Making Our History: Artists Render Lincoln's Legacy

The Center for Lincoln Studies (CLS) and Visual Arts at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) invite applications for a remote artist-in-residency program focusing on the legacies of Abraham Lincoln. Twenty artists will be selected from throughout Illinois to participate during the 2021-2022 academic year. Selected artists will participate in monthly meetings with each other and with faculty from Visual Arts and CLS, present and discuss their art in progress at several meetings, and create art that stimulates conversation about the American past.

Artworks will be exhibited from August to September 2022 in the Visual Arts Gallery at UIS, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, and the Springfield Art Association. The exhibitions will include short videos documenting the making of the physical art and exploring each artist's historical perspective and artistic approach. These videos will form the basis of a permanent digital exhibit hosted by the Center for Lincoln Studies, providing resources for K-12 teachers to teach about Lincoln and the American past.

Artists must be Illinois residents during the residency period, participate in seven Zoom meetings, agree to be filmed in their studio about the art-making process, and deliver finished work by June 30, 2022. Artists will receive $2,500 for their artwork, which becomes the property of the University of Illinois. The jury will seek geographical diversity, diversity of form and concept, and diversity of background, with extra consideration for University of Illinois faculty, graduate students, and alumni for up to eight of the twenty slots, and at least four graduate students to be selected. Applications must include a curriculum vitae, portfolio of up to 10 relevant artworks (may be submitted as links), and a 150-300 word personal statement addressing interest in the residency, approach to artistic collaboration, and preliminary ideas for a project on Lincoln's legacy. Deadline for applications is September 20, 2021. Artists selected will be notified October 5, 2021, with the residency period running October 2021 to May 2022.