Maureen & Theo Kampes, met
each other at age 14 and married at age 19. We
recently celebrated our 41st wedding
anniversary.We reside and own our home in
the state of South Australia about 12 miles
south of our capital city ADELAIDE. We
owned & operated an Australia wide
furniture removals company " TOWNHOUSE
REMOVALS " for 28 years which is now sold
to our eldest son and two of our ex employees.
WE retired self funded at age 55
My late father was a carpenter
& cabinet maker. My woodwork hobby began
some 25 years ago mainly woodturning ( self
taught).
Once the grandsons arrived I
began with wooden toys & trucks etc. for
presents and pleasure. Maureen's interests
meanwhile were knitted baby clothes , dolls etc.
and also dolls house miniature furniture. She's
also an avid antique miniature jug collector and
has at least 800 around the place( sourced
mainly within Aus.)
We both enjoy good music and
"country" and love attending live
stage shows or a sing along or two. We like to
share a drop of " red "
and amber fluid with good company and friends,
but Theo has been known to over-indulge in a few
too many beers on the odd occasion.
7 years ago I bought a small
"Hegner" Scrollsaw, however probably
due to work and family commitments never really
concentrated on real scrolling until about 3
years ago, again self taught and reading scroll
magazines and books (all from U.S.A. of course).
I saw scrolling as an
interesting challenge in view of the limited
available projects displayed in Australia and
rare appearances at craft fairs or outlets.
I am entirely fascinated with some of the
complexities and intricacies involved to produce
an eye catching appeal.
Once Maureen witnessed some of
my earlier attempted projects she was delighted
and then also became hooked on it, and she is
now steadily improving with each different item
she has produced.
18 months ago we assisted as
founding members in forming the "South Oz
Scrollers" club which now has about 22
active members. We meet monthly for a full
days workshop to promote the scrollsaw arts in
our local technical college workshops.
I am also a volunteer toy
maker for our local charity group called "Toymendous"
which produces approx. 1,000 new wooden toys
each year for distribution to the disadvantaged
or underpriveliged kids within our community at
Xmas time.
We both find our scrolling
involvment gives relaxing pleasure and rewarding
opportunities in getting to know and meeting
friendly people not just here in Australia but
now also in the United States and even the rest
of the world.
Scrolling is still in it's
infancy here down under and not quite as
prolific as in your country, however I believe
that the future is looking much brighter for us,
and it's likely to expand over the next few
years, especially if by attending this 2002 SAW
Convention Maureen and I can experience meeting
and talking with some of your country's most
talented crafts people and hopefully bring back
with us to Australia fresh new ideas and
scrolling products which will be of great
interest to our somewhat obscured and
uninitiated "woodies" and also give us
an opportunity upon our return to tell our
colleagues how you Americans do actually
"Rock and Scroll" around your saws.
Keep on making SAWdust Folks
Theo and Maureen
Note: To
see more of Theo and Maureen's work visit their
Gallery page.
