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23rd Annual Symposium Information

The Tennessee Association of Woodturners (TAW) will be presenting their annual Symposium on Friday, January 28th and Saturday, January 29th, 2011. The Symposium will again be held at the Radisson Hotel on Music Valley Drive across from Opryland in Nashville, Music City USA.

The 2011 Symposium features some of the world's leading woodturners including Stuart Batty, Bill Grumbine, Michael Mocho, and Molly Winton.

Demonstrator Bios


Stuart Batty — Wood Artist

Stuart Batty grew up in Newcastle, England and presently lives in Boulder, Colorado. He began turning at the age of 10 under the expert tutelage of his father Allan Batty, an internationally recognized turner and teacher. At the age of 16 Stuart joined the professional ranks as spindle turner and teacher in his father's workshop. At age 18 he became the in-house teacher and woodturning demonstrator at Craft Supplies Ltd. in England and a tool tester for Robert Sorby Tools. While working for Craft Supplies Ltd. he helped set up their first sawmill, as well as being their buyer for exotic woods. Stuart then went on to set up six additional sawmills in five African countries, which included Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, and Madagascar.

Stuart's style of woodturning is a development of an old orthodox British woodturning style. He uses very simple tools and grinds, these enable him to create his pieces and to teach to his students. Stuart has now been teaching woodturning for over 27 years to over 4,000 students in 12 different countries.

One does not see any carving or surface texturing in or on Stuart's artwork. It is pure lathe made. He specializes in bowls with corners, deep thin tall bowls, very thin goblets and a variety of boxes. Stuart's work has been depicted on the covers of many magazines and catalogs since 1980 and has some of his artwork in the White House permanent collection.

Bill Grumbine — Wood Artist

Bill Grumbine has been turning since May of 1993, when he started a woodworking business, and decided he would need a lathe to make table legs and chair legs for all the tables and chairs he would be making. He turned his first table leg in July — of 1999! By that time he was already on his seventh lathe, and had discovered the world of pens, bowls, vessels, and all sorts of other round things.

Bill had been teaching and demonstrating since 1995. Even though he had only been turning for two years, and only knew a little bit about a couple of things, he was experienced in presenting that, and began teaching for the Woodcraft Corporation. In 1999 he started teaching in his own shop, and people started coming from all over the US and Canada. In 2004, after much encouragement from students, he made his first video, Turned Bowls Made Easy. It was very successful, and a second video, Beyond the Basic Bowl followed.

Bill still makes furniture, but turning and teaching is the focus of his business. He has been all over the US and up into Canada turning, teaching, and having fun behind a lathe. And people are still making the trip to his shop in eastern Pennsylvania to learn more about turning there. For more information visit

Bill's web site: www.wonderfulwood.com.

Michael Mocho — Wood Artist

Michael has been a full-time craftsman since 1976 with extensive experience in furniture design, woodturning, architectural millwork, pattern making, and stringed musical instruments. He operates a small shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico producing commissioned furniture, contract woodturning, and decorative containers for the gift market. He has completed residencies at the Arrowmont School of Craft, and the International Turning Exchange program at the Woodturning Center in Philadelphia.

Michael is an acclaimed and enthusiastic instructor, and has taught at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Arrowmont School of Craft, the John C. Campbell Folk-School, the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Peter's Valley Craft Center, Brookfield Craft Center, several national and regional woodturning symposia, and has presented programs for over 35 AAW chapters across the country. He is known for his intricate containers that often combine bent wood with turned, carved, and textured components, which have won numerous awards and are in many private and public collections. For more information visit Michael's web site: www.mmocho.com.

Molly Winton — Wood Artist


I was introduced to woodturning while in high school, but it wasn't until 22 years later that I again stepped in front of a lathe.  In 1998, I sold a successful Vocational Rehabilitation business so that I could be home with my growing family. When my first child was six months old, my husband presented me with a lathe, but I wouldn't have the opportunity to work with it regularly until my two children reached school-age. My first priority is my family, and then as time allows, I get to pursue the opportunities that come my way as a result of my turning.

A brief exploration in pottery introduced me to the importance of form and design, the foundation to any embellishment of my turning, be it branding, pyrography, coloring, texturing or carving. I endeavor to make wood pieces that pursue excellence of form and beg to be picked up and caressed. Not being able to leave well enough alone, I began exploring what I could do to my work off the lathe. As a result I began burning, branding, and carving my pieces. What joy!

When exploring a source of inspiration for my surface enhancements, I looked to my interests in Native American and prehistoric art. Since childhood I have been fascinated by the creative expression of native North American cultures, petroglyphs of the Columbia Plateau of the Northwest, as well as the cave art of Lascaux, France and Altimira, Spain. My artwork reflects their influences. For more information visit Molly's web site www.turningmaven.com.