classes // workshops // events
FREE FOOD FRIDGE
Offered in solidarity, not charity! Everyone deserves access to healthy, fresh, local food — no questions asked. Take what you need and/or donate what you can.
BICYCLE MAINTENANCE
Join us and learn to fix your bicycle with Mark Nassan of Leepoff Cycles!
2025 Spring Writers Intensive
Craigardan will welcome acclaimed writer & mentor Kate Moses of Birds & Muses for a week-long spring writer’s intensive at Craigardan.
BRIDGING DIVIDES DISCUSSION SERIES: Mental Health in the Arts (and in everything else!)
We will have a conversation with writers Michele Parker Randall, Gregory Amos, and Jumi Bellow about their experiences with mental health, their creative journeys in response to those experiences, and mental health as a spectrum which is experienced differently by all of us.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Adam Vander Tuig, Yvette White, Jumi Bello
Free and open to the public
POTTERY ON THE WHEEL with Macayla Sandusky: Tuesday Evenings
Join us in the clay studio this summer for this all-levels, 6-week pottery class. We’ll get our hands dirty and make great pots!
BICYCLE MAINTENANCE
Join us and learn to fix your bicycle with Mark Nassan of Leepoff Cycles!
DREAMY FORMS AND SURFACES with Macayla Sandusky: Thursday Evenings
Make functional coil-thrown vessels using surface decoration techniques to illustrate imaginative narratives. Learn how to build textured mugs with coils as well as throwing on the wheels.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Lu Chekowsky, Gregory Amos, Kayleigh Woodward
Free and open to the public
SPRING LAMB JAM!
Come experience the sights, sounds, and textures of farm life as we celebrate the arrival of Spring! From meeting our playful lambs to exploring the world of bees, learning about composting, and getting creative with wool, this family-focused event is perfect for all ages.
BRIDGING DIVIDES DISCUSSION SERIES with the Uncertainty Academy: Data, Art, and Action
We will have a conversation with artist Tal Beery, scholar Joshua Moses, and this year’s Uncertainty Academy cohort. Science and art have at times been viewed as opposing forces, and at other times, as necessary and even intertwined allies.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Theresa-Xuan Bui, Jodi Ferrier, Margaret Wiss
Free and open to the public
POETRY: PLAYING WITH WORDS with Theresa-Xuan Bui
Join 2025 Teaching Fellow Theresa-Xuan Bui for an immersive two-week course that invites participants to explore experimental writing practices.
TUESDAY BEGINNER MTB RIDES with Mark Nassan
Join us at Blueberry Hill Trails in Elizabethtown every Tuesday evening (weather permitting) for group mountain bike rides with local guru Mark Nassan. This is geared towards beginners but all levels are welcome for this fun, supportive, laid back group ride.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Sidney Hale, Susan Hutner, Muriel Luderowski
Free and open to the public
APPLEBARN TALKS: Michelle Lizet Flores, Gaby Del Valle, Jake Sell Hicks
Free and open to the public
EMPTY BOWL, FULL HEART MAKERS DAYS IN THE CLAY STUDIO
Come join Craigardan and Empty Bowl Full Heart in creating bowls for the 2024 fundraiser to support local food pantries. No experience is necessary! This is a fun event for adults and teens 12 and older.
LET’S MAKE ZINES! with Sally Pirie
Join 2025 Teaching Fellow and award-winning cartoonist Sally Pirie as we learn how to turn our own small-moment stories into beautiful mini-magazines (or, “zines’).
APPLEBARN TALKS: E. Caris Rosefield, Erynn Richardson, Sally Pirie
Free and open to the public
APPLEBARN TALKS: Kyle Brumsted, Bodi-Yemisi Anton Babatola, Chelsea Dodds
Free and open to the public
ALUMNI WEEK 2025
Craigardan’s alumni return to the Adirondacks this summer for some fun, camaraderie, and rest — and they also help us setup and execute our 3rd Annual Summer Firing Celebration!
(3rd) ANNUAL SUMMER FIRING CELEBRATION
Join us for our annual summer event! We’ll celebrate the fire that brings us together, the summer harvest, and the community of artists, scholars, and creatives all around us.
BRIDGING DIVIDES DISCUSSION SERIES: Storytelling; Narrative and Nuance
We will have a discussion with artists Michael “Yoko” Amos, Erica Berry, and Gayle Burnett about their work as writers and storytellers, and about using the power of the medium to have difficult conversations that touch on topics such as climate change, racial inequity, and politics.
FOOD STORIES, THE FOOD SYSTEM AND NOURISHMENT with Jenny Breen
Join 2025 Teaching Fellow Jenny Breen for hands-on cooking classes that will bring together stories about our food, where it comes from, how we prepare and experience it, and why it matters for our health and the health of our planet.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Jenny Breen, Alec Tiger, Shawndel N. Fraser
Free and open to the public
2025 Wood Kiln Firing Workshop
Join us for a week-long workshop in the Adirondacks to gain hands-on experience learning about the exciting process of wood firing with Kyle Brumsted.
