It is difficult in a brief survey to choose from all of the excellent French turners who could now be defined as artists. They can be broadly divided into the "old guard," turners who were responsible for the revival of turning and who have guided it towards its current success, and the "new guard," those who have been drawn to the field by the successes and efforts of these pioneers.

Among the old guard it is easy to choose the most influential. Jean-François Escoulen has combined a traditional apprenticeship with an adventurous spirit to achieve a rare balance of skills. He commenced his apprenticeship in 1972 when he was 16, and for seven years turned traditional table and chair legs, subject to all the harsh expectations of a traditional master (who also happened to be his father). In 1979, he set up his own workshop and continued to produce traditional work.

In 1982, the French government bestowed on him the prestigious award of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, a formal recognition of his premier status as a master that has helped him maintain credibility with the traditionalists as he has taken French turning on an increasingly non-traditional path.

For all of those early years at the lathe he had been exercising his imagination, inspired by images of work made by ornamental turners of the past. Eventually he devised a chuck which enabled him to "de-axis" his work and which launched him on a career as an eccentric turner, both literally and figuratively. His eccentric lidded boxes are now found in collections and museums all over the world and he travels constantly to demonstrate his techniques.

"Nouvelle Direction" by Jean-François Escoulen chakte kok 22 cm (8 1/2") high.

Escoulen is a turner of formidable skill, able to manipulate tools and material with a degree of control that is unmatched. His eccentric boxes are jewels in wood, defying both the limits of technique and tradition. "Nouvelle Direction," made in 1996 during his ITE stay, is a typical example - precise spindle work is combined with an off-centered disregard for traditional symmetry to produce a lidded box unlike any other, a wonderful contrast to the balanced predictability of most turned containers. At the end of the ITE he reflected, "I used to think that technique was everything. Now I ask myself if I wasn't a prisoner of technique." Not any more.

Because of his status as an acknowledged master and his searching spirit, Escoulen's influence has always been high. In 1996, he was the first French turner to be accepted into the ITE and he has built on this experience to create a whole new profile for French turning. Escoulen began to organize workshops with the support of the influential Vienne Chambre des Metiers. Held in his village, Puy-St. Martin, these workshops were run by a series of foreign turners with the intention of "seeding" the French movement. They included classes by Canadian turners Andre Martel and Michael Hosaluk, American turners Mark Sfirri and John Jordan, and myself from Australia. The workshops have succeeded wonderfully and are now often taught by French turners. It was Escoulen's dream to create an international event unlike any other and the resulting Journee Mondiale could not have been organized by anyone else. His credibility is so high that when he asks for help the response is simply, "What do you want me to do ?"

next