Boy now......it's been a long day, but I'm back here reading all these replies given today. We are having a great discussion, thanks to everyone's very thoughtful input!
If I may be presumptuous, I think everyone who has posted, is definitely including everybody else's favorite artistic, and/or fine craftsmanship efforts.....and all are to be considered within the realm of what "woodturning" has evolved to. The purpose here, might be to define categories of woodturning, so that all forms can be included.....but, separately appreciated on their own merits.
Might there be three "categories" of woodturning?
A) Traditional woodturning
B) Non-traditional woodturning
C) Embellishment of a woodturned object.
As far as the official definition of woodturning, previously defined as:
"Woodturning is the craft of using the wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around an axis of rotation."......this would probably be the exclusive purview of traditional woodturning. Dave Rasmussen's CNC creations would likely fall into the Non-traditional woodturning category.......and, embellished turnings would have a category all to itself. All three could be considered on their own unique merits, and within the category they reside.
Could ornamental turning be another entirely separate category?
-o-