Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts

09/08/2026

09/04/2026

The 10th Annual Pottery Festival at Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts, a program of the Catskill Mountain Foundation brings our community together to celebrate the art of functional and sculptural ceramics. This year’s festival features 10 talented local potters, which includes 5 of our own weekly faculty members, joined alongside 6 professional, regional artists. More than just a showcase of exceptional craftsmanship, this event forms an essential thread in the cultural fabric of our region. Artists and visitors connect, sharing techniques, ideas and supporting local creative traditions in a beautiful natural environment. The festival is a vibrant space that reinforces the Catskills as a thriving hub for art, community, and education.

Julia Thornton, owner and founder of C***r House Coffee, a café located in Hudson Valley, will be on hand to provide outstanding beverages and baked goods. Julia is a fifth-generation member of the Soons family, whose apple orchard has been a mainstay of the region since 1910. Visitors will be kept refreshed with specialty coffee, matcha drinks made with locally roasted beans, local milk, house-made syrups, farm-fresh ingredients, and house-made bagels, breakfast sandwiches, and more created by Emily Dorfman, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America with experience as pastry chef for the Four Seasons.

Neal Spitzer and his band will be providing music. This extraordinary trio features Cory Glover from Living Color. Woodstock based jazz musician, Spitzer plays saxophone for The Soul Experience.

03/12/2026

Congratulations Bruce Dehnert 👏

02/19/2026

Catskill Mountain Foundation is pleased to announce the Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts Summer 2026 Art Workshop Program is live! Featuring a stunning roster of instructors ready to guide you on your creative journey. From ceramics, painting, fibers, sculpture, writing and Art Explorers (youth program) we've got a workshop for you. Register now and experience making art in the beautiful Catskills! Click the link in Bio to learn more.

08/20/2025

Catskill Mountain Foundation is thrilled to invite you to the Ninth Annual Pottery Festival held at Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts (SMCCA) in Maplecrest, New York.

Labor Day Weekend - August 30 & 31
Saturday: 11 AM - 5 PM, Sunday: 11 AM - 4 PM

This invitational festival showcases the exceptional work of local and regional ceramic artists. SMCCA takes pride in fostering connections between talented makers and the Catskills community. The Festival's proceeds support our educational initiatives, scholarships, and arts programing in this beautiful "Mountaintop" region. Sugar Maples Center For Creative Arts at Catskill Mountain Foundation, has witnessed the Festival flourish into a vibrant, welcoming celebration of visual Arts and Crafts. Come join us, we look forward to seeing you!

05/22/2025

DISCOVERING YOUR CREATIVITY workshop

Instructor: Karin Lowney-Seed, artist, designer, educator
Dates: June 27 – 30 (4 days)

Discovering Your Creativity is a hands-on workshop in which students dive straight into creating acrylic paintings from initial concepts to a finished piece. Attendees will learn basic painting techniques and will be encouraged to draw upon learned life experiences, new ideas and underlying inspiration. This always dynamic workshop will give the student new insights as to how to take risks, learn from experimentation, and make artistic expression a fulfilling life-long endeavor. The fun is always electric in this very popular workshop at the foot of legendary Thomas Cole Mountain.

Kárin Lowney-Seed is a professional artist and designer whose work demonstrates a bold, confident and colorful painting style. Lowney-Seed’s prolific career has spanned the fine arts and design worlds. Featured as a popular guest artist at The Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts, Kárin takes personal pride in elevating her student’s artistic talents by sharing her deep knowledge of technique, color and space. She holds an MFA and BA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Karin currently makes her home and studio in New Jersey.

04/30/2025

FIRING ‘JULIA’ THE TRAIN KILN workshop

May 28 – June 2 (6 days)

Just a heads-up that a few spots have opened up in Firing Julia the Train Kiln, our immersive 6-day wood firing workshop at the beautiful Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts in the Catskill Mountain Foundation. This isn't just any workshop; it's a unique opportunity to delve deep into the vital elements of the wood firing process using Julia, the Center's impressive train kiln. You'll gain invaluable hands-on experience and knowledge, from understanding kiln dynamics and fuel management to exploring the transformative effects of flame and ash on your ceramic work. Don't miss out on this special chance to connect with fire and clay in such a profound way!

Participants will bring work for the firing, learn techniques for preparing for a wide range of results on surface, learn to load and fire a wood kiln, and then unload works transformed by this dynamic process. During the cooling of the kiln, there will be demonstrations, hikes into waterfalls, enjoying the environs that the Hudson River School of Painters recognized as being an artist’s heaven, learning about ceramics in the world of wood-firing, and time to do your own work.