Al Stirt has been a professional woodturner for more than 40 years. His work is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Smithsonian, the White House, the Museum of Art and Design, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. He has demonstrated and taught about woodturning & design in Australia, England, Ireland, New Zealand, and Canada as well as throughout the U.S. In 1997 the American Association of Woodturners awarded him an Honorary Lifetime Membership for his commitment and contributions to the field of woodturning. In addition to his functional bowls and platters, for the last 20 years Alan has been making ceremonial objects to try to address emotional & spiritual needs.
Ashley Harwood currently lives in Charleston, SC, where she creates her work and teaches at her personal studio. She has demonstrated in many professional venues throughout the US and abroad, as far away as Australia. Her teaching focuses on fine spindle turning and the Push Cut method of bowl turning along with the 40/40 grind on a bowl gouge. She received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon with a focus in sculpture and installation, and her design aesthetic is heavily influenced by her background in glass blowing. Ashley focuses on works that are completed entirely on the lathe, without carving, texturing, or burning. She uses simple, classic forms along with distinctive design elements that result in an approachable body of work with a high level of craftsmanship. Primarily, she makes utilitarian bowls, ornaments, and jewelry. Her teaching has a strong focus on tool control and sharpening.
Find out more about Ashley by visiting her website: ashleyharwood.net, on Instagram @ashleygharwood , or on Facebook.
Benoît Averly lives and works in Burgundy (France). Born in 1980, he initiated himself to woodturning at age 22. A short training and several trips to Europe and America allowed him to become professional in 2003 and quickly be recognized in his field. Recipient of several awards (“Young creators Contest” of Ateliers d’Art de France, “Purchase Award” from the American Association of Woodturners, USA, etc. ), he still regularly shares his knowledge during demonstrations in different countries.
After a few years, his exploration of wood naturally extended to sculpture. Self-taught and instinctive, Benoît Averly creates in minimalist style pieces of work with sharp contrasts, playing with light, lines, and textures. The rigor and sensitivity of his shapes are in harmony with the nobility of living material. The contemporary spirit of his work allows him to find his place in various locations across the world, the fancy “Art Chalet” in Courchevel, France for example, Dubai, Singapore, and Japan just to name a few. His creations, free-standing pieces or wall sculptures are also used by many interior designers, and he is exhibited in art galleries in France and abroad.
Find out more about Benoit by visiting his website: http://www.benoitaverly.com, on Instagram @benoitaverly_sculptor, or on Facebook.
Doug Schneiter, Colorado, is a long time professional woodturner and retired woodshop teacher. Doug has been a favorite demonstrator at regional and national woodturning symposiums for many years. For many years, Doug focused primarily on hollow forms and turnings that incorporate natural voids and imperfections in the wood to enhance the piece.
In recent years, Doug’s focus has been on creating basket weave designs on bowls, platters, and hollow forms. In this Signature Class, Doug will teach students techniques he uses to create Basket Illusion designs by combining woodburning, coloring dyes, and turning techniques to create his beautiful basket weave pieces. While the focus of the class will be on the basket weave process, fundamentals including proper tool technique, sharpening and improving each student’s overall skill set.
Find out more about Doug by visiting his website: www.dougschneiterwoodturner.com, or on Instagram @dougschneiter
Eli Avisera, Israel, Eli has demonstrated and taught woodturning for over 30 years in many countries around the world, along with numbers of symposiums including the AAW and Utah Woodturning symposiums. Eli Avisera is an exceptionally talented woodturner and wood artist. Growing up in Israel, Eli learned woodworking at a young age and continued to refine his skills by working with prominent woodworkers and wood sculptors. Today, Eli’s work is easily recognized by its unique style, superb craftsmanship, and attention to detail in every way. By combining multiple disciplines including laminating, coloring, carving, texturing, and multi-axis/traditional turning, Eli creates stunning signature work that is highly sought after by collectors around the world.
Find out more about Eli by visiting is account on Instagram @eliavisera, or on Facebook.
Glenn Lucas, Ireland, is a well-established production turner specializing in utility ware. He started turning in 1990 at the age of sixteen, producing thousands of bowls and platters each year. Glenn has become a popular demonstrator and teacher in Ireland, England, Europe and the USA and has released two highly successful DVDs on the techniques of turning. Glenn has a reputation for efficiency and having an in depth knowledge of the tools of the trade. A week with Glenn will help you master the techniques of turning.
To learn more about Glenn Lucas visit www.glennlucas.com
Jason Breach, England, began turning at the early age of twelve and now has over 25 years of experience, not just in woodturning but as a furniture maker as well. His early introduction along with his passion of working with wood as a natural resource has allowed Jason to hone his skills and knowledge; he enjoys communicating these techniques with others allowing them to develop their own skills and abilities.
