The most exciting part of being involved in Fiber College is watching where passion will lead people. I’ve learned that you can never predict and if I stay out of the way, the end results are more special than I could have imagined. Case in point:
Gary Kitchen turning a Nostepinne
If you’ve attended FC in the past years, you’ve probably been caught in Gary Kitchen’s spell on time or another. Gary is the gregarious craftsmen who turns wood on a lathe and creates bowls, kniddy knoddys and new converts to wood working. Last November Gary left a message on my answering machine: Do you know what a walking wheel is and do you want one? If you want to get my interest quickly, this is a very good way to start…fast forward to this week. Gary and his friend Bill Forbes were talking while they were at the Windsor Fairgrounds and idly playing with an antique walking wheel. Bill likes to forge metal and play with things that spin…Gary likes a challenge and will enthusiastically embrace any project that makes a friend happy…so they proposed:
It all starts with a sketch
“we want to build two cherry walking wheels for Fiber College. One will arrive on Thursday ready to start spinning…the other will be built during the weekend. Both will be replicas of an original housed at the Cole House in the Windsor Historical Society Complex. ” Fiber College will keep one in the Studio and the second will be raffled off during the upcoming year, proceeds will be split between Fiber College and the Historical Society.
In the meantime, jazzed by their energy, we will be working with local historical societies to highlight Maine’s rich textile history at Fiber College 2012…stay tuned for more information…
EGADS, this is fantastic news!