St. Croix Watershed Research Station announces artist and writer residencies

Applications now accepted from artists and writers wishing to spend time working and living on the river.

Artist at Pine Needles, a residency program sponsored by the St. Croix Watershed Research Station, seeks applications from artists and writers for Summer 2022. With the vision to enhance scientific understanding through art, the St. Croix Watershed Research Station invites Artists in Residence to interact with the scientific staff and local community to further explore the intersection between art and science. In addition to accepting applications from established artists, the Pine Needles Residency includes an emerging artist category to encourage and support upcoming artists with this same calling. Visit their website for more information on emerging artists. Since 2001, the Artist at Pine Needles program has welcomed over 55 artists and writers to the banks of the St. Croix River in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota.

The St. Croix Watershed Research Station is the environmental research station of the Science Museum of Minnesota. The setting for the Artist at Pine Needles Residency is the James Taylor Dunn Pine Needles Cabin, located just north of the village of Marine on St. Croix along the St. Croix River. 2020’s deferred artists were: emerging artist and photographer, Sarah Lilja; visual artist, Mark Odegard; and writer Mary Pflum Peterson. Artists in 2021 were: writer, Jill Swenson; large-scale digital artist, Dee Etzwiler; printmaker and photographer, John Pearson; and emerging artist and photographer, Cynthia Dickinson.

Applications for 2022 will be accepted from writers and artists who focus on environmental or natural history topics and strive to connect the complex world between 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.

Application packets are available from the St. Croix Watershed Research Station or www.smm.org/scwrs/programs/artist/. The application deadline is February 28, 2022; decisions to be announced by March 31. For more information, contact Alaina Fedie at the St. Croix Watershed Research Station: researchstation@smm.org or 651-433-5953, extension 12.