PELLSTON, Mich. — The University of Michigan Biological Station in northern Michigan is looking for artists to explore their creative freedom away from home this summer and draw inspiration from the environment around Douglas Lake through its rustic artist residency program.

The deadline to submit applications for the UMBS Artist-in-Residence program is March 15, 2024.

Selected artists complete a live-in residency in June or July at the more than 10,000-acre research and teaching campus in Pellston, just south of the Mackinac Bridge.

The U-M Biological Station’s Artist-in-Residence Program, which began in 2018, is designed to introduce new artists to the region and give them the opportunity to interact with the robust scientific community on campus.

For 115 years, students, faculty and researchers from around the globe have studied and monitored the impact of environmental changes on northern Michigan ecosystems. The U-M Biological Station is one of the nation’s largest and longest continuously operating field research stations.

“We think by allying with artists and embedding them in our field station, together we can inspire deeper understanding and appreciation of local ecosystems and improve public engagement to support conservation,” said Dr. Aimée Classen, UMBS director and a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Click on the 2024 UMBS Artist in Residence website for more details about the experience and instructions on how to apply.

Callie Chappell, Ph.D., of Stanford University, pictured here with UMBS Associate Director Karie Slavik, left, led cyanotype workshops in July 2023 that explored the intersection of culture, identity and colonialism on the community ecology of Michigan.
Audio Journalist Kyle Norris, a UMBS Artist in Residence in August 2023, used his NPR skills honed over a 20-year career in public radio to help scientists and students tell powerful stories about their research at the field station along Douglas Lake in northern Michigan. During his residency, Norris recorded sounds of the forest and the lake and conducted interviews to create an audio profile of the field station.
Painter Leslie Sobel, far left in the back, an Artist in Residence at UMBS in June 2023, gave drawing lessons to scientists, students and families on excursions along Douglas Lake and through the forest. Pictured on the ground is Charlie, the 5-year-old son of a UMBS staff member. After Sobel’s residency, she went back to her Ann Arbor studio where she is creating a large work of art inspired by her time at Douglas Lake. She plans to curate a public exhibition.

 

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