Maine Programs

Haystack continues to develop new programs to serve people on the local level as well. Haystack's High School Programs are some of the other outreach programs that Haystack offers, and largely subsidizes, for residents of its home state and local communities.

In 2009, 72 high school students from across the state of Maine participated in Haystack's Student Craft Institute.

Student Craft Institute is a three-day studio session for approximately 70 Maine high school students from as many schools throughout the state, who work with noted New England artists. For more than 15 years, over 900 Maine high school students have attended Haystack's Student Craft Institute. This program brings together high school juniors who have been identified as particularly gifted in the arts and their teachers to work in Haystack's renowned setting. Participants include students from a number of isolated rural communities, an important aspect of the program for the opportunity it gives youngsters from different backgrounds to discover that they have common interests and can support one another in work undertaken jointly.

Students from local high schools work closely with their instructors in Haystack's studios. Haystack celebrated its 25th Student Craft Institute in 2008.

2009 workshops were led by Ernie Paterno (beginner beadmaking intensive), the owner of Filament Gallery and an instructor at Maine College of Art; Farrell Ruppert (blacksmithing), a studio artist from Deer Isle; Mark Bell (clay), a studio artist from Blue Hill, Maine; Jan Owen (book arts), a studio artist from Belfast, Maine; Elin Noble (dyeing), a fibers artist from Massachussetts; and Matt Hutton (wood/sculpture), a furniture designer and teacher at Maine College of Art. Funding for the Student Craft Institute was provided by the William Penn Foundation and Haystack’s program endowment.

Studio Based Learning is a three-day studio session for 70 high school students from two schools in communities surrounding Deer Isle. The objectives of Studio Based Learning include: demonstrating that students who work intensively and at their own pace can develop a renewed sense of learning as well as their own potential; and creating a bridge, through the crafts, between fine arts and industrial arts instruction that fosters an appreciation of both.

2009 workshops were led by Eddie Dominguez (clay), Rebecca Goodale (book arts), Tucker Houlihan (wood), Mark Maiorana (blacksmithing), Susan Webster (printmaking), and Ellen Wieske (metals). Students from Deer Isle-Stonington High School and George Stevens Academy, Blue Hill, were accompanied by six students from The Heritage School, an arts based public high school in New York City.

Learning to collaborate is an essential part of Haystack's mentoring programs. The photo above shows work being done together during a printmaking workshop from Studio Based Learning.

The Haystack Mentors Program is a follow-up activity of Studio Based Learning, which links local high school students with area artists who incorporate the studio experience into local arts curricula throughout the school year. Mentorships provide an intensive educational environment - the mentor concept is frequently cited as a great way to engage adolescents - one that not only can increase students aspirations, but provide an integrated and challenging educational experience. Each year the Student Mentor Program culminates with an exhibition of student and mentor work at Haystack's Center for Community Programs.

Forty-nine students from three area high schools – Deer Isle-Stonington High School, George Stevens Academy, and the Blue Hill Harbor School – participated in Haystack’s 12th annual Student Mentor Program in which students work with area artists in an individualized and intensive setting. For several weekends, from January through early April, the students worked with eleven area artists – workshops were held in eight of the artists’ studios and three were held at Haystack’s Center for Community Programs. Faculty for Haystack’s Student Mentor Program are professional, working artists from Deer Isle, Stonington and the Blue Hill Peninsula who offer instruction in a variety of craft media.  Many of the mentors have participated in this program for a number of years and have taught at other Haystack workshops and are committed to working with students in their own community. All of the mentors have extensive experience working with students.

Students gain valuable experience working in professional studios with artist mentors.

The 2010 mentors include: Mary Barnes (drawing), Mark Bell (pottery), Dan Bouthot (printmaking), Anne-Claude Cotty (pinhole photography), Sarah Doremus (metals), Mary Howe & Susan Webster (paper jewelry), Jennifer Lee Morrow (illuminated lamps/boxes), Chris Leith (weaving), Farrell Ruppert (blacksmithing), Ellen Wieske (metals), and J. Fred Woell (metals). The program is coordinated by Susan Webster, Haystack's Community Programs Coordinator.