Artist Residency information

Origin

Experimental Artist Residency 2024-2026 Social Practice Project

Misty Hollow Residency started in 2024 by Asia Ward, a social practice sculpture artist, as a three year initiation period for a set of experimental artist residencies testing out different art and science approaches and public engagements with the land of Misty Hollow. In 2027 Misty Hollow Residency will become a formal organization using the three years of residencies as research to support the future structure.

To Apply

Residencies are cross disciplinary and collaborative. Artist residencies are for emerging to professional artists in any practice. For each residency, one artist works with someone in another discipline from the sciences. The term scientist is used broadly. Two artist/scientist collaborations will be selected each year. The artist is the project manger of the residency project and is responsible for finding the collaborator and coordinating the collaboration. Projects must take place onsite, and involve the land/ecosystem of Misty Hollow. Artists receive a stipend of $800, rustic living accommodations (upon request and for short periods), connections to regional experts and organizations, use of natural resources, general mentorship and help. Artists are responsible for transportation, living supplies, and general fabrication supplies. Some tools are available to borrow. All fabrication must be done by the collaboration. Mentorship in building outdoor sculpture and help with installation is available on request. For community engagement there is potential to show the work onsite or offsite through partner organizations or public events. Open to 21+ emerging artists and professionals. Misty Hollow is not wheelchair accessible.  

To apply please fill out this application form by November 1st, 2026

Application requirements:

  • Artist name, contact, bio, portfolio of 10 images

  • Scientist name, contact, bio, examples of work

  • Project description. Describe what your project will look like, what resources and areas of Misty Hollow will be needed for the project, how the collaboration will work between the artist and scientist, and any open ended ideas that might take shape. Please list any of the tools you will need access to and if you are interested in mentorship with the project. Include drawings, project image ideas, inspirational examples, past research, anything that will help get your ideas across.

  • Community engagement ideas. One or more. For inspiration on what that can look like, please look at 2024 and 2025 artists. These ideas can be changed and expanded on. Once the residency starts, a more formal conversation on what community engagement can be will be planned. Please include any photos, drawings, research, etc that will help explain your idea. 

  • General draft timeline of project progress and community engagement/events times. This is a draft and will be solidified once the residency begins.

For questions about the residency, please email mistyhollowartistresidency@gmail.org

Apply to Misty Hollow 2027

2026 Artist in Residence

Information on the 2026 Artist/Scientist Collaborations coming soon.

2025 Artist in Residence

2025 is an invite only for one Pittsburgh artist, receiving a stipend of $2000 to create a social practice project that engages the land and the local public over the course of the summer and fall of 2025. Artist is given room, workspace, help, and whatever natural resources they require within reason. To support the public programing, Misty Hollow will connect the artist to local universities, experts, and art organizations.

Lindsey Peck Scherloum

July - October 2025

A woman with long gray hair, glasses, and a black top standing outdoors in front of a house with horizontal siding.

2025 Artist in Residence Lindsey Peck Scherloum will engage the public in the making of a collective Monument to interconnection, each person creating a small figure out of clay gathered from earth that surrounds Slippery Rock Creek.  The audience will be prompted to consider their relationship to the Creek, to their community, and to write or think a small prayer for our future, message of appreciation to the water, or statement of intention as they create. The figures will be collected and assembled among the springs and running water that feed Slippery Rock Creek at Misty Hollow, eroding over time into the water and the creek and washing into it the meaning each has been imbued by its creator. Lindsey will provide 4-5 event based activities open to the public.

Recent Event

  • November 23, 2025 12:30pm-2pm Fern Moss Flotilla: A Monument to Interconnection at Misty Hollow Residency (free) RSVP ONLY Event link

Past Events

  • August 8th 2025 12pm-4pm Monument to Interconnection Children’s Summer Arts Festival at the Hoyt Center for the Arts (free) Event link

  • September 23, 2025 6pm-8pm We All Live Downstream Lawrence County Conservation District. New Castle Library (free) Event link

  • September 27, 2025 12pm-4pm Monument to Interconnection 32nd Annual McConnel’s Mills Heritage Festival, Kildoo Picnic Area and Gristmill, Portersville (free) Event link

Events

Project Title: Monument to Interconnection

  • Clay modeling on a worktable with several small sculptures, including a spiral-shaped tower, various animals, and abstract figures, with people in the background.

    Making temporary monuments

    Artifacts of the work from the Children’s Summer Arts Festival at the Hoyt Center for the Arts

  • A person squeezing a small ball of charcoal between their hands.

    Working with wild clay

    Testing the possibilities of wild clay as a medium. Consulted with PennOhio Clay Guild

  • A woman with gray hair and glasses working with concrete or plaster at a workstation outside an old house. She is wearing a beige polka dot shirt, jeans, and black boots, and is focused on her task.

    Processing the wild clay

    Lindsey processed the clay in order for it to work for sculpture making

  • A person with gray hair, wearing a black shirt and ripped jeans, is digging in the dirt near some green plants outdoors during daytime. Two buckets are visible, one white and one blue, filled with soil or rocks.

