Yale Norfolk School of Art returns for another summer of creativity

For more than 80 years, the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust has endowed Yale University’s summer music and art programs in Norfolk. The renowned Yale Norfolk School of Art opened the 2026 summer season May 23, sharing its final week with Yale’s new music workshop. The art school is held in the historic Alfredo Taylor-designed Art Barn, located on a trail behind the 70-acre estate’s Whitehouse on the village green.

“Yale Norfolk brings together a diverse group of students who have demonstrated passion in artmaking and are exemplary community members,” explained the program’s co-director, Lisa Sigal. The student body is composed of 26 rising college seniors selected from more than 200 applicants. Participants come from across the country and from a growing number of international locations.Students live in dormitories on the estate alongside faculty and staff.

The faculty includes co-directors Sigal and Byron Kim, who will lead seminars with Yale professor Ayham Ghraowi and four teaching fellows.

“We cultivate the next generation of artists by providing immersive, community-driven residencies,” Sigal said. “It ends up being six transformative weeks.Students leave with a deepened creative practice and lifelong friendships. Teaching fellows leave knowing how to structure a class and inspire young artists. And everyone leaves the estate in tears.”

The public is invited to view student work during Open Studios at the Art Barn on June 28 from 1 to 6 p.m.

Each summer, students create a series of community art installations around Norfolk. Six to eight proposals are selected and then presented to the town’s selectmen for approval. Some projects are installed during the last weekend of June, others remain for weeks, and a few have earned permanent places in the Norfolk landscape.

This summer’s theme, “Seeing Through,” draws inspiration from the French philosopher Édouard Glissant, who wrote about opacity and its inverse, transparency, observing that “The opaque is not the obscure; rather, it is that which cannot be reduced.”

Visiting fellows and faculty will present free lectures exploring the theme over five Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Art Barn. For a schedule of speakers, visit norfolkart.yale.edu

The art program also offers free community drawing classes throughout the summer. These began Saturday, May 30, and continue through the end of the music program on Aug. 23. The classes focus on life drawing with a live model. Drawing materials and paper are provided, and participants of all experience levels are welcome. Classes meet on the second floor of the Art Barn on Tuesdays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon.

In addition to the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust, the Yale Norfolk School of Art is supported by the Yale School of Art, the Norfolk Hub, the Battell Arts Foundation and the Low Road Foundation. For more information, visit norfolkart.yale.edu.