Looking for a getaway that goes beyond sightseeing, shopping, and fine dining? Several excellent craft schools around the U.S. offer immersive experiences and instructions on how to do everything from blowing glass to building your own canoe. Many are in beautiful settings far from the hustle of major cities. Plan ahead and gift yourself personal enrichment and satisfaction ford years to come.
Learn a New Craft at These Classes Around the U.S.
Snow Farm
Williamsburg, MA
This non-profit residential craft school’s mission is to provide exceptional studio craft and fine art instruction for people of all ages in an inspiring setting. (That’d be the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, where the school is nestled in a 50-acre property surrounded by trees, pastures, and woodland.) They offer 200 adult programs—including workshops, residencies, and retreats) each year, and host a group of 80 teens (14-18 years old) each July for an intensive summer art camp lasting two weeks.
The offerings at Snow Farm take place in 9 studios: Glassblowing, Flameworking, Flat Glass; Ceramics; Fiber & Baskets; Metalsmithing & Jewelry; Woodworking; 3D & Mixed Media; and 2D & Mixed Media (including painting, drawing, printmaking, and paper/book arts). Classes are small and generally have no prerequisites. Housing is available on site. For people with limited time, they also offer 2- to 5-day workshops.
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
Deer Isle, ME
An international craft school on the Atlantic Ocean in Deer Isle, Maine, about a three-hour drive from Portland. It was founded in 1950 as a research and studio program in the arts, and their mission is to provide the freedom for students to engage with materials and develop new ideas in a supportive and inclusive community. The current campus, designed by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes—whose other projects include the IBM Building in NYC and the Dallas Museum of Art) opened in 1961.
The campus consists of a series of driftwood-colored barn-like buildings in a dramatic setting.) Haystack offers one- and two-week studio workshops in blacksmithing, ceramics, fiber, glass, graphics, metal, and wood, to students of all levels. There is also an Open Studio Residency program. For Maine residents and high school students, there are also shorter programs available.
Adirondack Folk School
Lake Luzerne, NY
The Adirondack Folk School, located in Lake Luzerne NY, about an hour drive from Albany, was founded in 2010 by Jim Mandle, who envisioned a folk school with a unique mission: to celebrate and preserve the cultural heritage of the Adirondacks and promote creativity and self-reliance by teaching the arts, crafts, and traditions that define the region—everything from survival skills to basketry.
At the main location, they offer classes including fiber arts, woodworking, ceramics, jewelry making, blacksmithing, herbalism, soap making, and more —and they have an outdoor wood-fired oven for cooking classes. At a satellite location in Lake George, they hold larger classes such as canoe building. They can provide pop-up classes for private groups who can design their own special curriculum. Every summer, they hold a Folk School Summer Festival with artisan demonstrations, food trucks, live music, and children’s activities.
Folk School
Brasstown, NC
The goal of Folk School is to give students the opportunity to explore their creativity and learn new skills or expand existing ones in a non-competitive atmosphere: “A community that awakens, enlivens, and enlightens the world.” The campus is located in the mountains North Carolina, about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Knoxville, TN. They offer over 800 weeklong and weekend classes in areas such as blacksmithing, pottery, woodworking, jewelry making, dance, cooking, weaving, writing, and photography.
The school was founded was founded in the early 1900s by missionaries John C. and Olive Campbell, who were inspired by rural Scandinavia’s non-competitive folk schools and dreamed of opening such a place in the U.S. John passed away before he could realize their vision, but Olive carried on. The first classes were offered in 1925. A funny and affectionate story about Folk School can be found here.
Botanical Colors
Seattle, WA
This unique place offers natural dyes and education to textile and fiber arts artisans around the world. But, Botanical Colors goes way beyond workshops and classes. They also support regional farmers, organic farming, regenerative soil, and create new plant-based colors in their Seattle studio. Kathy Hattori found the establishment in 2010. She’s an expert in natural dyes and pigments who has also advised brands and retailers on implementation strategies.
“I wanted to change the textile industry by offering a safe alternative to petrochemical based synthetic colors. My solution was natural dyes: colors that were beautiful, regenerative and non-toxic.” Classes are inventive, with topics including (at the moment) “The Nerd’s Guide to Mordants” and “Block Printing with Indigo Overdye” as well as a trip to Oaxaca to learn Zapotec traditions. The site includes, recipes, instructions, and an archive of informative “Feedback Friday” videos. There’s even a Feedback Friday video featuring TABLE’s Editor in Chief, Keith Recker, and his book on natural color, True Colors.
More Places to Get Your Craft On
Cranbrook
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Penland School of Craft
Penland, NC
Phipps Botanical Garden
Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh Glass Center
Pittsburgh, PA
DD Ranch Events
San Marcos, NM
Fletcher Farm School for the Arts and Crafts
Luclow, VT
Story by Stephen Treffinger
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