Board of Directors/Executive Committee

To contact Board/Executive Committee members, see the bottom of the page.
 

President:  Steve LeGrue

I got into woodworking as a recently married college  student when my wife and I started looking at furniture. I was stunned at the poor quality and decided that ‘I can do that’. Over the next 15 years I puttered in my shop making furniture and boxes. One day in 1985 I noticed that I did not own a lathe, and decided to buy one to make table legs (they never got made). I did not own any turning tools or have any concept of what turning was about, so I grabbed some carving gouges and gave it a try. I was totally self-taught (well, with a lot of help from Richard Raffan) and struggled with every aspect of turning, but I was hooked.  

In 1986 or ‘87 I saw an article in Fine Woodworking about segmented turning, which appealed to me because of the design opportunities and the frugal use of exotic woods. My house began to fill up with bowls, so I decided to start showing my work at juried shows like the old Westheimer Art Colony Festival and the Laguna Gloria show in Austin. When I was putting some pieces in a gallery in late 1988, the owner said, ‘Oh, you must be a member of the woodturner’s guild’. I did not know any other turners, and was fascinated that a guild existed. She directed me to Archie Hartkoff, Luna Ford and a few other hard-core turners in Deer Park, and my fate was sealed. The GCWA was a huge help to me in honing my skills. To have skilled craftsmen like those in this club show me subtle aspects of tool control and vessel design was invaluable.
 

Secretary:  John Van Domelen

Many years ago my grandfather Paul R. Smith introduced me to turning on the lathe. I am at the point in my life that I have the time to rediscover the joy of woodturning.  

I use the lathe as the primary tool in the creation of my art and craft.  Further work is sometimes done off the lathe. Inspired by the work of Andi Wolfe and that of our own Janice Levi, I now carve, burn, texture and dye some pieces in order to further bring forth the beauty in the wood.  I enjoy sharing the process of creation and hope that by sharing it another generation will carry on the art and craft of wood turning.
 

I began working with wood at the age of eight.  I worked my way through college as a sawman and foreman of a residential framing crew during the summers.  I did remodeling and built furniture over the years.

In 1991 I acquired a lathe to turn replacements for broken spindles on captains chairs at the house.  In the summer of 1991 I joined GCWA and started face plate turning.  At a monthly club meeting Clay Foster introduced me to the concept of negative space and I was off creating sculpture forms.
 

My early interest in woodturning started way back in a shop class in middle school when I 'turned' a lamp from a discarded bowling pen. That was followed by a major lapse of a few decades. A couple years back I started taking classes at Woodcraft and happened on the pen turning class using the Jet mini lathe. Shortly after that I attended the 2005 Woodworking Show in Houston and found the GCWA booth. Everyone was friendly and encouraging and I learned of the Spring Retreat.
    

Board Member:  Derek Powers

My first exposure to woodturning was in 2006 when I visited an art gallery in East Texas which had an exhibit of locally turned pieces.  I was fascinated at the work of the local artists, but had no concept of how it was done.  A few weeks later a friend introduced me to pen turning, which got me hooked. Three days later, I bought my first lathe.  

My first contact with GCWA was at the Woodworking Show.  I watched different demos for a couple of hours.  Greg Gonsalves told me I would have to join if I was going to keep hanging around.  

I've found the GCWA to be a group of extremely talented turners and artists.  At each meeting,  there are  always impressive works on display and new things to learn.   One other aspect of the club that made me want to get involved is the atmosphere of mentoring.  The members have always been willing to share information on anything I've asked about. 
 

Board Member:  Ed Peine

Wood turning allows me to use my mechanical skills and stretch my artistic talent.  A smile beams from my face as I examine a vessel that I have just created.  But I take even greater satisfaction as I reflect upon the details of the process I just completed - the final coat of wax….the many coats of finish…the sanding repetitions…the actual turning of the inside and outside with various scrapers, chisels, and gouges…the cutting of the blank with the band saw.   I remember with joy the trip to the forest in Arkansas or to the tree stand in West Texas where I harvested the walnut or mesquite tree.

Then I start to envision the next turned project, which will be even better than the last.  And I remember - it’s not the destination but the journey…
 

Board Member:  Ben Gray

My father was a contractor and a carpenter and my grandfather was a cabinetmaker and both inspired me with working with wood.  (I sell steel, but I love wood.)  My dad bought a Rockwell lathe in the '50s and we made some furniture with it and I had fun turning small things like captured rings, bats and a other spindle items.  The problem was that no on told me that pine wasn't the best for lathe work.  After my father died, the lathe stood idle most of the time until 2003 when I got introduced to the GCWA and a whole new world opened to me.  Those of you who are real craftsmen and artist inspire novices like me to grow.

I can say that going to the club's monthly demos, the Spring Retreat in Conroe and to SWAT, inspire me to get back home and experiment and lose track of time for a few hours.  I love to make gifts for Christmas and rattles for the newborn.  My grandsons have all come over and stood on boxes and turned pens and things.  I know I get more out of it than they do.  I hope the catch the joy of turning like I have.
 

Board Member:  Thomas Irven

It all began in Mr. Jones’s woods and metals shop class back in junior high where I turned a clock and a plastic screwdriver handle.  We also did metal spinning, and I still have my candlestick holder.  I returned to woodturning while completing my Masters degree in Industrial Technology at U of H in order to teach woodworking in the public schools. 

The first Gulf Coast Woodturners Association meeting I attended was in 1985 at Michael Chandler’s woodworking store off 290 where 15-20 interested people gathered.  For many years I taught woodworking and woodturning classes in various venues and in 2001 I was accepted as an artist in residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.  I continue to teach for the HCCC and for the Museum of Fine Arts summer programs. 

Currently, I am a member of the Archway Gallery, a cooperative gallery located in Montrose.  I have previously served as president and as treasurer of The Gulf Coast Woodturners Association.  I enjoy creating boxes, hollow forms, and off centered turnings as well as teaching. 
 

Executive Committee Member:  Andy Chen

I have been interested in woodworking as early as in high school.  Woodworking became my obsession when I moved to College Station, Texas in 1979 because I could not tolerate the cost and quality of furniture in stores.  I dabbled in woodturning on a ShopSmith for a few years while building furniture.  I began turning seriously in 1992, primarily the segmented variety because I had seen a picture of a segmented bowl in 1988 and a bunch more pictures of segmented vessels in 1991, both in Wood Magazine and was stunned how beautiful they were.  It was possible to turn a large segmented bowl even on a ShopSmith because the constructed blank is already balanced.  In the spring of 1994, by chance I went to the then newly opened Cutting Edge and ran into this big crowd that turned out to be GCWA holding the monthly meeting.  I signed up with the group and, like they say, the rest is history. 

Since the acquisition of a Oneway 2036 in the spring of 1998, I have been enjoying many forms of turning.  Over the years I have benefitted so much from the club in improving myself as a turner and felt that I have not given enough back.  Therefore, when the editor's position of the GCWA newsletter opened up in December, 2008, I decided to volunteer for the job.
 

I hope you enjoy this website as much as I enjoyed creating it.  It's our Executive Committee's hope that this site will draw increased attention to the fine turning work being done by club members and improve awareness of our club within the woodturning community.
 

Club Assistants
 

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