The 2004 Exhibition
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Wizardry in Wood 2004 was a unique exhibition held by the Worshipful Company of Turners of London to celebrate their 400th anniversary.
The Turners' Company
“The City”, London's financial district, is governed by the ancient Corporation of the City of London, headed by the Lord Mayor and two Sheriffs. They are elected annually by the members of the 107 Livery Companies, most of which sprang from medieval guilds: tradesmen and craftsmen such as Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Brewers, Barbers, who joined together to protect their livelihood and their fellows. Many ancient Livery Companies still foster - and sometimes regulate - their Craft, and together with new Companies such as information Technologists, World Traders, Water Conservators, they support the City and raise over £40 million annually for charity.
In 1295 there was, in the City of London, a Turners’ Guild of craftsmen who turned on a lathe everyday necessities: goblets, platters, chairs, stools, measures. Like other guilds, they controlled the trade in their wares in the City, with power to search for and destroy any turned item of inadequate standard, e.g. a vessel for measurement which either did not contain the stated amount, or lacked the mark of a Guild member.
In 1604 King James 1 of England (VI of Scotland) granted the Turners’ Guild a Charter of Incorporation, and in June 2004, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of their official existence, the Worshipful Company of Turners of London staged an exhibition, Wizardry in Wood 2004 , in the Hall of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers.
No longer do members of the Turners' Company prowl through the narrow alleys of the City of London on the lookout for inaccurate turned measures to smash. Many of the members have little or no connection with turning, but all share a desire to promote their craft. The Company founded and supports the Register of Professional Turners, whose members' work has been approved by a Company assessor. It donates lathes to schools and colleges, awards bursaries and prizes, supports relevant charities, mounts competitions and exhibitions.
The Exhibition
Wizardry in Wood 2004 was a wide-ranging exhibition of turning such as has never before been seen in Great Britain. “A revelation!” said an amazed visitor, “I had no idea turning was so beautiful. There’s a chess set I really want – I could use it as well as look at it.” “A rare treat,” said another, stroking the bowl she had just bought from Bert Marsh, one of Britain’s top woodturners, “just feel this – it’s so smooth you’d think it was made of glass. And it’s so fine you can see the light shine through it.”
The scope of the Wizardry in Wood 2004 exhibition was as comprehensive as impressive. The history of the craft was shown through early toys and pieces of treen (small turned objects), belonging to and displayed by Stuart King, turner and historian of the craft; and by demonstrations on a pole lathe and modern lathes used for plain and ornamental work.
Leonardo da Vinci Lathe
Stuart was present, demonstrating on a lathe made by him to a drawing of Leonardo da Vinci. We believe that this was the first time a working lathe had been made from the drawing. Stuart commented that placed upside down, the lathe resembled his design for a helicopter! The resultant lathe certainly looked primitive and unwieldy, but it worked; Stuart producing in the middle of Pewterers' Hall some small bowls - and piles of shavings.
Woodturning Collections
Three collections were on display, one of mainly British pieces of fine turning chosen to form a highly distinctive personal selection, The Daniel Collection, by Shirley Sinclair and Jonathon Cuff.
Opposite was the Howe Collection of ornamental turning made by the late Fred
Howe, now owned by the Turners' Company. Working on the rehabilitation of
wounded World War II soldiers, Fred realized that using a treadle lathe
helped muscle coordination, so taught himself to turn and became an
outstanding maker of elaborately decorated pieces in wood and ivory.
Thirdly were sophisticated, innovative, mainly American and other
non-British pieces collected by
Brian and Hana Smouha, who discovered the beauty of turning while living
in the USA.
Dazzling the eye was a cabinet full of intricately decorated and ingeniously
engineered eggs designed by
Carl Fabergé’s grandson Theo, an Honorary Liveryman of the Turners'
Company and his daughter Sarah Fabergé, a Freeman of the Company. Another
cabinet displayed a
collection of musical instruments – oboes, flutes, bassoons –
beautifully turned in the same fashion as their eighteenth-century
originals (this display originated from the Worshipful Company of Musicians,
another City Livery Company which supports its Craft).
Exhibitors
Woodturning organisations displaying their work at Wizardry in Wood included the Association of Woodturners of Great Britain, the Society of Ornamental Turners, the Register of Professional Turners and the Association of Pole Lathe Turners. Visitors were fascinated to talk to the many practising turners showing pieces, who were delighted to describe how they achieve the lustrous finishes, the screw threads, the paper thinness, the sheer beauty, of their work.
Paul Coker enthralled visitors with his chess pieces turned from bone - the raw material purchased from his local pet shop, which set his listeners wondering. They watched with astonishment as turners demonstrated their craft on lathes set up in a small marquee outside Pewterers’ Hall on a patch of grass – a disused graveyard, with restrictions on pushing anything too far into the ground, so the pole lathe had to be modified.
Turning Competitions
A big feature of Wizardry in Wood was the array of prize-winning entries from the Turners' Company’s biennial Turning Competitions, which had been held the day before. The prizes were presented by the Lord Mayor, who when a Sheriff had first seen fine turning at the Company’s 2002 Turning Competitions, and had fitted into his phenomenally busy timetable a visit to the 2004 Competitions to see more. Among the prize-winners were young turners who had won Bursaries offered by the Company, including Mark Hancock, whose Bursary helped fund him a study trip to the USA which he found highly inspiring.
With such a magnificent and comprehensive display it is no wonder that word spread and visitors flowed in: young and old, tourists and Londoners, Lord Linley, and members of other Livery Companies. The Master of one Company wrote afterwards: “Thank you so much for inviting me to Wizardry in Wood. What a magnificent collection of artefacts you found to display. It was a real eye-opener to see the skill and technique that a modern turner can apply to produce objects of such delicacy and originality, and it also demonstrated the peculiar beauty of certain woods. I was unable to resist buying a couple of things.”
With Wizardry in Wood the Worshipful Company of Turners celebrated their anniversary and supported their ancient craft, the mysterie or art of turning, in style.
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