Thread: Wood it work?

Hi Phil,
I'm not trying to be funny or anything like that, but you have the Idea, so is it possible for you to Start this off.

Originally Posted by issatree

Hi Phil,
I'm not trying to be funny or anything like that, but you have the Idea, so is it possible for you to Start this off.

Knew I would get shot down. So predictable.

Phil, I read your stuff, looked at the link, thought it would be all right, then I saw the response you had, thought that was good, then I read your response, thought that was disingenuous.

The photographic people have something like this happening every two years, it started in Daylesford and surrounding towns some years ago, it has now moved to Ballarat and surrounding towns and is on later this year. Home - Ballarat International Foto Biennale

What you wish for could be done, obviously in a much smaller scale, but would in all probability have a greater success if other types of related and unrelated crafts were grouped in to draw more people.

The recent craft (?) expo in Ballarat was something like that. Yes it was more inclined to wood working, but there were other crafts there as well, not many, but one has to start somewhere.

It wold probably have a far greater chance of surviving if it was done in the country.

Some thoughts.

Mick.

Originally Posted by Optimark

Phil, I read your stuff, looked at the link, thought it would be all right, then I saw the response you had, thought that was good, then I read your response, thought that was disingenuous.

The photographic people have something like this happening every two years, it started in Daylesford and surrounding towns some years ago, it has now moved to Ballarat and surrounding towns and is on later this year. Home - Ballarat International Foto Biennale

What you wish for could be done, obviously in a much smaller scale, but would in all probability have a greater success if other types of related and unrelated crafts were grouped in to draw more people.

The recent craft (?) expo in Ballarat was something like that. Yes it was more inclined to wood working, but there were other crafts there as well, not many, but one has to start somewhere.

It wold probably have a far greater chance of surviving if it was done in the country.

Some thoughts.

Mick.

I did not get to the Ballarat show I would have liked to, But I was too busy looking after two sets of elderly parents and my wife who is disabled, that is why I was disingenuous to Isatree.

You are right a show in a country area in a big barn would most likely work well there would be an ambiance that is lacking in the city shows and an overnight trip tp Ballarat would be nice.

I would like to be disingenuous about the next show being held at Jeff's Shed but the moderators would not like me if I expressed my views abut that venue. I put that link up as food for thought .

I expected a smart Ar$#@ comment I was surprised it came from Isatree but there you go.

Originally Posted by Phil Spencer

I would like to be disingenuous about the next show being held at Jeff's Shed but the moderators would not like me if I expressed my views abut that venue. I put that link up as food for thought .

I expected a smart Ar$#@ comment I was surprised it came from Isatree but there you go.

Phil, I remember that you have reservations about the venue for the next WWW show from another thread. When I read your post about Handworks, I suspected that it was a subtle reference to this. I too am on the list of those who think the move is a crazy idea that might make life easier for a small handful of exhibitors and create inconvenience for everyone else.

However I am a bit disappointed in your response to what appears to be a "supportive" reply from Issatree. I strongly suspect that your response would have been the same if he had offered you a million dollars to kick things off.

Doug

Its a great idea and we do need a circuit of shows with a little more art than the WWW shows. My wife and I used to do the Australian Craft Shows about twenty years ago. There would have been twenty furniture makers and a handful of turners and toymakers like me. Roger Gifkins used to be there and Bob Harris and Lex Whadcoat. Unfortunately the organisers wouldn't take any suggestions from the exihibitors and they began to allow cheaper stuff like imported mdf kits in and we started to lose the good customers who were looking for australian made high quality. Then we lost the best exhibitors and the slide became a collapse. In four years they went from the best shows in the southern hemisphere to nothing.
We did have a shot at the american shows but they are very hard to get into. The selection juries only look at a few photos to make an acceptance or rejection decision. No names or CV. We did get short listed for one in Miami and accepted for one in Chicago. So off we went in 2004 to do the Cantigny Arts show in Chicago and it was insanely good. It was in June and the weather was so hot the tar in the roads was melting but the people came in the tens of thousands with pockets full of cash and the show was incredibly well organised. They had an exhibitors lounge/tent with huge long tubs of ice full of free drinks, tables covered in free food and cake, breakfast laid on every morning... At the end they had a big party and gave out some beautiful and quite valuable prizes for 'best exibitor', 'most unusual', 'best newcomer' etc. Makes the australian efforts look sick. We talk about going back and doing it again with a few other people to share the costs. Transport and red tape going into america is a pain.
So I agree. Australia doesn't have a really premium wood show. Although it would have to be a wood/glass/ceramics/fabrics etc show to work and it would have to go to at least Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and with any luck Hobart, Perth and Adelaide, what the hell lets do Darwin.... You would need a genius organiser with $ and the backing of magazines and TV but I would love to see it happen again.

I am dissapointed that this has been moved because I wanted Liz Faloon to read it but there you go........

Originally Posted by Phil Spencer

I am dissapointed that this has been moved because I wanted Liz Faloon to read it but there you go........

Phil, I think that since the thread is still under the Timber and Working With Wood Shows subforum that there is a good chance that Liz will still find it. In any case she probably has Email notifications set for any thread she has been active in and would have been notified as soon as you posted in the original thread. Moving it to a new thread will not have changed this.

Doug

Phil, I'm a little disappointed in your Statements.
I'm not a Smart A_)(*&^, & I do take exception to that.
If you had read the first few words, I was only pointing out, that you had an Idea & a Good One, why not start it off.
There was no malice in what I said.
Right, let's leave it at that. Enough is enough.

There are a few similar shows for other mediums.

