Events
Spring Scholarship Fundraiser
Thank you to all the guys and dolls who attended Touchstone’s Spring Scholarship Fundraiser! To see photos from the event, visit our Facebook Page.
Saturday, May 11, 2019 | 6-10pm
In The Grande Rotunda at The Fayette Building, Uniontown, PA
Each spring Touchstone mounts a benefit event to raise funds for workshop scholarships. This year’s theme was an Old-Fashioned Speakeasy! Our flashback to the 1920’s was complete with cocktails, food stations, casino games, chance auction, music, dancing, and fantastic company.
If you were unable to attend, please consider making a donation.
DONATE NOW
Spring Cleanup
Saturday, May 18, 2019
Contact info@touchstonecrafts.org to volunteer.
Open House – New!
Sunday June 2, 2019 | 11am-4pm
FREE Family-Friendly Event
Visit Artists Working in the Studios
• Gallery Exhibitions • Campus Tours • Kids Activities •
Rain or Shine
Sponsorship Opportunities Available, Click for more information…
Touchstone invites the public to our campus from 11am-4pm on Sunday, June 2nd for a free, family-friendly event! This is the perfect day to come and learn all about what we offer at Touchstone and tour our professional studios and our beautiful rural campus. Watch artist demonstrations, shop artist pop-up shops, peruse our Instructor Exhibition featuring a taste of who will be teaching our workshops this season and our Iron Gate Gallery showcasing work by Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, participate in our raffle/auction, and get to know other area arts organizations through their own display booths! Kids can even try their hand at a craft!
Parking is extremely limited, please plan to carpool.
Artists and organizations who wish to participate as exhibitors should contact info@touchstonecrafts.org (space is limited).
Sorry, no pets permitted on campus.
Retreats
Overlap Retreat
Friday, June 21 – Monday June 24, 2019
Join Overlap at Touchstone for a transformative retreat! Share, Learn, Play, Create, Dream, Make and Grow together!
For more information, visit the Overlap website.
Overlap is an annual intimate peer-to-peer gathering of people from around the world who are interested in exploring the overlaps between design and other disciplines. Organized by members of the Overlap community, each year this convening of approximately 50 participants has a different theme and, to date, has taken place in a different part of the Americas. This year, we welcome the group back to Touchstone Center for Crafts.
Each Overlap is unique due to the co-created nature of the event. There is usually a loose agenda, used as a catalyst for interacting, getting to know each other as humans, and geeking out on topics that you may rarely have the opportunity to discuss. Overlap participants have been known to leave the event feeling a deeper connection to and sense of self, community, and the world.
We want Overlap to be as inclusive as possible. We welcome those who’ve never been to Overlap as well as those who have participated in the adventure before. In this spirit, we are actively encouraging those with a range of backgrounds and experiences to attend. Options available for on-campus lodging or local residents to join the group.
Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media Writer’s Retreat
3 Days: Saturday, September 28 – Monday, September 30, 2019
Instructor: Rachel Ann Brickner
Join Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media at Touchstone for an immersive writer’s retreat!
Click for more information about Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media
In this writing retreat, students will engage in an immersive weekend of reading and discussing contemporary fiction work, writing their own pieces of fiction, and workshopping the work of their peers. Drawing from their surroundings at Touchstone, students will learn to write from observations, and how these observations can ground a story by giving it a strong sense of place. We will look at work from contemporary fiction writers and write from exercises/prompts to generate a body of work students can take home to revise and prepare for publication. This will all cumulate in a seminar on the ins and outs of submitting work for publication and how to manage your submissions, plus a workshop critique session will be held to give students a starting point for revising a piece of their choosing. Tuition includes all meals, students are responsible for their own lodging through Touchstone.
Register Now!
Symposiums
For up-to-the-minute information visit our Symposiums page.
DC2: Design, Craft, and Commerce – New!
May 24-26, 2019
Hosted by Bridgeway Capital’s Craft Business Accelerator and Monmade trade group, the DC2 Symposium will explore opportunities at the intersection of design, craft, and commerce. Entrepreneurial creatives from across the region will convene to explore topics that include accessing global markets, synthesizing handmade and manufactured production, and building sustainable businesses. Programming will include demonstrations and conversations by leading voices and emerging forces in the creative economy. Sponsored in part by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
For more information please visit Monmade’s website or email katiejohnson@monmade.org
Registration is closed for DC2
Keystone Ceramics Forum – New!
