Julie Risher
Growing up in Camden, S.C., I loved spending time on the farm with my uncles who were amazingly talented woodworkers. I learned to appreciate
the differences in species (walnut, heart pine, cedar, cypress, oak, pecan) they dried in the barn.
While working at a lighthouse museum on St. Simon’s Island, Ga., I rented a house from a talented woodworker who took me under his wing. I made my first piece of furniture using traditional joinery (pegs, mortise and tenon, etc.)
Over the years, my skills improved (and workshop accidents decreased – I still have all my digits!). About 45 pieces (beds, chests, tables, etc.) for family, friends and clients followed.
I fell in love with turning in about 2004 after taking a class at the Sawtooth Center in Winston-Salem. The instructor invited me to develop my skills at his workshop on Sunday afternoons. Thus began “afternoons with Larry” and my development as a wood turner.
After retiring as general counsel for the NC School of the Arts, I increased my turning time. Before relocating to Washington in August of 2023, I sold my work at juried shows and festivals in the Winston-Salem/Greensboro area.
I love starting with a bark-covered piece of wood and seeing what is hidden beneath. My lathework includes lamps, vases, earring trees, bottle stoppers, hollow forms, lidded boxes, live edge bowls, candle sticks and other similar items. Sometimes copper and semi- precious stones play a part. I bring to the lathe the same precision I learned making furniture, and no two pieces are alike. I have taught classes and hope to teach here in Washington.
Wood is a very unforgiving medium, so I always have fuel for winter fires. Check out my work at Turner’s Dance Lathework on FB.
the differences in species (walnut, heart pine, cedar, cypress, oak, pecan) they dried in the barn.
While working at a lighthouse museum on St. Simon’s Island, Ga., I rented a house from a talented woodworker who took me under his wing. I made my first piece of furniture using traditional joinery (pegs, mortise and tenon, etc.)
Over the years, my skills improved (and workshop accidents decreased – I still have all my digits!). About 45 pieces (beds, chests, tables, etc.) for family, friends and clients followed.
I fell in love with turning in about 2004 after taking a class at the Sawtooth Center in Winston-Salem. The instructor invited me to develop my skills at his workshop on Sunday afternoons. Thus began “afternoons with Larry” and my development as a wood turner.
After retiring as general counsel for the NC School of the Arts, I increased my turning time. Before relocating to Washington in August of 2023, I sold my work at juried shows and festivals in the Winston-Salem/Greensboro area.
I love starting with a bark-covered piece of wood and seeing what is hidden beneath. My lathework includes lamps, vases, earring trees, bottle stoppers, hollow forms, lidded boxes, live edge bowls, candle sticks and other similar items. Sometimes copper and semi- precious stones play a part. I bring to the lathe the same precision I learned making furniture, and no two pieces are alike. I have taught classes and hope to teach here in Washington.
Wood is a very unforgiving medium, so I always have fuel for winter fires. Check out my work at Turner’s Dance Lathework on FB.
