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Mark Sfirri is a furniture maker, turner, and sculptor. He is best known for his specialty, multi-axis spindle turning. He has made candlesticks, bowling pins, baseball bats, human figural forms, furniture parts and many other objects using these methods for over thirty years. His demonstrations will include: a multi-axis turned candlestick (a design that he developed in 1992), baseball bats from his “Reject from the Bat Factory” series an abstracted turned figural form, and his multi-axis turned bottles. He works without any special chucks, just between centers. For his talk on April 19, he will show examples of his work throughout his fifty-year career in wood and how he’s used turning in his work in different ways. He will also discuss some of his research of Wharton Esherick, the founder of the American Studio Furniture Movement. He has lectured and written extensively about him over the past eighteen years. Mark Sfirri is co-sponsored by RWS and Finger Lakes Woodturners.

On Saturday, April 20, Sfirri will explain the ideas behind his designs, his layout, and techniques that
he’s developed in order to achieve the desired effects. He has made candlesticks, bowling pins,
baseball bats, human figural forms, furniture parts and many other objects using these methods for
over thirty years. His demonstrations will include:

a multi-axis turned candlestick (a design that he developed in 1992)
a baseball bat from his “Reject from the Bat Factory” series
an abstracted turned figural form
one of his multi-axis turned bottles
Sfirri earned a Distinguished Educator Award 2010 from the Renwick Alliance and received the
Lifetime Achievement Award for 2012 by the Collectors of Wood Art. He will receive the Professional
Outreach Program (POP), of the American Association of Woodturners, Merit Award for 2024 at the
annual conference in Portland Oregon in May. He ran the Fine Woodworking Program at Bucks
County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2017. Mark Sfirri is co-sponsored by RWS and Finger Lakes Woodturners.