CRAIGARDAN
Wood Kiln Firing Workshop with Kyle Brumsted
September 1-8, 2025
CRAIGARDAN
Wood Firing Workshop
With Kyle Brumsted
Join us for a week-long workshop in the Adirondacks to gain hands-on experience learning about the exciting process of wood firing.
Craigardan’s interdisciplinary, community-focused programming combines the creative process and experiential learning with a stunning wilderness setting, incredible food from our farm, and exceptional creative support.
This workshop is intended for ceramic artists of all levels who are interested in learning more about atmospheric firing. Participants will spend the week at the beautiful Craigardan campus, glazing, loading and firing our wood/salt kiln as a group, with instruction and feedback from Kyle at each step along the way. While the kiln cools, there will be time for group outings to hike and swim, and demonstrations in the ceramic studio. Everyone will be required to bring 2-3 cubic feet of high fire bisqueware, but no prior wood firing knowledge is necessary.
Join potter and educator Kyle Brumsted for a hands-on week of wood firing. This experience will include:
• A luxury camping stay in the heart of the Adirondack’s high peaks
• Fresh, seasonal, organic food from our farm and partner farms
• Instruction and hands-on experience in every part of the glazing, loading and firing process
• Excursions to local hiking and swimming destinations
Pitcher by instructor Kyle Brumsted
A rocky garden
Who we are, what we do
Founded in 2016, Craigardan is a nonprofit arts organization and community farm that leverages collective creativity for social good. We bring people together for place-based and interdisciplinary learning, providing creative residencies, courses, and events that span diverse artistic and knowledge disciplines in order to foster curiosity, inquiry, and collaboration.
Craigardan supports ceramic, literary, visual, and performance artists, as well as farmers, chefs, activists, scholars, and researchers from the Adirondack region and around the world. We cultivate a dynamic that amplifies each individual’s work and activates collective creativity within the community. We believe that fostering the interaction between artists and the local public is as important as providing sheltered time to artists to further their creative practices.
As an organization deeply rooted in this region’s unique history, Craigardan exists at the nexus of processes (re)making this region’s present and future: environmental conservation, the resurgence of small farms, rural economic revitalization, and cultural/social activism.
By developing interdependent connections within our local Adirondack community, we nurture a deep sense of place through people, culture, food, stories, and the exchange of ideas and skills. With a built-in focus on equitable exchange across a wide range of disciplines, Craigardan offers an experience that ties the creative process to larger contexts. This experience leads to new questions and new initiatives; and it generates positive social change through collective creativity.
Understanding place
Cultivating new soil
When we relocated Craigardan from Keene to Elizabethtown in 2019, we imagined the possibilities for expanding our international, interdisciplinary arts program and amplifying its positive exchange well beyond the borders of the Adirondacks. We are rooted in place and thinking globally.
Craigardan stewards 320+ acres of field and forest off the flanks of Hurricane Mountain in various stages of regrowth and regeneration. In the early 1800s, Manoah Miller set out to create a homestead including a forge, sawmill, and kiln on these lands taken from the Kanienʼkehá:ka people. Not much of the Miller settlement remains, but the land continues to hold the full history of this beautiful location important to the Six Nations as a dish with one spoon. We strive to develop a deepened understanding of place, to strengthen connections with our Indigenous neighbors, and to allow this understanding to inform our collective work and to guide our path forward.
Since 2019 we have been working with a team of architects, designers, historians, conservation specialists, engineers, builders, forestry experts, and artists to plan a new campus, raise funds, secure permits, and build anew.
In 2020 we opened the original farmhouse as Craigardan’s new farm store, returning all profits to regional farmers. We began to farm the land again, and gave the food to families in need. In 2021 we built the summer studio barn, launched our Community Farm Program, and began working on the new campus site. In 2022 we re-opened the residency program with off-site housing as we continued to farm, turn skid tracks into trails, rebuild soil, recover pastures, and construct the new campus. In 2023 we opened the new main campus to the public, and welcomed artists-in-residence to the first of many buildings to be built in phases — designed by Adirondack architect Nils Luderowski.
