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Seattle Woodturners

We promote woodturning through education, information, outreach, community, and inspiration.

Resources

We list here some resources, schools, organizations, and services that some of our members have used or heard about.  Please note that we cannot ensure the quality and integrity of all resources listed.  Instead, consider it a starting point for your own exploration and perform due diligence.

Organizations

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National

American Association of Woodturners (AAW) is a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the art and craft of woodturning worldwide by providing opportunities for education, information, and organization to those interested in turning wood. With more than 15,000 members and a network of over 350 local chapters, including Seattle Woodturners, it produces the journal American Woodturner, the foremost publication on the art and craft of woodturning in the world and maintains an extensive glossary of woodturning terms.

Regional AAW

These are the Washington state chapters of the AAW. See their websites for complete details.

Symposia

The AAW sponsors numerous woodturning symposiums throughout the country, which provide an excellent opportunity to see demonstrations by world-class woodturners and come together with turners from other areas. The symposiums typically require the help of local volunteers, which is a great way for chapter members to support these events. Volunteers can also qualify for a substantially reduced cost of attendance. Listed here are the scheduled symposiums for the upcoming year.

  • National AAW Symposium – 2020 June 4-7, Louisville, KY
  • AAW Segmented Woodturning Symposium – 2021 September 16-19, in Saint Charles, Illinois. This symposium is by a specialty group of the AAW and focuses on segmented woodturning.

Regional

Some woodturning clubs hold regional events. We list below key symposiums in our Western part of the country (keep in mind that Eastern clubs hold similar ones). Also note many of the regional clubs hold one day events, with 1- 2 demonstrators and hands-on opportunities. In particular, the Olympic Woodturners, Northwest Woodturners, and Yellowstone Woodturners strive to sponsor such an event each year. For full details on woodturning events both locally and across the country, consult the AAW calendar.

Woodturning Schools and Classes

Our club has an excellent mentor program, but many of us also like to enhance our woodturning knowledge through structured courses.

Northwest Schools

  • The Port Townsend School of Woodworking was founded by local artist in 2015 and aims to inspire a lifelong passion for craftsmanship through education in woodworking and traditional building trades. Their  upcoming courses include  two five-day classes by our club member Bonnie Klein.
  • The Pratt Fine Arts Center is dedicated to fostering artistic development and engagement locally, nationally and internationally.  Upcoming woodturning classes  include several taught by our club members.
  • Puget Sound Woodworking  is a small, family-run company endeavors to provide world class, handcrafted products and educational experiences in a fun, comfortable and safe environment. They occasionally offer woodturning classes so you might check their Education page.
  • Rocker Woodworking and Hardware is a nationwide chain of industry-leading woodworking and hardware materials and has several stores in Washington that offer demonstrations and courses, which they list on their home page (scroll down).  Rockler Seattle has occasional woodturning. classes, so keep checking its for listings and  Rocker Tukwila has six woodturning courses scheduled for March 2018.
  • Sumner Woodworker Store is a family owned store in Sumner, WA, which has held woodturning classes in the past. Contact them directly for details.
  • Woodcraft of Seattle is a Seattle-based store that is part of our nation’s oldest and largest supplier chain of quality woodworking tools and supplies, with stores in 70 major metropolitan areas across the  US. Its classes are typically one to two days and includes ones taught by several of our club members.

National Schools

This national schools offer a range of educational opportunities for people’s differing skills levels and learning styles. For further resources, the Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild also maintains an extensive school list.

