Annual Challenge Events
The club runs a number of challenges for the membership. We have an annual event - the McGee Award Challenge (it is currently underway - read more below!), and some other challenges; some for fun, and others to support local charities or special events. Here you can see some of our more recent challenges we have done.
McGee Award
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Marian McGee, PhD, was a member of the Ottawa Valley Woodturners for many years. Professionally, she was Professor Emeritus of the faculty of the University of Ottawa's School of Nursing. Marion passed away in April 2024 and in her memory, the club has continued an annual challenge event in her name.
Several years ago she was invited by the School to produce an award for excellence in advanced Theory of Nursing Science. The Award is given each year to a doctoral student selected by the awards committee of the School of Nursing. In conjunction with Marion, our association created an annual challenge open to the membership (both professional and amateur, old and new). The challenge is to create a turned object (preferably wood) that becomes the award that the selected doctoral student keeps. The design is open, the size must be at least 2 inches x 6 inches or as large as the artist wishes. The Challenge takes place at the Valley Woodturners meeting in May or June of each year. A small committee judges the submitted entries and the successful creation is made available for the subsequent Awards Ceremony at the University of Ottawa's School of Nursing - usually in late June. |
2024 Challenge is Complete
The McGee Award competition is over for another year. With three submissions for the McGee Award, Rick Crook is the proud winner. His open segmented bowl of maple and walnut was stunning! This year’s recipient of the award is Liana Bailey, a PhD student at the University of Ottawa. |
Bat Handle Challenge
The club had some fun to wrap up the 2024 season before the summer break. The club issued a challenge to its membership to create a turning from bat handles. The bat handles were donated by KJP Select Hardwoods and came from maple bats that didn't quite make the cut as a bat. We had some very creative submissions! Trish Kauffeldt's entry (first picture in the gallery below) was selected as the winner. Congratulations, Trish!!
wIG STAND CHALLENGE
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The Wig Stand challenge is a project that was initiated in 2017. To honour the 150 years of Canada's Confederation, the club pledged to produce and donate 150 wig stands to the local chapter of the Canada Cancer Society. in 2017, 177 wig stands were delivered in response to this challenge.
If you want to try making a wigstand, there is a Kade Bolger video demonstration on how to make a wig stand on his YouTube channel, and his instructions are provided in the pdf below. Background and Details One of the first side effects for patients who are undergoing Cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy is early loss of hair. Many patients elect to wear a wig during this difficult struggle with the disease. When the patient retires at night time, she or he requires a wig stand in order to maintain the aesthetic shape of the wig. The response of the membership to the 2017 challenge was fantastic. Our members worked very hard to produce pieces of art that were beyond the scope required for such a practical project. We had stands made of exotic woods, dyed woods and even segmented pieces. The designs varied from simple to very contemporary. Some turners produced as many as a dozen stands! |
This is a simple and practical project that can be tackled by a novice turner as well as a more experienced one. It is going to be used and appreciated daily by an individual who is at one of the more difficult times in their lives and could use some comfort.
While we don't have an official challenge going right now, it may come back in the fall. I want to express a huge gratitude to Kade Bolger for providing the club with a very meticulous video and instructions for a wig stand fabrication. Sam Lewinshtein [email protected] |
results of the covid-19 challenge!
After watching the April global concert organized by Lady Gaga in recognition of the front line workers, Malcolm Zander thought that the Club members talent and passion could be put to work to do the same, From his idea stemmed what we referred to as our Covid19 challenge to turn small objects that would be offered to local front line workers.
Several members met the challenge and the club delivered 144 beautiful pieces to our local grocery chain Farm Boy to distribute to their front line workers. In addition to putting their heart into it, to ensure the sterility of the finished products, members sanitized and placed their donation into a clear plastic bag.
Bravo Valley Woodturners for your generous gesture!
Several members met the challenge and the club delivered 144 beautiful pieces to our local grocery chain Farm Boy to distribute to their front line workers. In addition to putting their heart into it, to ensure the sterility of the finished products, members sanitized and placed their donation into a clear plastic bag.
Bravo Valley Woodturners for your generous gesture!