Elizabeth Weber books packed spring and summer woodturning schedule

Elizabeth Weber’s spring calendar reads like a coast-to-coast road map for woodturners, and the route itself is the story. From Anchorage to Ottawa to Raleigh, her bookings show where clubs, schools, and symposiums are putting their weight this season, and they point to the kinds of programs that are drawing the biggest crowds: color, texture, and hands-on turning with a maker who can bridge design and technique.

Anchorage sets the tone

The clearest marker on the map is the Alaska Woodturners’ 22nd Annual Woodturning Symposium in Anchorage on May 2-3, where Weber appears alongside Eric Lofstrom. That pairing matters because symposium bills like this tell you who organizers think can carry a room, and the Alaska stop is one of the strongest signals on her schedule. It is a two-day event, held at Glass, Sash and Door Supply, and it anchors the first leg of a spring that barely slows down.

What makes the Alaska date especially useful for planning is that it is not just another club night. It is a full symposium, the kind of event where turners can expect concentrated demonstrations, peer cross-pollination, and the sort of ideas that spill over into the next month’s shop time. If you want a season opener that feels substantial rather than casual, this is the one to watch.

Where Weber’s teaching gets specific: color and texture

The next stops sharpen the picture. Snow Farm’s Exploring Color and Texture in Woodturning begins May 6, and that title tells you almost everything about the experience before you ever walk in. Weber’s work is known for color and bold surface textures, so a workshop built around those elements is less of a generic demo and more of a deep dive into the language she actually uses on the lathe and at the bench.

That same focus continues at North House Folk School, where Exploring Colors and Textures in Bowl Turning runs from May 29 to June 3. For turners who want something concrete to bring home, this is the kind of class that can change how a bowl reads on the rack. It is not only about shape, but about how surface treatment, color, and form work together to give a piece movement and presence.

Those workshop titles are the practical clue in Weber’s schedule. They show a season built around surface design as much as turning skill, which is exactly why she has become such a visible name on the demo circuit. A turner who can teach both the mechanics and the finish language of a piece is in demand at the moment, and Weber’s calendar makes that plain.

The Pacific Northwest swing is dense for a reason

Between the big symposium dates, Weber’s route makes a quick, telling pass through the Pacific Northwest. Willamette Valley Woodturners is on the list for May 14, followed by Oregon Coast Woodturners on May 16. Those club appearances matter because they are often where a turner’s ideas land closest to the everyday shop experience, in front of people who are ready to ask how a cut was made, how a surface was built, or what happens when a gouge line meets a layer of color.

Later in the season, the same region stays active with stops that include BARN, Olympia Woodturners, Seattle Woodturners, and the Rocky Mountain Woodturning Symposium. The schedule also includes Lake Superior Woodturners in early June, which adds another regional hub to the map. Taken together, those bookings show a teaching circuit that is not centered on one marquee weekend. It is spread across club rooms, folk schools, and symposium stages, which is exactly how a busy summer in woodturning gets stitched together.

Ottawa and Raleigh widen the field

Crossing into Ontario, Ottawa TurnFest on May 23-24 stands out as one of the most visible international stops on the calendar. The AAW calendar places it at the Confederation Education Centre in Nepean, Ontario, and that location gives the event a cross-border pull that reaches well beyond one club or one state. For turners, an international event like this is where regional styles, tooling habits, and finishing approaches tend to collide in the best possible way.

Just after that, the 2026 AAW International Woodturning Symposium lands in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 4-7 at the Raleigh Convention Center. That date matters because it sits at the center of the broader spring and summer circuit. When a national symposium is bracketed by symposiums, workshops, and club visits, it signals a season where the teaching calendar is full and the audience appetite is clearly there.

Why Weber keeps getting booked

Weber’s own background explains why so many organizations want her on the program. She was born and raised in Tennessee, moved to Seattle in 2012, and shifted her focus to woodworking in 2015 after earlier work in civil engineering. That combination gives her a rare kind of credibility in the room. She brings the problem-solving habits of engineering to a practice built on proportion, balance, and surface decisions, and that shows up in the precision of her work.

Her making centers on bowls, spoons, and boxes, and her pieces use color and bold surface textures to add vibrancy and movement. The American Association of Woodturners recognized her as the 2023 Professional Outreach Program Artist Showcase awardee, and its materials also note that she serves as program director and Women in Turning liaison for the Seattle Woodturners Club. She teaches at the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle and at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, and she was featured on the cover and in a profile article in the February 2024 issue of American Woodturner.

That is the deeper reason her schedule reads like a season map. Weber is not just filling dates, she is helping define what the current teaching circuit looks like: practical, design-forward, and comfortable moving between club demos, folk-school workshops, and major symposium stages. For woodturners planning where to spend their time this spring and summer, her trail from Alaska to Ottawa and on toward Raleigh is one of the clearest signals on the board.