DEER ISLE —Haystack’s first of two summer exhibitions, Artists of the Forest, will open June 2, with a reception from 3:00-5:00 p.m. The exhibition is based on the words, works, and images of traditional artists who live and work in the Northern Forest of the northeastern United States, will be on view. Cultural Resources—a non-profit organization in Maine that helps communities and groups identify, celebrate, and preserve the cultural traditions that make them unique—coordinated the four-state traveling show, which has already exhibited at the Vermont Folklife Center in 2012 and at Traditional Arts in upstate New York this February.

Artists of the Forest features sixteen traditional artists from the North Country, which includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and upstate New York. Artists include Abenaki basketmaker Jeanne Brink; Acadian woodcarver Tom Cote; rustic furniture makers Annette and Sherman Craig; birch bark canoe maker Steve Cayard; rustic furniture maker Ron Fenlong; rustic furniture maker Barry Gregson; Abenaki basketmaker Jesse Larocque; dog sled maker Karen Jones; snow shoe maker and pack basket maker Bill Mackowski; rustic furniture maker Fred Peryer; wood carver Melvin Roy; and the late Newt Washburn, Abenaki basketmaker. The show focuses on the people, places, and work that define our region, encouraging an understanding and appreciation of life in Maine, and the North Country of New England, for local residents and visitors to the Island—from the US and around the world—alike. In addition, focusing on these artists, as well as tradition and craft, allows audiences to learn about the creative processes of these artists and how skills are shared, through mentoring new generations of artists, which helps these customs and traditions thrive. 

Artists of the Forest will run through July 7. The Center will be open Wednesday and Friday through Sunday from 1:00–5:00 p.m. for the duration of the show. In addition to the exhibition, three of the Maine artists participating in the show (Steve Cayard, Tom Cote, and Bill Mackowski) will give gallery talks and demonstrations on Sunday, June 30 from 3:00-5:00 p.m. Events are free. 

Artists of the Forest is supported by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission’s Celebrating Traditional Arts program and Haystack’s Program Endowment.

Evening ProgramsHaystack Mountain School of Crafts’ Summer Evening Programs Series includes Studio Walk-Throughs around Haystack’s campus, by artists sharing their work, ideas, and artistic influences and End-of-Session Auctions in the Gateway Auditorium. These programs are open to the public, and begin at 7:30 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) and are held in the Gateway Auditorium on Haystack’s campus.

On Monday, June 10, blacksmith Rick Smith and drawer/painter Moe Brooker will present their work. Rick Smith is an independent artist and professor of blacksmithing and metalsmithing at Southern Illinois University. He has taught numerous workshops at schools like Haystack, Penland, and Peters Valley. Rick Smith specializes in repousse’, pattern welded steel, and rust as a surface treatment. The Mint Museum, North Carolina, Decorative Arts Museum, Arkansas; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; and the Metal Museum, Tennesee; and others, have his work in their permanent collections. Moe Brooker is an abstract artist and is Special Assistant to the President of Moore College of Art & Design, where he is also the Penny and Bob Fox Distinguished Professor. He received a BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and an MFA from the Tyler School of Fine Art at Temple University. Awards include a Conrad Nelson Fellowship; James Van Der Zee Award from the Brandywine Workshop for lifetime achievement in the arts; a Philadelphia Art Alliance Medal of Achievement; and he was the Pennsylvania Artist of the Year in 2010. Moe Brooker’s work has exhibited worldwide, and is in many collections, including The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Museum of the Château of Montbéliard, France.

On Tuesday, June 11, ceramic artists Simon Levin and Kenyon Hansen will share their work.Simon Levin is a studio potter and Fulbright Scholar who lives and works in Gresham, Wisconsin, where he also runs the Mill Creek Pottery Apprenticeship Program at his studio. He exhibits his wood fired work nationwide, and in galleries in New York, Atlanta, and Chicago. Simon Levin holds graduate degrees in Ceramics from the University of Iowa. He is a kiln builder, who has built kilns in Taiwan, East Timor, and at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana. In addition Simon Levin writes for clay magazines and evangelizes for functional clay. Kenyon Hansen is currently a long term resident and Lincoln Fellow at the Archie Bray Foundation. He received a BFA from Finlandia University International School of Art and Design in Hancock, Michigan. Kenyon Hansen’s work has been in numerous exhibitions, most recently at The Foster White Gallery in Seattle, Washington; Greenwich House Pottery, New York; and The Nevica Project, Chicago, Illinois.

On Wednesday, June 12, fiber artist Joan Morris and metalsmith Arthur Hash will present their work.  Joan Morris began making shaped resist dyed textiles in 1983, a year that also marked the beginning of her work as master-dyer for the Theater Department at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where she has dyed, painted, and printed textiles for more than eighty productions. Joan Morris began teaching shaped resist dyeing in 1989 and since 1995 she has been working on the creation of a merger of painting, printing, erasing, gilding, and shaped-resist dyeing. In 1997 she designed the textiles for a scene in Julie Taymor’s The Lion King and since then she has fabricated textiles for its Broadway, international, and road productions. In 2007 Joan Morris, and co-inventor M. Ratté, were granted the US patent for their unique printing process, which allows for an articulately printed, washable deposit of gold and other metals on textiles. Her work has exhibited nationally and internationally. Joan Morris maintains a studio in Vermont.

On Thursday, June 13, woodworker and furniture maker Jon Brooks with present his work. Jon Brooks is a furniture maker, sculptor, and studio artist. He received a BFA and MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, where he studied and apprenticed with Wendell Castle and William Keyser. He has taught at the University of Tasmania, Australia; Rochester Institute of Technology; Haystack; Penland; and Anderson Ranch. Jon Brooks is a member of the New Hampshire Furniture Masters Organization, and a Lifetime Fellow, having received a Living Treasure Award from the New Hampshire Arts Council. His work has been in exhibitions at the Currier Museum of Art, New Hampshire; Sharada Gallery, New York; Snyderman Gallery, Pennsylvania; Sybaris Gallery, Michigan; and is in the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; and Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

On Monday, June 17, the first session technical assistants – artists who aid the instructors in leading classes – will present their work. These assistants are accomplished crafts people working in a wide range of media. On Tuesday, June 18, Haystack staff, many of whom are also studio artists, will present their work. An end-of-session studio walk-through and auction will take place on Thursday, June 20 with studios open at 7:30 p.m. for self-guided tours, followed by an end-of-session auction – preview begins at 8:00 p.m. and auction will begin at 8:15 p.m.

Haystack is an international, non-profit, studio program in the arts offering summer workshops to craftmakers and visual artists of all skill levels led by prominent faculty artists. The school is located in Sunshine on Deer Isle. The award-winning campus, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, is a series of shingled buildings cascading down the hillside overlooking Jericho Bay and the Deer Isle Thoroughfare.  Tours of the campus are available every Wednesday at 1:00 p.m., from May 29 through August 28. The school also offers shorter workshops in the spring and fall for Maine residents. Haystack’s Evening Programs Schedule is posted online at: http://www.haystack-mtn.org/summer-evening-program.php. To request Haystack's brochure or Evening Programs Schedule, call 207/348-2306, or e-mail haystack@haystack-mtn.org. For more information call 207/348-2306 or visit our website at  HYPERLINK "http://www.haystack-mtn.org" www.haystack-mtn.org.