John Van Kessel immigrated to Canada, from Holland, as a small boy in 1951. He grew up on a farm with his large family, near Forest Ontario, where he learned to work with his hands.
Professionally John was a teacher and school principal, in the London area. He and his wife raised two children, who are now adults. As retirement approached he knew he couldn’t sit on the couch all day. After careful consideration he bought an inexpensive lathe and some tools on a modest scale. It wasn’t long before he was hooked. Despite having two dust extractors in the furnace room he wasn’t able to contain the fine dust. He loves to tell his friends (and wife) that he wasn’t making saw dust, rather he was making divorce dust. This led (with his wife’s encouragement, bless her) to building a quaint new studio in the back yard. It overlooks Stoney Creek in north London, hence the name STONEY CREEK WOODTURNING. He upgraded with top of the line equipment as well.
John has been turning wood for the past eight years and sells the work at his studio, craft shows and art galleries. He has won a number of awards at a local level.
He dearly enjoys the artistic aspects of wood turning. To make beautiful forms gives him a great thrill. It pleases him to know that others find them appealing enough to have them in their homes. He believes in giving quality, because that is what he seeks himself. John started experimenting with dyes several years ago which has opened up a new dimension that he really likes. More recently he started doing decorative carving as well.
John works alone, but through the club, The Thames Valley Woodturners, he continues to learn. He does all operations from cutting the green wood to marketing the end products. The basic operations are; harvesting the green wood, cutting it into blanks to fit on the lathe, rough turning, drying, remounting on the lathe for finish turning, sanding and finishing, and finally marketing and selling.