About
Chicago Woodturners is a nonprofit chapter built around learning.
This page covers the club's purpose, history, leadership, and the contact points visitors and members use most often.
Use Events for the next date and use Contact if you need help before attending.
The site keeps chapter milestones, newsletters, and gallery records in one place.
Chapter profile
Why the club exists and how it works
Education first
Chicago Woodturners helps people learn through demonstrations, mentoring, hands-on classes, safety guidance, and shared references.
Community built around critique and conversation
Members bring work, ask questions, compare approaches, and learn from one another in person.
History, archive, and gallery
CWT has decades of history, a newsletter archive, and a gallery record of member work.
Meetings and programs
What members come for
Monthly meetings
Members return for demonstrations, instant gallery critique, mentoring, and practical club discussion.
Classes, mentors, and Turn On! Chicago
Hands-on classes, mentor connections, visiting artists, and Turn On! Chicago extend the club beyond regular meeting nights.
Events, archives, and member work
The site keeps the chapter's events, archive material, and member work visible over time.
History
Milestones in club history
The chapter began after Chicago-area turners gathered around a shared enthusiasm for woodturning symposiums and local community.
The original chapter name shifted to better reflect the area the club serves.
Regular visiting-artist demonstrations became part of the club’s longer-term education pattern.
The symposium became one of the strongest public expressions of the club’s education mission.
The nonprofit structure reinforced the education-first identity that still defines the chapter.
The club continues to connect members through meetings, mentors, newsletters, gallery work, demonstrations, and long-lived reference material.
Leadership
Current leadership roles
President
Rich Hall-Reppen
See recent issue contextVice President
Rich Nye
See event programmingTreasurer
Rich Piper
See membership and duesSecretary
Big Country (BC)
See current updatesNewsletter editors
Phil Moy and BC
Open newsletter archiveMembership contact
Brenda Miotke
bkmiotke@comcast.netContact
Main contact points
General club questions
Use the club address for board, committee, and general communication.
contact@chicagowoodturners.comMembership help
Brenda Miotke is the membership contact for dues and application questions.
bkmiotke@comcast.netMentor questions
Start with the general club address or go straight to the mentor list in Learn.
Browse mentorsAAW relationship
AAW chapter relationship
AAW chapter roots
Chicago Woodturners operates as a chapter of the American Association of Woodturners.
Programs and education
The AAW relationship, Turn On! Chicago, newsletters, and visiting artists support the club’s education programs.