Where fiber arts, food and music have come together since 2005
Fiber College is a unique Mid Coast experience - a combination of class room, festival and retreat that takes place in our spectacular Searsport Shores Ocean Campground and Art Space overlooking Penobscot Bay in Mid-Coast Maine.
“We bring Maine’s fantastic fiber artists together to share their skills and inspiration with each other, and with anyone who wants to learn” says founder and director Astrig Tanguay. “We also like to make the experience a bit of a party…live music, great local food, the opportunity to meet like-minded people and the chance to take time-out from everyday life to focus on creativity and having fun.”
Join us for a daylong class, a three-day workshop, or an immersive four-day retreat. The ‘things’ that get made during Fiber College events include not only beautiful art- and craft-pieces, but also new friendships, great memories, and a powerful sense of the way fiber connects past, and present, people and places together.
Click the images below to explore your options.
If you are coming to Maine for vacation, why not add the joy and satisfaction of two-three days in our art studio to your ‘to do’ list in addition to all that kayaking, lighthouse visiting and eating lobster and blueberry ice cream?
And if you live here, wouldn’t you like a break from your day-day-life, and spend a weekend with us exploring something new and creative?
Bring the family camping for Labor Day weekend and seize a day for yourself. These one day, project oriented workshops include lunch in the garden and are perfect for teens and adults alike. And even if you’re not a camper… there’s nothing like a day of learning and making to turn this Holiday weekend into a special treat.
This is a chance to immerse yourself in one of several, intensive, four-day workshops running simultaneously from Thursday through Sunday, the week after Labor Day. Each workshop consists of at least 18 hours of personalized instruction and forms the core of a deeper and wider retreat experience. This is your time to be you, renew your creative energy, and celebrate your passion for making. New for 2023, we've teamed with local inn keepers to provide lodging packages especially for Fiber College attendees.
Four Days of Basket Making while the musicians jam and perform at the campground. More information to follow by May 1st.
MEET ASTRIG & STEVE:
Astrig Tanguay, founder and director of Fiber College is a passionate and accomplished fiber artist, who designs, spins, weaves, knits, sews, tends her small flock of sheep and goats, and cultivates a dye garden, as well as running the family’s Searsport Shores Ocean Campground with her husband Steve, who is an equally passionate and accomplished musician.
With the help of volunteers and their campground staff, Astrig and Steve have been organizing FIBER COLLEGE events since 2005 as a way of share their own passions and celebrating the rich traditions of fiber art and old time music making in Maine. By focusing on gatherings that encourage visitors to the state and local residents to join in on the fun, they infuse their surrounding towns of Searsport and Belfast with prosperity in what is currently called, experiential tourism.
Fiber College is sponsored by The Makers Guild of Maine, a 501c3 that raises awareness of hand-making, music making, and cooking skills, and makes them as widely available as possible within our community. They organize events that showcase hand-crafts, traditional music and local food in an outdoor setting and raise funds for community music and teaching initiatives. 
For more information, interviews and hi-res images, contact:
Astrig Tanguay (207) 930-5919 (text or call) or email: astrig@makersguildmaine.org