AAW Seeks Submissions for Turning 40 Member Exhibition

The American Association of Woodturners has opened entries for Turning 40, its 40th‑anniversary Member Exhibition, with an application window running January 1 to March 15, 2026 and notification of acceptances scheduled for April 15, 2026. Work eligible for submission must have been created between March 1, 2024 and March 15, 2026, and entrants may submit up to three pieces for a single $25 fee; full‑time students in art, design, or industry‑related degree programs receive a fee waiver.

Selected work will be juried blindly through photographs and text, and the association asks applicants to consider a wide range of approaches when preparing entries. In the call materials AAW frames the jurors’ brief this way: "the jurors will be looking for a range of works expressing the extraordinary range of techniques, topics, materials and approaches woodturning offers, from a traditionally bowl with a perfect curve to work that pushes our ideas of what is possible, to pieces that explore the title theme." The call also states plainly, "Selected work will be juried blindly through photographs and text."

Two cash awards will be presented to works in the Member Exhibition: the $300 Masters’ Choice Award, "selected by the jurors or their representatives," and the $200 People’s Choice Award, "selected by attendees at the 2026 AAW International Symposium." The exhibition will premiere at the AAW Annual International Woodturning Symposium at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 4–7, 2026, before moving to the AAW Gallery of Wood Art at the Landmark Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, August 10–November 30, 2026. Both venues are free and open to the public.

Turning 40 sits inside the symposium’s slate of special exhibits and public programs. The symposium program includes the Member Exhibition alongside the Professional Outreach Program, a Live Auction of donated member works whose proceeds fund AAW projects, and the Instant Gallery where attendees may display and sell up to three pieces by registering at the Instant Gallery registration desk. Social programming for the symposium includes receptions and a formal banquet, and registration discounts are available including an early‑bird savings of $50 by April 25, plus group, student, youth, and single‑day rates; applications are also open for demonstrators and POP artists for the 2026 symposium.

Several submission details remain to be confirmed on the AAW exhibition page: the exact application portal link, image and text specifications for blind jurying, shipping and insurance rules, size or weight limits, juror names, and whether accepted Member Exhibition works will be for sale or appear in an online catalog. AAW’s statement about Turning 40 positions the show as celebratory rather than retrospective: "This isn’t an over-the-hill moment, but a milestone anniversary that honors our shared legacy and looks ahead to the future of woodturning." The two‑venue run and public access through November mean the 40th anniversary will be visible to symposium attendees in Raleigh and to visitors in Saint Paul for the late summer and fall.