Summer Workshops Current — Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

Rooting for You: Smithing for the Garden

Rooting for You: Smithing for the Garden

Blacksmithing is a versatile craft that enables you to make a tremendous range of objects, from jewelry to sculpture, and almost anything in between. Workshop participants will be introduced to fundamental blacksmithing techniques while learning to make beautiful and useful objects for the home and garden. Hooks, plant hangers, simple tools, and more are all possibilities as you learn to use a hammer, anvil, and fire to shape steel to your designs. Exclusive for beginners.

Addison de Lisle (he/him) is a formally trained metalsmith who uses blacksmithing, silversmithing, and digital fabrication techniques to produce a broad range of work. He teaches workshops and exhibits work nationwide and maintains an independent studio practice in midcoast Maine.

Square ONEMolly FlaniganDecember 4, 2024Blacksmithing, Addison de Lisle

In the Beginning

In the Beginning

This workshop will focus on basic skill building for wheel thrown pottery. It is intended for the novice or those who have found the successful experience of wheel throwing elusive. We will begin by discussing what makes up the clay we use and how to prepare it. We will learn how to use our hands to center, pull up the clay, and shape basic cylindrical forms. Some basic handbuilding techniques will also be included, as time allows. Due to time constraints, our emphasis will be on skill building; no firing will take place. Exclusive for beginners.

Frank Pitcher (he/him) is a studio craftsperson seeking adventure with every turn of the wheel.

Square ONEMolly FlaniganDecember 4, 2024Ceramics, Frank Pitcher

Weaving + Preservation of Memory

Weaving + Preservation of Memory

In this workshop, participants will use frame looms to weave and explore color, form, and materiality by using brought or found objects and how they mark time and space. In addition to weaving with found materials, participants will learn how to weave on a frame loom using woven structures such as plain weave, slit tapestry weave, and rya. Participants are encouraged to bring materials from home and additional materials will be provided. Exclusive for beginners.

Bryana Bibbs (she/her) is an artist based in Chicago, IL who works with textiles, painting, and community-based practices. Bibbs founded “The We Were Never Alone Project – A Weaving Workshop for Victims and Survivors of Domestic Violence” and currently serves on the Surface Design Association’s Education Committee.

Square ONEMolly FlaniganDecember 4, 2024Fiber, Bryana Bibbs

Screen and Zine!

Screen and Zine!

This workshop will combine introductory screenprinting techniques with zine making. Participants will learn the use of hand-drawn elements and shaped stencils to make screenprinted designs for zines. Zines are small folded books that can be made simply from one or more sheets of paper. They are versatile, fun, and can be shared. Participants will learn various zine designs and folding techniques. and will have opportunities to create a variety of zine types using screenprinted imagery as content. Exclusive for beginners.

Barbara Justice (she/her) is a visual artist and an art instructor whose research and studio practice revolves around photographic arts and includes examining areas of book arts, printmaking, historical process techniques, drawing, collage, digital fabrication, creative writing, and community-based art projects.

Square ONEMolly FlaniganDecember 4, 2024Graphics, Barbara Justice

Charmed

Charmed

In this beginner's workshop, we will make a series of small metal charms using a variety of introductory skills, including filing, sawing, surface embellishment, basic soldering, and metal finishing. Each participant will make enough charms by the end of day 3 to participate in a charm swap with the other members of the workshop. Participants will leave with a variety of charms that can be used to make a bracelet that is a souvenir of the experience. Exclusive for beginners.

Corey Ackelmire (she/her) is a metalsmith and educator living in Houston, TX. Her work explores the way objects can recall the emotions of past experiences.

Nathan Dube's (he/him) work explores his interest in childhood and play by exploring the relationship between humor, aggression, masculinity, and how contemporary adult male identity is constructed in American culture.

Square ONEMolly FlaniganDecember 4, 2024Metals, Corey Ackelmire + Nathan Dube

Introduction to the Woodshop: Ease through Hands-on Understanding

Introduction to the Woodshop: Ease through Hands-on Understanding

This immersive workshop is an introduction to the wood studio, focused on safe tool use and understanding each machine's purpose. Through practice, demonstrations, and design discussions, we will explore project planning, material sourcing, and tool safety. Emphasizing a thoughtful, safe workflow, the workshop will foster a supportive environment where we can develop foundational skills and confidence, setting the stage for further exploration in woodworking. Exclusive for beginners.

Kelly Harris (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based furniture maker, hand tool maker, and educator, combining critical thought, curiosity, and years of trade experience to create custom, functional furniture with bold, elegant design while teaching woodworking nationwide.

Square ONEMolly FlaniganDecember 4, 2024Wood, Kelly Harris

Ready for Whatever

Ready for Whatever

This beginner’s workshop will focus on traditional and innovative ways to form hot steel. Emphasis will be on teaching skills required to express unique ideas and create well-crafted work in iron. Participants will learn tapering, upsetting, bending, spreading, forge welding, and inflating and welding with an Oxygen Acetylene torch will be taught. All levels welcome.

