Artist-in-residence program | College of Biological Sciences

Art and science are, in many cases, inspired by similar motivations: a desire to explore the unexplored and to uncover the hidden patterns and relationships of everyday life. Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, with its diversity of plant and animal communities and its wealth of long-term ecological research, provides a unique opportunity for artists to investigate the intersection of science, nature, and humanity. We invite artists working in any genre (including but not limited to photography, painting, music, dance, creative writing…) to bring their unique ideas and perspectives to Cedar Creek to help us build a long-term, diverse body of work exploring this place and its science.

Current artists-in-residence at Cedar Creek

Gretel Van Wieren

Don poses for photo wearing green shirt and gray jacket — Don Luce

Emily poses for photo wearing a black sweater with hair down and glasses — Emily Dzieweczynski

More about the program:

In the news
Watch a public lecture given by 2020-2021 resident artists Alyssa Bagus s and Sarina Partridge.

Artists in residence are provided with:

Access to a world-renowned research site and the diverse habitats and experiments it contains for up to one year
Opportunities to interact with researchers and students working onsite, including formal meetings, opportunities to observe and/or participate in field work, etc
Space to promote your project on the Cedar Creek website and facebook page, as well as in the main visitors building
Access to a private one-bedroom house on the property for overnight stays, if desired
Unfortunately, no funding or stipends are available at this time. We hope that will change in the future!

We ask that each artist in residence:

Be over 18 years old
Interact with site scientists and staff
Incorporate both art and science in their final work
Provide the Education and Community Engagement Coordinator with updates at least every three months
Share their work with the public through an event, installation, reading, show or other appropriate outlet at some point during or at the culmination of the residency (organized by the artist, hosted and promoted by Cedar Creek)
Consider leaving some aspect of their work for Cedar Creek's permanent collection when the residency is completed

As with all researchers and visitors onsite, we require that Artists in Residence respect all site rules and regulations, including staying on internal roads, carrying a use permit, and checking in before each visit. A residency does not give you unlimited access to the reserve. Depending on the nature of the project, residencies may last from one week to one year. No overnight stays are required and you do not need to physically be "in residence" at the reserve - we do encourage you to stay overnight at least once though! Artists in Residence will need to provide their own transportation, food, art supplies, and other materials. Unfortunately, additional funding and stipends are not available at this time. However, many of our artists in residence have been successful at obtaining external funding for their projects through the MN State Arts Board, the Swedish Council of America, local non-profits, and other sources. We are of course happy to provide official letters of support or information about the residency as part of funding applications!

Applications

We are not accepting applications at this time. Due to staff transitions and some disruptions to our 2022 artists' work, we will not be recruiting new artists for 2023.