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Glassblowing student using a torch
on a piece in the glass studio at Hay-
stack Mountain School of Crafts.

In collaboration with the Healthy Island Project of Deer Isle, Haystack opens its season at the beginning of May with the annual Island
Workshop Day – a one-day workshop offered to adult residents of the Deer Isle, Stonington, Isle au Haut, and Blue Hill Peninsula com-
munities. Each year, the school holds a few places for people who have never participated in the popular, low-cost program. The rest
are chosen by a lottery.
In the fall, Haystack continues serving Maine residents as part of its mission by offering programs for high-school juniors, LGBTQ
teenagers, a three-day studio program for Maine adults to close out the season in October.

According to program director Ginger Aldrich, the school also has plenty of free programming available all season long, including
guided tours, self-guided studio walkthroughs, exhibitions, and evening presentations by faculty and visiting artists. You can find the
schedule for all of these programs on their website, www.haystack-mtn.org.

With state of the art equipment – like that available in the school’s digital design Fab Lab – and progressive programming that provides
makers with a dynamic community within which to learn and grow, Haystack has not only evolved with the changing landscape of
craft, but earned a place of renown. But if there’s one thing that hasn’t changed in 70 years, it’s the school’s resistance to define what
‘craft’ is. It is perhaps because of this resistance that the curriculum and learning at Haystack is defined not by certification require-
ments or even the teachers themselves. Instead, it is dictated by the land and sea on this quiet fringe of Maine’s ragged coast, and the
revolving communities that gather week by week to interpret, explore, create, and share.

‘Recycled Instruments’ by Beth Ireland, 2016. Mixed
media. Ireland was slated to co-teach the worlshop,
‘Making Stringed Instruments’ during the 2020 season.
Workshop participant in the metals studio at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.
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