July 5-6, 2019
A fast-paced weekend of demonstrations, presentations, discussions, and a pop-up exhibition on Touchstone’s woodland campus. Featuring demonstrations by Kurt Anderson, Hannah Pierce, Jeremy Wallace, and Jennifer Allen. Keynote presentation by Shoji Satake.
Registration is closed for Keystone Ceramics Forum
Alchemist Picnic
October 4-5, 2019
Join us for the 6th Annual Alchemist Picnic at Touchstone, hosted once again by Wayne Werner. Demonstrations by Tom Muir, Brian Ferrell, Sean MacMillan, and Lucy Derickson. Opening keynote: “Connections For Creative Careers and Opportunities” with Lindsay K. Gates, Adam Kenney, and Paul Rosenblatt.
Enjoy Demonstrations, Round-Table Discussions, and more!
Click for more Information
Register Now!
Thursday Art Auctions & Wood-Fired Pizza
June – August
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! – Select Thursdays, 6:30pm
• Jun 27 • Jul 11 • Jul 25 • Aug 8 • Aug 15 • Aug 22 (Aug 1 auction has been cancelled)
These fun, informal weekly auctions of handmade artwork by workshop participants, instructors, and Touchstone staff are open to the public. All proceeds go towards supporting Touchstone’s operations and programs. Admission is free, dinner at the Pizza Oven is available for a fee (please call 724-329-1370 in advance). Dinner consists of an all-you-can-eat selection of hand-crafted artisanal pizzas from our wood-fired brick oven, a salad bar featuring fresh, locally grown ingredients, iced tea, lemonade, and dessert. Christian W. Klay Winery will be offering wine tastings and wine will be available for purchase by the glass or bottle.
Schedule:
• 5:30-6:30 pm – Dinner at the Pizza Oven (add-on option) please call the office to register
• 6:45 pm – Auction begins
• 5:30-7:30 – Christian W. Klay Winery will be offering wine tastings/purchase
May be subject to cancellation – please contact our office at 724-329-1370 to confirm that an auction is taking place. If you would like to join us for Wood-fired pizza before the auction starts, please call to make a reservation at least one day in advance (Dinner starts at 5:30 pm).
Fall Benefit Event
Craft an Escape… Keep Creativity Alive!
Save the Date!
Friday, October 18, 2019 | 6:30pm sharp
It’s an “Art”pocalypse… Zombies are consuming all the Arts and Crafts! Soon we will live in a world of the UN-imaginative! Your mission is to Escape the room, save creativity… and have a great time!
at: The Pittsburgh Field Club, 121 Field Club Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15238
$150 per person includes dinner and entertainment. Sponsorships Available!
Purchase Tickets Now!
Annual Membership Meeting
November 2, 2019, 1:00 p.m.
Open to current members. We will review the year’s accomplishments, elect board members, and plan for 2020.
Bea Campbell Gallery Exhibitions
Touchstone’s 2019 Instructor Exhibition
June 2- July 27, 2019
Touchstone invites professional artists from around the country to teach workshops each year. This exhibition showcases a sampling of work by our 2019 workshop instructors.
Touchstone’s 2019 Staff Exhibition
August 4- September 30, 2019
Opening Reception August 4, 2019 | 2-5pm
Each season Touchstone brings in emerging artists to intern as studio assistants and technicians, help with daily operations and workshops while providing them the time and space to explore their own work.This exhibition highlights the work of these talented emerging artists exhibiting alongside Touchstone staff.
Iron Gate Gallery Exhibitions – New!
Touchstone is thrilled to be partnering with the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh for two art exhibitions in 2019. Hosted in the Iron Gate Gallery, the exhibitions will be juried by Touchstone’s Lindsay Ketterer Gates and Travis Winters and feature work by Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (AAP) members. AAP is an artist member organization featuring over 500-artist members from the greater Pittsburgh region. Founded in 1910, AAP organizes 5-10 exhibitions a year in various spaces throughout the region including the Carnegie Museum of Art, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, The Andy Warhol Museum, and now Touchstone!
