Touchstone Center for Crafts is an Arts Oasis

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Touchstone Center for Crafts is A Premier Arts Campus

Within minutes of arriving at Touchstone Center for Crafts, we realized we were in for something special. This campus, which covers several hundred acres in the beautiful Laurel Highlands, has a little something for everyone.

Instead of feeling like a massive, developed complex, this one feels a bit more like a sprawling camp with separate facilities for arts, housing for artists in residence and guests for the multi-day workshops, a full kitchen for meals, a gallery space, a shop, and so much more.

Along with our Date Night class, we got a bit of a tour of the campus to see their awesome spaces for glassmaking, ceramics, blacksmithing, and more. Each one of these venues felt like its own little oasis on the grounds- the ceramics building was built next to a babbling stream that we could hear while working with the clay and the blacksmithing shops had custom smelting stations built outside near the woods (a reasonable distance away, of course).

The Date Night classes take place on select Fridays throughout the season, and are meant to be roughly two-hour workshops to learn some of the basics of a few popular forms of art that can be made at the center. In the ceramics class, for example, we learned how to work with clay and form vases and bowls, starting from clay and ending with a molded product, which was quite enjoyable.

The class ended with styling the bowls, which would be later fired and glazed after our visit, but it was quite a fun experience to get our hands dirty and make some art. In the glass facility, we got to see other students making coasters, which looked quite gorgeous before going into the furnaces to cure. (Note that when you sign up for Date Night classes, you can pick the art form you want to try, like ceramics or glass, but the exact style of what you make, such as coasters, may be a surprise when you arrive.)

These are just one of many class types that are available at Touchstone Center for Crafts, and, in a way, they felt a bit like a teaser. The grounds also offer intensive one-day workshops and even five-day seminars each week to take deep dives in a particular art style- from unique forms of ceramic making, to Japanese knife making, Damascus steel, smelting, and more. 

Guests for these experiences have the chance to stay on-site, via camping or in the on-site dorms and cabins, and present a unique opportunity to take a focused look at one specific form of art. (As lovers of Japanese knives, we're hoping this one returns in a future year for us to try!) They truly have an impressive number of classes like these lined up throughout the season, but it is worth noting that most are only offered just once per season- so if you want to do a specific class, like us with Japanese knife making, be sure to snatch up a booking when you see it available!

The only downside to date night experiences was that our ceramics needed to be fired overnight, so we need to return later to pick up our finished products (which, with the 90-minute drive from the city, is admittedly a bit far). That said, the center also offers paid shipping options for those who may not be able to return at a later date.

For those that can return for pickup, there are a ton of amazing activities to do during the day nearby, like visiting the Laurel Caverns, Fort Necessity, hiking at Ohiopyle State Park up the road, or even Fallingwater a bit further away. So if you can couple a visit to these for a Date Night, or when you return to pick up your finished product, you can have a really full day of exploration for the effort.

So whether you want to look at one art type on a Date Night experience, or take a more intensive dive into a very specific form of art, Touchstone Center for Crafts has opportunities for all interests and skill levels!

Touchstone Center for Crafts is located at 1049 Wharton Furnace Road in Farmington, PA. We were guests of Touchstone Center for Crafts for this review. As always, all opinions are our own.