Haystack At 75: Announcing Distinguished Speaker Series

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 13, 2026
CONTACT: Kate Lochner, [email protected]
URL: haystack-mtn.org/haystack-75
Images: adobe.ly/4raFOvx

Haystack At 75: Announcing Distinguished Speaker Series

Deer Isle, Maine - Haystack Mountain School of Crafts extends its mission to connect people through craft by partnering with craft institutions nationwide for its Distinguished Speaker Series, part of a year of special programming celebrating 75 years since the School's founding.

"As Haystack celebrates its anniversary, we honor the singular and resilient community that keeps us moving forward," says Perry Price, Haystack Executive Director. He continues, "From our celebrated and iconic campus to the dedicated staff, participants, and faculty that reinvent the School each season, this Speaker Series will champion our connections and strengthen our commitment to visionary craft education, both on Deer Isle and across the country."

The Distinguished Speaker Series will highlight leading voices from Haystack's former faculty, staff, participants, and community. The event series will begin on Wednesday, January 28, 2026 with a presentation by Perry Price as part of the UW-Madison Art Department Visiting Artist Colloquium. On Thursday, April 9, a free afternoon lecture by ceramic artist Roberto Lugo at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia will complement the opening of Lugo's solo exhibition, American Crib: What's Happening? The following week, artist and Crafting the Future Director Corey Pemberton will present "For the Love of Humanity" in partnership with the Museum of Art and Design in New York.

Three distinguished speakers, including Syd Carpenter, Rosanne Somerson, and StuartKestenbaum, will deliver immersive lectures on the Haystack campus in Deer Isle, Maine, during the summer 2026 season. In the fall, the series will conclude with a curated panel of artists at the MFA Boston (details forthcoming).

Information on tickets and registration for individual lectures will be available on partner institutions' websites.

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER SERIES SCHEDULE

Visiting Artist Colloquium with Perry Price
Perry Price will give a presentation on the seven-decade history of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, using archival materials and one-of-a-kind objects to share the story of Haystack's impact on the field and the role of the School in craft education.
Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Chazen Museum of Art, 750 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706
art.wisc.edu

Village Potter with Roberto Lugo
Roberto Lugo will give a talk on his work as a potter, educator and poet. He will present his work alongside his poetry connecting history with contemporary narratives related to issues of race, empathy and hope.
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: The Clay Studio, 1425 N American Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
theclaystudio.org

For the Love of Humanity with Corey Pemberton
This lecture explores the three foundational pillars of my current practice: glass making, painting, and community-oriented nonprofit work-tracing the unifying thread of human connection that interlaces and informs each domain.
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019
madmuseum.org

Ernestine: A Mother Pin Constellation with Syd Carpenter
Syd Carpenter is a Philadelphia-based sculptor widely known for her ceramic and sculpture work, which explores African-American farming and gardening. She is a retired professor Emerita of Studio Art at Swarthmore College. Carpenter taught in the Haystack Ceramics studio in 2006.
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2026
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Gateway Auditorium, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 89 Haystack School Drive, Deer Isle, ME 04627
haystack-mtn.org

Practice Makes Practice with Rosanne Somerson
This artist talk centers the kinds of questions that we explore in our work and the drivers that develop our curiosity, explorations, and ultimately, the things that we make.
Date: Thursday, July 16, 2026
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Gateway Auditorium, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 89 Haystack School Drive, Deer Isle, ME 04627
haystack-mtn.org

What's All This Temporary Construction? Reflections on Haystack and the Creative Process with Stuart Kestenbaum
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.
Date: Thursday, August 13, 2026
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Gateway Auditorium, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 89 Haystack School Drive, Deer Isle, ME 04627
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.

[END]