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RIVER TURNINGS is a full-time, professional wood turning studio. Artist Cliff Lounsbury designs and executes all studio work. Cliff's unique style is recognized nationally and resides in many exclusive private collections. His work has also been accepted in numerous metropolitan museums' permanent collections. Cliff lives in northern Michigan with his wife, Helen, who helps with River Turnings business. Cliff feels strongly about using wood native to his home. Thus he creates most of his work in chokecherry burl, indigenous to northern Michigan. Chokecherry is widely considered a menace species, so Cliff derives pleasure from turning exquisite vases from rubbish wood. The wood's intense patterns and gnarled variations continually astound and challenge Cliff. Cliff uses a lathe - a machine that spins a block of wood - to make his work. He maneuvers a series of chisels across the wood to shape and hollow his forms. He wishes he could spend more time at the lathe, less time sanding. Nonetheless, his process involves sanding, sanding and sanding some more. He finishes his work with oil or lacquer, to achieve matte or glossy finishes respectively. Cliff often uses his turned vessels as canvas upon which he adds intricate carvings. |
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