Barbara Dill, Woodturner

Barbara received a BS degree in Nursing from the University of Tennessee in 1968.  Her career took her to Europe and to East Africa in the early 70’s and her photographs were her souvenirs.  She received a Masters of Psychiatric Nursing from Boston University in 1980 and coordinated psychiatric aspects of emergency departments at Boston City ED and at Medical college of Virginia’s ED.

Barbara’s first experience with carving wood was in 1988 at a carving class in Richmond, VA.  Wood became her passion and in 1989 was able to retire from a 21 year career in nursing.  She first studied woodturning in 1990 at Arrowmont with Michael Hosaluk; then in ’91 with Ray Key; then in ’92 with David Ellsworth.  She has attended symposiums, workshops and demos through the years.  In 1998 she started teaching beginning woodturning at the Hand Workshop in Richmond (now the Visual Arts Center).

She was always fascinated with multi axis turning and in 2006 her focus turned to multi axis turning.  Tired of running into dead ends with her candle holders, she decided to see if there was a way to sort out the confusion of this aspect of turning.  If an obsession is to wake up with a new “what if” most mornings, then she was obsessed. 

Barbara enjoys teaching and sharing her knowledge.  She has made an instructional DVD and has published articles in the American Woodturner.  She was an Emerging Artist at the 2011 National Symposium and will demonstrate at the AAW symposium at San Jose in June, 2012, at SWAT in Texas, 2012, at the Appalachian Center for Craft and at Arrowmont, 2012, as well as turning clubs in many states.

”My interest is to experiment with the many forms that can be turned on a lathe without the use of jigs or chucks.  I’m just not a very good jig maker”.