2022 Workshop Season Update:
Touchstone is again offering a modified workshop season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Please review our COVID-19 policy* and our cancellation policy* prior to registering for any workshop.
*Subject to change, check back for up-to-date information. Registered participants will be notified of any changes.
pictured: artwork by Mac McCusker, Elizabeth Brim, Carolyn Pierotti, Everett Hoffman, Isaac Beachy, Rachel Sager
CRAFT YOUR WEEKEND
Craft Your Weekend at Touchstone Center for Crafts – just a short drive from Pittsburgh! 5 weekends from August 27 through September.
Touchstone’s Weekend Craft Getaways! Immerse yourself in a hands-on learning experience at our beautiful, 150-acre wooded campus in the Laurel Highlands, 60 miles south of Pittsburgh. Affordable lodging and meals available.
Choose from 25 weekend workshops (2 or 3 days) for beginner to advanced artists in six different art studios including blacksmithing, ceramics, drawing/painting, glass, metals/jewelry, and more.
If space is not available in your desired session, please sign up for the waitlist and you will be notified if openings become available.
Craft an unforgettable experience!
Tuition Prices:
2-Day Workshops: $320 Member | $350 Non-Member
3-Day Workshops: $445 Member | $475 Non-Member
Wood Firings: $270 Member | $300 Non-Member
Plus processing fee, COVID-19 fee, and materials & studio fees. Affordable lodging and meal plans available.
See Workshop pages for more information
A limited number of scholarships may still be available.
for veterans, caregivers, and adult family members of veterans OR current members of Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. Please ignore the March 15 deadline for these scholarships only, we are accepting applications until all funds have been disbursed. Applying for a scholarship does not guarantee acceptance.
VETERANS: Click to download the Veterans Scholarship Application
AAP MEMBERS: Click to download the Touchstone Scholarship Application
Inclusion Scholarship: Click to download the Touchstone Scholarship Application
SEPTEMBER 24-26 | 3-DAYS
BLACKSMITHING
SEP 24-26 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
The Hand-Forged Knife
Instructor: Jared Ondovchik
No Experience/Beginner
Learn basics skills of bladesmithing while forging your own handmade knife. No prior experience is necessary as Jared will guide you step by step through the process.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
CERAMICS
SEP 24-26 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Clothing the Vessel
Instructor: Sam Briegel
Intermediate-Advanced Levels
Take your surface design to a whole new level! You will learn a transfer technique with the plaster slab to add layers of colored slip onto a slab of clay, then techniques to turn the slab into a cup or leave it flat to create a tile.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
GLASS
SEP 24-26 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Designing it Wright
Instructor: Isaac Beachy
All Levels
Draw inspiration from famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic stained glass windows and screens. Learn each of the steps of traditional stained glass lead came construction as you turn your original design into a one-of-a-kind stained glass panel.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
METALS & JEWELRY
SEPT 24-26 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Basic Bling
Instructor: Elizabeth Tokoly
No Experience/Beginner
Familiarize yourself with the necessary tools and techniques for jewelry and metalsmithing. Explore techniques such as piercing and sawing, soldering, surface embellishment with hammers, chasing tools, roll printing, soldering, cold connection, forging, tube setting, and findings.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
DRAWING & PAINTING
SEP 24-26 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Acrylic Adventures
Instructor: Carolyn Pierotti
All Levels
This workshop is for those who want to push the boundaries of traditional portraiture. Practice in the style of the expressionist and fauvist - experiment with brushwork and saturated colors while working toward a distortion and abstraction of the image.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
COMMUNITY WOOD FIRINGS
CERAMICS
SEP 24-26 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON) OR
OCT 21-23 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Community Wood Firings
Instructors: Meghan Burke & Daniel Tomcik
The Touchstone Center for Crafts wood kiln is a two-chamber noborigama, originally built by Kevin Crowe in 1997 and rebuilt in 2022, thanks to the support of the Fayette County Tourism Grant Program.
Materials and Studio Fees Included. *5 cubic feet per share/ all glazes, wadding, and wood will be supplied.
Learn more...
PREVIOUS WEEKEND WORKSHOPS...
BLACKSMITHING
AUG 27-29 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
(Up)Setting the Bar: Forged Beverage Utensils
Instructor: Makena Henriksen
No Experience/Beginner
Learn to forge small functional items for the kitchen or bar, with an emphasis on beverage utensils such as bottle openers, corkscrews, and bottle stoppers.
Learn More...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
CERAMICS
AUG 27-29 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
From Slab to Fab: Lidded Boxes
Instructor: Jen Allen
Intermediate Level
This workshop will focus on transforming two-dimensional slabs into various three-dimensional lidded box forms – from tiny keepsake boxes to your favorite kitchen storage container.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
METALS & JEWELRY
AUG 27-29 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Picture in Picture in Picture
Instructor: Andrew Kuebeck
All Levels
Fusing enamel to the surface of metal creates infinite opportunities. Create striking enamel compositions using digital image creation and manipulation featuring your own photographic imagery.
