Posts tagged Portland Press Herald
Haystack crafts school on Deer Isle featured among architectural elites

“The list of twenty-five architectural works spans six continents (and space, thanks to the International Space Station) and includes remarkable buildings such as the thirty-eight-story Seagram Building in New York City, the Sydney Opera House, and Renzo Piano, and Richard Rogers’ Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Compiled for The New York Times Style Magazine by a small group of renowned architects, designers, and writers, the works signify “architecture that they felt had not only reshaped the world and era in which it was introduced but also has endured and remains influential today.”

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Ginger AldrichPortland Press Herald
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts shifts to remote classes for 2021

“Along with our online programs, we will focus on additional ways to strengthen the organization: from implementing the first year of our Strategic Plan and developing a long-range campus plan, to completing studio updates, organizing archival materials, and continuing Fab Lab production of personal protective equipment,” the release said. “We will not be idle.”

The online component of Haystack’s programming will be announced in coming months at haystack-mtn.org. An international craft school, Haystack draws students from across the country and the world, mostly during the summer, to its remote campus of cabins and studios in the woods just above the high-water line in Deer Isle.

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Ginger AldrichPortland Press Herald
Maine Acts of Kindness: Gorham woman’s handmade masks aid hospice workers and Crafts School Switches Gears

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment in an occasional series called Maine Acts of Kindness, highlighting volunteer and philanthropic efforts during the pandemic

The Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle was supposed to be celebrating its 70th year of operation this summer. Instead, the pandemic forced cancellation of its renowned artist-in-residence workshops, as well as scheduled community outreach programs.

But Haystack recognized its Fab Lab (short for fabrication laboratory) had tools available for the greater good, especially after local resident Jill Day of Brooksville came to Haystack and asked to use its laser cutter to cut plastic shields.



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Ginger AldrichPortland Press Herald
Latest, largest-ever donation will help Haystack plan for climate’s threat to campus

When Edward Larrabee Barnes designed the campus of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in the early 1960s, the architect didn’t have to account for rising sea levels brought on by climate change. He planned some structures within about 20 feet of high tide, giving artists the experience of sleeping and working at water’s edge.

With a new $4 million gift for campus preservation in hand, Haystack can start thinking about what to do about those vulnerable structures and other long-term campus needs, said Paul Sacaridiz, executive director of the school.

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Arielle WalrathPortland Press Herald
Deer Isle arts colony receives $4 million gift, the largest in its history

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts said in a news release that the gift from the Windgate Foundation is the single largest in the school’s history.

The money will be permanently restricted, generating annual operating support for the ongoing preservation of the campus, which received a 25-year award from the American Institute of Architects in 1994 for its architectural design and cultural significance.

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Arielle WalrathPortland Press Herald
Museums look at the legacies of 2 Maine art colonies

On May 24, the Portland Museum of Art opens an exhibition about the early days of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, exploring the roots of the Deer Isle school and what co-curator Diana Greenwold calls “the pivotal imprint” of Haystack on mid-century American culture. “In the Vanguard: Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 1950-1969” will be the first major museum exhibition that focuses on the school and its influence, and will make the case that Haystack and the artists associated with it have been central to blurring the boundaries between art and craft, as well as key players in the national discussion about the topic.

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Arielle WalrathPortland Press Herald
Four Maine arts groups receive $328,000 in federal money

The Portland Museum of Art will receive $100,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support its upcoming exhibition about Haystack Mountain School of Crafts – one of four Maine organizations to benefit from a round of federal grants announced Thursday.

The Portland Museum of Art opens its Haystack exhibition May 24. “In the Vanguard” will explore the Deer Isle school’s early years and its influence on 20th-century craft in America. It is organized by PMA curator Diana Greenwold and Rachael Arauz, an art historian and independent curator.

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Arielle WalrathPortland Press Herald