FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Issued: October 16, 2025
CONTACT: Kate Lochner, kate@haystack-mtn.org 
Download Images: https://adobe.ly/3KRnuaP 

Mainers Learn Digital and Hand Craft at Haystack’s 2025 Open Door Program

Deer Isle, Maine – This fall, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts hosted the annual Open Door program from Thursday, October 10 to Monday, October 13, 2025. Developed for the Maine community, it serves as a meaningful way to close our season of national and international programming. This year, seventy-three participants attended from nine counties across the state.

The program is designed for Maine residents, ages 18 and over, of all skill levels and backgrounds. Workshops are offered in blacksmithing, ceramics, digital fabrication, fiber, graphics, metals, woodworking, and writing, and are led by distinguished artists from across the US. The program offers uninterrupted time for participants to explore materials and techniques while being in a creative community with other Mainers. 

Open Door workshops for 2025 included:

BLACKSMITHING
Brazen Vessel with Evan Fay (he/him), Detroit, MI

CERAMICS
Narrative in Clay with Alex Anderson (he/him), Los Angeles, CA

FAB LAB
Laser-cut Textile Jewelry with Jenine Bressner (they/them), Providence, RI

FIBER
Paint, Stitch, Collage: Telling Stories Through Fiber Art with Rosa Chang (she/her), Baltimore, MD/New York, NY

GRAPHICS
Introduction to Lettering with Jay Peterson (he/him), Sedgwick, ME

METALS
Everything Begins Again with Kat Cole (she/her), Columbus, GA

WOOD 
Introduction to Bowl Turning on a Pole Lathe with Eric Goodson (he/him), Newbury, MA

WRITING
The Pantoum as an Emotional/Imaginative Exploration with Myronn Hardy (he/him), Lewiston, ME

Open Door 2025 is supported in part by Haystack’s Program Endowment, with additional operational support from the Maine Arts Commission and the Windgate Foundation.

IMAGE LIST AND CAPTION INFO:

2025_OpenDoor_1
Left to right
Instructor Eric Goodson (Newbury, Massachusetts) guides participant Connor Evans (Sidney) in the workshop Introduction to Bowl Turning on a Pole Lathe in the Wood Studio.

2025_OpenDoor_2
Caitlin Hathaway (Stonington) turns a bowl using a pole lathe in the workshop Introduction to Bowl Turning on a Pole Lathe in the Wood Studio.

2025_OpenDoor_3
Left to right
Instructor Jenine Bressner (Providence, Rhode Island) and participant Virginia Lopez-Anido (Waterville) warm up the laser cutter in the workshop Laser-cut Textile Jewelry in the Fab Lab.

2025_OpenDoor_4
Rick Stark (Portland) references drawings and a vase model in the blacksmithing workshop Brazen Vessel in the Hotshop.

2025_OpenDoor_5
Jessica Muise (Biddeford) lights a torch in the Hotshop during the blacksmithing workshop, Brazen Vessel.

2025_OpenDoor_6
Left to right
Melissa Rafferty (Deer Isle) uses a torch to prepare the iron for brazing while instructor Evan Fay (Detroit, Michigan) looks on during the blacksmithing workshop Brazen Vessel in the Hotshop.

2025_OpenDoor_7
Participants in the writing workshop, The Pantoum as an Emotional/Imaginative Exploration with Myronn Hardy (Lewiston, front left), respond to the prompt, “Linger here” in the Haystack Library.

2025_OpenDoor_8
Participant Cory Upton-Cosulich (Northport) at work in the Ceramics Studio during the workshop, Narrative in Clay.

2025_OpenDoor_9
Rohan Glendinning (South Bristol) throws at the wheel in the Ceramics Studio during the workshop, Narrative in Clay.

2025_OpenDoor_10
Anna Hunt (Bath) uses a dapping set in the Metals Studio during the workshop, Everything Begins Again.

2025_OpenDoor_11
Participants Sandy Zimmerman (Bar Harbor) and Jess D’Amelio (Portland) embroider hand-painted fabric outside the Fiber Studio during the workshop, Paint, Stitch, Collage: Telling Stories Through Fiber Art.

2025_OpenDoor_12
Left to right
Zachary Buckley (Freedom) and Allyson Blake (Damariscotta) draw and paint letters in the Graphics Studio during the workshop, Introduction to Lettering.

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.

[END]