Haystack Hosts Third Annual Open House, Honoring 75 Years of Programming

MEDIA ALERT: July 8, 2026
CONTACT: Kate Lochner, [email protected]
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Haystack Hosts Third Annual Open House, Honoring 75 Years of Programming

Deer Isle, Maine - For the third year, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts hosts the Haystack Open House, a free event featuring artist-led activities in our studio spaces.

On Saturday, August 8, the studios and campus will open to the public from 1-5 p.m., with artists from the wider community on hand offering demonstrations, answering questions, and leading opportunities for visitors of all ages.

Haystack Executive Director Perry Price shares, "Haystack has been a space for artists from around the globe to engage in experimentation and education in contemporary craft for 75 years; the Open House provides the opportunity for all to tour the award-winning campus architecture, take in a number of engaging artist demonstrations in each of our media-designated studios, and perhaps leave inspired to connect with your own creativity."

State Senator Sen. Nicole Grohoski and Maine House of Representatives Rep. Holly Eaton will sponsor a legislative sentiment acknowledging Haystack's 75th anniversary milestone. Rep. Eaton will present the certificate during the Open House event on behalf of herself and Sen. Grohoski.

Participating artists and techniques demonstrated in studios include:

CERAMICS | Hand Building
Codey Stange (East Blue Hill) is a functional wood-fired potter. He specializes in thrown and altered pieces that are then hand-carved and hand-built.
Elise Teixido (East Blue Hill) is a wood-fire potter. She focuses on making thoughtfully crafted functional ceramics for everyday use.

FAB LAB | Laser Etching
Jake Horsey (Sargentville) is an engineer with a focus on digital fabrication, systems design, and new technology development.

FIBER | Weaving on Floor + Tapestry Looms
Chris Leith (Sedgwick) is an artist, weaver, and educator interested in promoting creative pursuits in the community.

GLASS | Glass Blowing + Hot Glass Sculpting
Linda Perrin (Ellsworth) has been a full-time glass maker for over 35 years. Her work is decorative, functional, wearable, and oftentimes, sculptural. It is collected internationally and is in the permanent collections of the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, and the Venice Glass Museum in Murano, Italy.

GRAPHICS | Relief Printmaking + Intaglio Printmaking
Rebecca Daugherty (Stonington) is a painter, printmaker, and sea kayaker. She is influenced by what she sees locally around her, mostly boats, road construction, rocks, and island landscapes.

METALS | Forging + Embossing
Robin Cust (Stonington) is a studio jeweler living and working on Deer Isle since 1991. She received a BS in Industrial Technology from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, and came to Deer Isle to serve an apprenticeship with Ronald Hayes Pearson.

WOOD | Broom Making
Aspen Golann (Rollinsford, NH) is a furniture maker and educator. Through sculpture, furniture, and teaching, she examines gender, power, and history while working to expand access to traditional craft.

Image Credits
Download photos: https://adobe.ly/4vUz5sm

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The Haystack campus opens to the public for the annual Open House, photo by Nikolai Fox, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

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Open House visitors try their hand at jewelrymaking in the Metals studio, photo by Nikolai Fox, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

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Visitors navigate the Haystack campus during Open House, photo by Nikolai Fox, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

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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