We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kevin Jesequel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kevin below.

Kevin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I think that I am fortunate in that I have progressed rapidly in my pursuit of skill in woodturning. Unlike many other craft disciplines, there are few “trade secrets” that others are unwilling to share. Thanks largely to the American Association of Woodturners, the information needed to begin and advance in the craft is out there and accessible. I believe that having a background as an electrician helped me as well. I am somewhat mechanically inclined and have a well developed eye for measurements, which play into my ability to “eyeball” good form on the lathe. The biggest obstacle to learning more was that I took up woodturning in 2020 during the global pandemic. It was about a year later that I was finally able to see another woodturning in person and another six months after that before I was able to attend my first in person workshop.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I stumbled into woodturning during the summer of 2020. I was outfitting my garage as a small woodworking shop to make some furniture for my house. By chance I found a small used lathe with a basic set of tools for a great price. I was in the process of completing the workbench upon which I was going to build furniture projects. I set the lathe on it, turned it on and never did build any furniture! I was immediately captivated by the hypnotic motion of the spinning chunk of wood before me and the sound of wood shavings peeling off as I poked it with the sharpened tools. Just a few months after that introduction to woodturning, my mother passed away unexpectedly. Two things came out of that event that really propelled me forward in this craft. One, her passing at the age of sixty-nine affirmed my decision to go all in now rather than wait for an unknown future when I may have more time. And two, I took up an interest in creating hollow wooden vessels with the idea of making her an urn. Those vessels have been my primary focus since. I have received great recognition for the vessels I am creating today, but I do not know if I will ever be ready to make that urn.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

To be human is to be creative. I believe we are born with creativity in our DNA. One needs only to watch a child play to confirm this. As we grow and become less our parents’ children and more functioning members of society, most of us lose touch with that creativity. We shift focus to the mundane day-to-day responsibilities of adulthood and the creativity of our youth retreats below the surface. At some point, I believe for most, if not all, that creativity bubbles to the surface again and we carve out time to pursue a hobby of one sort or another. For some, that creativity opens a spring to the depths of our being, and we find an outlet that can be nothing short of our calling. There is nothing more frightening, exhilarating, or rewarding than drinking from that spring.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Buy the things we make! Of course, it may not be practical in our global economy to buy everything local or even domestically, but something as simple as choosing to buy domestically handmade items for friends and family to celebrate special occasions and holidays can have a huge impact. And, that impact goes beyond helping artists “make it”. It also keeps your money in the local economy where it circulates many times over. On that note, credit card and payment app transfer fees do nothing for an artist or the local economy. Use cash whenever possible.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @kevinjesequel

Image Credits

Kevin Jesequel (All)