American Association of Woodturners names Michael Nathal’s Drooping Vase turning of the week

Michael Nathal’s Drooping Vase earned AAW’s Turning of the Week nod because the form does something woodturners notice immediately, it holds itself together through tension. AAW TOTW team member Kevin Jesequel singled out the piece for its elongated curves and crooked neck, and the vessel had already been drawing eyes in Nathal’s Member Galleries since it was added on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. The media page had 4 comments, a small but telling sign that the piece had already started a conversation before the weekly recognition pushed it wider.

What makes the selection click is the way the form balances grace and imbalance. The body reads as smooth and deliberate, but the neck leans off-kilter enough to give the vase a slightly improbable, almost animated presence. That is the part forum members are reacting to, not just the finish or the execution, but the visual tension between a disciplined hollow form and a neck that refuses to behave. The post also notes that Nathal worked through the form by accessing it through the bottom, a practical solution that the writer openly treated as a cheat while still admiring the result. For turners, that is the useful takeaway: sometimes the best path to the shape you want is the one that preserves the silhouette, even if it means changing the order of operations in the shop.

Nathal’s maker profile fits the kind of work that can provoke that response. He lists art, sculpture and decorative work among his areas of expertise, along with bowls and platters, boxes and containers, and cremation urns and memorial pieces. His profile also points to MikesCoolWoodArt on Etsy, and his AAW location is Strongsville, Ohio. This is not his first time in the forum spotlight either. He was previously selected for Turning of the Week for Ash Ring on March 17, 2025, a piece described as 11.5 inches wide and 13 inches tall, and he was featured again on March 23, 2026 for Eroded Wheel.

The recognition landed in the middle of a busy AAW moment, with the 2026 AAW International Woodturning Symposium set for June 4-7 at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. That backdrop matters because it shows the forum doing what it does best, turning one memorable vessel into a broader discussion about form, problem-solving and the risks that make a piece memorable. Drooping Vase was singled out because it looks balanced only after you notice how much it is willing to lean.