Opening Ceremony in Willamette Hall
2027 Schedule
The 2027 Oregon Woodturning Symposium will feature a talented lineup of guest turners from across the region and beyond. Each brings a unique perspective and approach to the craft, offering attendees the opportunity to learn new techniques and gain insight from experienced woodturners.
8:00 AM - 8:20 AM
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Joe Fleming
Airbrushing Basics
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
John Beaver
Wave Bowl
Room 3
Cascade WT
Eli Avisera
Twin Spoons & Lady Pens, Multi-Axis Turning
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Jim Sannerud
Green Bowl, Turning From Tree to Table
Main Hall
Northwest Woodturners
Mike Mahoney
Urns. Hollow form with threaded lid
10:45 AM - 12:15 PM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Mike Jackofsky
Hollowing for Beginners
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
John Beaver
Flying Rib Vases
Room 3
Cascade WT
Eli Avisera
Platters with Carving & Texturing
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Jim Sannerud
From Log to Lager, Norwegian Ale Bowl
Main Hall
Northwest Woodturners
Mike Mahoney
Bowl coring
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM
Lunch
1:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Mike Jackofsky
Small Scale Hollowing
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
Eric Loftstrom
Skew skills
Room 3
Cascade WT
Eli Avisera
Long Stem Goblet
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Elizabeth Weber
From Green Wood to Turned & Embellished Boxes
Main Hall
Doug Schneiter
Basket Weave Illusion – Small Bowl
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Joe Fleming
Intermediate Airbrushing Techniques
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
Eric Loftstrom
End grain bowls
Room 3
Cascade WT
Eli Avisera
Twin Spoons & Lady Pens, Multi-Axis Turning
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Elizabeth Weber
Ogee Platter with Textured Rim
Main Hall
Doug Schneiter
Basket Weave Illusion – Small Plate
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Kathleen Duncan
Turning Thin Wall Bowls and Piercing
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
John Beaver
Form and Design
Room 3
Cascade WT
Steve Newberry
Multi axis teapot
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Jim Sannerud
Organic & Natural Finishes
Main Hall
Northwest Woodturners
Mike Mahoney
Quarter sawn platter
10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Mike Jackofsky
Everything but the Hollowing, making a pleasing shape
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
John Beaver
Cradle bowl
Room 3
Cascade WT
Steve Newberry
Canoe box
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Jim Sannerud
Green Bowl, Turning From Tree to Table
Main Hall
Northwest Woodturners
Mike Mahoney
Urns. Hollow form with threaded lid
11:45 AM - 1:15 PM
Lunch
1:15 PM - 2:45 PM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Mike Jackofsky
Hollowing for beginners
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
Janine Wang
Split Turned Frame
Room 3
Cascade WT
Eric Loftstrom
End grain bowls
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Elizabeth Weber
Beyond the Surface, Color and Textures
Main Hall
Doug Schneiter
Basket Weave Illusion – Tool Handle
3:30 PM - 5 PM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Kathleen Duncan
Turning Thin Wall Bowls and Piercing
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
Janine Wang
High End Spindles
Room 3
Cascade WT
Eric Lofstrom
Square rim bowls
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Elizabeth Weber
Lidded vessels: Form, Fit and Function
Main Hall
Doug Schneiter
Basket Weave Illusion – Hollow Form
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Banquet
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Mike Jackofsky
Small scale hollowing
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
Janine Wang
Split Turned Frame
Room 3
Cascade WT
Eli Avisera
Platters with Carving and Texture
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Jim Sannerud
From Log to Lager, Norwegian Ale Bowl
Main Hall
Northwest Woodturners
Mike Mahoney
Quarter sawn platters
10:15 AM - 11:45 AM
Room 1
Willamette Valley WT
Mike Jackofsky
Everything but the hollowing, how to make a pleasing shape
Room 2
Beaver State/South Coast WT
Janine Wang
High End Handles
Room 3
Cascade WT
Eli Avisera
Long Stem Goblet
Room 4
Oregon Coast/SWW
Jim Sannerud
Organic and Natural Finishes
Main Hall
Northwest Woodturners
Mike Mahoney
Bowl coring
Helpful Info
- Thursday check in for the 2027 OWS will be at the Linn County Expo Center lobby at 4 PM and end at 6:30 PM.
- Friday check in and packet pickup March 19th begins at 7:00 AM.
- The Opening Ceremony is Friday March 19th at 8:00 AM in Willamette Hall.
- The first demonstration is scheduled to begin at 8:30 AM.
Elizabeth Weber
Born and raised in Tennessee, Elizabeth she first specialized in engineering, earning an M.S. in civil engineering from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. In 2015 she began woodworking with her first creations including several pieces of furniture in the Arts and Crafts style, but she eventually turned to smaller objects and now specializes in bowls, spoons, and boxes. Her skills range from natural finish and simple forms to highly carved and painted forms that emulate natural motifs. She was awarded the American Association of Woodturner’s 2023 Professional Outreach Program’s Artist Showcase and teaches woodturning and carving across the country.
