Woodturners
of South West Florida
Woodturners
of Southwest
Florida
featured
at
Safety Harbor
Historical Museum
article courtesy of Sy Plonsky, guest
columnist
The pleasant old resort town of Safety Harbor, on Tampa Bay, has an outstanding and well-appointed
historical
museum with exhibits and artifacts covering the history of the town and
area
from 2000 BC to the present. One portion of the museum, apart from the
permanent exhibit area, is dedicated to new and unique material.
Over forty well crafted
woodturnings made of
Florida woods, the products of WSWF artisans, are
currently
featured in this area. Marilyn Bartz, Exhibit Coordinator, has done a
creative and thoroughly professional job of displaying the turnings in
eye
pleasing covered cases, identifying the maker of each. The surrounding
walls
are covered with color photos and botanical information about each of
the trees
which provided the wood for the bowls, plates, vases, goblets, and
other forms
in the displays. The end result is that the interest of the viewer is
engaged
from the standpoint of both the external and internal beauty of the
trees grown
in the area.
The exhibit is entitled "Out of
the
Woods - Florida's Native Woods Exhibit", running February 4th through
May
2nd.The opening reception took place on Friday evening, February 13th.
On hand
to represent WSWF and answer questions were turners Frank Bauer, Ernie
Dunning, Barry Finver, Bob Gerald, Jim McKay, Sy Plonsky, and Murray
Wilson.
On the distaff side was support contingent Cheri Bauer, Mary Finver,
and
Ellen Kriger (Barry's Aunt, visiting from Rochester NY).
There was a good turnout, due to
good
publicity and general interest in the exhibit; about 50 people came.
Much
interest was shown in how the pieces were created, and there was
genuine
appreciation for the works on the part of the attendees and museum
personnel. A
reporter and photographer for the local paper came, as well as one of
the Pinellas County commissioners and his wife.
The museum's Marilyn Bartz was
intrigued by WSWF turnings which she first saw on a visit to the Edison
Estate
in Fort
Myers
early in 2003. She contacted WSWF President Barry
Finver and the idea for the exhibit began to take shape. With the
support
of Robin Bajkiewicz, museum director, the exhibit became a
reality. Mrs.Bartz
expected Barry to show up with a few turnings, but was
thrilled and
amazed when he arrived with over forty! She's also an admirer of WSWF
member Dr.
Robin Brown, not only for his fine piece on exhibit, but for his
knowledge
and authorship of works on the early inhabitants of Florida.
page 2 - closeups of individual
display cases
