Turned and Scuplted Wood 2024
Wood Symphony Gallery's current exhibit, Turned and Sculpted Wood, runs from March 1st through March 31st, 2024. In this year's exhibit, I have collaboration pieces Discovery, Stellate, and Nebula. This is the eighth year in a row Wood Symphony has presented this show, so head on over to this year's exhibit to view all the other wonderful pieces by artists from around the world.
I finished two other pieces, but not in time to be included in this show. Mike shows both pieces on his Instagram page, along with a close up of Counterbalance.
The one piece, Duality, is buckeye burl. On his Instagram page, Mike also gives you a look at a much larger buckeye burl that he hollowed out. Absolutely amazing!
2023 AAW Live Benefit Auction
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| Akkorokamui |
This year, Mike and I have a collaboration piece in The American Association of Woodturners benefit auction titled Akkorokamui. The AAW auction will be held on Friday, June 2.An Akkorokamui is an octopus god from Ainu folklore — a sea monster that resembles a giant octopus and ranges up to 390 feet in length. According to Ainu folklore, it is said to live in Hokkaido's Uchiura Bay. It is so large it can swallow whole boats and whales in a single gulp. It is said that when it appears, the whole earth and sky appear red. For this reason, fishermen and sailors have stayed away from the water when the sky is red. More on the background and history of the Akkorokamui.
Mike also has a beautiful natural edge maple burl hollow form in this year's auction.
Please check out all the other wonderful pieces in this year's AAW Premier Wood Art auction. Your winning bid helps the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) educational and outreach programs.
Update: Akkorokamui sold at auction for $950!
2023 Turned and Sculpted Wood Exhibit
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Murmuration of Stars
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Wood Symphony Gallery's current exhibit, Turned and Sculpted Wood, runs from March 1st through March 31st, 2023. I have one new piece in the exhibit entitled Murmuration of Stars, and two of the pieces -- Cycle and Plume -- from the last Small Treasures Exhibit. Mike
has six pieces in the show. I would have liked to have gotten more
done, but I've been having a lot of vision problems recently and barely
got the one new piece finished in time. I'm still trying to resolve the
problem. It started in the Fall with blurry near vision that would let
up some if I rubbed my eyes a little, opened them wide and forced myself
to focus. But by November I couldn't drive. If I turned my head, I
couldn't refocus in front of me, and all the cars driving past or
headlights at night caused extreme feelings of being unbalanced. At this
point, I see everything doubled. I've gone from the optometrist to an
ophthalmologist to a neuro-ophthalmologist. Blood tests and brain scans
haven't shown anything amiss, which is good, so it's a bit of a mystery.
I just got a pair of glasses with prisms in them the other day, which
seem to help with driving, although I've only tested them out once on
the expressway. Near vision, which is what I need to woodburn, however
is still doubled. I'm doing eye exercises and hopefully I can regain my
sight. Mike and I are having a "solo" (duo?) show in October, so I'm
determined to train my eyes to work together again. Meanwhile, check out
all of the wonderful pieces Larisa Safaryan has curated.
Small Treasures Exhibit 2022
Three of my pyrographic pieces are in Wood Symphony Gallery's current Small Treasures Exhibit, which runs from September 1st through September 30th, 2022.
This is the gallery's annual exhibition of what they describe as "small
wood wonders," since pieces can not exceed 6" in
any direction. The piece featured here
in the gallery's ad (Plume) was a collaboration between myself (pyrography and
ink) and my brother-in-law Mike, who is a fantastic woodturner.
Mike and I have three collaboration pieces in the exhibition besides Plume. The other two pieces are Cycle and Akkorokamui.
Mike also has three of his own pieces in the exhibition: a maple burl hollow form, a madrone nested set, and another maple burl.
More of our collaborative pieces may be viewed on my artist page, and for more of Mike's pieces, please visit his artist page. Also please take a minute to view all the other wonderful work by the 34
artists that are featured in the current show.
2022 AAW Live Benefit Auction
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| Sprocket |
Once again, Mike and I had a piece in The American Association of Woodturners benefit auction. AAW held their 36th annual symposium from June 23–26 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
I
usually get nervous as our piece is being auctioned, but I have to say
the auctioneer this year was pretty funny and I was laughing more often
than biting my nails. I think he wasn't sure of how Mike and I were
related, but when someone yelled out I was Mike's sister-in-law, the
auctioneer said well, huh, how many people get along with their
sisters-in-law. And then the same person yelled out Mike lives in
California and Georgianne lives in New York, to which the auctioneer
replied, well, that'll do it!
Mike had a beautiful box elder burl hollow form in the auction. Our collaboration piece was also a box elder burl I titled Sprocket—a name the auctioneer said fit perfectly.
American Woodturner
Journal of the American Association of Woodturners
February 2022: I'm excited that the The American Association of Woodturners asked to highlight me and Mike on the back cover of the winter edition of their journal, American Woodturner. They sent me several copies to hand out to friends and family.
