Beautiful Weekend at Haystack
September 24, 2009Maine Art Educators Conference
Turning onto the Haystack road brings a smile to my face. Unloading the car, walking up onto the deck, looking down towards the flag pole with the water beyond is so special. Hellos and hugs follow rather quickly and before we know it we’re at work in a weekend studio. Much to fast the weekend is ending with the tour of studios and being amazed at the work that was accomplished in such a short time.
I attended the Primitive Firing workshop at Haystack in Deer Isle, ME this weekend and it was GREAT! My session was conducted by Kathy Hammond with Mia Auger collaborating. Along with a terrific learning opportunity we had beautiful weather.
The 16 participants jumped in enthusiastically, previous experiences varying widely. We learned not only from Kathy and Mia but each other. We started our Friday afternoon session learning the possibilities for pit and barrel firings with an overview of the history and looking at several examples. We quickly went to work creating new work and working on surfaces of bisqueware.
We had a variety of materials to select from to alter the pottery including stickers, glue, wax, salt, copper, iron, Miracle Gro, masking tape, fresh leaves and vegetable and fruit peels to name a few. The more “open” the clay body, the more readily it absorbed color from the firing materials.
We also learned how to burnish or alter the surface with a thousands of year old idea called Terra sigillata that was used on the early Greek pottery.
On Saturday morning we built the large pit for firing many of the pieces. We created the circle with cinder blocks so we didn’t need to dig down, just built up. The first layers were from saw dust, hay/straw. We nestled the pots in the 6 inches of thickness. On top layers of hay/straw, seaweed, horse dung, shredded paper and wood. The firing took about 6 hours.
Saturday evening we fired our barrel’s continuing the learning, exchanging of ideas and experimenting to enhance our knowledge. These took about 2 hours to burn down a fair amount in our trashcans.
In between studio work of course there was time for enjoying the wonderful Haystack cuisine, an early morning walk to the water for the first light of day, viewing the artists slides, bidding in the silent auction which raised $1600.00 for the scholarship fund, chatting with old friends and making new ones.
The opportunities to talk about art education were endless. I can’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful weekend talking about teaching and learning than with a group of art educators who are passionate and dedicated to education!
me arts ed 
Oh, how very wonderful! Your photo of the sea and the sun – stunning! I loved the idea of building up (with cinder blocks) in stead of digging a pit. This might transfer to doing an old fashioned lobster bake the same way instead of digging down. Also, somehow or other, fire is a great unifier and your photos are warm and exciting. What a great opportunity for all of you folks in the arts. Ann McCann
It was a fabulous weekend with seven great workshops, one of which Argy described so eloquently. Along with Cathy Hammond, Lynne Shulman, Ben Potter, Holly Berry, Bonnie Faulkner, Janet Manyon and Jon Brooks offerd up
studio opportunities that took us all to new levels.
Thanks to all who participated and, if you’d like to come to Haystack next year, be sure to become a member of the Maine Art Education Association.
Thanks for your comments Cam! I am so glad you mentioned the other workshop leaders. It would be great to have each one described and pictures included of each. You did a great job planning another successful conference. Thank you for your hard work!
Thank you Ann for your contribution. I have always thought it would be wonderful to have a weekend of teachers and administrators at Haystack together.
I was saddened that I was not able to attend this year’s workshop at Haystack. I believe this is the first conference I missed in a very long time. Thanks for the pictures and your view of the clay session. I would love to see glass fusing offered again and perhaps I can make it next year!
We missed you at Haystack Frank and look forward to seeing you at The Arts Connect! at Point Lookout this week.