Elizabeth Brim (she/her) is an artist who uses traditional blacksmithing techniques and innovative metalworking techniques to make sculptures.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Blacksmithing, Elizabeth Brim

Narrative + Ceramics: Thinking through Making

Narrative + Ceramics: Thinking through Making

In this workshop, we will primarily work with clay, but each day will also incorporate small exercises in creative narrative building and imagery generation on paper. Our goal is to explore the possibilities of the intersection of ceramics and comics, allowing you to imagine concepts from one medium and bring your ideas to life in the other. Throughout the workshop, we will think of narrative in the broadest of terms—starting with a simple idea and then transitioning it in incremental steps to expand it into new directions. Participants will consider a wide range of options for combining ceramics and storytelling, from creating simple wall tiles to constructing dynamic comic characters as sculptures in clay. Prior experience in ceramics required, along with a willingness to explore and experiment, without the need for mastery, and a desire to express your vision of personal observations of life around you through creative messaging, narrative, and imagery.

Kevin Snipes (he/him) is a Maker and Thinker—an American artist known for his ceramic work that blurs the boundaries between craft and art.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Ceramics, Kevin Snipes

Brokenness: The Craft of Garment Repair + Alteration

Brokenness: The Craft of Garment Repair + Alteration

While no two repairs are alike, similar skills can be applied to various garment and fabric types. Plan to bring a suitcase filled with clothing and textiles in need of care, and learn to assess and execute the hand- or machine-based repair techniques that will keep woven and knitted garments in circulation. This workshop will cover repair, fit, and alterations—reclaiming clothing we love despite a fashion industry that often doesn’t love us back. A basic understanding of sewing machine use will be helpful. All levels welcome.

Alaska artist Amy Meissner (she/her)combines handwork, found objects, and abandoned textiles to reference literal, physical, and emotional labor. She teaches the craft of repair as an act of prolonging, care, and accompaniment of vulnerable objects in transition.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Fiber, Amy Meissner

Monotype Alchemy

Monotype Alchemy

The process of creating monotypes is rich with experimentation and play! In this workshop, we will delve into the spontaneous, inventive, and expansive medium of monotype printmaking using nontoxic inks. Participants will explore both additive and subtractive printmaking processes, stencils, and masking with cut paper and organic materials, chine collé, and multiple color and ghost printing. Through daily demonstrations and projects, participants will discover the experiment and develop a visual dialogue, and leave with a collection of prints. No printmaking experience needed. All levels welcome.

Jennifer Koch’s (she/her) art-making practice, which considers themes of collecting, sorting, the natural world, and repetition includes printmaking, object-based sculptures, and collage.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Graphics, Jennifer Koch

Second Skin: Leather Jewelry Wearables

Second Skin: Leather Jewelry Wearables

For millennia, humans have supplemented the body by constructing wearable implements that aim to repair, bolster, or enhance the body. Participants will design and construct a new body part, extension, prosthesis, or wearable volume using leather forming and metal fabrication techniques. Through digital fabrication, traditional mold-making, and custom “buck” creation, participants will shape unique leather forms. Basic metalworking, cold connections, and leather-working will be taught as participants create a frame or apparatus to integrate their creations with the body. All levels welcome.

Kerianne Quick (they/she), a nationally recognized jewelry artist and Associate Professor at San Diego State University, creates work exploring migration and the role of objects in memory, with pieces featured in major collections like LACMA and MFA Houston.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Metals, Kerianne Quick

Sitting with the Past: Craft + Culture Through Chair Making

Sitting with the Past: Craft + Culture Through Chair Making

This workshop will offer participants a deep dive into a variety of tools and techniques for the design and construction of ladderback chairs. Parts will be split from a freshly felled log, shaped using drawknives and spokeshaves, and joined through a combination of traditional and modern techniques. Demonstrations will be based on the iconic form produced by the Poynor family, and participants will be encouraged to experiment with their own design ideas with their chairs. All levels welcome.

Charlie Ryland (he/him) is a chair maker and teacher interested in working with pre-industrial tools, techniques, and styles to unpack their stories and adapt their forms to the modern context.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Wood, Charlie Ryland

The Storied Object: Narrative Complexities in Crafted Works

The Storied Object: Narrative Complexities in Crafted Works

During Nehal El-Hadi’s residency, she will continue research, reflection, and writing on topics that consider the following: Crafted objects contain histories, geographies, temporalities, and meanings inherent in their existence. Narrative complexity is the ability to tell stories that provide historicity, highlight connections, convey context, and suggest implications—it is both understanding and a communication, and requires an engagement with the object that acknowledges and elicits multiple knowledges, contends with various chronographies and futurities, complicates space, site, location, and scale, and accounts for paradoxes, counterintuitions, and inherent tensions.

