Public Programs – Session 5

Issued: July 23, 2026
CONTACT: Kate Lochner, [email protected]

Public Programs - Session 5

Artist Presentations

August 10 at 7:00 PM: Aurora Robson, Fab Lab Resident; Marshall Coles, Fab Lab Resident; Christopher Kerr-Ayer, Glass.

August 11 at 7:00 PM: Fernanda Gaspar, Fiber; Adeye Jean-Baptiste, Fiber; Mia Kaplan, Metals.

August 12 at 7:00 PM: Aspen Golann, Wood; Taylor Wright Rushing, Graphics; Courtney Martin, Ceramics.

August 17 at 4:30 PM: Session 5 Studio Assistant Fellows Presentations.

Throughout the summer, Haystack faculty, visiting artists, studio assistants, and Fab Lab residents share their inspirations, ideas, and work as part of our 2026 Public Programs series. Presentations take place in Haystack's Gateway Auditorium, located at 89 Haystack School Drive, Deer Isle, Maine. These events are free and open to the public.

Visit haystack-mtn.org/visit for detailed descriptions of Public Programs.

Distinguished Speaker Series

August 13 at 7:00 PM:L Stuart Kestenbaum: What's All This Temporary Construction? Reflections on Haystack and the Creative Process

Part of a year of special programming celebrating 75 years since Haystack's founding, the Distinguished Speaker Series highlights leading voices from the School's faculty, alumni, and craft community.

Stuart Kestenbaum is a poet and the former poet laureate of Maine from 2016-2021. For 27 years, Kestenbaum led Haystack Mountain School of Crafts as director until 2015.

Presentations take place in Haystack's Gateway Auditorium, located at 89 Haystack School Drive, Deer Isle, Maine. These events are free and open to the public.

Studio Walk-Through and End-of-Session Auction

Date: Thursday, August 20, 2026
Location: Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
Address: 89 Haystack School Drive, Deer Isle, Maine
Studio Walk-Through: 3:30-5:00 PM
End-of-Session Auction: Silent Auction opens at 3:30 PM; Live Auction begins at 5:00 PM

Studio Walk-Throughs and Auctions are free and open to the public. Proceeds benefit Haystack's Fellowships and studio improvements. Please note that while the studios are open to the public during the campus walk-through, the dining hall is only open to staff and program participants.

About Haystack Mountain School of Crafts | haystack-mtn.org/visit

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is an international craft school located on the Atlantic Ocean in Deer Isle, Maine. For 75 years, Haystack has connected people through craft, providing the freedom to engage with materials and develop new ideas in a supportive and inclusive community. When Haystack was founded in 1950, it was truly an experiment in education and community, with no permanent faculty or full-time students-a School that awarded no certificates or degrees. Haystack serves an ever-changing group of makers and thinkers of all skill levels-we are dedicated to working and learning alongside one another, while exploring the intersections of craft, art, and design in wide-ranging and expansive ways.

For three-quarters of a century, Haystack has offered intensive studio workshops and has functioned as a think-tank to explore craft in broad contexts. The School's award-winning campus, designed by noted American architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, opened in 1961 when the School relocated to Deer Isle from its original location in Montville, Maine. The buildings and secluded, natural setting have provided steadfast support for convening an intergenerational community of makers from around the world to share ideas, materials, and techniques, and make discoveries alongside one another in a creative and generative environment. While Haystack has grown in ways that could never have been imagined-offering residencies, programs for Maine youth and adults, conferences, publications, and more-the core of our work and the ideas we adhere to have stayed very much the same.