Heaven on earth. Five stars doesn't come near the amount of love I have for this place and the people who run it. It smells like Christmas because of the spruces, and this is so fitting because it feels like Christmas. Only better, because it's summer and there is an ocean and crushed shell beaches and studios jam packed with supplies and amazing, home cooked, kick ass food for eaters of all types, and so many creative, funny, encouraging artists and craftspeople that you will never want to leave. The fearless leader, Stuart, is just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet. A wonderful and quirky sense of humor and a damn good poet, to boot. Candy is helpful, kind and efficient. And all the staff are hard working and friendly. I haven't felt so well tended to, creatively inspired and completely at ease since I was a little 'un. Forget Disney world. This is where dreams come true. read more

Attended Session 6 fiber for Mindful Stitching. I knew what to expect as my son was at Haystack previously: layers for sleeping, layers for clothing. It is like "summer camp" in that meal times are 8, 12, and 6, and you sleep in cabins, most of which are with roommates. That said, I have a specific bed set up at home and worried about comfort as I also have a hard time sleeping away from home. My worry was for naught as the mattress though appearing quite standard was amazingly comfortable without any extra pad from me. I was warm even in very cool nights with the blanket I brought plus the wool blend one provided. Meals were a good variety for options when ingredients did not appeal for main dishes. Everything was delicious! Plenty of healthy food all week! Another reviewer said this was a singular view years ago that was negative about the U.S. and I did not find this during my session at all. I mean, you are in Maine, and unless you're a work study student you're paying a good sum of money to attend, so socioeconomic diversity is not rampant. Also the location is so remote and costly to get to, even work study people likely are not overly diverse in many ways. There were plenty of varieties of views here, though, when I attended. We had great dinner conversations! As for complaints about internet/phone access, it is well advertised that it is "country" WiFi and that cell access is extremely limited. I'm not sure why that is such a critique when you go knowing this very clearly. I had the access I needed for the most part. Sure, a text before bed couldn't happen from my cabin yet we adjusted times to keep in touch for my family is all. It was fantastic that I could be totally away from work like a vacation is supposed to be anyway! My workshop session has set me up with exactly what is was described as intended: a mindful stitching practice. We learned methods and were given myriad choices of paths to this and also for how the practice can inform actual fiber art for those who pursue that...in fact I went mostly to learn self-care using this art medium and left aspiring to grow in fiber art! Christine Mauersberger led an inspiring workshop that exceeded all expectation! I'm excited for my stitching work and have more avenues by which to approach it than I might have from a full college semester in a fiber arts program. read more

