Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, commonly called "Haystack," is a craft school located on the coast of Deer Isle, Maine.
Haystack was founded in 1950 by a group of craft artists in the Belfast, Maine area, with support from Mary Beasom Bishop. It took its name from its original location near Haystack Mountain, in Montville, Maine. In 1961 the school was moved to its current campus on Deer Isle.
The campus and buildings were designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes. In 1994, the school campus won the "Twenty-five Year Award" from the American Institute of Architects. The award is given to a structure (or in this case, several structures) whose construction and original intent have withstood the test of time. The school was honored again in 2005 when the campus was added to the National Historic Register.
Haystack offers summer workshops of one to three weeks in blacksmithing, clay, fibers, glass, graphics, metals, and wood. The school has no permanent faculty; the workshops are taught by visiting professors and artists from around the United States. Haystack does not award academic degrees. In addition to offering traditional tools and facilities for crafts, Haystack is a member of MIT's Fab Lab network.
Famous quotes containing the words haystack, mountain and/or school:
“Had she come all the way for this,
To part at last without a kiss?
Yea, had she borne the dirt and rain
That her own eyes might see him slain
Beside the haystack in the floods?”
—William Morris (1834–1896)
“If I am to be a thoroughfare, I prefer that it be of the mountain brooks, the Parnassian streams, and not the town sewers. There is inspiration, that gossip which comes to the ear of the attentive mind from the courts of heaven. There is the profane and stale revelation of the barroom and the police court. The same ear is fitted to receive both communications. Only the character of the hearer determines to which it shall be open, and to which closed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Dad, if you really want to know what happened in school, then you’ve got to know exactly who’s in the class, who rides the bus, what project they’re working on in science, and how your child felt that morning.... Without these facts at your fingertips, all you can really think to say is “So how was school today?” And you’ve got to be prepared for the inevitable answer—”Fine.” Which will probably leave you wishing that you’d never asked.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)