CONNECTIONS PLUS, A DECADE OF TRANSFORMATION
AN EXHIBITION

Connections Plus invited past International Turning Exchange (ITE) fellows from the past ten years to submit a piece that reflects the impact of this residency program on his/her artwork. Artists report that the ITE experience radically transformed their outlook on life and work.

The ITE, established in 1995 by the Wood Turning Center, is a highly competitive development experience for professionals from around the world. Every summer, a new group of four lathe turners, one furniture maker or sculptor, one scholar, and one photojournalist representing several different countries spends eight weeks working and living together in Philadelphia. The participants challenge themselves and each other to study, explore new work, and share their new approaches when they return home. By 2005, over 50 artists from 17 U.S. states and 10 countries will have participated including the U.K., France, Germany, Israel, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Connections Plus is presented simultaneously with WOOD 2005 and the Connections: International Turning Exchange 1995-2005 exhibition at the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College. WOOD 2005 is organized by Philadelphia’s Wood Turning Center, in collaboration with the international Collectors of Wood Art.

The Wood Turning Center is a Philadelphia-based, non-profit, arts institution, gallery and resource center which supports and develops the field of wood and lathe-turned art. Through educational programs, exhibitions, collections, preservation, and promotion, the Center encourages artists and cultivates a public appreciation of wood art. Founded in 1986, the Center has become an internationally recognized source of information and assistance with the largest known collection of turned objects.

Connections Plus is supported in part by the Arcadia Foundation, Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation, Friends of the Wood Turning Center, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund and The William Penn Foundation.