Learn More...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
SPECIAL TOPICS
AUG 27-29 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Micro Mosaic Alchemy: Making Jewelry with Hot Glass and Cold Rocks
Instructor: Rachel Sager
All Levels
Forage the beautiful Touchstone landscape for stones, then learn to use hot glass and cold rocks to weave two very different ways of making mosaic into tiny compositions.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
SPECIAL TOPICS
AUG 27-29 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
All Wired Up
Instructor: Lindsay K. Gates
All Levels
Learn ways to use basketry techniques to manipulate wire and create both flat and three-dimensional forms. This crash course is great for anyone in any media who wants to add a new twist to their current work or try something new!
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
BLACKSMITHING
SEP 3-4 | 2-DAY (SAT-SUN)
FUNdamentals of Blacksmithing
Instructor: Jody Best
No Experience/Beginner
This intensive and fun workshop will leave you enthusiastic and informed about the fundamentals of blacksmithing. We will cover everything in clear and incremental steps that ensure success.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
CERAMICS
SEP 3-4 | 2-DAY (SAT-SUN)
From Mud to Mugs: An Introduction to Pottery
Instructor: Anthony DeRosa
No Experience/Beginner
All skill levels are invited to explore the many possibilities that wheel-thrown ceramics has to offer. Come get down and dirty with the Mud Monkey!
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
DRAWING & PAINTING
SEP 3-4 | 2-DAY (SAT-SUN)
Learning to See as an Artist
Instructor: Ron Donoughe
Intermediate Level
Seeing as an artist is the foundation of outdoor painting. Composition, color mixing, brushwork, and value will be addressed, with helpful insights along the way.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
BLACKSMITHING
SEP 10-12 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Out of Your Element
Instructor: Elizabeth Brim
No Experience/Beginner
This is a “Sampler Course” for people who think they might want to try blacksmithing. Participants will be introduced to basic forging techniques (shaping hot steel with a hammer) and also welding with a torch.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
CERAMICS
SEP 10-12 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Figurative Gestures
Instructor: Mac McCusker
Intermediate Level
Learn to use gestures in figurative ceramic sculptures to make them more interesting and dynamic. Explore multiple methods of construction and discover new ways to use texture, movement, form, and surface decoration to inform your work.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
DRAWING & PAINTING
SEP 10-12 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
CAD for Craft
Instructor: Brian Ferrell
All Levels
Demystify the process of designing in CAD. We will design objects and 3D print prototypes that could be used for slipcasting (clay) or investing (jewelry). Basic vessel and jewelry design processes will be covered.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
METALS & JEWELRY
SEP 10-12 | 3-DAY (SAT-MON)
Set It!
Instructor: Everett Hoffman
No Experience/Beginner
Explore all the ways that metal can be used to create one-of-a-kind settings that will trap all your precious materials from gemstones to found objects.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.
CERAMICS
SEP 17-18 | 2-DAY (SAT-SUN)
Staying Centered: Introduction to Wheel Throwing
Instructor: Julia Castor
No Experience/Beginner
Learn to use the wheel as a tool for an equally technical and artistic foundation in ceramics. Surface and finishing concepts, as well as decoration techniques, will also be explored to help you find your unique voice in the art of functional pottery making.
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CALL 724-329-1370 TO CHECK AVAILABILITY
DRAWING & PAINTING
SEP 17-18 | 2-DAY (SAT-SUN)
Watercolor Success!
Instructor: Dean Simpson
No Experience/Beginner
Learn simple techniques for watercolor success! Whether you are new to painting or have struggled with watercolors in the past, you will learn to enjoy the spontaneity and magic of watercolor.
Learn more...
CALL 724-329-1370 TO CHECK AVAILABILITY
BLACKSMITHING
SEP 17-18 | 2-DAY (SAT-SUN)
Fire Tools, Forged by Design
Instructor: John Rais
All Levels
In this workshop, we will cover the design and making of fire tools such as pokers, shovels and tongs. Time will be spent on inventive solutions and styles of making.
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CALL 724-329-1370 TO CHECK AVAILABILITY
METALS & JEWELRY
SEP 17-18 | 2-DAY (SAT-SUN)
Contemporary Chains
Instructor: Katie Rearick
All Levels
Learn how to develop and design your own necklace and/or bracelet. You will be introduced to a variety of designs and techniques to make contemporary chains and explore clasp designs.
Learn more...
CALL 724-329-1370 TO CHECK AVAILABILITY
GLASS
SEP 17-18 | 2-DAY (SAT-SUN)
Glass Flameworking Weekend
Instructor: Leslie Kaplan
All Levels
Playing with fire has never been so fun (or so safe)! Learn the basics of glass beadmaking to make and decorate your own glass beads.
Learn more...
This workshop is no longer open for enrollment.