Mahogany Jewelry Box, Honduran mahogany, 22" dia., 1975 (Photo: John Kelsey)
	A memento Leo made for each Board member at the first AAW Board meeting.
	Plant stand made for Susan and Ernie Conover in 1989 from white pine.

Leo Doyle, San Bernadino, CA

The loss of founding AAW board member, Leo Doyle on August 12, 2021, was a hard blow to me, for it was at our first Board meeting in 1986 in Washington, D.C. that I met him. He stepped in to replace Albert LeCoff, who recused himself to start The Woodturning Center. Leo was a Professor of Art at California State University, San Bernardino running a program in Studio Art Woodworking. He was well suited to the Board and served as Vice President. Leo received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of American Craftsman in 1969 and went on to receive a Master of Fine Arts from SAC in 1971.

Leo and I hit it off from the start, for we were both furniture makers with a woodturning problem. We both loved the Thousand Islands area of New York, coming from families that summered there and shared time in that area most every summer since.

We were both influenced by Tage Frid; The School of American Craftsman was started by Frid in 1950s. After graduation Leo rebelled against Frid’s precise workmanship, instead building art furniture that was affordable, beautiful, innovative and kitschy. His furniture always incorporated turnings and often found objects. Our time together included visiting antique shops, thrift stores and yard sales in quest of just the right object. One year our outings were in search of boat oars, canoe paddles and small anchors.

A motif Leo commonly added to his art was wooden birds. He band sawed them to shape, balloon sanded then to final finish, then applied paint. He worked fast and made thousands of them in his lifetime. Leo was a gifted paint artist; paint was a cornerstone of his furniture. Just the right color and value, meticulously applied—always with a brush.

Leo, may your gouge always be sharp, your paint dry instantly and the brush wash itself.

Leo was the special guest of the Lancaster County Woodturners Thursday Coffee Hour on May 27, 2021 and the recording of that can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/vugMaBUp-is

-Ernie Conover, Middlefield, OH
  AAW member number 4