Alaska Woodturners' Association
Woodturning Symposium

Every year the AWA hosts an annual woodturning symposium where we present Master Turners with International or National status.  You do not have to be an experienced turner to gain education, tips, and skill building techniques from this event.

What to expect at the Symposium

Our club charges $50 per day if paid in advance or $60 per day if paid at the door. This helps to cover the cost the club incurs to have the event. The Symposium is held on Saturday and on Sunday. You may purchase pre-paid admittance to the Symposium by visiting our Symposium Admittance web page.

The Annual AWA Symposiums usually start at 8:30 am. There will be two woodturning demonstrations taking place simultaneously, one in each bay area of Hardware Specialities, Inc. You may sit and watch one demonstration, or you may walk between them. Each demonstration period runs about one and a half hours, followed by a break for about fifteen minutes. There is about a forty-five minute lunch break between 12:15 and 1:30 PM, then there are two more sessions of demonstrations. Demonstrations are usually over by 5:15-5:30 PM.

You should have enough time to go out for a quick bite of lunch during the lunch break, or you can bring your lunch with you. Coffee and donuts are served in the mornings.

In addition to the Symposium, we take advantage of having our master turners while they are in Alaska and hold hands-on classes. These classes are usually two or three days long. This provides excellent opportunities for turners to learn new techniques, or to hone their current techniques to improve their turning skills. The cost is $150 per day for the hands-on classes, which is an excellent price for the experience. The cost of a plane ticket, hotel and ground transportation would far exceed that price if you went to where they lived to take classes.

For information on hands-on woodturning classes with our next Master Turners, please see the Hands-On Classes web page.