Artist in Residence Program

The purpose of The Schuylkill Center’s Artists-in-Residence Program is to enhance awareness and appreciation for the environment through art projects and activities that involve the three components of education, presentation, and production. While other community arts organizations provide art instruction for children and adults, they do not explore academic subjects as does our Artist-in-Residence Program.  Our model is new to this community in that it uses arts education, presentation, and production to directly interpret issues related to the natural environment, with the goal of changing perceptions and enhancing awareness.

Planning for the student art programs is a collaborative effort between visiting artists, participating school teachers, and the Center’s senior program staff, ensuring that artist-run activities are responsive to students’ needs and teachers’ cross-curriculum learning objectives.  For example, one collaborative art project implemented under the direction of an Artist-in-Residence can teach elementary school students about visual art, ecological systems, identifying renewable resources, recycling, wildlife habitats, geography, and plant identification.

A final project for the Artist-in-Residence is a unique outdoor art installation created by the students or community groups and participating artist, which is then displayed on the Center’s grounds. Outdoor installations provide unique opportunities for emerging and underrepresented artists, allowing artists to think broadly about site-inspired themes and to create works that are unrestricted by scale, format, or materials (as long as they are non-toxic and do not adversely alter the natural habitat).  The immense and diverse venue offered by our 340-acre property allows emerging artists to find their voice and to let their creative processes take over in the conceptualization and production of new works.