Arrowmont Craft Conversations: Susan Webster and Stuart Kestenbaum

Artist and writer Susan Webster and Stuart Kestenbaum share insights into their collaborative approach in the studio, and the joy of improvisation and comradery possible during a weeklong-workshop.

Susan Webster is a visual artist who works with a variety of materials and processes. She has taught at Haystack, Penland, Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Connecticut, Studio Artworks Center (Jerusalem, Israel) and developed a model art program in the prison system in Maine. Recent exhibits include Maine Jewish Museum and Maine College of Art’s Institute of Contemporary Art.

Stuart Kestenbaum is the author of five collections of poems, most recently How to Start Over (Deerbrook Editions 2019), and a collection of essays The View from Here (Brynmorgen Press). He’s the host of the Maine Public Radio program Poems from Here and was the host/curator of the podcast Make/Time. The director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts from 1988 until 2015, he has written and spoken widely on craft making and creativity, and his poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines including Tikkun, the Sun, the Beloit Poetry Journal, the New York Times Magazine, and on the Writer’s Almanac and American Life in Poetry. He was appointed Maine’s poet laureate in 2016.

ARROWMONT CRAFT CONVERSATIONS is a video series that highlights artists in the Arrowmont community. Our partnership with Arrowmont faculty and community members has contributed to Arrowmont’s longevity, growth as a school of arts and crafts, and our reputation as an institution that welcomes everyone. The artists who appear in this series exemplify the characteristics that represent the School — they span generations and are among the most experienced, capable, and innovative in the arts and crafts world.