American Pies, Haystack Montain School of Crafts
published in: Newsletter, Surface Design Journal, spring 04 and Textil Plus 192/04 (in Dutch)
Summary:
The well known school in Maine, USA, where I took part in a 2 week workshop with weaver Randy Darwall on a scholarship by the Dutch ' Scholingsfonds voor Kunst en Cultuur'. The article describes the different approach and attitude towards craft related design in the USA. Apart from studying technical skills I investigated the American market.
photographs: Randy Darwall and class, weaving studio and platform, Judi Jetson
'...Holland is a tiny waterlogged country where they talk a lot about design and consider Craft to be a dirty word. At the same time Holland has a great number of institutions that stimulate individual artists. Haystack's policy of of inviting a diversity of students in age and skill makes up for a very stimulating non-competitive climate where creativity can prosper.
What did I take home ? The freedom to feel emotion about cloth and a broader view on weaving, a realization about my roots - the Bauhaus tradition of my teachers from the Rietveld Academy which are reunited here with some great names like Anni Albers'.
www.haystack-mtn.org
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