Photo by Joseph Brunette
Musician, Woodturner
Where do you live and how long have you lived in this area?
I was born in Brunswick and now live in Pownal (the next town over). Aside from a few preschool years in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and a summer in Alaska, I’ve lived in this area all my life.
How do you make your living?
I am a woodworker and particularly a wood turner. My main work is making wooden bowls, rolling pins, tops and other roundish stuff using a lathe.
Where do you find your inspiration?
My love of the material is a great start. Wood is infinite in its form. When I first approached turning bowls, it was with a craftsman’s work ethic; wake up and turn the bowls, have some fun, sell some bowls, pay the bills. While that is motivation, it is not inspiration. What was first easy, then became tough. How many bowls, rolling pins, magic wands and tops can one turn, and must one have? But after the 101st bowl or was it the 201th piece of wood, it hit. Now when I come to my lathe and chuck up a junk of wood, sometimes it is as though I’m a diamond cutter, figuring all the apparent angles. Sometimes it is like an automaton: whir, clunk, bzzz. Every session takes a certain amount of warmup and then after that, however you wish to think of it, the zone, the sweet spot, the happy place, things just come off the lathe as though my hands were guided by the wood itself.
When you are not working, how do you spend your time?
I have a 4 1/2 year old daughter whose love for play is only rivaled by her love for shopping. We have a grand time at Tractor Supply or Goodwill. And L.L. Bean is her personal playground.
When you want some quiet time in nature, where do you go? What do you do?
Weekday evenings on islands in Casco Bay, or on long weekends, a remote lake offer plenty of solitude. When I get there I feel as though every other day of the year had been spent in a manner as to bring me to those spots. Now my greatest joy is in showing my daughter the places I discovered, and no doubt we will find some new ones along the way.
What do you recommend as the ‘must see’ or ‘must do’ experiences in this region (Freeport, Bath, Brunswick)?
Harraseeket Lobster & Lunch in South Freeport, L.L. Bean at 3 a.m., Wolfe’s Neck State Park. Reny’s in Bath or Damariscotta. Maine State Music Theater at Bowdoin College. For the historically inclined, Shiloh in Durham and Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester.
