Maine Programs

Haystack's exhibition series is an outgrowth of Haystack’s commitment to supporting the dynamic work being done by makers of contemporary craft and to the creative process implicit in that. Haystack’s Center for Community Programs in Deer Isle village provides a year-round gallery and educational facility - a renovated barn with a 760 square foot space for exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and community gatherings, which is winterized and handicapped accessible. The Center opened in June of 2007 and has featured exhibitions of Haystack’s Student Mentor Program and Beaded Blessings, an international traveling exhibition, as well as community-based workshops. The initial summer exhibition, Haystack: Creative Process, opened in June 2008 and was the first of a new ongoing summer series. Each summer, the school mounts new exhibitions documenting Haystack’s impact on contemporary craft over time; significant shows that establish the school's Center for Community Programs as a leading exhibitor of significant work by American craft makers.

Concurrently during the summer season, Haystack continues its exhibitions and lectures at its campus. These events, free and open to the public, attract a cross section of island residents and summer visitors, as well as our workshop participants. These exhibitions are an incredible resource for the community—featuring work by internationally distinguished makers—and also provide an opportunity to learn about these makers’ creative process as well. Late spring and summer exhibitions at Haystack's Center for Community Programs are open Thursdays–Sundays, 1:00–5:00 p.m.

Summer - Fall 2011

Artstream Ceramic Library

A Mark Pharis cup sits on a custom-made box in which the piece travels.

From November 15-December 15 the Artstream Ceramic Library was at Haystack’s Center for Community Programs. Haystack trustee Alleghany Meadows helped develop this social-outreach project whose mission is to connect contemporary functional ceramics with ordinary people. Similar in structure to a literature-based library, the Artstream Ceramic Library loans out unique handmade cups made by thirteen nationally-known potters, for a period of seven days. A vital component of the social exchange aspect of this venture is that the Artstream Ceramic Library asks that the borrower to take a digital photograph of the cup in use, and encourages including other art forms as well, such as music, video, and visual art. The photographs and art will then be posted online at Artstream.

The converted Airstream travels around the country displaying cups that are available on loan.

The library, developed by Haystack trustee Alleghany Meadows and others, is an outgrowth of the Artstream Nomadic Gallery, a 30-foot 1967 Airstream Sovereign land yacht that was completely remodeled into an exhibition space in 2001 by Meadows. Based in Carbondale, Colorado, it has traveled from Los Angeles to New York, putting contemporary ceramic art on the street.  

The Ziegler House is a weekend and vacation home on eighty acres of open Connecticut farmland. The assemblage of three barn-like volumes, interconnected by a common entryway, is nestled into an intersection of 18th century tree-lined rubble stone walls. This project is the recipient of the 1983 AIA/New York State Distinguished Architectural Citation, and has been published in several architectural books on residential design. Architect: Bruce Fowle, FAIA, LEED, Founding Principal, FXFOWLE.

Haystack’s summer exhibition, Haystack’s Architecture: Vision & Legacy, at its Center for Community Programs in Deer Isle village, opened July 3rd and remained on view through September 11th, and by appointment from September 12 - October 15. The exhibition was organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Haystack's campus, in addition to other events marking this important milestone. Falmouth, Maine architect Carol A. Wilson, FAIA is curating the exhibition.

Haystack's Architecture: Vision & Legacy examines the impact—through drawings, models, and writings by leading architects in the US—of Haystack's architecture and its architect, Edward Larrabee Barnes (1915-2004). Haystack’s Deer Isle campus was recognized as an outstanding example of Modernist architecture by the American Institute of Architects in 1994 with the presentation of the organization's Twenty-Five Year Award. It is one of only forty-one buildings in the country to achieve this distinction. Others include Rockefeller Center, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Guggenheim Museum, and the East Building of the National Gallery. In 2006 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a building of national significance. Ed Barnes was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and was posthumously awarded the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 2007.

Rendering of the Ziegler House.

In her curator’s statement, Carol Wilson talks about the influence of Barnes’s work and vision on generations of American architects, including herself. An excerpt reads, “As a Maine architect, Haystack's architecture sets a standard, not only for timelessness, but also as an example, even in 2011, of problems we should be solving and innovative ways of seeing and building.” She goes on to explain that, “The inspiration and lessons learned from Barnes and his work at Haystack are the basis for this summer's exhibition.”

The show features designs by Randy Brown Architects; James Carpenter Design Associates Inc.; Mark Cavagnero Associates; Elliott + Elliott Architecture; Bruce S. Fowle, FAIA, FXFOWLE; Christopher Glass, Architect; Peter Hamilton ARCHITECTS; Toshiko Mori, Architect PLLC; Bruce Norelius Studio; STELLEARCHITECTS; Studio Ma; and Carol A. Wilson, FAIA.

