Events
On top of all the great demonstrations, the AAW Woodturning Symposium features events where you can see inspirational wood art, try out new tools and gear, celebrate your peers' accomplishments, support charities, and get your family involved.
Instant Gallery
(P) = Free Public Access
Gallery Hall Hours:
Thursday: 6:00 - 8:00pm
Friday & Saturday: 8:30am - 6:00pm
Sunday: 8:30am - 1:00pm
Every registered (paid) attendee is welcome to bring three pieces to display in the huge Instant Gallery. Take your time to enjoy the world’s largest display of turned wood. This nearly 30,000 sq.ft. exhibit will amaze and inspire. With work by turners of every level, this is a great chance to see an enormous variety of woodturnings. Learn more about the instant gallery and how you can get your work displayed here.
Intimate Critiques
Want honest, qualified feedback on your work? Sign-up for an Intimate Critique to get constructive feedback from some of the most knowledgeable and respected woodturners, woodworkers, and curators. Register in advance for a timeslot in the Instant Gallery.
Professional Outreach Program (POP) Exhibition and Live Auction: Balance (P)
An annual event since 2007, this year’s small-scale international show features emerging and established artists from ten countries interpreting the theme Balance, from the physical to the metaphysical. Proceeds from the Saturday auction support POP initiatives, including the Instant Gallery awards and panel discussions. The auction is at 1:30pm ET on Saturday, May 25.
(P) = Free Public Access
Special Exhibitions & Auctions
AAW Member Exhibition: Common Roots (P)
Reflecting the range of styles, techniques, and creative approaches of our members, this year’s theme explores our common roots from the history and connections we have as turners, to roots as symbols of strength and beyond to what we share in community and the world. There are two prizes: Master’s Choice ($300) and People’s Choice ($200). Be sure to cast your vote in the exhibition by 2:00p.m. Saturday!
The Bill Luce Collaboration and Exhibition (P)
For this special exhibition, invited artists created new works from blanks and unfinished pieces left by the late Bill Luce, whose pursuit of form led to a body of work known for its pure line, perfect proportions, and understated excellence. Work in this exhibition, organized by Dale Larson and Malcolm Zander, will be auctioned online on October 26 at 1p.m. Eastern Time. A special thank you to Bill’s wife Monica for her generous contributions.
POP Artist Showcase Exhibition (P)
A study in contrasts, this year’s awardees, Heather Marusiak and Kevin Jesequel are two talented emerging wood artists with distinctly different approaches. See their shared exhibition, attend their demonstrations, and learn more about their creative journeys at the Artist Showcase panel discussion.
POP Merit Award Show (P)
Well-known for decades of innovation and creativity in multi-axis woodturning, this retrospective exhibition celebrates Mark Sfirri’s long career as a furniture maker, teacher, leader, artist, and turner. Informal artist talk Friday at 12:30p.m. in the gallery.
AAW Benefit Live Auction (P)
5:30pm on May 24 in the Portland Ballroom
A gathering of extraordinary turned works in wood. Browse, dream, bid. The work will be on display during the Thursday opening and Friday hours only. Proceeds support AAW grants and educational initiatives.
The Woodturning Trade Show
The AAW Symposium Trade Show is jam-packed with all the latest and greatest woodworking and woodturning equipment, tools, jigs, wood, and supplies. See it all up close and in action, and get your questions answered by the manufacturers. Many vendors offer giveaways and Symposium exclusive discounts too!
Trade Show Hours:
Thursday (preview): 6pm – 8pm
Friday & Saturday: 8:30am – 6pm
Sunday: 8:30am – 1pm
2024 Exhibiting Vendors:
Airbrushing Wood
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts
Branches To Bowls Ltd.
