Joel Rubin
With a wooden lathe and a passion for creativity, Joel Rubin has now retired from a career as an emergency medical physical and skydiving habitué and spends his time in his shop covered in wood dust.
“I used to skydive and when I gave [it] up I decided I needed another hobby. I'd always been intrigued by woodworking, so I decided, well let me try it.” And when he stumbled upon a wood lathe he fell in love with the work. In 2001, the former adrenaline seeker built his own woodworking shop in his garage and began his journey of woodturning. For the past 25 years now, Joel has taken classes with world-class woodturners, joined a few local woodworking clubs and thrown himself into his hobby.
His love for the craft is truly unadulterated, he allows creativity and curiosity to guide his next project by catching sight of an intriguing piece at a wood show or a video on the internet. “I say ‘geez that's really interesting. I'd like to see if I could do that.” and the next project begins.
While Joel has experimented with many kinds of projects ranging from bowls and candy dishes to salt cellars and ring holders, his most exotic pieces are his unique honeycomb-textured decor pieces. These intricate and stunning pieces are made with the lathe to get their general shape, cut into separate pieces that are hollowed and thinned out, glued back together and pierced with a highspeed drill to create the honeycomb pattern. emergency medicine physician.
While more of a hobbyist himself, Joel is open to commissions and can be reached at jh.rubin@verizon.net
Laura Dunnican
Her love for ceramics began with an offhanded class her junior year of college and she quickly fell in love with the craft. “After the end of the first semester, I was like, ‘I can’t imagine myself not doing this.’ I just felt very connected to the craft and developed the skill quickly,” Laura says.
In her last two years of college, Laura took a ceramic class every semester. Though she graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering, Laura entered into ministry after graduation and is now on the Global Missions Team with The Village Church in Flower Mound.
After a few years of hiatus, due to a lack of studio and the business of past grad life, Laura threw herself back into her passion again in early 2024 and now uses every chance she gets to pursue this passion that is so much “more than a hobby” at the Twisted Clay studio in Grapevine. She spent the summer of 2024 building her inventory and subsequently participated in two markets last Fall.
Laura’s style is heavily influenced by her home state and her love of nature, as well as her faith. Her floral pieces as well as those with a western flair speak to her experiences in such places as Big Bend National Park. This year she will move into the creation of dinnerware and is open to discussing commission work. Keep up with Laura on her Instagram @lauradceramics, find her work at her Etsy shop (@LauraDCeramics) or contact her from her website lauradceramics.com.