  • Anderson Ranch is located in Snowmass Village, Colorado and a place where artists of all levels come from across the country and around the world to explore new ideas, hone their art making skills and engage in meaningful dialogue. It has a limited number of woodturning workshops and is fairly expensive but offers a beautiful setting.
  • Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts is a well known place of education, over a century old and located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It provides opportunity for people of all skill levels to spend a weekend, a week or two weeks immersed in the study of a variety of media and forms of expression, including woodturning courses.
  • The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship is located in the coastal village of Rockport, Maine and offers one and two-week workshops, twelve-week and eight-week Intensives, a Nine-month Comprehensive and more. They have several woodturning courses, including “Turning Intensive” an eight-week course lead by professional woodworker Beth Ireland, who demonstrated at our club in 2017.
  • Craft Supplies USA is located in Provo, Utah and has provided craft supplies since 1982. It runs the Dale L Nish School of Woodturning, which offers state-of-the-art workshop facility and a full calendar of two, three, and five day classes taught by staff, as well as Signature classes taught by internationally recognized turners. In 2018 their Signature classes include: Stuart Bay, Nick Agar, Jimmy Clewes, Glenn Lucas, Mike Jackofsky, and Mike Mahoney.
  • Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is located in Deere Isle, Main and offers intensive studio-based workshops (from short workshops to two-week sessions) in a variety of craft media including woodturning.  Check their catalog for yeary offerings.
  • John C. Campbell Folk School is located in Cherokee County, North Carolina and offers a unique combination of rich history, beautiful mountain surroundings, and a catalog that includes a range of crafts–including woodturning, cooking, and blacksmithing—making it a great choice if you have a partner or friend interested in a non-woodturning experience.
  • Marc Adams School School of Woodworking is located in Franklin, Indiana and is a highly professionally oriented school that teaches students how to use state of the art woodworking equipment and offers an MASW Master program. It offers several woodturning workshops in 2018.
  • Mt. Diablo Woodturning Center is located in Pleasant Hill, California and offers woodturning classes (ranging from a few days to weekly sessions) throughout the year.
  • North House Folk School is located in Grand Marais, Minnesota and teaches traditional northern crafts in a student-centered learning environment. It’s approach is rustic–in fact, they only recently added powered lathes—so it appeals to students looking for a back to the land, authentic approach. Their calendar includes several woodturning courses for 2018.
  • Peters Valley School of Crafts is located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, New Jersey) and enriches lives through the learning, practice, and appreciation of fine crafts. Between May and October each year, Peters Valley offers over 125 intensive 2-5 day long workshops, including woodturning workshops taught by Graeme Priddle, Curt Theobald, and others.

Additional Workships

Many well-known turners also o er classes in their studios. A few include:
Martha Collins (Sequim. WA) – classes at her studio: h p://www.studiomarthacollins.com/

MarthaCollinsSeminar2018.pdf
Trent Bosch (Fort Collins, CO) – h p://trentbosch.com/workshops/overview/

Page 10

Where to go for informa on (con nued)

Other events / classes / opportuni es (con nued)

Long- me club member Jack Wayne o ers classes at his shop—h ps://woodwhirled.com/ collec ons/classes

Classes with Glenn Lucas at his studio in Ireland – h p://glennlucaswoodturning.com/product- category/classes/

J. Paul Fennell Demo and Workshop at Chinook Woodturning Guild – Lethbridge, AB, CANADA 5/19/2018 » 5/20/2018 h p://www.chinookwoodturning.org/

Jimmy Clewes 6-8 July at Black Forest, 16-20 July at Cra Supplies. See h ps:// http://www.blackforestwood.com/index.php/workshops for more Black Forest classes. He also o ers clas- ses at his studio in Las Vegas – h p://jimmyclewes.com/woodturning-classes/

Online Forums

Most of these forums actually cover more than woodturning – e.g., other types of woodworking, workshop-related ques ons, buy and sell, etc.

Sawmill Creek – h p://www.sawmillcreek.org/forum.php

AAW Forums – h p://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php

Woodturner’s Resource – h p://www.woodturnersresource.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

Lumberjocks – h p://lumberjocks.com/forums/14

Woodnet Forums – h ps://www.forums.woodnet.net/

Canadian Woodworking – h ps://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/forum/woodworking/turning? 10-Turning=

Wood Central – h p://www.woodcentral.com/woodworking/forum/turning.pl Woodturners Unlimited – h p://www.woodturnersunlimited.com/forum/viewforum.php?

f=4&sid=756d43672e50e8a5d97196ab21b985f6
Ornamental Turners – h p://ornamentalturners.com/forums/index.php
Australian Woodwork Forums – h p://www.woodworkforums.com/
Interna onal Associa on of Penturners – h p://www.penturners.org/forum/
World of Woodturners—h ps://www.thewows.com/ (requires invita on for full access).

Social Media / Newsle ers

Many of the schools / ar sts / clubs men oned above can be followed on Facebook, Instagram, Twi er, watched on Youtube, or read about in electronic newsle ers you can subscribe to for free to stay current. See the speci c school / ar st websites for details on these op ons.

 

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