‘Vessels in Five Dimensions’
featuring Kristen Letts Kovak and Silvija Singh
June 2- July 27, 2019
Click to Read More…
‘Mutual Understanding’
featuring Adrienne Heinrich and Judith Musser
August 2 – September 30, 2019
Opening Reception August 4, 2019 | 2-5pm
Click to Read More…
Open House
June 16, 2018
1:00 pm-4:00 pm
Touchstone invites the public to our campus from 1-4pm on Saturday, June 16th for a free, family-friendly Open House event. Our gallery will be open with an exhibition of work by our Artist Of The Year: Tadao Arimoto, and Travis Winters; Touchstone’s Programming Manager. Visitors can start there and go on to tour our professional studios and watch people working in our studios in blacksmithing, ceramics, glass, and jewelry. There will even be a kids’ activity that is free for all who wish to participate.
This is the perfect day to come and learn all about what we offer at Touchstone and visit our rambling wooded campus in gorgeous Fayette County.
Spring Scholarship Fundraiser:
A Celebration of Creativity
Thursday, June 28, 2018, 6:00 p.m.
Join Touchstone for a fun-filled evening to raise scholarship funds for deserving students. There will be a silent auction, live jazz music, good food, drinks, and great company.
DiAnoia’s Eatery, 2549 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
with Live Jazz Music by Joshua Ben Trio
Tickets: $150 per person | Table for eight: $1,200
Summer Evening Arts I
Visit Touchstone’s 150-acre campus and join us as we celebrate the summer season of workshops, and show our appreciation to 2018 Artist of the Year, Tadao Arimoto. We look forward to seeing you at Touchstone for a wonderful evening of creativity. This first event of the Summer Evening Arts series will feature a reception showcasing Tadao’s works.
Reception for Touchstone’s 2018 Artist of the Year: Tadao Arimoto
Friday, June 22, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Touchstone is excited to celebrate Tadao Arimoto, a talented, hardworking, and renowned maker, with an exhibit from May 4 through July 8, 2018.
Summer Evening Arts II
Reception for Touchstone’s 2018 Staff Exhibition
Sunday, July 29, 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Touchstone is proud to showcase the work of our talented staff, including resident artists, summer interns, technicians, and assistants; who are on campus to learn, network, and share their talent. These emerging artists come from across the country to learn studio management and operations while refining their artistic skills by working with some of the country’s best craft instructors. The exhibit runs through August 31, 2018.
Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
Saturday, October 13
An afternoon of food, fun, and camaraderie with friends to celebrate all of you who help Touchstone thrive!
Annual Fall Benefit
Friday, October 19 at 6:30 pm
Touchstone is Crafting a Mystery for our annual fall benefit… A Farm to Table Dinner: where the tables are turned. A murder mystery in three acts, where one of our own is the culprit. Help us determine “whodunnit!” The event will be held at The Pittsburgh Field Club, 121 Field Club Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15238.
In addition to a delicious farm-to-table meal with provisions from Serenity Hill Farms, attendees will get a taste of Touchstone! Touchstone artists are crafting an evening of demonstrations to delight your senses. Blacksmiths will be forging iron, ceramists will be sculpting clay, glass artists will be showing off their flame-working skills, painters will be capturing the view with their brush strokes,… and the list goes on!
The evening will be filled with excitement and lively characters!
Tickets are $150 per person
Annual Membership Meeting
Saturday, November 3, 1:00 p.m.
Current members are invited to the annual membership meeting at which we will review the year’s accomplishments, elect board members, and plan for 2019.
Summer Auctions
June through August
It is a tradition on the Touchstone campus to hold auctions throughout the summer. New items made by students, staff, and instructors are offered each week. Everyone has a chance to bid and all proceeds go to supporting Touchstone’s operations and programs.
Symposiums
Looking for fun weekends of learning and networking with peers? Celebrate our craft heritage and join us for a weekend symposium. The 2018 Symposium Series includes a variety of mediums and a myriad of topics that will appeal to all makers. As Pennsylvania’s only residential craft school, Touchstone’s convenient geography makes it the ideal mid-Atlantic platform for these gatherings.
Saturday, May 19
Rivers of Steel Iron Pour with Blacksmithing Demonstrations
Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event! An exciting fiery display of molten hot steel being poured into molds here on Touchstone’s campus.
June 1—3
Makers Symposium Series including Alchemist Picnic V
Attend an exciting weekend of demonstrations, lectures, networking, and more in ceramics, glass, metals and jewelry, and mosaic arts.
September 28—30
Keystone Metals Forum V
Join this opportunity for dialogue and collaboration between established and emerging metalsmiths from across the Commonwealth and beyond.
October 5—7
First Annual Keystone Ceramics Forum
Be a part of this first annual event, an opportunity for dialogue and collaboration between established and emerging ceramic artists from across the Commonwealth and beyond.