The 2025 Oregon Woodturning Symposium will once again present an outstanding slate of demonstrators. For each edition of the Symposium, we have made an effort to represent the ever-evolving areas of interest in woodturning. This year, we continue that process with Trent Bosch , Dan Tilden, David Gutschmidt, Craig Timmerman, Laurent Niclot, Curt Theobald, Kimberly Winkle, Kurt Hertzog, Elizabeth Weber, Kevin Jesequel, and Rudy Lopez. To view the full schedule of demonstrations, click here.
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Trent Bosch
Trent Bosch has been focused on woodturning professionally for more then 30 years. Over the years he has enjoyed many facets of this medium, from production woodturning to sculptural one of a kind pieces to demonstrating and teaching hands on classes. More recently, he has devoted more time to developing, designing and manufacturing unique tools for woodturners, as well as fostering the growth of his artistic children. T rent has taught and demonstrated his techniques for turning and sculpting wood throughout the world. To learn more about Trent, visit his website at trentbosch.com or trentboschtools.com
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Craig Timmerman
Craig Timmerman, a full-time artist and production woodturner since 2008, has demonstrated at various AAW chapters, AAW Symposiums, SWAT Symposiums, the Utah Symposium, and the Rocky Mountain Symposium, in addition to teaching and doing interactive remote demos. He began woodturning 25 years ago after taking a weekend class, and since then, his woodworking tools have been dedicated solely to turning. Specializing in winged bowls, hollow forms, spheres, table lamps, and production gift items, he often uses reclaimed timber, highlighting its flaws with crushed stone. His work is featured in several central Texas galleries and on his website, armadillowoodworks.com. He also participates in a few art shows each year, including the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar. Recently, he and his wife Tina, of over 40 years, relocated to Washington state, where he continues to explore new possibilities in woodturning.
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Elizabeth Weber
Born and raised in Tennessee, Elizabeth 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. Elizabeth teaches woodturning around the country and serves as club president for her local woodturning club, the Seattle Woodturners. She was awarded the American Association of Woodturner’s 2023 Professional Outreach Program’s Artist Showcase and was featured on the cover of American Woodturner in January 2024.
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David Gutschmidt
David Gutschmidt has worked with wood all his life, drawn to its natural beauty and the story each piece tells through its imperfections. For him, woodturning is a contemplative pursuit and creative outlet, allowing him to explore form and design while being guided by the wood’s unique character. He aims to reveal the inherent beauty of salvaged Pacific Northwest wood, crafting each piece with inspiration from years of self-taught practice and insights from others. With over 25 years of experience, David is a member of the Pacific Northwest Woodturning Guild, Cascade Woodturners, and SW Washington Woodturners. His work has been shown at many notable venues, including The Real Mother Goose (Portland, OR), The Wooden Jewel (Sunriver, OR), and RiverSea Gallery (Astoria, OR).
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Kurt Hertzog
With over 30 years’ experience as a woodturner, demonstrator, class instructor, and writer, Kurt had taught many hundreds of woodturners on the various aspects of the craft. Kurt turns everything from miniatures to funeral urns but is best known for his penmaking and ornaments, particularly his pierced eggshell works. His over 260 internationally published articles cover nearly every woodturning topic from photographing your work to artistic decoration of finished turnings. You can find examples of his work and his extensive writings on his website at: http://www.kurthertzog.com/index.php. |
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Kevin Jesequel
Kevin Jesequel is a woodturner living in Portland, Oregon. Taking an interest in hollow forms after the passing of his mother in 2020, he has quickly become recognized as one of the top hollow form artists today. His work has been published several times in American Woodturner and he has been a juried and invited artist to numerous exhibitions. He was selected by the American Association of Woodturner’s POP Committee to receive the 2024 Artist Showcase at their annual symposium and enjoys demonstrating and teaching at clubs across the country. He is an active member of two local woodturning clubs and has served as president of Cascade Woodturner’s Association in 2024.
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Laurent Niclot
Laurent Niclot, originally from Toulon, France, now resides in Fort Collins, Colorado. His lifelong passion for wood led him to study woodworking, woodcarving, cabinet making, furniture making, and design. He discovered woodturning through Jean-François Escoulen and took a six-month class at the Escoulen School in Aiguines, France, at the age of 20. Afterward, he served as an assistant and translator for three years, honing his craft and connecting with fellow artists and woodturners. Laurent enjoys demonstrating and teaching woodturning across France, Belgium, Canada, and the United States, while exploring a range of techniques, from traditional woodturning to woodburning and multi-axis work. His experimental approach emphasizes using unique wood pieces to create sculptural and decorative works with compelling narratives, and he values collaboration with other artists to enhance his creative process.