    Gathering clay from Misty Hollow

    Lindsey sorts through the clay unearthed by a tractor

  • Children at an outdoor clay modeling workshop, working with clay on the table. An instructor is demonstrating, surrounded by children shaping clay. Plastic tools, a spray bottle, and various clay pieces are on the table.

    Clay ready for kids

    Kids create clay sculptures about the Slippery Rock Creek environment and creatures

2024 Artists in Residence

2024 was an open national call, and received a surprising number of applicants across the states. The call was for two artists or artist pairs to complete projects on site within two weeks of September. A $500 stipend was given to each artist group, including room, workspace, help, and whatever natural resources they required within reason. Their projects have become the property of Misty Hollow, and remain on site.

Merle Rogers and Felicia Cooper

September 14th-28th 2024

Two women walking on a trail in a wooded area with fallen leaves, one smiling at the camera and the other looking at her phone.

Merle Rogers and Felicia Cooper created ‘Leave No Trace / Leave, Know, Trace' for Misty Hollow Residency 2024. ‘ Leave No Trace / Leave, Know, Trace' was a performance that invited our natural guides–trees, rocks, ferns, herbs, mushrooms–to share what they know with a human and non-human gathering: city slickers, neighbors, glass objects, naturally dyed linens, trash accumulations. This brief walking tour of southwest Pennsylvania land investigated what it means to “go outside.”

Part 1: Cryptid and shadow puppet show by the greenhouse

Part 2: Camp Misty Hollow sing along and puppet show

Part 3: Gratitude Bucket in the meadow

  • Person wearing a mask and noggin mask playing banjo outside near a small wood structure with a sign and a large yellow circle.

    Part 1: Cryptid plays banjo

    Leave no trace/leave, know, trace shadow puppet show by green house

  • A group of people watching a woman in a yellow dress standing on a tree stump in a forest during dusk, with a man in a hat and plaid shirt acting out or performing in front of them.

    Part 2: Camp Misty Hollow sing along

    A group sing along and a puppet show on the old stump

  • Two people are standing on a tree stump in a dark forest, illuminated by small lanterns placed on the ground. They are next to a large tree with a makeshift sign hanging from it that reads "I am the last one, and I am the last one here." One person is wearing a yellow raincoat and glasses, and the other person is dressed in a plaid shirt, shorts, and a wide-brimmed hat.

    Part 2: Puppet show on stump

    Leave no trace/leave, know, trace roaming puppet show

  • Two people in a forest, one wearing a yellow outfit standing and the other in a plaid shirt and shorts, hanging cloth or paper strips on a string between trees, with outdoor lights illuminating the scene at dusk or night.

    Part 3: Gratitude exchange

    Back and forth gratitude for various found objects

  • Makeshift shrine with hanging glass jars, ribbons, and candles attached to tree branches in a wooded area.

    Part 4: Human Nest gallery

    Merle curated a gallery within Human Nest of found objects, natural and human made. The Human Nest in 2025 has been reset.

  • Group of people sitting and standing outdoors in a wooded area, watching two individuals dressed in costumes perform. One person in a yellow dress and another with a cowboy hat appear to be acting out a scene. An older woman with curly white hair sits on a stone ledge reading a book nearby.

    Part 1: Cryptid plays banjo

    Leave no trace/leave, know, trace shadow puppet show

Madeline Cochran and Owen Donohue

September 1st-14th 2024

Human Nest by Madeline Cochran and Owen Donohue for Misty Hollow Artist Residency 2024. Human Nest is a cocoon-like structure built on artist Asia Ward’s property in Ellwood City, PA, as the first of a series of experimental art residencies. Inspired by Patrick Dougherty’s Stickworks, Human Nest is meant to be a site for shared reflection and solitude in nature. Collected saplings weave between neighboring branches and vines encouraging the viewer to spend time beneath its canopy. We invite visitors to leave any found or precious objects behind for others to enjoy. 

Saplings include a variety of tree species including butternut, maple, elm and birch. 

owenMadelinefaces.JPG
  • Two people constructing a large arched structure made of intertwined branches in a forested area. One person stands on a stepladder, working with the branches, while the other stands near a ladder. There are tools and supplies nearby.

    Building the Human Nest

    Madeline and Owen work on weaving gathered saplings into a shape

  • A small, rustic rain shelter made from loosely woven tree branches and sticks, situated on a stone and leaf-covered forest floor during foggy weather.

    Human Nest in the mist

    Human Nest in the mist during the fall

  • Two women working on building a stone wall in a wooded outdoor area. One woman is kneeling and placing stones, while the other is standing and working further up the slope.

    Clearing the site

    Leveling and preparing the site. Gathering creek stones for ledge

  • A small shelter made of intertwined sticks and branches in a forest clearing.

    Structure complete, floor next

    Madeline and Owen gather flat creek stones to make the floor

  • Two people are standing inside a large woven structure made of branches and twigs, in a wooded area. One person is holding a small bowl or container, and sunlight filters through the trees, creating a bright, dappled effect.

    Sun through the grape leaf window

    Madeline and Owen admire their work