Current News
Affiliated Wood Carvers, Limited, (AWC) is a non-profit corporation which publicly promotes the fine art of woodcarving through the sponsorship of the International Woodcarvers Congress.
FEBRUARY 2012
The information for the 2012 Congress is starting to appear on the website. The initial uploads will include Seminar Descriptions and Registration Materials. That will be followed by the Show registration materials. Keep checking back as these important updates are available.
NOVEMBER 2011
The planned instructor roster deveoloped for 2012 is listed below - as soon as information is received from the instructors about their classes, that information will be distributed when received and with the registration forms.
5-day classes - Carole Jean Boyd, Bob and Josh Guge, Izo Becic, Leah Goddard, John Engler, Wayne Barton, Pete LeClair, Tom Gow
3-day classes (Mon, Tue, Wed) - Donna Menke
3-day classes (Wed, Thu, Fri) - Chau Pham, Linda Curtis, Vic Hood, Sharon Bechtold, P. J. Driscol, Marty Dolphens
2-day classes (Mon, Tue) - Marty Dolphens, Sandy Wirtz, Sharon Bechtold, Greg Wirtz, P. J. Driscol
2-day classes (Thu, Fri) - Gay Greer
1 day class - Mon - Denny Neubauer
1 day class - Tue - Denny Neubauer
1 day class - Thu - Donna Menke
1 day class - Fri - Donna Menke
There are also plans for Mini-classes on Saturday by Josh Guge and Tom Gow
OCTOBER 2011
The Board met at the end of September to finalize plans for the 2012 Congress. Pages will be updated on this web site as information is developed. As soon as all Instructors have class descriptions and pictures available, a Newsletter will be sent. Although class information will be added to the web site as received, registrations will not be accepted until the Newsletter is distributed with the Registration and and associated documents are finalized.
SEPTEMBER 2011
It was with sadness that we heard that Bob Sinclair, a good friend and carving associate passed away at his home on August 28th with his familiy at his side.
AUGUST 2011
The Judges have been chosen for the 2012 Congress.
Vic Hood was a judge at Congress in 2009
Linda Langenberg Curtis will be judging at Congress for the first time.
Chau Pham was scheduled to judge in 2011, but experienced some illness that prevented him from
serving. He will judge at Congress for the first time in 2012.
JULY 2011
Instructors are being contacted for the 2012 Congress. The Board meets this fall to finalize the seminars and develop the registration form for the 2012 Congress. As more information is available, it will be posted here.
JUNE 2011
Thanks to all for making the the 2011 International Woodcarving Congress a success. Plans are already underway for the 2012 Congress. The dates may be seen in the Schedule of Events.
APRIL 2011
The Affiliated Wood Carvers is pleased to recognize the generous gift for the Congress of a weeklong class at the John C Campbell Folk School of Brasstown, North Carolina.
The John C Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC offers weeklong and weekend classes year-round in traditional and contemporary art and craft, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, writing, storytelling and photography. Talented instructors teach both novice and advanced adult students. The 300-acre campus' natural setting provides a beautiful backdrop for fun and creative learning. To request a free course catalog or register for a class, call 1-800-FOLK-SCH or visit www.folkschool.org .
February 2010
MAQUOKETA!
It is a word derived from the Sauk and Fox Indian word meaning "there are bears" or "little bear". There is only one town named "Maquoketa" in the world which makes it a very unique place.
There is only one International Woodcarvers Congress in the world, which makes us very unique. In June of 2010, these two very special entities will be coming together to offer the art world the finest woodcarving art show in existence.
In 2009, we were confident that we had found a home for the Congress that would be ongoing for many years to come; however, that was not to be. After exhausting every possibility to keep the Congress in the Quad Cities, we started reaching out to the outlying areas. We researched many different locales until we found facilities in the small town of Maquoketa, Iowa located about 40 miles directly north of the Quad Cities on Hwy. 61.
The day before our semi-annual Board of Directors meeting in October, a number of the Board members, along with Carol and Larry Yudis, Show Chairs, met in Maquoketa to look over the facilities. We were impressed with the welcome we received and the enthusiasm expressed by the ladies who greeted us. We toured the Pearson and Boyer Halls on the Jackson County Fairgrounds accompanied by the General Manager, Lanny Simpson. She also had the head of the Chamber of Commerce meet with us as well as the General Manager of the Comfort Inn. They all seemed genuinely excited that we were considering moving our event to their town.
After much discussion at the Board meeting the following day, it was voted on to make the move.
Is this a drastic move? Yes, it is!
Are we sure this will work? No, we’re not!
Do we feel this is the best move for the future of the Congress? Yes, we do!
Can we make this happen without your help? No, we can’t!
We need each and every one of you to back this decision 110%!
We need you to participate in the 2010 Congress in whatever capacity you can. Most importantly, we need you to be a part of the competition. We need to have a record setting number of carvings that we can proudly display in our new location.
We need you to take the seminars that are offered.
The facilities we have acquired are larger than any of the other places we have been in. We are offering more seminars this year than ever before to include a number of instructors who have never taught at the Congress.
We need your financial support in the way of a monetary donation or a carving donation for the Silent Auction or raffle or by drumming up sponsor support from those in the woodcarving business or who enjoy the art of woodcarving. Also, we need your support by coming to the show and encouraging others to do so.
Maquoketa is a beautiful community conveniently located between the Quad Cities and Dubuque, Iowa. It is not far from Cedar Rapids and the lovely Mississippi River town of Bellevue.
See LOCAL INFORMATION page and HOTEL/MOTEL page on this web site
We are looking forward to many new and exciting things to take place in 2010 in Maquoketa!
Let’s all work together to make this milestone move happen!
(Extracted in large part from Larry’s Show Chairman report to members)