I was born and raised in Georgia. I lived in Marietta, which is about 45 minutes northwest of Atlanta and
I always knew that I wanted to be an artist
I think I was like 5 years old when I started telling my parents that and
As my dad has told me they thought I would grow out of it
My name is Ashlee Harwood. I live in Charleston, South Carolina, and I am a winter
I knew from the time that I was really young that I wanted to make a living making things and
For me it was about deciding on an avenue to go
Which direction was I could take? I went to college for art
I went to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and I studied sculpture and installation art so
about the least practical form of art I could find to major in and
As I was getting out of school
I was realizing well
I I don't really feel like I learned how to make a living at this. I did have a strong interest in glassblowing
I actually worked at in the unshot for a while
Pedigree in a different direction, but I like to think that maybe someday that'll be something I'll get back to you
My father who turns wood as a hobby said, you know what Ashley that glassblowing stuff is just way too hot
you should try wood turning and
We took a class together at the John C Campbell Folk School in 2009. It was a bold turning class
that was my Christmas present from my parents that year and
I thought okay. This is pretty cool
My grandparents here, I'm not here to be close to them. I moved from Washington DC and
The thing that struck me immediately was that people were just happier
I
Didn't like the cold. I'm more of a warm weather bird. So I love the weather in Charleston. I
Love the food in Charleston
I
Eat a lot. I love all the different things that you can do outdoors. I'm outdoors either
running or kayaking or walking with my dogs, but now
most days of the week
I would say I love the music scene here in Charleston live music is a big part of my life and
I I love the people here. They're glad to be here and I think it really has a different feel from maybe a
larger
Busier city where people are really able to slow down here and enjoy life
The Trustin farmers market. It's about a third farmers
About a third prepared foods and a third
Crafts people selling their works. It's every Saturday from April until Christmas
So it was a major commitment and they get thousands of people coming through there every weekend
Again, just a really great place to incubate
Somebody's trying to start a business and the first year was really really hard
There are a lot of days where I went and I didn't sell anything and I still had to pay rent
Later in 2009. I met a guy who's to her Patti
Stewart is a
Third-generation woodturner who grew up turning in the trade in England and he was starting up his own Tool Company at the time
Stewart said how about I teach you how to be really good at returning and you can help me sell my tools my god
That felt like a pretty good deal
But I also learned how to teach I learned how to teach hands-on classes and I learned how to give demonstrations
And everything can be kept building from there
So here we are in
This is where the Charleston farmers market happened
Was my spot for the last couple years that I did the market
Right next to me over here. Well, my friends Pam and Jim who had coffee and tea
It was really important for me to have a constant stream of coffee going all day long
I would have my lathe like right over here
Where all the magic happens
If I wasn't a woodturner
Well, I thought about a career in lounge singing
Actually, I thought that might be fun or another career option that I considered was
Hustling at pool. I thought I'd be pretty good at that too
Is it possible to make a living from wintering yes it is
It is not something that I would recommend doing if you want to get rich
It is but it is possible to make a living and to have quite a rich wife
I guess in other ways
So now you're in most of my income from the production work that I do
the pieces that I make for other companies that come to me with drawings or designs and say hey, can you make this and
I make another chunk of my living from teaching. They're
almost even
I have all kinds of friends that I get to see at different symposiums people that live all over the world
I've had the opportunity to travel to different parts of the world that I
Otherwise wouldn't have been able to go to and all four woodturning
places like Australia, Belgium, Ireland
Spain
Panama
I
I taught some natives in the rainforest how to turn wood as an alternative way for them to make a living
It's just been
It's been a crazy journey and I never would have imagined that it would have taken me to the number of places that it has
Some people have told me that that their daughters are inspired or granddaughters
You know that they're they're getting out into the shop and starting to handle some tools
I think I got one email from somebody telling me that uh
His daughter had gone to school and was telling her teacher about how she was working in the shop with her dad
The teacher said something like oh well
The woodshop is for boys like girls don't do that and she was kind of upset and she came home and her dad's like you
know what's wrong and she's explaining what happened and her dad was like come here a second and
pulled up my facebook page and was was showing her a number of different pictures and he said that her eyes just
Lit up and she's like wow, she kicks butt, you know, like I don't know. It's cool to hear stories like that
I benefited from from being able to
Learn a style that had been passed down through the generations in the trade in England. I would also say for
whatever reason I
Was able to pick up the push cut relatively quickly
My friend Glen Lucas says that I took like I took to the push cut like a duck to water
I
Think that a number of different things that I've done in my life that kind of helped me to pick that up
from playing the piano
to
Glassblowing to all the different types of things that I was making in school. I think there's like there's a certain amount of tactile ability
That I was able to draw from in order to do that. And I think the last part of it is
Sheer stubbornness. I
Was absolutely determined once once I make up my mind on something. I'm
I'm not gonna let it go if I make up my mind that this is what I'm gonna do
I'm gonna do it I come hell or high water and
I
Would say at first, you know
the biggest success that I had was in making those sea urchin ornaments and I think that I've made about
3,000 of them by now. I was I was literally
Paying my mortgage with those things for a few years
But yeah just sheer stubbornness and determination played a part for sure
You