Explore Our Fab Lab Artist-in-Residence Program!
Our Fab Lab Artist-in-Residence program connects library users with local artists for a season-long residency. Resident artists work with our Fab Lab staff to develop workshops, nurture curiosity, and foster creativity. As an artist in residence, you will provide open hours to the public, provide inclusive programming, and use our Fab Lab as a studio. You’ll also develop a final, summative experience that highlights our community’s creative work made during your residency.
We welcome artists and makers from any discipline to apply for the residency.
We encourage artists from diverse and marginalized backgrounds to apply. Though experience facilitating programs is desired, it is not required and will not prevent your application from being considered. Likewise, requesting assistance completing the application will not keep it from consideration.
Apply to be Our 2024-25 Artist in Residence
Our Fab Lab Artist-in-Residence program is open to artists and makers over the age of 18 in all disciplines. Artists who are able to connect their applications to the tools, equipment, and supplies in the Fab Lab are preferred.
Application & Residency Timeline for 2024-25
October 1, 2024, through November 30, 2024: Accepting applications.
December 2024: Evaluate applications, conduct interviews and award residency.
January 2025: Residency begins. Three (3) open studio hours per week begin. Complete the first workshop.
February 2025: Residency and open hours continue. Complete the second workshop.
March 2025: Residency and open hours continue. Complete the third workshop.
April 2025: Residency and open hours continue. Complete the fourth workshop.
May 2025: Open hours end. Prepare and execute the final summative experience
Artists in Residence Compensation:
As an artist in residence, you’ll receive:
A stipend of $2,500 for your work.
A separate budget of $500 for materials and supplies to support your workshops.
Working space in the library’s Fab Lab for the duration of your residency.
Residency Expectations
As the artist, you’ll:
Develop four (4) workshops that utilize tools and opportunities available in our Fab Lab.
One (1) of the four (4) workshops will take place offsite as a special library outreach event.
Plan, execute, and host an end-of-residency summative experience that showcases work done by workshop attendees. You will determine the form of this experience (ie. exhibit, lecture, installation, or other).
Create a written lesson plan teaching a skill or technique that utilizes Fab Lab equipment.
Work alongside a diverse group of library staff and library users while respecting each other’s social and cultural differences.
Create a regular schedule of office hours during which you’ll be available to meet with library users interested in learning about the artist’s process, techniques, and creative practice.
Materials Needed to Apply
Artist Statement: 100-200 words explaining your work, artistic approach, and interest in community collaboration.
Artist Bio: 50-100 words that describe your life, accomplishments, and the development of your practice.
A link to an online portfolio.
5-7 digital images of your work that are applicable to your proposed workshops at the library.
Workshop Statement: 100-200 words describing one or more ideas for workshops that you will develop as the Fab Lab Artist in Residence.
CV (optional)
Evaluation
We will evaluate residency applications based on the following criteria (in no particular order):
Quality of work included in the application and suitability for library display
Quality of workshop statement and its applicability to the goals of fostering creativity and curiosity in an innovative and inclusive way
Experience facilitating art and making workshops
Availability during the residency
Demonstrated history of customer service and learner support
Interview
Finalists will meet with a panel to discuss their work and plans for the residency. The artist selected for the residency will provide a W-9 form for tax purposes.
2023-2024 Artist in Residence
Rachel Curry is a teaching artist, letterpress printer, bookbinder, zinester, and fiber artist from Los Angeles, California. She received her BA in Art Education with an emphasis in Fiber Arts from California State University Long Beach and has experience teaching at institutions such as Otis College of Art and Design, The Huntington Library, and Craft Contemporary, as well as high schools and community organizations across Southern California.
As a queer feminist punk, Rachel’s practice as an artist and an educator is rooted in the belief that art is for everyone, that it is possible to build a better world through creative expression.
Soft Sculptures: Rachel worked with attendees to develop their vision of a sculpture that connected with themes of safety, soft space, and nostalgia. They learned sewing and crafting techniques to materialize that vision and created their own stuffed, fabric sculptures.
Cyanotype Memory Prints: Rachel led participants through composing their images to the process of cyanotype printing on fabric. They chose and combined personal photographs, stencils, and natural artifacts (like leaves and feathers) to use in their prints.
Experimental Poetry Zines: Rachel introduced attendees to zine-making with unconventional techniques and materials. They learned various bookbinding methods and skills, incorporating fabric and stencil work into one-of-a-kind zine projects.
3D Printed Weaving Rachel taught attendees methods of weaving and textile production that can be used at home for personal expression. Melding contemporary and traditional fabrication methods, they used 3D printed hand looms to create small-scale wall hangings and textile art.
Summative Event
For her summative event, Rachel created an installation for library visitors to enjoy, a space that embodied the ideas of inclusion, nostalgia, safety, and belonging. Rachel incorporated works created by attendees of her workshops in the installation. Some pieces were re-contextualized into a large textile that comprised the roof and sides of the new space, creating an organic division between library and installation. Other pieces filled the installation interior, alluding to conceptions of home, hearth, mantle, and drawing room.
The installation was in place from December 2023 through January 2024, during which many library visitors enjoyed the installation and spent time within its welcoming boundaries.
