Touchstone CENTER FOR CRAFTS

Pioneering Craft Education for Over 50 Years

Photo from 2022 Teen Week

Touchstone Teen Week: July 16-21, 2023

Teens (Ages 14-17) learn from professional artists in our fully equipped studio spaces while they live on campus and create with other students from around the region. Evenings are open for demonstrations, group activities or work in the studio. Students are housed in single-sex dormitories or cabins. The dining hall is central to campus where delicious home-cooked meals are served with fresh local ingredients. All students take a turn helping out in the kitchen and keeping the campus clean.

2023 Teen Week Applications are under review. Recipients will be notified before the end of May.

Read More About Touchstone Teen Week…
Participants will:
- Attend a five-day interactive workshop
- Extend their creative potential
- Work with other students from around the region
- Experience art in an immersive environment inspired by nature
Why Participate?
- Meet other students from the region and work with world-class instructors to improve your art.
- Touchstone offers an Immersive experience, where you will live your craft for a week.
- Receive career guidance in areas such as creating a portfolio, applying to college and other topics from guest speakers.
- Participants broaden their thinking in relation to their craft.
Students spending a week on Touchstone’s grounds benefit from the natural and artistic aspects of campus life…
- “I learned that my art is something special that will be with me for the rest of my life, whether or not I decide to pursue it as a career.”
- “I increased my understanding of the variety of ways that people continue to make art and/or craft works throughout their lifetimes (professional artist, semiprofessional artist, etc.).”
- “I learned a variety of techniques in working with this medium that will inform my artistic development in the future.”
- “My selected workshop at Touchstone enhanced what I have learned and/or experienced at my high school.”
Instructors

Touchstone’s Studio Instructors are accomplished artists and educators from around the country. They bring both technical expertise and real-world experience to the studio.

Teen Week Scholarships:

Ages 14-17

All teens interested in participating in Teen Week MUST fill out an application regardless of whether you are seeking a scholarship or intend to pay for all/some fees.

Applications are accepted through SlideRoom: touchstonecrafts.slideroom.com
There are no fees to apply.
Deadline for submitting Teen Week applications for 2023 is May 1st. Applications for 2024 will be available beginning January 1, 2024.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Please contact us at 724-329-1370 if you prefer a paper/PDF application.

LEARN MORE ABOUT TOUCHSTONE'S TEEN WEEK:

BLACKSMITHING

JUL 16-21 | 6-DAY (SUN-FRI) | TEEN WEEK
Blacksmithing for Teens
Instructor: Nathanael Weiss

All Levels (Ages 14-17)
$710 Tuition
$100 Materials and Studio Fees

Download the Materials List

Deadline for submitting Teen Week applications for 2023 is May 1st. Applications for 2024 will be available beginning January 1, 2024.

In this five-day workshop, you will go on an exciting journey that will provide you with basic blacksmithing knowledge. No prior forging experience needed! Through traditional methods, you will learn to taper, spread, isolate, punch, drift, and rivet a project to chart a course for success. An emphasis will be put on fundamental hand skills, design foundations, and fun!

Learn more about the instructor

Hailing from South Central Pennsylvania, Nathanael Weiss is a metalsmith whose passion for metalwork began as a teenager. Gathering an education from craft schools such as Penland, Touchstone, and Peter’s Valley, Nate has been able to work as a professional metalsmith for several years. Working a broad range of jobs – from architectural ironwork to goldsmithing – has allowed Nate to cultivate a unique skillset, the influences of which are seen in his work. Focusing on traditional forging techniques with an interest in benchwork, Nate’s aim is to create one-of-a-kind objects that invoke a sense of wonder and that are meant to be passed on.

Instagram: @nathanael_weiss

CERAMICS

JUL 16-21 | 6-DAY (SUN-FRI) | TEEN WEEK
Object, Identity, and Alternative Firing
Instructor: Sharif Bey

All Levels (Ages 14-17)
$710 Tuition
$100 Materials and Studio Fees

Download the Materials List

Deadline for submitting Teen Week applications for 2023 is May 1st. Applications for 2024 will be available beginning January 1, 2024.

During this workshop, participants will use earthenware clay and alternative/Indigenous firing methods to create functional and sculptural objects that expand notions of object, ritual, and function. We will explore pinch, coil, press-mold, and thrown and alter forms to construct objects of cultural, historical, political, and personal meaning. Participants will additionally experiment with various alternative low-firing methods including open pit firing, low-temperature salt, and saggar firings. We will further develop our unique surfaces by layering non-ceramic materials such as nail and shoe polishes, paste wax, permanent makers, and acrylic and spray paint in addition to glazes, oxides, slips and terra-sigillata.