The Big Design Market | 6/7/8 December 2013 | Royal Exhibiton Building

Pottery Expo at Federation Square

The big design market is getting up to serios money to be in. So you have to be pretty serious about your design "business" . A lot of artisans are in it. In other mediums. And I think actually that is what wood work is missing. SERIOUS MAKERS. Certainly not enough of them to support a dedicated expo for HIGH QUALITY MAKING AND DESIGN in WOOD. Ya gotta be more than a weekend dabbler.

That statement orte to distract critisism form your paranoid statement that Issatree shot you down in flames. Issatree is incapable of being mean.

Originally Posted by issatree

Phil, I'm a little disappointed in your Statements.
I'm not a Smart A_)(*&^, & I do take exception

Originally Posted by tea lady

T

That statement orte to distract critisism form your paranoid statement that Issatree shot you down in flames. Issatree is incapable of being mean.

Isatree most likely is incapable like you say TL, at this at this stage of my life, I don't have time or tolerate crap easily, as you know from the other forum I have my hands full looking after two sets of geriatric parents, and my disabled wife as well as issues with my grand children. Not that I am complaining I would not have it any other way.

Back to topic.
I posted that link in the show thread in the hope that it would promote further discussion and ideas about the future of the WW show but it got hijacked by a moderator and placed here.

I thought that an injection of some other ideas might be worth discussion about the WW show as it is and its future, as I see it Jeff's Shed where the 2013 show will be held has the ambiance of a public toilet and the show will be reduced to the atmosphere of a flee market.

None of this will encourage the weekenders to stretch themselves and become craftspeople (I was going to say craftsmen but that is politically incorrect) maybe I am being idealistic.

I also realise that in this country we cannot hope to put on shows like the US simply because we do not have the population, but we can have a few of the excellent schools involved and maybe invite one or two of the big names from around the world. I recently attended an event in Melbourne where the American Chris Schwarz demonstrated, the crowd was small but I learnt a lot about sharpening and had a good time.

So the thing is I DON'T have to go to the WW show to experience new things about woodwork nor, do I have to go to the show to get tools, I can experience things and buy my tools from other sources and the internet. If the WW show is to survive the organizers have to constantly think outside the box to keep their show relevant. As it is at the moment the organizers are holding onto something that worked in the past and by doing that the show will/has become mediocre and will eventually fade away as it is now.

There are many intangible things that will make an exhibition/show successful and leave the attendees feeling warm and fuzzy (that is a marketing term) when they leave. Holding the show in a sterile environment like Jeff's Shed and having the place stuffed full of merchants selling their wares without a counterpoint to show case the craft, and, incidentally encourage the attendees to buy from the merchants and also encourage new people to take up the craft....................................

I could go on and on but I think I am flogging a dead horse and I need to walk the dog.

Wood workers can exhibit at the wood working show. I don't see what you are going on about. But makers exhibiting at a show selling the tools with which to make things is the wrong market. Blokes (Or women) who make things are not the people who buy well made things made by others, for prices worthy of the quality. You can't expect wood workers to spend the stall fee and the whole weekend and more encouraging others to stretch themselves.

So you've got your hands full. So sorry about that. But stirring pots for the hell of it is not achieving much.

Phil you mightn't need the shows for inspiration but what about people who don't get to see any woodwork from one year to the next ?
Its true that we don't have the population to do things on the american scale but I think there is room and demand enough to put on at least one good show every year to tour the major cities.
The thing is that there are many excellent woodworkers spread far and wide across australia whose work is only gathered in a handful of galleries like Bungendore Woodworks and is only ever seen by a tiny percent of the population. Wouldn't it be great if there was one travelling show for these artisans ? One that wasn't too expensive to exhibit at. It would be obvious to attach it to the WWW shows and that might work. I did a WWW show in Perth a few years ago that had a lot of artist exhibitors showing and selling and it worked really well. Three factors for success were 1) Split level venue to seperate craft from machinery 2) State government support with a minister giving prizes etc. 3) Really good organiser.

Originally Posted by Phil Spencer

Isatree most likely is incapable like you say TL, at this at this stage of my life, I don't have time or tolerate crap easily, as you know from the other forum I have my hands full looking after two sets of geriatric parents, and my disabled wife as well as issues with my grand children. Not that I am complaining I would not have it any other way.

I don't see that your personal circumstances give you the right to respond in the way you did to what you call crap, a further put down of said forum member.

Originally Posted by Phil Spencer

I posted that link in the show thread in the hope that it would promote further discussion and ideas about the future of the WW show but it got hijacked by a moderator and placed here.

It is rather the other way around Phil, it was you that hi-jacked a thread about the Working with Wood Shows, a thread that is now some 8 months old and was about forum members' experiences at said show.
I decided that your post didn't really fit in with that subject (read the forum rules what Admins and Mods can do) and decided that it was in the interest of the original thread and your expressed idea for it to stand on its' own.
Furthermore I sent you a PM advising you of this and a link to the new thread, a PM to which you did not respond, but no doubt you were far too busy with all those things going on in your life and having a go at members that were good enough to respond to your thread.

Originally Posted by Phil Spencer

I could go on and on but I think I am flogging a dead horse and I need to walk the dog.

Perhaps you are.

But it sounds to me more like a severe case of SOL.

Originally Posted by doug3030

Phil, I think that since the thread is still under the Timber and Working With Wood Shows subforum that there is a good chance that Liz will still find it. In any case she probably has Email notifications set for any thread she has been active in and would have been notified as soon as you posted in the original thread. Moving it to a new thread will not have changed this.
Doug

Yes, that is why this new thread was moved in the same forum as the original thread, thank you Doug.