Numbers and stories will be the history of the 2023 SAWS Fine Works in Wood Exhibition and Sale held Sept. 1 to 10 in Calgary.

There was a lot of use of the word “more” as the event was celebrated with the first meeting of the new SAWS business year held during the event at Southcentre Mall.

A quick recap of the Exhibition numbers showed there were more entries from more makers than usual. There were more media interviews than ever before. More people were reached in special mailing campaigns than ever. That led to more voting for the People’s Choice Award, more interest in general and more busy times at the Exhibition.

Significantly more people visited the SAWS website. And more exhibits were sold than in previous years.

Perhaps the biggest “more” was the many stories that came from around the event. As members mingled one person after another shared personal story after story of people who had heard media interviews or found out about the event and attended and were very impressed with what they witnessed.

SAWS chairman Ed Marchand had a challenging time coordinating the actual meeting working amongst many people and exhibits and the open mall venue, but the evening came off with energy and enthusiasm.

He stickhandled his way through introductions of new members, new SAWS Board members and new business items. SAWS Exhibition Chairman Tom Gorman gave an overview of the Exhibition process and results.

That was a segue for President Ed to introduce the three speakers for the evening, the Exhibition Jury.

This very strong panel spent a whole Sunday in June looking at these fine works in wood and were asked to join the SAWS Exhibition meeting to share a few thoughts on selected pieces of their choice.

Bayot Heer, is originally from Switzerland where he apprenticed and worked as a cabinet maker for 10 years. These days he designs jewellery out of his home studio in Cochrane. His work has garnered several national and international awards.

Corinne Cowell acted as host of the past SAWS AGM in the King Edward cSpace. A paint and mixed media fibre visual artist, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Calgary and ran her own graphics design company. Now dedicated to creating and promoting fine art and craft, she has participated in numerous exhibitions and galleries and is retail co-ordinator for the Alberta Craft Gallery at cSpace.

Jamie Clark obtained his masters’ degrees in Architecture from McGill and in Criminology from Cambridge. He has been a studio lead at one of Calgary’s largest architectural firms designing residential, commercial and office projects. Outside the office Jamie is an active photographer and artist.

Ed (right) introduces three judges (left). Jamie Clark, (far left), Corinne Cowell and Bayot Heer

Here are some other meeting and general Exhibition highlights.

SAWS website anchored all Exhibition information. Graydon O’Blenes, with support from others on the Exhibition communications team, put a lot of work into making a useful and tremendously valuable experience on the SAWS website. There was a dramatic increase in SAWS website traffic as a result.

The 2023 winners. There was good interest and active participation from across Alberta and Western Canada at this Exhibition demonstrated by the list of award winners that.

The full award winners’ list is in the SAWS Exhibition catalogue on the SAWS website. One award was presented at the September meeting. The late Harold Biswanger left a considerable amount of his wood and some money to SAWS. This award honours his memory. Doug Drury was honored as the 2023 winner.

Stewards looked sharp. Stewards were kept busy during the Exhibition sessions. The new steward vests looked sharp and with special name tags, meant SAWS help to any visitor was close at hand and easily identifiable.

Strong sponsorship. Once again SAWS was fortunate to have solid sponsorship support. A full list is on the website and in the catalogue. These sponsorship discussions around the Exhibition are leading to discussions of other opportunities in the future. That is good news.

Active social media. The SAWS Exhibition communications effort featured a strong social media component on Instagram and Facebook. That was supported by sponsor social media networks. SAWS members and others can check it out and help keep the energy flowing by promoting these posts in their own social media networks.

Long-time members invited. As part of the 40th anniversary celebration, a special effort was made to reach out to long-time members. It was great to see several of those members show up at the meeting and during the Exhibition.

Out of town members attended. SAWS has had good interest from across the province and good Exhibition participation from across Western Canada. It was nice to see several of these folks participating and at our meeting.

New membership encouraged. Special business card invites to meetings and membership were on the display board and several hundred were handed out. Several new members have already signed up and some showed up and were introduced at the September meeting.

More media interviews. There was special effort put into media connections for the 2023 Exhibition. You can check several of them out at the 2023 Exhibition link on the SAWS website. In addition we had strong support from Southcentre Mall who supported us with digital promotion on their mall network.

Buy a catalogue. We have had strong interest in catalogue purchases but they are still for sale at the link on the website.

The people behind the show. The 2023 SAWS Exhibition committee led by chair Tom Gorman worked from January 2023 onward to organize and deliver the final results. Many people with high value skills helped make this one of the most successful events for SAWS.

That list is in the SAWS catalogue.

Moments in SAWS history. One of the real benefits to SAWS and the Exhibition is a chance for people to come together. Here are some memories from our great show.

2023 SAWS Exhibition set new records for interest, participation

October 2023 Meeting Video

September 2023 Meeting Video