Learn more about the instructor

Sharif Bey is a Syracuse-based artist and educator. Bey began his career in ceramics as a high school student at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh. Shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, Bey studied sculpture at The Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia. Later, he earned his BFA from Slippery Rock University, his MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and PhD (in art education) from Penn State University. His awards include: The United States Artist Fellowship, The Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, The New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and The J. William Fulbright Scholarship. Bey’s works are featured in several public collections including: The Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, The Carnegie Museum of Art, The Columbus Museum, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Mint Museum, The Everson Museum, and The Westmoreland American Art Museum.

Instructor Website: sharifbeyceramics.com
Instagram: @sharifceramics

DRAWING & PAINTING

Susan A. Wilson Organic Cyanotype Prints

JUL 16-21 | 6-DAY (SUN-FRI) | TEEN WEEK
Creating Personal Storybooks
Instructor: Susan A. Wilson

All Levels (Ages 14-17)
$710 Tuition
$100 Materials and Studio Fees

Download the Materials List

Deadline for submitting Teen Week applications for 2023 is May 1st. Applications for 2024 will be available beginning January 1, 2024.

Participants will explore the multimedia techniques of collage, nature printing, drawing, graffiti and journaling, while incorporating their personal pictures to create their own story pages. Various altered book techniques will be explored to create pockets, compartments, and person pages, making each book an individual creation of their own.

Learn more about the instructor

Susan A. Wilson is currently an art instructor, gallery committee, and “Mud Lady” at Laurel Arts in Somerset, PA. She worked as a visual arts teacher in public school for 30 years and as a photojournalist for 15 years. She earned a Master’s Degree in textiles and photography from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Art Education. Best known for her cyanotypes, a non-silver photographic process applied to fabric and incorporated on to quilted, framed and stuffed artwork.

GLASS

JUL 16-21 | 6-DAY (SUN-FRI) | TEEN WEEK
Fused Glass Fundamentals
Instructor: Meredith Edmondson

All Levels (Ages 14-17)
$710 Tuition
$100 Materials and Studio Fees

Download the Materials List

Deadline for submitting Teen Week applications for 2023 is May 1st. Applications for 2024 will be available beginning January 1, 2024.

In this workshop, we will start with the basics: cutting and prepping glass, layering and patternmaking, and simple yet reliable firing schedules that can be replicated in any kiln. We will then move into to cutting complicated shapes, glass decals and image making, and slumping into molds to create unique shapes. Come with an open mind ready to design!

Learn more about the instructor

Meredith Edmondson began working with glass in 2005, having first fallen in love with the material during a chance visit to the Appalachian Center for Craft, from which she later received her BFA in 2009. Her work incorporates a variety of techniques, including glass blowing, fusing and slumping, kiln casting, and screenprinting. Central to her work is the extraordinary ability of glass to look like what it is not – each object is as beautiful as it is deceptive, and the illusion is the craft.

Instructor Website: meredithedmondson.com
Instagram: @glassgal85

METALS & JEWELRY

JUL 16-21 | 6-DAY (SUN-FRI) | TEEN WEEK
Jewelry & Mini Sculptures
Instructor: Erika Broas

All Levels (Ages 14-17)
$710 Tuition
$100 Materials and Studio Fees

Download the Materials List

Deadline for submitting Teen Week applications for 2023 is May 1st. Applications for 2024 will be available beginning January 1, 2024.

Make your own jewelry and mini sculptures! In this workshop, we will focus on building strong foundations in jewelry and metalsmithing techniques, whilst taking lots of inspiration from the incredible land around Touchstone. We will learn skills such as sawing, piercing, chain making, soldering, texturing metal, stone setting, and incorporating alternative materials from our natural surroundings like wood, seeds, stones and flowers. Participants are encouraged to lean into their own personal style and voice, creating unique wearable pieces and sculptures that couldn’t be made by anyone else! Participants are encouraged to bring their own foraged finds from home if they please, otherwise we will be collecting trinkets from the campus grounds and from provided materials.

Learn more about the instructor

Erika Broas (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist, who most often can be found making metal objects and jewelry - with a side-love for textiles and ceramics. She has been avidly pursuing the art of jewelry since 2010, and has been teaching jewelry making for 8 years. Aiming to create evocative objects and wearables, her works are tactile & playful in nature. She pays special attention to each thing she creates, finely crafting every little part of each object, to stand the test of time. Erika grew up in the red pine forests of West Michigan, and currently resides in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands; she works out of her studio in downtown Johnstown, PA. Among her favorite things to do outside the studio are examine and learn about plants on walks, ride her bike, row her boat, garden, and find frogs along streams.

Instructor Website: Erika-blair.com
Instagram: @erikablairjewelry

Touchstone Center for Crafts prohibits discrimination in employment, educational programs, and activities on the basis of race, national origin, color, creed, religion, sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or association preference. Touchstone Center for Crafts also affirms its commitment to providing equal opportunities and equal access to its facilities and programming.