Artist at Pine Needles, a residence program sponsored by the St. Croix Watershed Research Station, seeks applications from artists and writers for Summer 2014. The Artist at Pine Needles project invites natural history artists or writers to spend 2 to 4 weeks in residence to immerse themselves in a field experience, gather resource materials, and interact with environmental scientists and the local community.
The St. Croix Watershed Research Station, the field research station of the Science Museum of Minnesota, is located near Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota. The setting for the Artist at Pine Needles project is the James Taylor Dunn Pine Needles Cabin, located just north of the village along the St. Croix River. In 2013, the artists selected were painters Bonnie Ploger and Susan Armington of Minneapolis; poet Su Smallen of St. Paul; and painter/sculptor Jessica Zeglin of Minneapolis. (See previous St. Croix 360 stories about Pine Needles artists.)
Applications for 2014 will be accepted from writers and visual artists who focus on environmental or natural history topics. Participants will have an opportunity to interact with environmental scientists and to create links between their art, the natural world and the sciences. As part of the program, artists will be encouraged to design an outreach project to share their work with the local community. In addition, the residency requires that participants contribute an original work for the benefit of the research station.
Housing and rustic studio space is provided for the artist’s choice of a 2, 3, or 4-week residency; up to three residencies will be awarded for the summer of 2014. Application packets are available from the research station or www.smm.org/scwrs/programs/