Eli Avisera
Eli Avisera is an internationally renowned woodworking artist and a world-class expert in woodturning, carving, wood sculpture, and chair making. He is also a luthier (violin maker) and has an extensive background in classic carpentry, cabinet and furniture making. Eli was born in 1960 and grew up in Jerusalem. He attended “Kiryat Noar” school in Jerusalem, specializing in their artistic woodcraft study program and he graduated in 1977. After working in traditional carpentry, Eli founded the first professional woodworking school in Israel in 1988. These classes include his creative turning concepts, furniture construction, wood carving, sculpture and a comprehensive study of the fine art of violin crafting. Eli has lectured, demonstrated his methodologies, and tutored students throughout the world. His vast woodworking talents and artistry can be seen in museums and treasured personal collections around the world.
Jim Sannerud
Jim and his wife Mary own Sannerud Studios, where they work with ceramics, metal, wood, and fiber to create sculpture, furniture, and textiles for the home. They share a studio near Grand Marais, Minnesota, which offers expansive, inspirational views of Lake Superior. For more information about our work and our studio, please visit our website at www.sannerudstudios.com.
Joe Fleming
Woodworking provides me with an outlet for my creativity. I enjoy finding a piece of wood, envisioning what it can become, and then transforming it into a beautiful art or craft piece. I make both art pieces and functional pieces, but I always strive for beauty. My woodturning consists all types of turning disciplines including bowls, hollow forms, platters, vases, boxes and furniture components. I use a variety of wood species in my work including local urban forested woods like eucalyptus, and other reclaimed wood. I also use wood from certified forestry projects in the Pacific Northwest, Mexico and Australia. I have been an amateur woodworker for over 50 years and an amateur woodturner for more than 25 years.
Kathleen Duncan
Growing up in Seattle, Kathleen spent hours watching her father turn early American furniture legs and other items on his Shopsmith. It never occurred to either of them that he could teach her. Ater she’d inherited the Shopsmith and moved back to Western Washington, she joined the Portland woodturning chapters. That is where she was introduced to the various aspects of woodturning and learned to turn. Following her retirement, she ventured into thin turning and began piercing her work with a dental drill.
Kathleen has served in various board positions for both Cascade Woodturners and the Southwest Washington Woodturners. She served on the AAW Board of Directors from 2015-2020. While on the AAW board, she started the AAW WiT (Women in Turning) Committee. She initiated many of the WiT activities which are currently in place.
John Beaver
After spending over 25 years in Hollywood, filming television commercials, John began experimenting with a lathe he had inherited. Before he even mastered the technique, he could see that he wanted to find a way to give the pieces a little more life. A bowl, or a vase, or a sculpture sits on a shelf and has a form, and there’s a certain beauty in that, but he wanted to add movement and energy to that form.
Having always lived near the Pacific Ocean, John was inspired to bring the motion and rhythm of the waves to a round object. The exploration of that concept led to the “wavy” design which is still the core signature of his work today.
The genesis of John’s work is his ability to turn a vessel, cut it apart, add, subtract or modify the elements, and then put it all back together again with the grain and wall alignment correct. John lives in Newport Beach, CA with his wife Candy. When he’s not in the studio he enjoys Golf, Paddle Tennis, Pickleball, Skiing, Cycling, Kayaking, Hiking and Bocce
Janine Wang
Janine is an artist and educator based out of Albany, Oregon. She makes sense of the world through making. Originally trained as an architect, she went on to study furniture design in order to get closer to the materials we work with, and this is where she encountered woodturning. Immediately entranced by the way wood-turned objects interact with the human body, she learned to see the world through the lens of turning, and to consider the many unexplored ways that woodturning can be integrated into the objects we live with. She now continues to investigate how we build things and spread material knowledge as an Assistant Professor of Teaching (Arts & Design) in Wood Science and Engineering within the Oregon State University College of Forestry.
She has a formal educational background in architecture and furniture arts from the Cooper Union School for Advancement of Science and Art and the Rhode Island School of Design respectively. She has garnered a working education from the wonderful woodworking and production industry in Philadelphia , done residencies at various craft institutions including the Museum for Art in Wood, Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, and Googleworks Center for the Arts, and learned to teach through her work with craft schools all across the country, Bucks County Community College, and the nonprofit organization Tiny WPA. She believes a hands-on approach is crucial in good design, and is excited to share in this as much and as often as she can.