Over the years Jason has had the chance to learn from and be guided by the likes of Ray Key, Bert Marsh, and Alan Batty. These encounters helped to develop his skills, which now allow him to create a diverse range of items on the lathe, his specialty is turned wooden boxes.
To learn more about Jason Breach visit www.jasonbreach.co.uk
Jimmy Clewes is not your ordinary woodturner. Upon a first meeting, one would think of him as a renegade, a free thinker and not within the stereotypical image of a woodturner. His charming British style, unending wit, creative mind, and magnetic personality are only some of the attributes that make him popular in the woodturning demonstration circuit.
Jimmy is on the Register of Professional Woodturners in the United Kingdom and a member of the American Association of Woodturners. He has over 22 years of experience in woodturning and woodworking. The demand for his services as a freelance demonstrator and teacher takes him all over the world including his homeland of the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Belgium, Australia.
To visit more about Jimmy Clewes, visit www.jimmyclewes.com
Kip Christensen, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Technology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He has co-authored three books and co-produced eight instructional DVDs about woodturning. His work has been published in over two dozen books. His turnings have been pictured in a variety of magazines and displayed in many galleries and international juried exhibitions. His work is also housed in numerous collections, both public and private. Kip has been invited to give over 250 national and international presentations at workshops and symposia. His work is characterized by clean lines and fine detail. Kip has a particular interest in woodturning education and is often involved in teaching turners about techniques and projects used in teaching others how to turn.
To learn more about Kip Christensen, visit www.learningturning.com
Kirk DeHeer, a long time workshop assistant and now resident instructor, Kirk DeHeer has extensive knowledge of woodturning tools, equipment and turning techniques that will enhance any woodturner’s ability level. A top-rated and personable instructor, Kirk emphasizes fundamentals including sharpening and tool techniques giving students a firm foundation upon which to improve.
Marcus Reid is professional woodturner and furniture-maker based locally in Provo, Utah. Originally only doing flat work, he had the good fortune just after he graduated from high school to begin a full-time apprenticeship with master furniture-maker Chris Gochnour in Salt Lake City. Years later while working in another high-end custom furniture shop in Utah he discovered, out of necessity, an aptitude for production spindle turning. He spent several years there as the shop’s production turner before opening his own shop, still doing custom production work as well as artistic turning and furniture. He has been a demonstrator at the Utah Woodturning Symposium as well as for woodturning clubs in Utah.
Megan Williams is a talented, self-taught woodburning artist, and her work rivals that of any recognized professional. She has a talent for teaching in a clear, concise manner while making students feel comfortable and at ease. Megan’s friendly, outgoing personality and love for woodburning is sure to help students have a great experience during the class.
Michael Nish, no stranger to woodturning, grew up at Craft Supplies USA and learned woodturning from his Grandfather Dale Nish. He has furthered his skills over the years with the help of good friends/professional turners Jimmy Clewes and Richard Raffan. Michael’s friendly, easy-going personality makes students feel welcome and at ease in the workshop. His talent for teaching woodturning techniques in a clear, concise manner is sure to make your workshop experience productive and enjoyable.
Mike Jackofsky specializes in hollow forms, most of which are natural edge pieces made from unique burls. He also turns bowls, including thin, natural edge bowls, asymmetrical pieces, including hollow forms with “wings” and even lidded containers. His classes will emphasize the hollowing process, from turning the shape between centers and mounting in a chuck, to hollowing the form and reverse chucking the bottom to complete the piece.
To learn more about Mike Jackofsky, visit www.mikejackofsky.com
Mike Mahoney is a full-time production woodturner specializing in utility wares, nested bowls, and hollow forms. Mike’s work is in many of the finest turning collections in the world. His work has been accepted into many of the top juried craft shows in the USA. Mike has demonstrated internationally in seven different countries and has produced several instructional videos and a signature line of finishes.
To learn more about Mike Mahoney, visit www.bowlmakerinc.com
Nick Agar, England, has inspired many woodturners with his work and has traveled across the world to demonstrate and teach his skills. In the USA, Nick has been a main demonstrator at the AAW and Utah symposiums. Inspired by organic forms, pottery, and his natural surroundings, he specializes in hollow forms, large diameter work, and surface enhancement. He is renowned for his wall sculptures in particular. His award-winning work often incorporates carving, coloring with dyes, texturing and wood burning. With more than 25 years of experience, he has a great understanding of his medium.