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5 stars for workshop and instructor, 0 stars for Haystack as an ideology. If you are not on good terms with reality and like the idea of escaping into a bubble totally cut off from the rest of the world... If you feel an excess of liberal guilt and strongly believe that America is the source of all evil in the world... If you're not really engaged in prefrontal cortex brain activity and are prone to smiling and clapping at anything, no matter how mediocre... If you need the reassurance that what you do is amazing by removing all contact with things like quality publications or internet access or any reference to global quality standards, whether aesthetic or intellectual... If you want to be told that subjective experiences like feelings about things being "amazing," "special," etc are actually objective and you should be feeling them... If you like groupthink and are annoyed by the challenges of independence or autonomy... If you are used to living on fast food or Costco or some other low end food so that anything resembling mediocre home cooking is amazing... If you tend to pack your own bedding when you travel... If you are capable of sleeping through snoring, noise, and all the other sound effects from walls 1/4" thick... If you basically never travel anywhere and have no standards or expectations... If you really, really enjoyed camp when you were 10 years old and really, really want to relive that experience... If you are a boomer who blew their brains on too much LSD in the '60s... If you are not good with humor or irony or any of the darker arts of existential entertainment... Then Haystack is the place for you! If you are on friendly terms with reality and are not looking to "escape" it into a culty world of mind-numbing groupthink, this may not be the place for you. I actually love my real life (and I enjoy living in the 21st century) and I was not expecting to be cut off from it. I found the general vibe here suffocatingly oppressive and narrow minded "politically" and "culturally," despite the workshop being good with a very cool instructor and a location that features interesting retro hippie modern architecture (albeit seemingly held together with spit and twigs). Pretty much the entire scope of your days is planned for you, from meals to evening activities to basically everything, just like they are at camp. It's a regressive experience, if you're into that kind of thing. It is standard operating procedure for cultish organizations to cut people off from the rest of society in order to totalize their ideology, but you don't have to submit. There is actually good internet available here, if you're a techie you can find it and hack into it like I did. They do intentionally cut you off here. As my roommate, a professional psychotherapist, noted, Haystack is "extremely patronizing" to its visitors (especially the paying ones), to a psychologically unhealthy degree. You will obey or you will be scorned, in a subtle passive aggressive hippie way of course. Liberal guilt is HEAVY here. They may as well hand out self-flogging paddles when you check in. This place is RIPE for a good parody by Saturday Night Live. SNL writers, message me if you need material... even the deliberately mediocre (non-threatening) selection of books in the bookstore is begging for a comedy skit... Lastly, be aware that when you are told to "take care to not to spend too much time outdoors because the UV index is high," what it really means is that the National Weather Service office in Caribou, Maine has issued an Advisory that there are high levels of toxic particulate pollution in the air over the Deer Isle coastal area and you are urged to stay indoors, something that happens with some frequency here given that Maine has resorted to burning its garbage for energy since it shipped many of its other industries overseas in the globalization frenzy and therefore things are pretty much on the edge of desperation economically. The American Lung Association has studied the air pollution problems in Maine and gives Hancock county, where Deer Isle is located, a D grade in general (yes, on a A,B,C,D,F scale), not just on the really bad days that warrant a National Weather Service Health Advisory. Yeah, the things you can find on the internet can burst the bubble. That is true, so I can see why they consider it a threat. But we are adults, we can handle the truth, hopefully. You can choose to regress into a fictional childhood bubble where you're told "everything is wonderful," or you can face reality with courage and strength and honesty and grow up. And art and design that is based in the former is often terrible, and art and design that is based in the latter is generally qualitatively much better. The idea that you need to regress into a childlike bubble to make art is just wrong and shows a lack of understanding of what art really is. If you do go, choose your instructor wisely, as I did. read more

10 STARS! 2 weeks of pure perfection. Emotional bliss and belly bliss. Campus vibe -Swiss Family Robinson as if living in a tree house. You could potentially not touch ground for 14 days. Seductive views of the ocean and tranquil sounds of the surf. Drunken Hammer-nail tree stump game you have to see to believe. Charming and quaint Stonington you'll never want to leave. Pavlov's breakfast, lunch and dinner bell you'll never forget. 80 incredibly talented, humble, endearing, helpful, curious, driven, and talented (again) student artists "under one roof". 7 incredibly talented, humble, endearing, helpful, curious, driven, and talented (again) instructors "under one roof." I've never seen that many books and resources at my disposal about clay under one roof (without quotes this time) in my life. 24hr access to cake, cookies, fruit, coffee, & tea for those late night cravings. 24hr access to every studio for those late night bursts of inspiration. I can go on and on and on.... What can i say??? It was awful. Don't go! ;) read more

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I have been going to Haystack for many years. As a child I spent nearly every summer in Deer Isle on a private island owned by family there. I have attended half a dozen workshops at Haystack, and am friends with many students and former instructors. My previous review was an enthusiastic five stars. However, I learned that things have changed at Haystack under the leadership of a new Executive Director. Specifically: I just heard and read a detailed report from a well-respected clay artist who attended a workshop in 2015. I was horrified by what happened to him and his fellow students -- and even more horrified by the new Executive Director's response to his letter of complaint. The workshop lacked a proper instructor -- and rather than finding a replacement, the issue was ignored by the board of directors (acting as interim directors). Furthermore, there were unsafe working conditions where students were exposed to carcinogenic heavy metals without supervision or instruction. And despite the workshop not providing any value to the students, and various reports being logged by students, the new executive director did not provide a refund to the students and did not acknowledge any organizational responsibility in this situation. Haystack's new leadership, to my mind, is totally unethical in that it has shirked responsibility in such a grotesquely "corporate" manner. Haystack should have refunded the money and issued an apology for their failure to live-up to their otherwise excellent reputation for high-quality instruction. Very disappointed. read more

Excellent facilities, I really enjoyed my stay. I would give 5 stars if they shared their WiFi Password with the guests. There is absolutely no service in the area and I was completely out of contact with my family and my children which made it difficult to focus. One can taut how great it is to be off the grid, but I did not sign up to be out of touch. The location is supreme, the workshops are divine, and it was a thrill to be there. I recommend it to everyone. read more