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Kimberly Winkle
Kimberly Winkle is a maker whose work, both furniture and objects, celebrates traditional furniture making and woodturning techniques combined with a strong use of color and pattern. Her work has been included in exhibitions at SOFA Chicago, WANTEDDesign NYC, Architectural Digest Show NYC, the Museum of Art in Wood and the Fuller Craft Museum. She earned her MFA from San Diego State University and she is currently a Professor of Art and Director of the School of Art, Craft & Design at TN Tech University.
Kimberly has taught workshops at Penland, Haystack, Anderson Ranch, Arrowmont, Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, John C. Campbell, Port Townsend School of Woodworking, Pocosin Art Center, and the Appalachian Center for Craft. Her work has been included in several publications, including Fine Woodworking, Woodworker West, and American Woodturner magazines and the books 500 Tables, 500 Chairs, among others. Winkle has been awarded several artist residencies, including the International Turning Exchange at the Museum of Art in Wood in Philadelphia, the Windgate Artist Residency at State University New York (SUNY) Purchase, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Wingate Craft Fellow at the Vermont Studio Center and at the Appalachian Center for Craft. She was awarded a State of Tennessee Individual Artist Award in 2011 and the Society of Arts and Crafts (Boston) John D. Mineck furniture fellowship in 2014.
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Dan Tilden
Dan Tilden was raised in the mountains of Southern Oregon, where his love for nature and exploration began. In high school, he discovered woodworking and met renowned wood sculptor Christian Burchard, who helped secure a grant for the school’s woodshop, equipping it with lathes and advanced tools. Under Christian’s mentorship, Dan developed a passion for woodturning, captivated by transforming ideas into tangible shapes. After high school, he apprenticed with Christian, honing his tool skills and mastering hollow vessel forms, which became his specialty.
Growing up in Southern Oregon, Dan had access to some of the world’s finest hardwoods and burls. He incorporates natural features, like knots, warping, or natural edges, into his work, turning what others see as flaws into striking elements. Guided by the wood’s character, he aims to showcase its unique beauty. Dan now sells his work in select galleries, attends premier West Coast art shows, and teaches at top woodturning symposiums, sharing his lifelong passion.
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Curt Theobald
Curt Theobald has been a full-time studio woodturner in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, since 2002. His work is exhibited nationally and may be found in public and private collections worldwide including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Honolulu Museum of Art, Peabody Essex Museum, and many more.
Curt has demonstrated internationally at venues as widespread as the French Congress, the New Zealand Woodturning Symposium, Turnfest on the Gold Coast of Australia, The Irish Woodturners Guild National Seminar, Great Britain Woodturning Seminar, multiple sites in Canada, and numerous symposia of the American Association of Woodturners. His work has been included in ten book publications and numerous magazines such as American Woodturner, Woodworker West, Craft Arts International, and Woodturning.
For more information, visit CurtTheobald.com.
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Rudy Lopez
Rudy has always had a love of nature and spent much of his youth working, exploring, hunting and fishing with on his family's cattle ranch near Tampa, Florida. Spending time in the woods gave him a great appreciation for the out-of-doors, and to this day his greatest pleasures come from hunting and fishing, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, and just enjoying nature. He began working with his hands at a very young age and began to develop his creative eye through photography, his first artistic pursuit. Drawing inspiration from the surroundings of his youth, he began his relationship with wood as a craftsman of fine furniture and cabinetry. With an education in drafting and design and many years working as a professional photographer, the transition into woodturning has been a seamless flow into another creative endeavor.
Wood is an imperfect medium, yet he never ceases to be amazed by the incredible amount of beauty to be found as he creates a new turning. He am especially drawn to wood with imperfections such as knots, voids, wormholes, or decay. His goal is to enhance this beauty which God and nature has provided and create something that invites the eye and beckons the touch. He prefers simple shapes with flowing lines that showcase but preserve and reflect the natural characteristics of the wood, thus becoming something of beauty to be enjoyed for years to come.
Rudy’s energetic, easy-going personality and his ability to explain woodturning techniques in a simple understandable manner has allowed him to share his skills and enthusiasm for woodturning—along with his love of wood—through demonstrating at regional and national symposia across the country as well as teaching at clubs, craft schools and at his studio in Brooksville, Fl. To view his work, visit rudolphlopez.com.
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