FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Issued: November 5, 2025
CONTACT: Kate Lochner, kate@haystack-mtn.org 
Download images: https://adobe.ly/4nB8XO2

Haystack Celebrates End of 2025 Season and Looks Ahead to 75th Anniversary Year

Deer Isle, Maine – Haystack Mountain School of Crafts ended the 2025 season in October, marking the end of the fiscal year. This year, the School welcomed 1,235 participants from 43 states and 15 countries to its campus. Approximately 25% of attendees were supported by a Fellowship. Additionally, the School hosted 1,360 visitors during its Public Programs series. The campus location at 89 Haystack School Drive is now closed for the season, reopening to the public in May 2026.

Haystack received $435,500 in received and committed grants during the fiscal year, including Fellowship and Faculty endowment funds from the Lenore G. Tawney Foundation, Fellowship support from the Maxwell-Hanrahan Foundation, support for STEM initiatives by the Glenn W. Bailey Foundation and Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, traditional crafts by the Maine Community Foundation Belvedere Traditional Handicrafts Fund, a two-year commitment for community programming by the NEA, and a grant from the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative for technical assistance to explore interconnectivity of a solar array for the campus. Haystack also hosted the Maine Marine Debris Summit thanks to a subgrant through the University of Maine's Sea Grant program from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program. The event brought over 30 leaders—including fishermen, scientists, engineers, artists, nonprofit directors, and educators—to address the growing issue of marine debris and fishing gear waste.

Thanks to additional and major support from the Windgate Foundation, Haystack waived application fees for its summer workshops in 2025 and launched a three-year Artist Grant Initiative, which provides financial support and mentorship for three annual cohorts of emerging and early-career artists that include past participants in Haystack’s endowed and partner Fellowships since 2018. Haystack’s 2025 programs were also supported in part by Haystack’s Program Endowment, with additional funding provided by the Onion Foundation.

In 2026, Haystack will celebrate 75 years since the School’s founding with a year of Signature Programs, including a Distinguished Speaker Series. The summer 2026 catalog will be available on Haystack’s website starting on Monday, December 15, to preview workshop offerings, Speaker Series events, and information about Visiting Artists and Fab Lab Residents. Applications will open on Tuesday, January 6, 2026.

Image Credits

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Two volunteers help set up planter boxes during Pre-Session, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Participants admire their monoprints during the Session 1 Graphics workshop, Monotype Alchemy, with Jennifer Koch, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Participants working in the ceramics studio during the Session 1 Ceramics workshop, Narrative + Ceramics: Thinking through Making, with Kevin Snipes, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Instructor Amy Meissner (right, front) demonstrates sashiko embroidery in the Session 1 Fiber workshop, Brokenness: The Craft of Garment Repair + Alteration, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Session 1 Blacksmithing workshop participants surprised instructor Elizabeth Brimm (far right, end) by wearing her signature pearl necklace in the Hotshop during Ready for Whatever, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Visitors learn about handbuilding with clay in the ceramics studio during Open House, photo by Nikolai Fox, 2025.Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Participants set up their floor looms in the fiber studio with the guidance of instructor John Paul Morabito (center) during the Session 3 workshop, Weaving Beyond the Binary, 2025.Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Participants celebrate during a kiln unload outside the ceramics studio during the session 3 Ceramics workshop, Teachers' Teachers, with Rosa Glaessner Novak, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Group portrait of participants in the Session 4 Wood workshop, Call + Response, with Ellie Richards, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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A participant extends their weaving onto the outside deck during the Session 4 Fiber workshop, Sampling: Experimentation through Material Play, with Etta Sandry, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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All smiles in the Hotshop during the Session 5 Glass workshop, Revelations in Form: Utilizing Tones + Values, with Robert Lewis and Dave Walters, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Participants observe instructor Susan Joy Share demonstrate how to create textured patterns in paste paint during the Session 5 Graphics workshop, Open/Close: Book Forms + Content, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Session 5 Fab Lab Resident Nathan Melenbrink (far right) consults with participants on LED lights in the Fab Lab, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Session 5 Fiber participants led an evening procession around campus with paper lanterns created during the Fiber workshop, Lantern Procession + Parade, with Valeska Populoh, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Installation view of Session 6 Wood participants’ work created during the Wood workshop, Sculptural Mirror Frames, with Lacey Carnahan, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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The crowd warms up for the live auction in the Gateway auditorium during the Open Studio Residency End-of-Session Studio Walk-Through, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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Participants use pole lathes to create bowls in the Open Door workshop, Introduction to Bowl Turning on a Pole Lathe, with Eric Goodson, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

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New Works resident artists enjoy a meal in the dining hall, photo by Dan Rajter, 2025. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine.

About Haystack Mountain School of Crafts | haystack-mtn.org

Haystack connects people through craft. Haystack provides the freedom to engage with materials and develop new ideas in a supportive and inclusive community. Serving an ever-changing group of makers and thinkers, we are dedicated to working and learning alongside one another, while exploring the intersections of craft, art, and design in broad and expansive ways. Founded in 1950 as a research and studio program in the arts, Haystack is an international craft school located on the Atlantic Ocean in Deer Isle, Maine, offering one and two-week studio workshops to participants of all skill levels as well as the two-week Open Studio Residency program, tours, auctions, artist presentations, and shorter workshops for Maine residents and high school students. The award-winning campus was designed by noted American architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, and opened in 1961 when the School relocated to Deer Isle from its original location in Montville, Maine.

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