Blue Sky Residency at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology 2018

Blue Sky Gallery and Sitka Center for Art and Ecology announce a partnership to provide a residency for an emerging photographer in Spring 2018. The residency is available only to photographers who have been part of the Blue Sky Drawers program or have been an exhibitor at Blue Sky Gallery.

The residency takes place on the Sitka Center's campus in Otis, OR, from March 4-25, 2018. Participants may choose to take 2 weeks during this timeframe if a 3-week residency is not possible. Residency includes accommodation in a studio apartment and access to a private separate studio space. Residents have access to wireless internet, the Center's library, other artists and ecologists in residence, and the Cascade Head Scenic Research Area, including Cascade Head itself and the Salmon River Estuary. Please note there is no darkroom facility at Sitka Center.

Work created during the residency may be showcased on the Drawers Exhibition wall at Blue Sky in Spring/Summer 2018, and the artist may present a short artist talk in Spring 2018 (date mutually agreeable). Both opportunities are optional and not required. Eligibility: Photographers who self-identify as emerging artists and have shown at Blue Sky Gallery (either in the Drawers or in the Gallery). Applications will be reviewed by a panel of five judges: two from Sitka Center (Program Manager Carrie Hardison and Executive Director Leslie Jordan), two from Blue Sky Gallery (Exhibitions Manager Zemie Barr and Executive Director Lisa DeGrace), and David Kressler, Oregon-based photographer and first recipient of this residency prize.

To apply, submit: (1) an artist statement stating your work and approach (up to 4,000 characters), (2) 8-15 images representative of your work, (3) an up-to-date resume or CV, and (4) a one-page letter of interest (up to 4,000 characters) addressing how the residency would benefit you at this phase in your career and how your artistic perspective, work, or a specific project relates to the Sitka Center's mission "to expand the relationships between art, nature, and humanity." Applicants may identify a particular project (new or ongoing) on which they intend to focus during the residency period, but a pre-defined project is not required. The invited resident will be encouraged to spend their time in residence in whatever manner best suits them and supports their creative process and artistic career, with no specific expectations of product or outcomes. Applicants will be notified of a decision in mid-December 2017.