Paul Sacaridiz is Haystack Mountain School of Crafts’ new director. He will begin his tenure at the Deer Isle school in September.

"There are few places like Haystack, and those who have been there understand this in the most intimate of ways,” Sacaridiz said. “As a student attending a session over 25 ago, the experience left an indelible mark on me as a young artist and provided a window into a world that valued making, materiality, beauty, passion, risk and failure.

“Decades later, teaching there impacted how I thought about education, community and learning, and reinforced for me the special ability craft has to teach us things in a way that few other practices are capable of.”

An accomplished artist, educator, and administrator, Sacaridiz is, at present, professor and chair of the Department of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He brings with him over 16 years of experience in higher education and administration, as well as leadership in not-for-profit arts organizations.

Sacaridiz has been named a fellow with the National Council of Arts Administrators and is a recent inductee to the International Academy of Ceramics in Geneva, Switzerland. He has served on the board of the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, and was named president-elect of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA).

His awards include the 2013 Romnes Faculty Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Joyce J. and Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts for recognition of his outreach and public service involving the larger community.

"Paul joins the staff at Haystack at an exciting time in its 65-year history,” said Lissa Hunter, chairman of the Haystack Board of Trustees and co-chair of the search committee. “The school is a world leader in craft education and research as a result of the stewardship of Stuart Kestenbaum, director for the past 27 years. Paul brings the skills, passion, and experience to continue the core mission of Haystack while being open to the possibilities that the future will certainly bring."

Sacaridiz said he feels a great responsibility to the field of craft and wants to “celebrate and preserve that history while also asking challenging questions about its role in contemporary culture.”

“There is tremendous work to be done right now and I cannot imagine leading a more interesting and relevant organization than Haystack,” Sacaridiz said.

For more information on Haystack, visit www.haystack-mtn.org.