Join our opening reception for November Featured Artists, Tom Becraft, woodturner-author and Hans Schaufus, photography-author. These two artists have some amazing histories to tell and exhibit. They both have been authors of their medium. Come get a closer look into their special pieces they are showing. There’s more to them than meets the eye.

Visit with the Featured Artists, Gallery artists, and friends while enjoying great refreshments and listening to the live music by Dennis Harris.

Tom Becraft – Woodturner and Author

Tom Becraft

“I start with castoff wood and hope that something lovely will emerge. Like life itself, my
woodturning is an ongoing process of transformation. I pray with every revolution of my
lathe that I may unmask the beauty that is often hidden within dead wood.”

“Unlike many wood artists, I rarely toss out imperfect wood. As a young adult, I lived in
Japan for 16 years. While there, I was deeply immersed in the concepts of kintsugi and
wabi-sabi in which flaws are embraced and incorporated into a lovely sensory aesthetic.
I learned to value that which makes us human, including what some might call
“garbage.” Right now, my wood stash contains a diverse hodge podge of mystery and
potential. Is it a reflection of humanity? I think so. Often, vessels from my lathe contain
“flaws” and scars that reveal how goodness may come from ugliness.”
“From my childhood, I’ve been drawn toward working and living at the intersection of
nature and spirituality. After years spent pastoring and teaching at churches and
schools in Korea, Japan, Hawaii and Seattle, I transitioned into full-time hospice and
hospital chaplaincy in Tri-Cities, WA.”
“For many years I spent long hours in hospice homes, emergency departments, and
intensive care units. Each day brought intense exposure to grief and loss as I always
sought to be fully available and present to patients and their families in their struggles.
My spinning lathe brought me respite, giving me much needed reminders to “stay in the
moment” but “don’t lose sight of the future.”
“When Art Mimics Life: A Woodturner Looks at Life as an Art Form, my newly published
book about my shop meditations is available at Broadway Gallery.” It is also available
on Amazon.

  • Pedestal Dish

 

Hans Schaufus – Photographer and Author

Hans Schaufus

It was on a Monday morning in 1940 when I made my debut in Baltimore, Maryland. I would grow up there but gradually pushed my way westwards, There were stops in Cambridge, Ohio for high school and interludes of working and studying in Germany and Mexico before settling in Washington in the fall of 1978. The Longview Public Library conveniently satisfied my lust for reading, offering me a job until retirement in 2006.