FLEECE TO FABRIC with Lauren McElroy
Join 2025 Teaching Fellow Lauren McElroy to learn the timeless techniques for transforming raw wool into beautiful handspun yarn.
Photo Courtesy of The Crafters Box
APPLEBARN TALKS: Carly Marie DeMento, Dr. Lise Deguire, Hannah Plummer
Free and open to the public
APPLEBARN TALKS: Lauren McElroy, Elissa Lash, Elise Jeanmaire
Free and open to the public
Fruit Tree Care and Pruning
Join us on Saturday, April 5th for a free educational workshop on fruit tree care with local arborist Peter Landau.
Empty Bowl, Full Heart Fundraiser
Join us for the annual Empty Bowl fundraiser at Keene Central School. All proceeds go toward fighting hunger locally.
Portugal - 2025 International Clay Retreat
CLAY + FOOD + FIRE! Join us in Portugal this February for an unforgettable 10-day experience with Sam Taylor and Mark Shapiro!
FREE WEBINAR - Portugal International Clay Retreat Q & A
Free live Zoom Q&A with Mark Shapiro, Sam Taylor and Michele Drozd to answer questions about our 2025 Portugal International Clay Retreat.
FREE WEBINAR - Interdisciplinary Residency Q & A
Free live Zoom Q&A with staff to answer questions about 2025 arts residencies.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Dr. Lise Deguire, Carly Marie DeMento, Hannah Plummer
Free and open to the public
APPLEBARN TALKS: Elissa Lash, Lauren McElroy, Elise Jeanmaire
Free and open to the public
TRAIL WORK DAY
Craigardan’s 320 acre campus is a patchwork of new fields and previously logged forest navigated on a network of skidder tracks and new trails. We need your help clearing debris, stabilizing soils, and creating paths to open up new possibilities for walking, skiing, biking, and exploring the property.
WOOD KILN FIRING + COMMUNITY POTLUCK
Stop by the kiln house any time on Wednesday (5am - 10pm) to experience the wood kiln firing - a centuries-old mix of science and art!
APPLIED POETICS of PUPPETRY, PERFORMANCE, and VOGUE with Theresa-Xuan Bui
Come explore different gestures of movement through the lens of puppetry, performance, and vogue with Theresa-Xuan Bui as a means of understanding one’s relationship to self and how we move about the world.
WHEEL BUILDING
Join us and learn the basic concepts of wheel building with Mark Nassan of Leepoff Cycles!
EMPTY BOWL, FULL HEART MAKERS DAYS IN THE CLAY STUDIO
Come join Craigardan and Empty Bowl Full Heart in creating bowls for the 2024 fundraiser to support local food pantries. No experience is necessary! This is a fun event for adults and teens 12 and older.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Molly Hurley, Betsy Power, Chad Michael Lange
Free and open to the public
EMPTY BOWL, FULL HEART MAKERS DAYS IN THE CLAY STUDIO
Come join Craigardan and Empty Bowl Full Heart in creating bowls for the 2024 fundraiser to support local food pantries. No experience is necessary! This is a fun event for adults and teens 12 and older.
BUILDING A ROCKET KILN with Lisa Orr
We’re hosting potter Lisa Orr on campus this week to build a quick-firing kiln that is fueled with wood (but not a wood-fired kiln!).
APPLEBARN TALKS: Samuel Bowser, Michael Heyman, Harri Nourse
Free and open to the public
BICYCLE MAINTENANCE
Join us and learn to fix your bicycle with Mark Nassan of Leepoff Cycles!
GROUNDS for CREATION: With Allison Dobbs and Leanne Rabesa
Join 2024 Teaching Fellows Allison Dobbs and Leanne Rabesa for two hours of live music, art, and the common grounds between them.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Michiko Theurer, Karina Yanes, Jennifer Steil
Free and open to the public
APPLEBARN TALKS: Audrey Blood, Jessica Mendoza, Emily Olick Llano
Free and open to the public
BACKYARD BEES
This introduction to beekeeping with novice beekeepers Michele, Sam, and Laura may just inspire you to maintain a hive or two of your own - if we can do it, so can you! Pre-registration is appreciated, but not necessary.
STORYTELLING WORKSHOP with Michael “Yoko” Amos
Unlock the power of storytelling with us! Calling all aspiring storytellers to join our 2023 Craigardan Alumni Yoko for a captivating and free two-night workshop on storytelling.
APPLEBARN TALKS: Kiki Liu, Hendree Milward, Emily Sullivan Smith
Free and open to the public
EXPERIENCING CLAY with Kiki Liu
Join 2024 Teaching Fellow Kiki Liu for a beginners course to hand building with clay.