We’re now taking applications for the 2024 Four Pillars.
Session 1 is from June 15th to July 17th.
Session 2 is from July 17th to August 17th
Please fill out this form if you are interested and we’ll set up a time to talk on the phone or via video conference. After a short conversation regarding the nature of the setting, an application will be shared via email.
Applicants may be admitted at any time following submission, however, the deadline is Jan 15th, 2024. Please do your best to make your initial inquiry using the form below prior to Jan 10th so you have time to complete the full application.
Candidates will be chosen based on a combination of merit and their potential to benefit from this residency.
The residency runs in two sessions while the school is in session, benefitting the Four Pillars artists with increased interactions with the influx of visiting artists, LEctures, and activities associated with the school.
Eligibility:
The Four Pillars artist residency is designed to promote artists beyond school who are working to build their careers and connect with audiences.
Early to mid-career working artists are encouraged to apply.
If you are currently enrolled in or working on a portfolio for a degree-granting undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, MFA or certificate program, please consider applying to the Mount Gretna School of Art's Intensive Program or Studio Seminar. We will likely refer you to one of these programs as it will fit the intent of those programs more so than Four Pillars.
Our preference is to attract applicants that have been out of school for several years and working to gain traction in their early careers. However, we do consider certain applicants that are fresh out of an MFA program on a case-by-case basis. Many of these applicants opt to attend our flagship Intensive program after a discussion.
If you’re fresh out of an undergraduate program we will very encourage you to apply to mgsoa.org.
Applicants are selected on the basis of merit and our assessment of the potential benefit this residency may have. We also seek a diverse demographic of artists.
Early to mid-career artists are encouraged to apply.
This residency is open to all eligible applicants so you do not need to have been a MGSoA alumni to apply. However, half of the residency spots may be reserved for qualified and deserving MGSoA alumni. A special purpose of this residency is to reconnect MGSoA alumni with non-alumni artists of the residency and the community of Mount Gretna.
Applicants must clear a criminal background check, especially with regard to sex offenses.
Applicants must be at least 21 years old.
Cost:
The residency fee is $500. Artists are responsible for their art supplies and basic living expenses.
If the artist is willing to conduct a one-day workshop while they are here, $500 will be returned upon successful completion of the residency, and our caution deposit return policy.
The Give and Take:
Artists participate in a lecture and/or panel discussion.
Artists receive a private bedroom and a semi-private workspace.
Artists participate in at least one four-person exhibit of their work. We'll do our best to line up shows like this the year following the residency to promote and sell your work but can’t guarantee what it will be year to year if any.
a standard "gallery-style" sales agreement with our non-profit ensures that the sales commission benefits the next round of "Four Pillars" artists. These agreements may vary based on the rules of various venues.
Artists live "family-style" in the Artist Cottage and are mutually responsible for household cleaning and chores, sharing food and meals together. A CSA farm share is provided weekly with fresh organic seasonal veggies. The cottage and the work space is strictly off-limits to any commercial use such as sales of artwork from the studio area, or related visitors. Four Pillars wants to maintain an art-making atmosphere in the cottage and work areas, not an art sales atmosphere. Artists may share accommodations with faculty/staff of the school and possibly older students who don’t feel comfortable sharing cottages with younger students of the school.
Four Pillars will operate at the same time as the Mount Gretna School of Art so that the artists in residence can benefit from the influx of visiting artists, lectures, and activities associated with the school.
Artists perform up to 8 hours per week of service to the school per week as part of their fellowship agreements primarily assisting the executive director with day-to-day tasks related to the faculty cottage where they reside.
Four Pillars artist residency is a non-profit service of the Mount Gretna School of Art (MGSoA) whose non-discrimination policy flows through to the Four Pillars artist residency and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ancestry, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, genetic information, or age in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, financial aid, employment, or any other program or activity.
This info is subject to growth and change.