PARKERSBURG, W.VA. (June 2017) For the second year in a row, a veteran will be the final owner of a Rikon Mini Lathe donated by Woodcraft for the Penturner’s Rendezvous Grand Prize winner. The Rendezvous is held in conjunction with the Utah Woodturning Symposium.
Sally Ault, like 2016 winner Brian Saunders, is a San Diego resident, a member of the San Diego Woodturners (SDWT), and an active volunteer in the club’s Turn Around for Vets program, which prompted both winners to choose to donate their Grand Prize to a veteran.
“Brian works mostly at the VA residential recovery center, and I work mostly at Naval Medical Center, Balboa (both in San Diego),” Ault said. “I love seeing the change that comes over one of our ‘students’ as he or she realizes how much fun turning can be and leaves our shop with a pen, a huge smile and some new confidence.”
PHOTO: Penturner’s Rendezvous organizer Kurt Hertzog presents the 2017 Woodcraft Grand Prize folder to Sally Ault. Two of Ault’s turned pens are also pictured.
Turn Around for Vets helps injured military service members and those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Several years ago, SDWT volunteers started teaching pen turning to service members at Balboa Naval Medical Center in San Diego as they recuperated from their injuries. The program later expanded to Camp Pendleton’s Wounded Warrior Battalion to work with Marines and Naval Corpsmen who are recovering from their injuries and later to the Aspire Rehabilitation Center for veterans suffering from PTSD and/or Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI). The club provides the equipment, materials, teaching and supervision at all three centers to make sure vets learn to turn and, most importantly, to be safe while doing it.
“We now work with more PTSD and TBI patients than those physically wounded,” Ault said, “but the results are the same. We have made new woodturning addicts out of many of our vets and are trying to help those who want to go further with equipment. I am thrilled to be able to donate the lathe Woodcraft generously donated to one of them. I don’t know who it will be yet. I will let our leader, Ret. Major General Tom Lightner, come up with a list of those who might benefit most from having the mini lathe.”
Sally Ault – A Passion for Woodturning
Sally Ault is a San Diego native who graduated with a BA degree in Art with a Crafts emphasis from San Diego State University. Her college work was focused on weaving, jewelry design and ceramics. During a furniture class, she said she discovered woodturning, and after a break of a number of years, she resumed woodturning in 2004. A quote on Ault’s website reads: “I enjoy living in Point Loma (San Diego), walking, camping ad sailing. But my real love is woodturning, which I do in lots of places like my shop and camping in Baja.”
Her woodturnings include textured forms, hollow forms, boxes, bowls, platters, jewelry, and “fun stuff” like tops. Her work has earned several prizes over the years and is shown in the gift shop at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado, The Mingei International Folk Museum, and the Studio 38 gallery in the Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park. Ault is a partner in Studio 38.
Although Ault’s late husband Barry could turn, she said he chose other ways to create. “He made parts for his boat, built a motor home, sailed, surfed and windsurfed, but he also helped me by fixing anything that broke. He made and modified some tools for me and generally supported my addiction to woodturning in any way he could.” Ault’s daughter Jessica does not share her mother’s passion for woodturning, but Ault said her grandson Colin turned his first pen at age 7 and has made his own baseball bat.
See more of Ault’s work at www.sallyault.com/ or read this Woodworking Adventures blog: Sally Ault: Turning Wood into Many Shapes ... In a Lot of Places.
An Evening of Sharing
The Penturner’s Rendezvous, organized by The Pen Maker’s Guild, is held the evening before the Utah Woodturning Symposium opens in Provo, Utah – May 10 this year. Anyone is welcome to attend the event for free and display their works if they want to. However, only those who display are eligible for the Woodcraft Grand Prize drawing held at the end of the evening.
The two pens pictured here were among work Ault showed at the Rendezvous. The desk pen is cocobolo and redwood burl. The other pen is a purple color wood.
Turners who show their work compare techniques and exchange advice and suggestions. The newer pen turners learn a lot by just seeing the pens and asking the experienced turners questions such as, “How did you do that?” and “What did you use?” This informal environment is designed to promote more open discussions and exchange of knowledge.
“Woodcraft is pleased to be able to support both the woodturning community and a program for wounded vets with our mini lathe donation,” Liz Matheny, Woodcraft marketing director said. “Woodcraft applauds the one-on-one learning environment at both the Penturner’s Rendezvous and the San Diego Woodturners’ programs for veterans.”
For more information about the Penturner’s Rendezvous, visit https://utahwoodturning.com/penturners-rendezvous/. To learn more about the San Diego Woodturners, visit http://www.sdwt.org.
To learn more about Woodcraft, please contact the store nearest you, visit www.woodcraft.com or call (800) 535-4482.
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