NICHE Awards 2013 Finalist...

I received an early Christmas present this year. In the past few days I have been notified that I am a Finalist in my "Wood" category at the prestigious NICHE Awards 2013. This is welcome news as the NICHE Awards have long been considered a highly regarded jurying process for both established and emerging artists and artisans. So I received my Awards package this week and as part of the package I have been invited to the  Buyer's Market of Art and Craft in Philadelphia in February, 2013. NICHE holds an award presentation as part of this Buyer's Market of Art and Craft and a Winner in each category is selected from the 5 Finalists. The jury is a renown group of Gallery owners and influential artisans in their own right.

I'm kind of excited about this as I don't know where it will lead. One previous Finalist and Winner mentioned to me that this event is like the Oscars for arts and crafts people. I can live with this! I am planning to attend this Awards presentation and am looking forward to meeting the NICHE people as well as other artists ,artisans  and Gallery owners from all over the US and Canada. I'll post more information as the date gets closer.

Other news. I have just completed a massive update of a Woodworking Course I had designed and created many years ago. The new version can be downloaded and is composed of video lectures. Many weeks of work have been spent on this project but I am very satisfied with the results.