Welcome to the Minnesota Woodturners Association

Welcome to the Minnesota Woodturners Association (MWA) located in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN. The purpose of the Minnesota Woodturners Association ("MWA"), a Minnesota nonprofit corporation, shall be to foster and encourage a wider understanding and appreciation of woodturning as a craft and art form, both traditional and contemporary, among the general public, hobbyists and professional woodturners, and to educate the general public and MWA members in the art and techniques of woodturning.

MWA meeting locations and dates are posted on the MWA Events & Classes page. Monthly membership meetings October through May are  held on Saturday mornings, June - August meetings are held on Tuesday evenings, check the calendar for actual dates and times of meetings.

History of the MWA

People with common interests have a way of finding one another. They meet, socialize, have meals together and, most importantly, share information. Such encounters can hatch the formation of organizations we call associations, alliances, fraternities or just plain clubs. That describes how the Minnesota Woodturners Association (MWA) was formed in 1987.

In the mid-eighties, Mary Lacer was studying cabinet making at the North Hennepin County Vo-Tech. She had completed her work on various powered equipment and was then introduced to the woodturning lathe. "It was an instant draw for me," she says. Soon after, she bought her first wood lathe for $100. She was a member of the Minnesota Woodworkers Guild, became a board member of that group, and began doing turning demonstrations for the Guild.

In 1987 she met local woodturner Craig Lossing at various craft shows and the two started discussing whether there might be enough interest to start a local woodturning club. That question was quickly answered when they announced a meeting for woodturners at The Woodworkers Store -- now Rockler Woodworking -- at the Minneapolis store. Thirty interested woodturners showed up.

The Minnesota Woodturners Association was born, 20 members strong.