Haystack Announces Summer 2026 Program Schedule: Studio Workshops, Open Studio Residency + SquareONE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2025
CONTACT: Kate Lochner, [email protected]
Video link: https://youtu.be/-NC-Z9p0oeE

Haystack Announces Summer 2026 Program Schedule: Studio Workshops, Open Studio Residency, and Square ONE

Deer Isle, Maine - Haystack Mountain School of Crafts announces its program offerings for its 75th summer season. Forty-six intensive workshops, led by forty-nine instructors, will be held from June through August 2026 in a variety of craft media, including blacksmithing, ceramics, digital fabrication, fiber, glass, graphics, metals, wood, and writing.

Executive Director Perry Price shares, "Haystack will again open its studios to artists from around the world of all levels of experience and ability-united in their seriousness of purpose and willingness to learn from one another in a creative and enriching community of peers." He continues, "We welcome you to be part of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts this year, a moment 75 years in the making."

For 2026, Studio Assistant Fellowships and Haystack Fellowship opportunities are available. In addition, the two-week Open Studio Residency will move back to the spring, providing access to blacksmithing to accepted participants. Those selected for the highly competitive program attend for free. The School also offers a new opportunity to apply as Studio Technicians, who support Residents during their use and navigation of the studios.

Thanks to major support from the Windgate Foundation, application fees are again waived for all 2026 summer programs, including summer workshops, Studio Assistant Fellows, Haystack Fellowships, Studio Techs, Square ONE, and Open Studio Residency.

Applications open on January 6, 2026. The deadline for Studio Assistant Fellowship, Haystack Fellowship, Studio Tech, and Open Studio Residency applications is January 30. The deadline for general summer workshop and Square ONE workshop applications is February 20.

Haystack's Visiting Artist program extends our commitment to providing time and space for individuals from a variety of creative disciplines to be in residence for two weeks to develop new ideas, conduct research, and engage in creative community. Antonius-Tín Bui and Eli Nixon join us in 2026.

Selected for their expertise in craft and digital fabrication, Fab Lab Residents also undertake independent research and experimental projects aimed at advancing the field of craft through innovative techniques and materials. This program provides an opportunity for Residents to push the boundaries of craft, explore new processes, and contribute to ongoing research in the Fab Lab. The 2026 cohort includes: Shelby Doyle and Leah Buechley; Alexandra Bachmayer and lee wilkins; and Aurora Robson and Marshall Coles.

Embedded as part of workshop sessions, both Visiting Artists and Fab Lab Residents augment the creative practices on campus through their own research, informal activities, presentations, and integration into the session community.

Read more about the School's summer programs, including workshop and residency descriptions, on the Haystack website: haystack-mtn.org

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

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.

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