The Experiment That Endures: Haystack at 75
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts has been bringing artists together for 75 years. To mark this milestone anniversary, the School is hosting a series of special events.
The Experiment That Endures: Haystack at 75
On summer evenings in Deer Isle, Maine, the studios empty slowly at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Metal filings are swept from a workbench. A kiln ticks as it cools. People drift down wooden walkways toward the glinting Atlantic, still discussing the day’s work. What might a warmer colorway look like? How would a different glaze behave? What new ideas will tomorrow bring?
This spirit of experimentation has guided Haystack since its founding 75 years ago. Established in 1950, the School began with a simple premise: Invite artists and makers from different disciplines to gather for intensive studio sessions in a remote refuge, and see what might emerge from the exchange of ideas, materials, and techniques.
Named for its first location, near Haystack Mountain in Montville, Maine, the School moved to its permanent coastal campus in 1961. Over time, the striking seaside setting has become closely associated with the immersive Haystack experience, drawing artists from around the world to the creative sanctuary it offers.
Yet, Haystack’s influence has always extended beyond Deer Isle. For decades, its participants have been carrying ideas from the island back to their own studios, classrooms, and communities, weaving Haystack’s ethos into the larger story of American craft. In recognition of that legacy—and the community that sustains it—the School is launching a Distinguished Speaker Series as part of its 75th anniversary celebration.
“As Haystack celebrates this milestone, we honor the singular and resilient community that keeps us moving forward,” says Executive Director Perry Price. “From our iconic campus to the staff, participants, and faculty who reinvent the School each season, this Speaker Series will highlight those connections and strengthen our commitment to visionary craft education, both on Deer Isle and across the country.”
In partnership with craft institutions nationwide, the series will feature former faculty, staff, and participants in conversation with the broader craft community. Starting in April, ceramic artist Roberto Lugo will deliver his lecture “Village Potter” at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, ahead of his upcoming exhibition. And Corey Pemberton will present “For the Love of Humanity” at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, reflecting on the connections between glassmaking, painting, and community-centered nonprofit work.
The series continues on Haystack’s campus this summer, with lectures by sculptor Syd Carpenter; woodworker and RISD President Emerita Rosanne Somerson; and poet Stuart Kestenbaum, Maine’s former poet laureate and Haystack’s director for 27 years, until 2015.
Carpenter, who has been part of the Haystack community for more than two decades, is looking forward to returning.
“I’ve always appreciated how expansive Haystack is in its reach,” Carpenter says. “Not only in inviting multiple practices together—pottery, metalworking, weaving—but in welcoming the many ways we as artists express ourselves. It’s a supportive environment in a stunning location, surrounded by like-minded people. When you’re there, you’re enhanced.”
From the beginning, Haystack has encouraged artists to test ideas in the studio, push materials beyond familiar limits, and welcome unexpected outcomes as discoveries. That openness to experimentation remains central to the School’s character. Seventy-five years after its founding, Haystack continues as it began: a place where makers gather to explore what craft might become next.
ICYMI…
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