Doug Schneiter
My paternal genealogy translates to “a woodsman who cuts”. I have always loved being in the forest and making things from wood. I followed that passion through college, earning degrees in Industrial Sciences at UNI and CSU. After nearly thirty years of teaching, I retired in 2014. I have kept busy since retiring with my woodturning and teaching woodturning throughout the U.S., at Symposia and club demos and workshops. My work has been featured in U.K. Woodturning and American Woodturner magazines. My current work reflects both ancient and contemporary Pueblo cultures and art in New Mexico.
I am currently represented by Cowboys and Indians Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Arizona.
Mike Jackofsky
Mike specializes in hollow vessels, many of which are natural edge pieces made from unique burls. He has been a “featured presenter” at the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) symposiums as well as the Utah Woodturning Symposium in Provo, Utah, and the SWAT Symposium in Waco, Texas. He has also participated numerous times in the Emma Lake Collaboration in Canada and has had his work selected for a number of AAW exhibitions.
His work is represented in many private collections around the world and is on display in the permanent collections of the Sam Maloof Historical Residence Museum in Alta Loma, CA, the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, CA, and the AAW collection in Minneapolis, MN. Mike has won numerous awards, including more than 20 first place awards at the San Diego international “Design In Wood Exhibition”. In 2008, he was the subject of a feature article in the January issue of “Woodturning” magazine, and in April of 2012, he was the author of a feature article in the AAW Journal titled “Working With Burl-Making Natural Edge Hollow Vessels”. In 2011 Mike released his first tutorial DVD, a two disc set titled, “Woodturning With Mike Jackofsky: Making A Hollow Vessel”, and his signature “Hollow-Pro Tools” have become very popular with hollow vessel turners around the world.
Mike Mahoney
I have been a professional bowlmaker since graduating from San Diego State in 1989. My main production items are salad bowls followed by burial urns, hollow forms, treenware, and any job that walks through the door. I learned to sell my work wholesale to American Crafts Galleries and catalog stores. I developed a style of work that highlighted the wood that I worked with. I have always sourced my wood from local tree yards and processed the wood myself. This gave me the ability to create unique objects from wood that could not have been purchased by a sawmill. My intent was to create work that would be noticeable as my own. I have been lucky enough to travel the world teaching my craft. I have taught in eight countries and across almost every state in our country. I am passionate about my craft and live and breathe for it. I never miss an opportunity to educate the public about what woodturning is and the wonderful people involved with the craft as a whole. The American woodturning movement has been an example to all craft mediums to the importance of sharing skills and techniques that enhance our abilities to make better work throughout the ages.
Mike Mahoney is recognized as a master craftsman in woodturning that has taught his craft in eight countries. Mike’s career was built on making salad bowls for American Crafts galleries and catalog companies, such as Sundance. He has sold his work at the Smithsonian, Philadelphia Craft Center, and the Washington DC Craft Show, as well as many other craft shows around the country. Mike and his wife Jenni reside near Plymouth, California and have a small farm where they grow pistachios, olives for oil, and flowers with their dogs, cats, and chickens.
Steve Newberry
In Junior High School my woodworking class was a nightmare. I was on the wrestling team at 67 pounds and really couldn’t deal with the weight of a hand plane while trying to square my cutting board project.
20 years later, I was looking for a hobby that I could have in common with my father in law. He had purchased a Shopsmith and my local Woodcraft store suggested I attend the Cascade Woodturners club meeting to see if woodturning would be the answer. Dale Larson was the presenter that night, and he turned a thin walled tall bowl in Ash with beautiful form and I knew I needed to turn wood.
I started with the usual bowls, platters, and boxes. About 10 years later I saw a Bob Espin demonstration on turning 3 sided twisted forms and became intrigued by making things that are not round on the one machine most capable of making round things. I now turn multi-axis pieces in spindle, faceplate, and mixed orientations. My projects include 3 sided twisted boxes, winged or canoe shaped boxes, cups, and teapots.
Now that I’ve given up my day job as a Family Physician, I can devote more time to my turning. I enjoy thinking my way through a new project and not accepting the limitation that whatever it is, it has to be round.
Eric Lofstrom
Physical Education Teacher by day and Woodturner by night, Eric is a dynamic and passionate teacher. His time away from school is filled with woodturning instruction at clubs and symposiums throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Eric’s educational background in Athletic Medicine, Biomechanics and Sports Pedagogy shines through in his teaching of how body movement influences every aspect of woodturning.
Simplifying the complex skill of tool control into basic building blocks is Eric’s favorite way to empower others with increased depth of understanding and confidence. Eric’s woodturning instruction thoughtfully balances the technical teaching of woodturning skills with artistic embellishments to inspire creative expression.
A teacher and coach to his core, Eric’s mission is to share an exuberance for exploration, connect with authenticity and presence, and to engage in meaningful work with the understanding and excitement that accompanies a growth-mindset.