Nehal El-Hadi (she/her) is the Editor-in-Chief of STUDIO Magazine, a biannual publication dedicated to contemporary Canadian craft and design.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Visiting Artist, Nehal El-Hadi

Materials Library

Materials Library

Materials are fundamental to craft. Accordingly, the goal of Fiona Bell’s residency is to develop a Materials Library at Haystack that can be built upon in the future. The collection will be organized by material type and cataloged to provide information regarding composition, properties, methods, and potential applications. Existing materials will include manufacturer information while do-it-yourself materials will be accompanied by recipes. By building this collection, others at Haystack can learn more about materials and add new materials to the Library.

Fiona Bell (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico, developing sustainable biomaterials at the intersection of material science, biodesign, and human-computer interaction.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Fab Lab Resident, Fiona Bell

Weaving in Nature

Weaving in Nature

During her residency, Kate Reed will share her work and discuss the properties of fibers, shapes, and forms that we encounter in nature. This work is intended to foster reflection on the intersection of art and nature, weaving together conversation, craft, and exploration in the great outdoors. As part of the residency, Reed will offer an immersive hike for session participants, during which they will gather natural materials to create woven pieces, exploring the structures and textures found in the environment.

Kate Reed (she/her) specializes in building machines, modifying biology, augmenting the body, and growing technology to build wearable technology that connects humans and computers with the natural world.

Session 1Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Fab Lab Resident, Kate Reed

Boxes, Bits + Pieces

Boxes, Bits + Pieces

Participants in this workshop will create objects that balance the industrial history of steel with a gracefulness of form. Building on a solid base of fundamental forging, forming, and fabricating techniques, participants will expand their visual vocabulary through creative problem solving and by exploring inventive uses of material to create vessels made to contain tangible items (favorite objects, etc.), as well as intangibles (ideas, thoughts, actions, etc.). All levels welcome.

Stephen Yusko (he/him) creates sculpture, furniture, vessels, and jewelry in his Cleveland, OH studio using mixed material combined with forged, machined, and fabricated steel.

Session 2Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Blacksmithing, Stephen Yusko

Talking Through Tiles

Talking Through Tiles

What is a tile? A slab, a sculpture, a canvas, a pattern unit, a mathematical plane shape, a piece of history, a covering for architecture, or even for the body. Tiles can transcend utility, convey ideas, and tell a story. To this end, we will learn techniques for rolling, carving, press-molding, and slip-casting ceramic tiles. We will delve into the fascinating intercultural history of tile and use this as a foundation for expressing who we are as artists and human beings. All levels welcome.

Shae Bishop (he/him) creates sculptural garments from ceramic and textile, interweaving history and personal experience.

Session 2Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Ceramics, Shae Bishop

Natural + Alternative Fiber Weaving and Exploration

Natural + Alternative Fiber Weaving and Exploration

Immerse yourself in the freedom and versatility of basket, textile, and fiber weaving. With a focus on sustainability and resourcefulness, learn to weave using a variety of natural and alternative materials, allowing creativity to guide the process. Techniques like plaiting, twining, and coiling will be demonstrated. Possible projects include mini pack baskets, woven sculptures, bowls, and wearable art. Explore weaving with molds, other armature structures, square and round bottom techniques, and scaling the size of your work. This workshop fosters creativity, resourcefulness, and experimentation. All levels welcome.

Sarah Sockbeson (she/her) is an award-winning Penobscot basketmaker and culture-bearing artist, known for her innovative yet traditional brown ash and sweetgrass baskets, rooted in sustainable practices and imaginative materials.

Session 2Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Fiber, Sarah Sockbeson

Building Personal Folklore

Building Personal Folklore

Scrapbooks, photo albums, family portraits: we all have them, but what if we want to present our personal narrative through a new lens? In this workshop, we will craft our own myths and folktales based on the unique lives of each participant's past, present, and future. Explore the idea of ritual and tradition by pulling from the past and reframing it with distinct, modern iconography. Participants will learn how to bring their ideas to life through watercolor and gouache, focusing on painting techniques and experimental drawing exercises to build these folktales from the ground up. All levels welcome.

Stacey Rozich (she/her) is an artist, illustrator, and occasional muralist. She constructs vignettes in watercolor and gouache that combine elements of folklore, esoteric iconography, and American pop culture.

Session 2Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Graphics, Stacey Rozich

Metal Connections

Metal Connections

Explore the art of connecting materials with jewelry and metalsmithing techniques. Using non-ferrous metals like brass, copper, and sterling silver, participants will learn effective methods for fastening and joining components. Discover how to enhance objects with striking metal details, create modular structures, and incorporate alternative materials. This workshop focuses on creative cold connections, such as rivets and tabs, which facilitate disassembly, repairs, and repurposing, and is appropriate for anyone eager to expand their artistic toolkit through metalwork. All levels welcome.

Emily Cobb (she/her) is a jewelry and object maker, designer, educator, and enthusiast.

Session 2Molly FlaniganNovember 21, 2024Metals, Emily Cobb