Area Woodworkers - Part 1
Press Release from Chestnut Creek School of the Arts: Woodworking Studio dedicated to Morris Schlesinger
(The Chestnut Creek School of the Arts celebrated the grand re-opening of their woodworking studio last October with a dedication to former wood carver.)
“Morris launched our wood turning program in 2016. He was an inspired and masterful turner and equally or moreso, a generous and giving teacher and friend. The outpouring of enthusiasm in turning items from Zelkovia trees that needed to be cut down downtown in honor of him has just be a balm for the loss of him and the trees and the perfect way to re-launch what CCSA is all about: community development, preservation of craft, talents and passions alive and growing forward” shares Chris Pollins, Founding Executive Director of CCSA.
With funding from the Twin County Community Foundation and The City of Galax, 4 new lathes, make/model recommended by Morris, and the necessary bits have been installed along with necessary dust collection systems and infrastructure.
Morris Schlesinger, Born 1942- 2022, started wood-turning at 17 while he worked for the Air Force at NORAD in Colorado Springs, CO. “Strictly off-duty, as a hobby-type thing. Rather than drinking, I was turning wood. Everybody wanted to make things and no one seemed to be interested in turning, I just wanted to make wood round. Sure, you could cut wood but making it round, functional and appealing?”
That’s the challenge that’s kept him turning for over 40 years. Wood-turning also offered him more than he could find in any other thing. “The hardest job I have in wood-turning is to take what Mother Nature has made and show it off.”
Using only wood sourced from Carroll and Grayson counties his work is both graceful, polished and a mix of very delicate and ponderously solid. He was also inspired, in part, by Rude Osolnik and studied with him at Berea, KY. "Wood is so beautiful on its own, you just follow the lines of the wood itself…you don’t have to add anything. You can’t improve on what Mother Nature’s put out there. All you can do is show it off. And it is a challenge sometimes not to destroy the beauty that’s already there. That’s what wood-turning’s all about. It takes practice. Lots and lots of practice. Each Project you learn something new and apply it to the next project, the more time you spend at the lathe, the better you get and the happier you are. So practice, practice, practice.”
Morris helped launch woodturning classes with CCSA and has taught innumerable folks the art and craft of woodturning. He was exceedingly good humored and generous with his knowledge and skills. Considering himself more as a technician than an artist, he attributes his success to his diligence in “practice” in turning and revealing/ “allowing” the inherent beauty in nature. It is in this spirit and in honor of him that we name this studio sharing the commitment to continue his legacy and the craft of woodturning for future generations.
