I started to turn wood following my retirement from a long career as a professor of psychology involved in research, teaching and clinical practice. Initially I planned to learn to turn wood as a retirement project/hobby. Quite quickly things changed and the involvement in wood turning became a fundamental part of my daily activities. I began by producing rather simple round objects such as bowls, plates, vases and other, mostly utilitarian, objects. However, after producing many such objects I discovered to my chagrin that the task, once it became routine, was rather boring.
My involvement in Peer Gallery was probably the main factor in causing me to change direction and adopt a different approach to turning. The nature of the change involved restricting my turning projects to the creation of only ‘one of a kind’ objects. These new projects involved increasing amounts of off-lathe work. Also, the work became increasingly sculptural in nature.
More recently, I have shifted directions once again. Instead of focusing strictly on the beauty of the wood as the primary factor in the turned work, I now attempted to create unique pieces that included carving, piercing and inlay techniques in addition to the basic turning.
Text by Zalman Amit 2011 for the book “Peer Gallery Celebrates a Decade”
