Residency

The museum's residency program, like the museum itself, is hard to define. The basic concept is that a visitor to the museum is inspired to propose a project that uses the museum as a starting point for creative interpretation of the museum, its themes or its exhibits. That person then meets with the curator and presents a project proposal. All residents so far have been local to the Portland area and have visited the museum in person at some point, but it is possible to do a residency remotely

The completed project is presented at a group show in September. Other than the group show, timing is entirely flexible. A resident may or may not be an established artist; creative people who do not have a formal outlet for their work are particularly encouraged to apply!

The residency program was inspired by projects that have been done over the years by various artists based on museum exhibits and themes. Projects done before the formal advent of the program include a mini-mockumentary, a poem cycle, color studies, a kid's guide, and an artist's book. They can be seen here.

You can check out what residents have created in previous years:
2021 - Five artists each created works using materials from the museum's archive of animal parts, gnarled sticks, fungus, and other materials.
2022 - Five installations extrapolating on museum themes and objects
2023 - Featuring explorations in chemical and biological art, as well an exhibit of alien creatures
2024 - Six artists (three of whom were returning residents) created objects in a wide variety of media - photography, metal sculpture, clay sculpture, diorama, and, most uniquely, 3-D painting with metal salts.
2025 - Mail art and a dreamy installation!

Bioart is a new direction for the museum, so we will also consider projects that do any of the following:

- incorporate, or are produced by, living things such as bacteria, algae, fungus, or ants

- explore life-like processes using chemistry, artificial life or robotics

- involve miniature ecosytems with living components

Gallery Show
The residency program group show is usually held at the 1122 Outside Gallery, an informal backyard gallery in southeast Portland. It is suitable for site-specific installations or traditional gallery hanging. There are a number of outbuildings that can be used - a former chicken coop (currently an intimate theater), an enclosed shed, and a carport have all been used to display projects.

Details

- There are no application fees or stipends.

- No accommodations are available ("residency" is used rather loosely here). Residents not in the Portland area are responsible for arranging accommodations.

- The museum requests right of first refusal if works produced during the residency are offered for sale

- Multiple people may work on a single project

- Work at the gallery show need not be for sale or consistent with the artist's other work.

Application
To apply, send an email to zymoglyphic@gmail.com with answers to the following questions:

Are you currently living in Portland or nearby?

Have you visited the museum?

Describe what you would want to work on as your residency project

How do you see your project relating to the museum?

List any relevant web site(s), social media, or other online presence