Two brothers and a sister

I’ve always enjoyed working with wood, and in the early years started off with building furniture pieces to furnish my home, as well as building the home itself. As my woodworking skills improved I was soon being requested to build select pieces for others. In 2006 I took up woodturning with the purchase of my first lathe, after essentially just playing with the lathe for a number of years in 2009 I joined up with the Greater Vancouver Woodturners Guild, at which time I also became a member of the AAW (American Association of Woodturners) which is globally recognized throughout the woodturning community. Though I still build the occasional furniture piece I soon realized that I had become obsessed with the world of woodturning, which now has become my passion. The majority of the wood I use in my turnings and furniture pieces is from trees either taken down by storms, disease, or new construction making way for progress. One of my favourite woods is the Western Big leaf Maple, a wood often sought after by instrument makers, wood turners and furniture makers for it’s exceptional variations in color and figure. The figure in maple can be expressed through words such as Tiger, Quilt, curly or burl, each of which often showing great chatoyance or depth in it’s figure. My turnings (or what I turn) varies according to the piece of wood that is on hand, though what I tend to turn most often are hollow forms and have become known mostly for doing this style of turning. For the Art that I create I have chosen wood as my canvas, and Mother Nature as it’s ultimate creator, whereas I only impart my spin on the beauty that lies within. John Spitters

- John Spitters