To learn more about Nick Agar visit www.turningintoart.com
Paul Anderson will take students step-by-step through the process of creating a solid wood nutcracker that’s fully functional and beautiful too in his Nutcracker Master Class. Though Paul is a professional architectural woodturner by trade, handcrafted Nutcrackers are Paul’s passion, and it shows in the quality of his work. The overall design, attention to detail along with fit and finish of his Nutcrackers are second to none. For that reason, we’ve collected a number of his beautiful, one-of-a-kind nutcrackers over the years for our personal collection. In all our travels in Europe, we’ve never seen finer nutcrackers, and for that reason, we have asked Paul to join us for this Master Class held at our Dale L. Nish School of Woodturning.
The goal of the Nutcracker Master Class is for each student to gain a working knowledge of how to design and create a nutcracker. This includes the skills needed to turn, paint, assemble, and decorate them. With a basic understanding of Nutcracker design and the experience of having made one in class, students can expand their nutcracker horizons after returning home.
Ron Measom turned his first bowls and spindle projects in high school. It was there that he caught the “Turner’s Bug” and has been spreading it ever since. In his professional aerospace career he specialized the fabrication of large bodies of revolution utilizing filament winding and fiber placement. He has been mentored by and assisted many great turners. Ron has helped or taken classes for Kirk DeHeer, Stan Record, Stuart Batty, Nick Agar, and Mike Mahoney. Ron loves to teach, and his class goal is to get his students proficient in the turning basics so that they can return home and enjoy the “Turner’s Bug”, making beautiful art.
Raleigh Lockhart traces his interest for Woodworking to the Black Hills of South Dakota where as a young man he discovered his life-long passion. Over the past 30+ years, his full-time job has relocated Raleigh and his family from Denver Colorado to Seattle Washington and now lives Salt Lake City, Utah. In the 1990’s Raleigh took a Woodturning Class while living in Seattle at the shop of Bonnie Klein. Richard Raffan was the featured Instructor and wasn’t long after this class that Woodturning became his primary woodworking focus. Raleigh is also a local Woodturning Instructor, teaching monthly in the Salt Lake Area for the past ten years. He has been a demonstrator at the Utah Woodturning Symposium.
Richard Findley is a production turner based in Leicestershire in the UK. His background is in woodworking, coming from a long line of professional woodworkers.
It is the variety of work that he enjoys, undertaking commissions from one-off prototypes to large production runs, turning for furniture makers, restorers, architects, designers, and joiners. His work is mainly based in the UK, but his growing reputation for making the highest quality turned work has earned him commissions for items that have gone to the US, Canada, and Australia.
Richard can be followed on popular social networks, including Instagram, where he has over 40,000 followers who enjoy viewing regular postings of his daily work activities.
Richard is a well known and popular demonstrator, having written more than 75 articles for the UK Woodturning Magazine and having demonstrated all over the UK, Ireland and at AAW Symposiums in the USA.
To learn more about Richard Findley, visit http://www.turnersworkshop.co.uk/
Or you may visit him on Instagram, @richard_findley
Richard Raffan, Australia, is internationally known for his woodturning books and videos and is an excellent instructor with extensive knowledge of woodturning. He will show his technique in turning bowls, boxes, natural edge bowls, square edge bowls, burl bowls, scoops, spindles, etc. Other areas of interest, such as design and marketing, will be discussed.
To learn more about Richard Raffan, visit www.richardraffan.com
Rex Burningham, professional woodturner and co-author of Turning Pens and Pencils, Rex will cover all the fundamentals of woodturning on a beginner level, including sharpening, wood selection, tool techniques, and project ideas.
To learn more about Rex Burningham, visit www.learningturning.com
Scott Cherry graduated from Brigham Young University in 1983 with a BS degree in Industrial Education. He taught woodworking at Eisenhower Jr. High for four years and then at Timpview High School in Provo Utah for the past 27 years. Eighteen years ago he started a lathe turning class in the high school, which was the first such class ever in the state of Utah. During his teaching career, Scott has taught many students the art of turning and has seen them take a great interest in and continue on in woodturning. Scott has always found great personal pleasure in seeing students succeed in and enjoying turning.
Stan Record, a long time workshop assistant and now resident instructor, has extensive knowledge of woodturning tools, equipment and turning techniques along with the ability to share this knowledge with students in a clear, concise manner. Stan emphasizes fundamentals including sharpening and tool techniques giving students a firm foundation to build upon.
Stuart Batty is a third-generation woodturner, being a full-time production turner and teacher in his father Allan’s studio at age 16. During the past 35 years, Stuart has taught more than 5,000 amateur and professional woodturners. Stuart’s style of work is greatly influenced by his background as a spindle turner with precise cuts and sharp detail. He uses very simple tools and tool shapes to create his pieces. An excellent instructor, Stuart believes we have only skimmed the surface of the potential of the wood lathe.