1998 Best of Show by David S. Seagraves

2002 Best of Show by Fred Cogelow

Any member of AWC can enter the competition. It's a non-profit corporation and membership includes informational newsletters, discount admission to the Putnam Museum during Congress Week, access to the seminars and competition, and a copy of the annual pictorial Show Report. Each year, the AWC hosts a variety of interesting and informative seminars taught by some of the foremost carvers in the world, in woodcarving, clay sculpting, painting, tool sharpening, and more.

This is a wood carving experience you don't want to miss. For more information, visit them online.

Anybody remotely interested in carving is familiar with Thomas Chippendale and his son. A Web site devoted to the pair is operated by the Chippendale Society, which was founded in 1965 to "advance public education and to promote the appreciation and study of the work of Thomas Chippendale senior and junior, and to acquire, preserve and maintain examples of their work for the benefit of the nation".

A substantial proportion of the Society's membership live in Otley or Wharfedale (Chippendale's birthplace) where the townspeople have long cherished the connection with the "Shakespeare of English furniture". There is an annual dinner held as near as possible to the anniversary of Chippendale's baptism (5th June 1718), an annual lecture in the autumn, and a visit each spring to a nearby place of interest. There are generally three newsletters each year which enable members to keep in touch about activities and news. The Society's important collections of documents, drawings and furniture have their home at Temple Newsam (Leeds Museums and Galleries), where they are displayed in sympathetic context of other 18th century works of art.

To learn more, visit them online. To see a short profile of a carver who reproduces Chippendale masterpieces, click here.