Check out the February 2022 vol. 37, no. 1 of American Woodturner, and all of their other editions, at woodturner.org.
2021 AAW Live Benefit Auction
Friday through Saturday, July 16–17, 2021, The American Association of Woodturners held their annual symposium virtually. AAW is a nonprofit organization dedicated
to advancing the art and craft of woodturning worldwide through
education. The symposium went virtual in 2020, as did pretty |
| Solar Flare |
much all events due to the pandemic. This
year it went virtual once again. According to their website, the AAW
all-online virtual event featured live educational woodturning
demonstrations, special interest sessions, panel discussions, live and silent auctions, an Instant Gallery, prize drawings for all the virtual attendees, a virtual trade show, and more. Visit the AAW website for more information, a schedule of events, and session descriptions. Remember, it’s all virtual!
On Friday evening, AAW held their live benefit auction. I always get butterflies in my stomach listening to the fast talk and the infamous going once, going twice line.
Mike
& I had two collaborative pieces in the 2021 auction. Mike turned a
piece of cedar into an object I’m not exactly sure how he managed to do
in one piece. I added my pyrographic design after looking at it for a
good long while, thinking about my approach. The piece is 2.5" x 9" x 3.75" and I named it Solar Flare (well,
actually my husband named it since I consider him my wordsmith).
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| Sunrise (one side) |
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| Sunrise (opposite side) |
The
other piece was a 4” x 4.75” maple
hollow form, titled Sunrise. I think you can tell why from the design. The two sides of Sunrise are very different from each other, which was something dictated
by the grain of the bowl.
Small Treasures Exhibit 2020
Several of my pyrographic pieces were in Wood Symphony Gallery's Small Treasures Exhibit.
This is the gallery's annual exhibition of what they describe as "small
wood wonders." The guidelines were the pieces could not exceed 6" in
any direction. The piece featured here (Calico)
in the gallery's ad was a collaboration between myself (pyrography and
ink), my brother-in-law Mike who turned the piece, and my husband Rick
who carved the edges for me.My collaborative pieces may be viewed on this link,
but please take a minute to view all the other wonderful work by the 50
artists—from the United States, Europe, Australia, and South
America—that are featured in the show.
2020 AAW Live Benefit Auction
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| Reawakening |
Friday
through Sunday, July 10–12, 2020, The American Association of
Woodturners held their annual symposium. The symposium went virtual, as
did pretty much all events this year due to the pandemic. This
all-online virtual event featured live educational woodturning
demonstrations, special interest sessions, panel
discussions, live auctions, an Instant Gallery, prize drawings for all
the virtual attendees, a virtual trade show, and more. Visit the AAW website for more information, a schedule of events, and session descriptions. Mike and I had a collaborative piece in the auction. Mike turned beautiful box
elder burl that I added my pyrographic design to. The piece is 4.5 x 5 x 5 inches and I named it Reawakening.
The Art of Giving 2019
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| Apple Scoop by Rick & Georgianne |
The Wood Symphony Gallery is currently presenting their The Art of Giving exhibition.
Larisa Safaryan curated the show and has featured pieces created by
both prominent and emerging artists from
across the United States, Canada, Italy, France, Ireland, Germany, UK,
South Korea, Japan and as far away as Australia. She chose to showcase
pieces in the exhibit that
can be gifted for the upcoming holiday season "to spread cheer." I
think she did a wonderful job of choosing pieces that bring a smile to
my face. Anyway, the gallery has included works in various media, such
as wood, ceramics, metal, and mixed media. Two wooden
spoons, hand carved by my wonderful husband Rick Jackofsky, and
woodburned by me, are in the exhibit. One spoon is fashioned from a
very old apple tree from upstate New York, and the other is from
our rhododendron out front. Check the exhibit out! And have a wonderful
holiday season.
Solar Flares
Tuesday, July 23, 2019: The annual AAW auction has come and gone. It's always exciting to hear
the bidding, although I tend to hold my breath while it's happening.
Mojave sold for $850. I'm happy with that.
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| Solar Flare |
One of my newer pieces is Solar Flare #2. I did the original Solar Flare a few months back for mine & Mike's Turned and Burned
exhibit. It garnered enough attention that I was asked to do a slightly
larger version. Having run out of ideas for names, Mike chose to simply
call it Solar Flare #2. Doing pyrography on these pieces was a
challenge because I'm so used to burning designs on bowls now that a
flat surface gave me pause. For these "board bowls" I still had that
central bowl, but what to do with the larger flat surface all around?
The first time Mike sent one of these pieces to me, I stared at it for
quite a while, put it away, brought it out to stare at it some more, put
it away, brought it out ... I needed to find a way to bring the two
disparate parts together into one of unity. Mike said it's incredibly
difficult to shape the bowl in the middle of the board. It's all of a
piece, not two separate pieces glued together, so he needs to shape this
perfect bowl that seemingly floats in the middle of a large plane. It
takes some patience and care for him to get it perfect. For me, though,
it was an odd juxtaposition of shapes that left me questioning why you
would want a bowl in the center of this expanse of flatness.
