up in the next day or two.

(Andi just wrote that we can find her blog at

http://andiwolfe.blogspot.com

Here are the relevant "live" posts:

http://andiwolfe.blogspot.com/2010/06/2010-aaw-symposium-thursday-report.html

http://andiwolfe.blogspot.com/2010/06/2010-aaw-symposium-friday-report.html

http://andiwolfe.blogspot.com/2010/06/2010-aaw-symposium-saturday-report.html

http://andiwolfe.blogspot.com/2010/06/2010-aaw-symposium-saturday-report.html )

I'm in the process of culling pictures from the thousand or so I took during the symposium. I'll be updating my blog as I narrow down the selection.

If you bought something maybe you'd like to share with the rest of us and post a picture/story.
Let me know and I'll help you post your first story. If I can do this stuff, I'm positive the rest of you will do it better/faster.

Gotta go unpack the goodies I bought. Check back here frequently.