Today, the charity is of my choosing, the donation will be made to the “John Jordan Endowed Scholarship at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. The scholarship is targeted toward enthusiastic wood artists where the cost of taking these classes would cause a financial burden. We would appreciate your support!
John loved sharing his knowledge, particularly with young, eager, gifted students. It is my hope that many dreams may come true because they were afforded this opportunity.
Please be patient with me. I am certainly not a public speaker. A friend told me it would be easier if I pictured you guys naked…Sorry.
I would like to tell you a little about the John that I knew. I’m the other half of “John and Vicki.” Being in John’s arms was “home” to me for 46 years.
In 1977 John walked into a bar with his helmet. I walked up to him and said, “Either you play a mean game of football or you have a motorcycle outside. He took me riding and we were married 3-1/2 months later.
When we met, he was servicing banking equipment, primarily the ATMs.
Whenever something sparked John’s interest, he would learn everything he could about it. The man was brilliant.
In the mid 80s, his interest was wood. At first, he made custom furniture. He got a job making 14 sets of 9-foot-tall working louvered shutters for the historic Union Station in downtown Nashville That opportunity was huge!
He and a friend managed to build them in a small room in our house that John used for a shop. It was as crazy as it sounds. And I won’t even go into the story of them walking out to the driveway and the truck was missing. One of them had not the brakes and the truck had backed down the driveway, rolled across the road and down the hill on the other side….with several of the shutters in the back.
The money from that commission allowed him to become a full-time woodworker.
I heard him say more than once that he was scared to use a lathe, because he was afraid if he ever did, he wouldn’t want to do anything else. As usual John Jordan was right. Thankfully he was very good at it and quickly joined the ranks of other accomplished turners.
People tried to convince him that he needed a “bread and butter” item, but his heart was into making major pieces that required hours of carving and texturing after the woodturning process had been completed.
His passion paid off. Thanks to collectors and gallery owners John is now represented in close to 40 museums worldwide, including The Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute, The White House Collection which is now in the Clinton Library and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in the UK.
He was an early supporter of AAW and helped found the Tennessee Association of Woodturners. Both associations awarded him the honorary lifetime membership award.
He began sharing what he knew about woodturning with the community and quickly became known for his no-nonsense, simple approach as a teacher. He traveled all across the United States many times as well as internationally doing demonstrations and teaching workshops, but people quickly learned that he wouldn’t schedule anything until the Tennessee Titan football schedule was posted. Go Titans
In 1998 he made two videos: one explaining how to turn bowls and a second one on turning hollow vessels. Both of these videos were well received and have helped countless turners.
If you walk through any woodturning exhibit, his influence in the community is apparent. John shared his knowledge about wood selection and the techniques of working with green wood, which John turned exclusively, and later produced a DVD called, “The Aesthetics and Properties of Wood.”
He helped design and became the sole importer of Stubby Lathes, a specialty lathe made in Australia. We later moved our support to Robust, a young successful company in Wisconsin who developed and now manufactures what John would say is the best lathe available.
John started producing the tools he used so that they would be available for his students and other turners worldwide. I am continuing “John Jordan Woodturning” as his legacy still today; turners appreciate John Jordan quality……and demand for our tools continues to be great.
He understood the importance of knowing the history of woodturning, as well as knowing those who followed in his path.
John taught his share of classes here at Arrowmont, which was one of his favorite places to teach.
Once, in 1993 our daughter, Jennifer, who was 5 at the time, was on a competitive dance team performing nearby. He jokingly told his students that if they didn’t attend the performance, he would fail them. I believe they all showed up!
Any explanation of who John was would not be complete if I omit that he was known as being a curmudgeon. If you asked John what he thought of something, stand back, because he was going to tell you. However there was a softness in John that was rarely shared in groups, but one on one, most people came to know very well. He would give you the shirt off of his back, invite you to our home and spend hours texting new turners who had questions. If he ever told you he liked your work, you took that as a huge compliment, because you knew that he meant it.
John could not have done what he did with his art without the huge contribution of his supporting collectors, amazing customers, wonderful friends and the crafts community. You will always be my family.
I am humbled at the distinguished honor of Arrowmont renaming their wood shop “John Jordan Center for Wood,” as well as the creation of the “John Jordan Endowed Scholarship.”
John would be deeply touched.
Our family is grateful.
We love you.
I will end with, after hearing this on a commercial together, I challenged John to end one of his demos at the national symposium in Chattanooga. He actually did, so I will sign off with,
….”Stay Fresh, Cheeseballs!” ❤️
Thank you.
Now I hand you over to one of the best! Hey Lyle! Are you ready to entertain these nice people?