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| Solar Flare #2 |
Since I don't plan things in advance -- sometimes I think it's due to a
lack of patience -- I decided to tackle the central bowl first and do
what I like to do best: creating circular rows of varying design
elements. Then I hit the flat surface and panicked. Now what!? What
could I burn that would add value to the design on the bowl? What I
burned on the flat part needed to of equal importance or it would look
unbalanced. I'm never sure if the choices I make are good or bad, just
that I try to let the piece dictate where it wants to go. Sometimes when
I'm done I'll think, oops, shouldn't have done that, wrong direction.
Or I might think, well, that came out okay. I'm hoping I managed to
create pieces that have unity and are balanced, that no one design
element detracts from the whole but holds its own visually, contributing
to the overall design.
AAW Premier Wood Auction
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| Mojave will be in the AAW auction on night one, July 12th |
June 27, 2019: One of mine and Mike’s collaborative pieces, Mojave, will be in the AAW (American Association of Woodturners) Premier Wood Auction taking place on July 12,
2019. It is taking place during the AAW’s 33rd Annual Woodturning Symposium being
held in Raleigh, North Carolina. The symposium runs July 11–14, 2019.
Bid on any of the pieces you like, or just enjoy the experience of seeing some wonderful woodturned art.
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| Mojave, top view |
Mojave is a box elder hollow form bowl that Mike turned and which has my
pyrographic designs on it. The piece is 3 x 4 x 4 inches. Mojave is one
of my favorite pieces. Sometimes when I finish a piece I think, oh, I
could have done better, but I was very happy when I completed this.
Always a nice feeling!
All the pieces in these auctions are original and created by hand. If
you decide to bid -- and win the bid -- it supports AAW and POP
(Professional Outreach Program) educational and outreach programs, as
well as the artists who created the work. There are so many pieces I
like that all I can say is go look at them.
Mike and I have been in the AAW's auction for several years now and it's
always fun, interesting, and nerve-racking when our pieces take their
turn on the auction block.
If you happen to make your way to the event itself, down in Raleigh, NC, Mike will be giving three demos
on making hollow forms, and will be one of several reviewing critics at
the symposium with whom you can get a critique of your work,
preregistration required.
Turned and Burned
Mike and Georgianne Jackofsky: A Two-Person Exhibition
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| Rocky Point, maple burl |
Exciting news! Mike and I have a "solo" show with the Wood Symphony Gallery,
although that seems a misnomer since there are two of us in the show.
It was originally to be a show of just our collaboration pieces, but
since we were offered a date so close it became pretty much a split
between pieces Mike did alone and pieces he turned that have my
pyrography on them. I couldn't burn enough pieces in the time we had to
get ready. I have a tendency to get caught up in a lot of detail, and I
also love to vary my shading, which takes quite a lot of time as I start
light and build up in order to get all the varying shades of color.
Hence it went from a "solo" show to a two-person exhibition. But that's
okay, because the pieces Mike has included in this show are truly
awesome. He specializes in hollow vessels, made from unique burls with
thin walls and tiny openings, but for this show he also included some
natural edge open bowls, some hollow forms with wings (a few of which I
also burned on), and some sculptural forms. I particularly like his
olive burl vessel.
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| Patera, olive wood |
Mike is the "turned" part of the title, and I'm the "burned" half! I
enjoyed doing pyrography on some of the pieces for this show since they
weren't all round bowls, and I even made a copper stand for one of the
pieces (Rocky Point, above). I also have to mention that Rick
carved an olive wood bowl for me to burn on, which is included in the
show. I really sweated over what to burn on that because I wanted to
make the design special. The exhibit runs from March 8 - 20, 2019. Click
here: Turned & Burned.
Small Treasures Exhibit 2018
An Exhibition of Small Wood Wonders
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| Edge of the World, Buckeye Burl, bottom view |
Wood Symphony Gallery has included several of mine and Mike's collaborations in their Small Treasures exhibition.
Small Treasures features over 100 pieces created by 45 artists from
across the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy,
Sweden, UK, Japan, Peru, and Australia. The concept of this exhibit was
to present pieces, created by both prominent masters and emerging
artists, that did not exceed 6" in any direction. I am proud to be part
of this exhibit.
The three collaboration pieces that have been included are Edge of the World, Underworld, and Sunstorm.
One of our pieces is also featured in a new book titled Masters of Contemporary Wood Art, which was published in September 2018.
Three of my pyrographic pieces are in Wood Symphony Gallery's current Small Treasures Exhibit, which runs from September 1st through September 30th, 2022.
This is the gallery's annual exhibition of what they describe as "small
wood wonders," since pieces can not exceed 6" in
any direction. The piece featured here
in the gallery's ad (Plume) was a collaboration between myself (pyrography and
ink) and my brother-in-law Mike, who is a fantastic woodturner. 
