The smack of metal hitting metal rings through the pines as the shadows grow longer on Deer Isle. In the blacksmithing studio at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, coal-burning hearths throw off enough heat to warm girls in tank tops and boys in shorts as the breeze picks up off the water.

A group of high school students huddles around Steve Yusko, a sculptor from St. Louis, Mo., as he hammers a glowing yellow-tipped rod of black steel into a point.

“You never want to hit in the same place twice,” he says, dipping the steel into a barrel of water and crouching on the cement floor as the metal sizzles behind him. His hands, rough and black around the fingernails, are a stark contrast to the white chalk he uses to draw on the ground, where he illustrates the right way – and the wrong way – to shape the point.

“If you screw this up, you can cut it off,” he told the students.

It’s OK to make mistakes at Haystack’s annual Student Crafts Institute, which recently brought 71 high schoolers from around the state to Deer Isle for an intensive weekend of studio time. For 19 years, the renowned facility has held the crafts institute to introduce gifted students to the world of working artists and to other like-minded teen-agers.

“They walk in the door, sit down and realize there are 70 other kids who are like them in some way,” Haystack director Stuart Kestenbaum said. “I think it really sticks with kids in terms of what’s possible for them. It’s not just skills or techniques that they learn, but they come to a place where they can see there’s a whole world out there and they can be a part of it.”

This year, all of the state’s counties were represented, and the students came from as far north as Madawaska and as far south as Berwick. The institute is open to every Maine high school with an art program, and art teachers choose one student per school to attend. They sign up for one of six intensive programs: blacksmithing, metal work, clay, mixed-media basketry, mask making, or gelatin printmaking, a technique developed at Haystack that doesn’t require a press. During the weekend, students experience Haystack as any other artist would during one of the facility’s summer workshops.

“It’s not like something that’s less because it’s for kids,” Kestenbaum said. “Some of the parameters are a little different. We make them go to bed at 11. But basically, they’re working in the studios just like everyone works in the studios.”

Amanda Kahl of Lagrange, a sophomore at Penquis Valley High School, jumped at the chance to work in a studio – literally.

“I was so excited,” Kahl said. “I was just, like, jumping all over the place.”

In the blacksmithing studio, Kahl stood perfectly still as she examined a metal rod that would eventually become a hook. After mastering the basics, the students would move on to forge barbecue tools out of steel.

“This is so much fun. I was afraid that I was going to be afraid of the fire and everything, but actually, I’m not,” Kahl said.

Many of the students weren’t sure what to expect, but that didn’t stop them from having a good time.

“I’ve done a lot of clay stuff, but this is my first time in a place like this,” Megan Becker, a junior at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, said after she finished making a “teeny little” terra-cotta pot. I think it’s really great. You can work on anything you want, so your creativity can be expressed in so many ways.”

In the metalworking studio, Andrew Cayer of Oakland, a junior at Messalonskee, was expressing his creativity in copper. Alan Perry, a metalworking instructor at Maine College of Art in Portland, had just finished telling the group how metal was similar to clay in terms of its malleability, and Cayer was shaping the handle of a copper spoon into a daggerlike form.

“I like swords and I like my jewelry,” he said as he showed off a spiked leather bracelet. “I was trying to look for something like that in other mediums.”

Dan Buck, a junior at Bangor High School, was trying to get as much work done on his spoon as he could before dinnertime. The techniques were unfamiliar to him, but he was happy to have the opportunity to try something new.

“There’s no metalworking or jewelry-making classes in Bangor,” Buck said. “This is a unique experience. I feel lucky to be here.”

Like many students at the crafts institute, Buck said he is considering studying art in college. The weekend-long program gives participants a glimpse of what it’s like to immerse themselves in studio work.

It also gives students a chance to see that art can be a lifelong pursuit. Sean Albert studied blacksmithing at Haystack nearly 10 years ago as a Bath High School junior. He went on to study glassblowing at Massachusetts College of Art and has been working in glass ever since. His teacher, Sandy Crabtree, attended this year’s institute as a chaperone.

“It really became his dream,” she said. “I think he was such a quiet student. When he came back he had the confidence, that love of art and being around kids who all love art. This might have been the one deciding factor.”