I carve the 'odd' woodspirit Arch and I'm sure my hands are 'guided' by
those spirits. Now, if I could just find a medium with talent......

Tom

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"Arch" wrote in message
...
The recent All Hallows Eve celebration got me to musing about
woodturning ghosts and if they really exist. I've heard ghost stories
about them, but I've never seen one lurking in the shadows of any
turning studio-shop. This is not about the fuzz outlined on off-center
blanks, it's about _invisible artisans who begin or finish the turned
art of better known turners. Do these _invisible ghosts exist? If so, do
they raise questions of ethics and authenticity? Do they endanger a
fledgling art?

I emphasize 'invisible' because this is not about collaborations or
occasional production runs in smaller shops or in similar situations
where the assistance is 'up front' and usual. Interns 'close up' for
prominent surgeons, bodies are 'added' to heads painted by elite
portrait painters and designated hitters stand in for pitchers. Ghost
writers are legion. I asume there's no ethical problem when assistence
is openly proclaimed, but what about signing a piece of wood art that is
finished by someone else or the form is a mere piece of canvas
manufactured elsewhere?

I am no ethicist and I admit to being naive and uninformed re the rules
of behavior in the art business; even more so in the emerging arena of
turned wood art. That caveat aside, I think that openly acknowledging
ghost turners is key to propriety and this elevates the practice of
woodturning. What do you think?

Turn to Safety, Arch

Fortiter,


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