TOP: An impromptu outdoor dinner on the farmBOTTOM: The brand new Kiln House, and newly built kiln in 2023
the details
Craigardan is built around creativity in community. The week will be spent connecting and learning with fellow makers, as we work together to have an exciting and successful firing.
In addition, opportunities for hiking, biking, local exploration, and swimming provide fresh inspiration. With two mountain streams, many miles of trails to explore, and close proximity to the heart of the Adirondack Park’s High Peaks, the Craigardan campus is an ideal location for artists to stretch the legs and the mind in the largest state park in America. Although we are in a very remote setting, Craigardan is only 4 miles from the county seat of Elizabethtown, 6 miles from Keene and Keene Valley, and 30 minutes from Lake Placid.
PROGRAM + CURRICULUM. This workshop will focus on learning the foundational techniques and theories of atmospheric firing through a full firing cycle of the Craigardan wood and salt kiln. After an in-depth explanation of how the atmosphere affects different surfaces, participants will prepare their own work to fire with provided slips, glazes and, wadding. Next, a full day will be spent loading the kiln; understanding the best practices for an even firing and successful surfaces. The third day is the firing itself — everyone will be taking shifts to stoke the kiln and bring it up to temperature before the excitement of salting. While the kiln cools, there will be demonstrations in the studio and excursions into nature. After we unload the kiln together and assess the results as a group, there will be opportunity for individual feedback from Kyle.
FOOD.
In-residence and on-site camping participants will receive a group farm share and fully stocked pantry that will provide enough food for the entire week. For all participants, including those staying off campus, there will be a welcome dinner provided on the night of arrival, and wood-fired pizzas the evening of the firing. In-residence participants are responsible for coordinating with each other for all other meal creation. Day-participants staying locally (off-campus) will need to bring their lunch each day.
ACCOMMODATIONS.
In-residence participants sleep in their own tiny Artist Cabins, designed as a very modern take on the Adirondack Lean-to. Each beautiful cabin has a bed, writing table, good lighting, outlets, heat, closet space, and a small entry porch. The cabins
are located on the main campus site, 1/3 mile drive or walk into the property from the farm + farmhouse. They are situated at the top of the campus clearing next to a Bath House which has four individual full bathrooms. All participants have access to shared living space in the beautiful new Applebarn. Our professional summer kitchen and dining area is in the Kiln House open-air pavilion.
On-site camping participants will have ample space to pitch their tents, either close to the amenity buildings or anywhere off of the campus trail system. Campers will still have access to the Bath House, Applebarn and Kiln House Kitchen, as well as food from the farm share.
The individual artist cabins on the main campus.
Internet is available in the Farmhouse (at the farm) and in the Applebarn and Kiln House (on campus). Cell phone service is spotty in the Adirondacks and almost non-existent on campus.
Please note that while our new campus is designed to be universally accessible, we will have increasing ability to accommodate specific needs as the campus is built. If you are living with a disability, please discuss this with staff so that we can work to support you to the absolute best of our ability at this time.
Participants are required to bring:
• Kiln and studio safety equipment including gloves, eye protection, and respirator
• Headlamp
• 3 cubic feet of cone 10 bisqueware
SCHEDULE. Arrive at Craigardan on Monday, September 1st between 2pm and 4pm to check in and enjoy orientation and a welcome dinner.
Work closely with Kyle Tuesday through Sunday to prepare work, load, fire, cool, unload, and clean up the kiln.
Depart Craigardan on Monday morning, September 8th, before 10am.
