Vince Way-Nee is well known for his wonderful turned burl pieces.  A very busy Peterborough forensics police officer and family man, Vince’s turnings are highly sought after; he makes his works available to the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and The Village Gallery in Lakefield.

Having begun woodturning through trial and error, everything changed over ten years ago when Vince took a lesson with master turner, Maurice Gamblin.  His hobby then became an obsession.  Vince uses few tools and no chucks and turns wood that he finds has figure, which generally means the use of burls.  Burls are wart-like protuberances that can be found anywhere on the tree but are not a common occurrence.  He uses exotic woods as well as domestic.  With burled, spalted and exotic woods, Vince finds that simple, classic shapes exhibit the wood best. Very little sign of toolwork can be found on his woodturnings so that he can let the natural wood be displayed.  Each piece is unique and is given a clear oil finish that allows the piece to be “felt” as well as appreciated by sight alone.

Vince turns vases, plates and bowls but his love is in the challenge of hollow forms.  A hollow is a vessel where the entire contents have been removed from one small opening at the top.  Vince never duplicates a design; while the shapes may be similar, the dramatic character of the wood is always different, ensuring that each piece is one of a kind.