Mark started His woodturning journey in 1985 using his Shopsmith as a lathe. In the beginning, he was primarily self-taught. Sometime during the mid-2000’s he found the Blue Water Area Woodturners and joined. With the comradery and mentoring from the club, his turning skills began to improve. The first demo he gave was at Blue Water turning a three-sided bowel using off-center turning. Wanting to support the club, Mark served on the board as secretary for a couple of years until he moved. He then joined the Huron Valley Woodturners and served as the treasurer for a year. In 2016 he moved over to the Detroit Area Woodturners where he has served as the membership clerk, 1st Vice President and President. Mark has been privileged to attend workshops led by Rudolph Lopez, Michael Hosalick, Jimmy Clewes, and Derek Weidman all hosted by the Detroit Area Woodturners. He also studied with Lyle Jamison. Mark attended Ron Campbells Hands on Retreat for three years where he was mentored by Jim Williams, Kevin Bedgood, Jerry Mercer, Rebecca DeGroot, Linda Ferber, Sammy Long, Dave Kerley, Greg Gallegos and Andi Wolfe. In 2021, he attended Arrowmount for a two-week class with Nick Agar and Colin Way. That was cut short when the whole class came down with Covid. With the refunded tuition Mark signed up for a three-day wall art class with Nick Ager in his Georgia studio. Mark has participated in different Interactive Remote Demos led by Pat Carroll and Chris Parker. Thus far Mark has attended the 2018 Utah Woodturning Symposium, 2023 and 2025 Ohio Valley Woodturning Symposiums, and the 2025 SWAT symposium as a demonstrator.
Demonstrations
Using your Lathe as a Spirograph
The process of turning the grooves will be demonstrated using off-center turning between a faceplate and the tailstock. Airbrushing will be used to color the grooves. The piece will be mounted in a chuck using a recess on the back to cut the beads using a d-way beading tool and an airbrush will be used to color the beads. The participants will gain the knowledge and confidence to go home and try this in their own shops.
