Jim
If you have a copy of that article, I would like to use it for my club's (Tennessee Association of Woodturners) newsletter.
Thanks
Ray Sandusky snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net
formatting link
I am not surprised that the subject of critique has become part of the
> strand regarding conferences and symposiums.For the past several years I
> have been studying the issue very closely and promoting effective
> critique with individuals and lathe clubs. In fact, my first in-depth
> critique was given by John Jordan at the Provo symposium. He not only
> gave me lots of suggestions, but did it in a way that made it actually
> easy for me.I will always be grateful for his time and help. Following
> his example, as I started to promote critique I began to hear many
> horror stories of how critique had actually caused a number of aspiring
> turners to give up woodturning. Further, I heard many reports about AAW
> clubs attempting critique but having it result in a number of "bad"
> things happening. One club pres. told me that he wouldn't "touch
> critique at the meetings with a ten foot pole". So, while many of us see
> the value of critique at many levels, I believe that there are
> widespread feelings of fear and anger due to individuals being
> subjected to "bad" critique. I believe a solution to this problem lies
> in the acceptance of a comprehensive definition of the critique process
> and determining ways thatindepth effective critique can be given without
> hurting the feelings of sensitive people. I further believe that
> critique is a very important aspect that must be addressed if the field
> of woodturning is to mature and prosper. For more information, you can
> refer to an article I published in WoodWorker West Jan-Feb issue,
> 2003titled "The Gentle Critique"
>