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

Maggie, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

Knowing what I know now and how much I love woodturning, I absolutely wish I’d had the opportunity to start young. My husband and I spent years doing home renovation work – purchasing properties and fixing them up ourselves. In an effort to offer more help with these renovations, I took a carpentry course at our local community college. I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t love carpentry but my instructor kept telling the class not to go to the “dark side,” which is how he referred to woodturning. He said that once people tried woodturning they rarely returned to carpentry. Intrigued, I signed up for my first woodturning class in June 2023 and was instantly hooked. I purchased my first lathe 2 months later and haven’t looked back.

Art has been a part of my life since I was very young. I started out wanting to be a fashion designer and spent many years sketching designs. Later on as my husband and I started renovating homes, I used my eye for proportion and color for landscape and interior design. When I found woodturning, it was like a lightbulb went on for me. I’d always longed for a medium that allowed me to feel grounded while also being creative. It fulfills me in a way that I never expected – the process is meditative and my mind is constantly swirling with ideas for new projects and ways to finish current ones. While I do believe that my artistic background contributed to my success in this medium, for the first time in my life I’m truly passionate about my creative career, and I wish I’d discovered this sooner simply because I would’ve had more time to hone my skills and enjoy this work.

Maggie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a woodturner who makes both functional and decorative objects from local and exotic woods. These include everything from kitchen utensils to urns, from hollow forms to basket illusion pieces. I got into woodturning purely out of curiosity after my carpentry instructor kept discouraging the class from going to the “dark side” aka woodturning.

From start to finish my work is designed to celebrate the characteristics found in each piece of wood. When beginning a new piece, I frequently find that the idea I had in mind quickly goes out the window as the wood “tells” me what it wants to be. Sometimes I uncover incredible figure during the turning process or a void that must now be inlaid. Silhouettes are designed to highlight these features while taking inspiration from traditional shapes found in Native American and ancient Greek pottery. The patterns in my basket-illusion pieces inevitably end up being inspired by the geometric patterns found in flowers or animal life. My ultimate goal is to feel that I’ve brought out the best of each piece.

Approximately 87% of woodturners are men. This automatically sets me apart from the majority of woodturning artists out there, and I’m extremely proud to be a woman in turning! My company name, Ride the Bevel, refers to the practice of ensuring the bevel of one’s tool is always making contact with the wood, thus creating the perfect cut.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I realized I wanted to start a woodturning business, I thought “Ok better get on social media!” As someone with limited social media experience I wanted a platform that was easy to use, and Instagram fit the bill.

My best advice is to just be yourself and the audience will follow. For example, my captions are written in my normal speech pattern, I style the photos according to my sensibilities and choose any music the same way. All these facets add up to a distictive voice around each post that tells people who you are as an artist and adds meaning to your work. Oh – and respond to people who comment on your work. It really reinforces the connection between you and your fans!

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Yes absolutely. I believe in order to figure out your management and entrepreneurial philosophy you’ve first got to immerse yourself in the marketplace. Try something out and see what you like/don’t like about it! Last year I decided that this year I was going to actively try to sell my work. I figured I’d test out some local shows first and see how I liked them, and boy was it a huge lesson! I had eight shows this year, and I learned something from each of them. For example, I learned the importance of spacing out shows in order to have a work/life balance, and that while I enjoy meeting new people and talking about my work, two-week shows are overwhelming to me. This led me to a different approach for next year; namely applying to fewer (and larger) shows , as well as considering other potential avenues for selling my pieces (galleries and commissions).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ridethebevelturning.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ride_the_bevel/

Image Credits

Maggie Shapiro