We provide accepted artists with space and time to create new work without the interruptions of normal life and with the bonus of healthy meals prepared by culinary staff, with menus designed to accommodate residents' food challenges and including as much local and organic food as we can reasonably source. Past chefs have included organic farmers, graduate nutrition students from Bastyr University and Colorado-based dietetics programs, as well as professional personal chefs and artistic nomads with culinary skill. We proudly invest in local, organic produce and eggs from Frey Family Farm.
During each residency, we host visiting artist presentations. Typically open to the public as after-dinner dessert salons, we have also held these events via Zoom online. Additionally, during each residency period we hold a resident reading/art sharing evening -- this is not mandatory, but it's a fun way to share new work with the local community and gather feedback from fresh eyes and ears.
Each resident lives in an 800-square foot former classroom that offers peekaboo views of Mineral Lake and Mt. Rainier, and that will double as a writing/art studio, with desk and chair, lighting, bookcase, etc. Visual artist residents may improvise a studio anywhere on the grounds (including the room they sleep in -- which has worked well for graphic novelists and pen-and-ink artists), work plein air, or use the gym or covered patio as studio space. We have task lighting and tables which can be moved into your studio or workspace of choice.
Residency Eligibility
Residency Experience Summary
Application Information
We offer residencies for adults 21 and up. We do not exclude people currently enrolled in fine arts higher education (BFA/MFA). Please visit our Submittable page for information about special sessions and fellowship opportunities for writers and artists from the Pacific Northwest, who are BIPOC, or who are LGBTQ+ visual artists from the Pacific Northwest. We offer a mix of fellowships and low-cost paid residencies; if you apply for a fellowship for which you're eligible, you can elect to also be reviewed for paid residency. (This way, you are juried as narrowly or broadly as you wish within one application fee.)
Our Submittable page with application information is here.
We charge $450 for a one-week residency and $900 for a two-week residency, including all meals and snacks (allergies accommodated), linens, and programming. We can provide transportation from points along the I-5 corridor (airports, Amtrak, bus stations, towns/addresses) between Portland, OR and Seattle, WA for a $25-30/fee each way; these fees are waived for fellowship recipients.
Our fellowships cover the one-week ($450) or two-week ($900) residency fee, including room and board, and include transportation from within the Portland-to-Seattle corridor along I-5 (pickup/drop-off at airports, bus stations, Amtrak, your friend's house), so the artist pays no fee other than getting to Portland/Western Washington. We have one fellowship which provides a beefier travel stipend -- from $125 to $400 -- and that is the Erin Donovan Writing Fellowship.