Abbey of Regina Laudis: Woodturning

Woodturning at the Abbey takes place in the St. Francis carpentry shop, which was first opened under Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B. in the 1970s and is now overseen by Mother Alma Egger, O.S.B.. Lathe work began with Mother Michael Mary Coonrod, O.S.B. in 1984, with a focus on furniture restoration that expanded to include the creation of candleholders and vases. Currently Sister Gregory Healy operates the lathe creating bowls, spoons, vases, and pens. She studies under Don Metz of the Nutmeg Woodturners League, having first begun under the tutelage of the late Buster Shaw, former president of the League.

bowl

Most works are derived from trees felled for the maintenance of pasture fence lines or harvested in accordance with the Abbey's forest management plan, so that the turned pieces emerge from within a cycle of stewardship practiced by the nuns to nurture the regenerative processes within the local ecosystem. Through woodturning, trees that are dying or inhibitive to the health of their surrounding environment become transformed into works of art or practical objects useful for everyday life.

The lathe work allows for the repair of tools at the monastery, fashioning new handles for items such as a tomato corer for preserving work or a draw knife for cleaning animal hides.

The woodturning studio also helped restore the mahogany stairwell balustrade in the St. Gregory women's guesthouse (built in the 1700s), through the turning of an additional newel post and replacement of broken spindles. The ability to repair wooden items facilitates fidelity to the Rule of St. Benedict which asks that "all utensils of the monastery and its whole property" be seen as "sacred vessels of the altar" (Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 31). Finding ways to repair or recycle items instead of throwing them away expresses this respect for material creation. As Pope Francis wrote in his environmental encyclical, Laudato Si', "The entire material universe speaks of God’s love, his boundless affection for us" (§84). One special area of reclamation has been to take the wooden boards of the choir stalls from our former chapel and turn them into pens, recognizing that the wood, both within choir and now in the form of writing instruments, has a sacramental capacity to express divine creativity and love.

The pens and other turned items will be available for sale when the Art Shop reopens at the completion of the New Horizons Renovation Project.

GALLERY