Carter and Son Toolworks
Clapham’s Beeswax Products Ltd
Clark's Art Beyond
ClubExpress, a division of Lumaverse Technologies
Craft Supplies USA
Curt Theobald Studios
D-Way Tools
Easy Inlay
EZ Jigs - Chefwarekits
Gallery Hardwoods
Gilmer Wood Company
Hunter Tool Systems
Joshua Salesin
JPW Industries / JET / Powermatic
Kallenshaan Woods
Lucid Woodturners / XTool Lasers
Free Public Access
Lyle Jamieson Woodturning LLC
Matt's Wood
MDI Woodcarvers Supply
Milwaukie Hardwoods, LLC
Niles Bottle Stoppers
Oregon State University
Peke Safety
Planet Plus Ltd
Robert Sorby Ltd
Robust Tools
Rockler Woodworking & Hardware
Stainless Bottle Stoppers
Stuart Batty Tools
Teknatool USA
Trent Bosch Tools
Woodturner PRO
Woodturners Smocks
Woodturning Magazine - GMC Publications Ltd
Family-Friendly Activities
Learn To Turn Youth Program
Free for kids ages 10 to 18 to learn to use the lathe with experienced woodturning insructors. Space is limited and each registered youth must be accompanied and sponsored by an adult who is a paid registrant for the event. Students will make a variety of projects including an ice cream scoop, ball and cup game, turned apples, a leaf bowl, twist pen, screwdriver, tea lights, and a turned pear. Advanced registration required.
Portland City Sightseeing Tour
10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Saturday, May 25
Get a closer look at Portland, the City of Roses, and some of the quintessential stops for any visitor as you are guided around the city on a tour bus. Prowl through Powell’s City of Books (the world's largest used and new bookstore, occupying an entire city block and housing approximately one million books), stop and smell the roses at the International Rose Test Garden, and pick up a sweet treat from a local donut shop. Along the way, your guide will show points of interest and highlight fun facts and historical tidbits about the city. Pick-up and drop-off will be at the Oregon Convention Center and this tour will be capped at 37 people.
Cost: $45
Register by Friday, May 24
Social Events
Tradeshow & Gallery Hall Opening Reception
Mingle with other woodturning enthusiasts, get a first look at the special exhibitions, and browse the latest products and tools in the tradeshow while you enjoy hors d'oeuvres and drinks.
Friday Evening & Saturday Evening Social Receptions
Catch up with old friends or make new ones as you reflect on a full day of woodturning. Light refreshments and a cash bar will be available.
AAW Banquet, Keynote Presentation & Awards Ceremony (paid ticket required)
Join your fellow turners in the ballroom for a seated dinner to celebrate the woodturning community, experience a unique keynote presentation and bid on the Silent Auction items. The Award Ceremony will celebrate AAW's Honorary Lifetime Member, POP Merit Award Artist, Chapter accomplishments, AAW Member Exhibition Masters' Choice and People's Choice winners. Consider donating a turned piece of artwork, woodturning-related supplies, or something else to benefit the AAW’s educational mission and support its educational programs. Drop your donation off in the Gallery and Exhibition Hall.
Keynote Presentation - Turning Toward Tropical Trees: Becoming Rainforest Ambassadors
Dr. Nalini M. Nadkarni
Forest Ecologist & Professor of Biology at the University of Utah
Dr. Nadkarni will describe how her lifelong love of trees drew her to a career of studying the plants and animals that live in tree canopies of tropical and temperate forests. Human activities such as deforestation now threaten these forests, and the flow of tropical woods to woodturners is restricted because their biology and the social issues in their native habitats make them highly vulnerable. Dr. Nadkarni's recent ventures into woodturning have made her aware of the beauty of tropical tree wood. She will describe ways that turners can actively contribute to the restoration and flourishing of the tropical trees that create the beautiful wood we love to turn.
Charitable Activities
Empty Bowls (P)
Recipient: Sunshine Division, Portland, Oregon
Each year, AAW members create and donate bowls and other items that are sold in the Instant Gallery to raise money for a nonprofit organization in the host city. Large or small, each bowl costs only $25. One hundred percent of the proceeds this year will support Sunshine Division – an organization that has been providing free accessible food and clothing relief to Portland families and individuals since 1923.
(P) = Free Public Access
Beads of Courage (P)
AAW members create unique lidded boxes crafted with love and care to donate in support of Beads of
Courage, a nationwide program providing innovative, arts-in-medicine supportive programs to transform the treatment experience of children coping with serious illnesses. Through Beads of Courage, children receive a unique bead to represent each medical procedure or treatment. Their collection of beads becomes a tangible record of their journey. Each woodturned box will hold a child’s precious beads..
Auctions Supporting Educational Programs (P)
Proceeds from the AAW Benefit Live Auction and the Silent Auction support the AAW’s educational mission and programs. Consider donating a turned piece of artwork, woodturning-related supplies, or something else to AAW’s silent auction. Drop your donation off in the Gallery Hall.