John Pelosi

John has been turning wooden bowls and lidded boxes for about four years. He uses various kinds of woods including black walnut, maple, pecan, elm, cherry and others. He experiments with different kinds of shapes primarily to bring out the most interesting figure hidden in the wood. He has been retired since 2001 from a career in mental health. Since then he has worked as an avid gardener, plants person and is trying to develop his skills as an artist.

John's Statement

I became interested in wood turning when Ed Osborne gave me a lathe. My first lesson was a present from my son, Peter who hired Bill Wallace to spend an afternoon showing me the basic principles of working with a lathe. Bill is still my teacher and I can be found frequently on Thursday afternoons in his shop attempting to refine my skills with Bill looking over my shoulder.

The joys of wood turning are many. It can be thrilling to watch the unique patterns of the wood unfold as the piece takes shape. It is very satisfying to turn a piece of firewood into an attractive, functional object.

Several of my earlier bowls were turned from black walnut taken from the Falls Lake impoundment area. Lately I have been the lucky recipient of various kinds of wood from my friend Bob Ford who offers me chunks of maple, pecan and other woods he has gathered from around the state.

Most of my work consists of bowls of varying shapes and lidded boxes. I am beginning to experiment with including carvings on the bowls, for example, ambrosia beetles climbing out of a closed form maple bowl. Wood turning and craft related to it is challenging, time consuming but incredibly rewarding.