Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, from the air. Photo courtesy of OPAL Architecture / Research / Design

Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle has hired a new executive director.

Perry Price was named executive director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle in October 2022. Courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

Perry Price, who comes to Maine from the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in Texas, will start in January, the school announced Wednesday.

Price has a bachelor’s degree in art history from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s in museum studies from State University of New York Oneonta. Before leading the craft center in Houston, he was director of education for the American Craft Council and was curator of exhibitions and collections at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts.

He succeeds Paul Sacaridiz, who was hired in 2015 to replace longtime director Stuart Kestenbaum, who led the school for 27 years.

Founded in 1950, Haystack is an international studio program with a $2 million-plus annual budget and offers one- and two-week summer workshops to craftmakers and visual artists from its campus overlooking the water.

“Haystack is a singular institution, unique in its committed approach to the studio experience and occupying a niche unto itself in the ecosystem of contemporary craft,” Price said in a statement provided by the school. “That this human-scaled institution may continue to thrive while we continually work towards the promise of the field of craft will be the collective effort of each of us who value this school, and I look forward to working with the remarkable people who make it possible.”

Ayumi Horie, a Portland-based ceramicist who serves on Haystack’s board and chaired the search committee, said Price “will bring fresh vision to the school’s already experimental programming and his experienced leadership will support and bolster our dedicated staff.”