The new, universally accessible campus, designed by architect Nils Luderowski, will be built in phases over time. L to R: Home, Main House, Studio, and Kiln House. Not shown: Applebarn
The Kiln House lit up at night against a backdrop of stars
TOP L: Vessel by Sam Taylor RIGHT: The pool at Três Marias, BOTTOM L: cups by Mark Shapiro
Clockwise from top left: one of two streams at Craigardan, the new Applebarn studios and gathering space, our heritage breed piglets foraging in the woods
your guides
THE MAGIC IS IN THE PEOPLE. Your instructor and staff for our workshop week are:
Kyle Brumsted. (he, him) Kyle is a Brooklyn based artist originally from Ithaca, NY. He has worked as an apprentice, technician, teacher, and resident artist at studios throughout the U.S. and Canada. After completing an apprenticeship at Atelier Spirale in Montreal and an internship at Baltimore Clayworks, Kyle was awarded the 2018 Teaching Fellowship at Craigardan, where he spent the year as a resident artist. Since then, Kyle has gone on to teach at many ceramic studios including The East Side Pot Shop and The Contemporary Austin, where he also worked as the salt kiln technician. Currently, Kyle is an instructor at BKLYN Clay and Greenwich House Pottery, and a fabricator at KWH Furniture.
Among many other things, Kyle is interested in making finely crafted functional pots, building community through the joy of collective making and knowledge-sharing, and firing atmospheric kilns. He has returned to Craigardan for several short term residencies, including to assist with the construction of the new wood kiln.
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Michele Drozd. (she, her) Michele is the co-founder and executive director of Craigardan. She has a BFA in Ceramics from the New York State College of Ceramics (NYSCC) at Alfred University, and worked under Petras Vaskys, Laszlo Fekete and Marie Baron studying design, mold making, tile, and sculpture. After traveling the world and finding her home in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, she became intensely interested in art and entrepreneurialism, the revitalization of small rural towns, food and agriculture, conservation and historic preservation - and the connections between them. Since 2002 she has worked within these fields in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Her belief that the creative process helps us imagine and build a better world has led to numerous community and social justice initiatives that use cross-disciplinary collaboration as a tool for systems change.
Jeremiah Reiner. (he, him) Jeremiah is Craigardan’s program coordinator. Jeremiah provides ongoing support and radical hospitality to all of Craigardan’s program participants. He has a background in photography and mental health and brings those creative and supportive skills to his work here.
Cassidy Mae Jackson. (they, them) Cassidy is Craigardan’s administrative coordinator. In addition to ensuring that the work of the organization runs smoothly, they also manage our small but mighty farm store. Cassidy will be sourcing all off-farm ingredients from our partner farms and providers. Cassidy has a background in the arts and arts administration.
TOP: Kyle stoking Craigardan’s wood kiln in 2023. BOTTOM: Mug by Kyle Brumsted
registration + fees
ALL INCLUSIVE. The program fee is all-inclusive except for transportation to the Adirondacks.
Program Fees. Fees include accommodations, food, materials, and the program + curriculum for the week for each participant.
$850 Day-Participant Only: Six Days / includes full program experience and two communal dinners. Other meals not inculded.
$1300 On-campus tent camping: Six days, Seven nights / includes full program experience, dispersed camping with your own gear on site, access to bath house, and all food.
$1850 In-residence Cabin: Six Days, Seven nights / includes full program experience, private accommodations in a cabin, and all food. Only six cabins are available.
There are a limited number of need-based scholarships available, please inquire by emailing: program@craigardan.org
To Register. Space is limited. We require a 50% non-refundable deposit to hold your spot, with the balance due in full by July 1st, 2025. Register online at www.craigardan.org/events.
Cancellation Policy. The deposit is non-refundable. If you need to cancel after the balance is paid in full, you will receive a refund only if we are able to fill your spot.
We reserve the right to cancel the retreat up 1 month prior to its scheduled start due to unforeseen circumstances. Under no circumstances will refunds for travel expenses be made.
9216 NYS Rt 9N / Elizabethtown, NY 12932
518.242.6535
info@craigardan.org