In addition to the exhibition, Carol Wilson is giving an Artist’s Talk on Sunday, July 24th at 3:00 p.m. in the Center’s gallery. The event is free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours at the Center are Thursday - Sunday, 1–5 pm.

Read statements from all exhibition participants.

Spring 2011

Sargentville, Maine artist Chris Leith taught the workshop, Weaving a Scarf, to high school students in her Eggemogin Textile Studio.

An exhibition of student and mentor work is mounted at Haystack’s Center for Community Programs at the end of each year’s Student Mentor Program. An opening reception for the 2011 Student Mentor Exhibition, held from January through early April, will be on Friday, April 15, from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Musical guests, Route 15, the Deer Isle-Stonington High School student Jazz Combo, will play from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. The exhibition will remain on view until April 29. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Randy Regier in his NuPenny Store, which exists as a traveling art installation under the guise of an inaccessible toy store. Photo by Scott Peterman.

Randy Regier: NuPenny Toys, featuring work by the Maine sculptor, will be on display at Haystack’s Center for Community Programs from May 12 – June 19. Randy's work is an exploration of how to understand and find community in his relationship to his culture and country. He has worked in the auto-body industry, restored and repaired antique toys, and was a free-lance cartoonist.

He received a BFA in Sculpture from Kansas State University and an MFA in Studio Arts from Maine College of Art, Portland. His work has been featured in exhibitions, installations, and is in private and public collections, including Belger Arts Collection, Kansas City, Missouri; and in Kansas, the Marianne Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan; The Washburn - Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka; Emprise Bank Collection, Wichita; and the Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence. The Boston Phoenix has written of him that, “…his work is just beginning to be known, but he may be one of the best sculptors in the country.”

"I want NuPenny to be familiar and believable,yet somehow out of our grasp—like a toy store in a dream."

Push Me by Randy Regier.

Randy Regier: NuPenny Toys was organized as part of Haystack’s spring 2011 Community-Based Artist Residency with Regier, taking place from May 2 – 13. The residency and exhibition are supported by the Island Education Foundation, a SMART (Schools Make Arts Relevant Today) grant from the Maine Arts Commission, the Quimby Family Foundation, and Haystack’s Program Endowment.

Related events - free and open to the public:

Fall 2010

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts's award-winning campus, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes, was represented in the exhibition, maine modern: 50 years of modern architecture in maine. The exhibition, mounted by storefrontforarchitecture, portland, maine, ran from October 1-31, 2010.

Summer 2010

Haystack: Board/Board exhibition at the Center for Community Programs.

Haystack's second exhibit of the summer, Haystack: Board/Board, was on view from July 25–September 5. The show featured work by Haystack’s artist board members, created with recycled wood from the lower half of Haystack’s main stairs, which were replaced this spring. Works on view ranged from wood sculpture and furniture to mixed media and metal pieces made with the flashing found under each board. Click on the names in the list below to see images of the work and statements by each artist.

Read Stuart Kestenbaum's introduction to the exhibition.

The exhibiting artists included:

Black and White Urchin Basket by Jeremy Frey.

Haystack's first summer exhibition, Wabanaki Basketry, was on view from June 13–July 18. This exhibit was mounted in collaboration with Cultural Resources, Inc. of Rockport, Maine and the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, based in Old Town. For centuries, Maine’s Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribes have been passing on the tradition of sweet grass and brown ash basketry to the next generation. Wabanaki Basketry explored the range of styles, materials, and teaching techniques used in one of the state’s oldest art forms.

As part of the exhibition, Maine basketmakers and visiting artists (from left to right below) Molly Neptune Parker, Theresa Secord, and Jeremy Frey demonstrated their techniques and discussed their work.

Wabanaki Basketry was supported by a Celebrating Traditional Arts grant from the Maine Arts Commission.

Spring 2010

Haystack's Student Mentor Program provides an opportunity for students from area high schools to work with local artists in their studios.

Haystack hosted an opening reception for its annual Student Mentor Program Exhibition on Friday, April 9, from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m., at Haystack’s Center for Community Programs. The event featured the Deer Isle-Stonington High School student Jazz Combo, Route 15, from 4:00 - 4:30 p.m. The exhibition included the work of 12 local artist mentors and 49 students from Deer Isle-Stonington High School, George Stevens Academy, and the Blue Hill Harbor School, and was on view until April 30.

For a look at our 2007-2009 exhibitions, visit Past Exhibitions.