Established in 1990 to support a transition from the academic to the professional world, Pilchuck Glass School’s Emerging Artists in Residence Program is an eight-week fall program allowing six artists to live and work at the school’s renowned campus. Whether a recent college graduate or an artist who has been out of school for a few years, emerging artists in residence (EAiRs) receive financial support, time and a creative environment in which to explore new concepts or develop a completely new body of work or a new way of working.

One of the common results of this residency is an extraordinary level of collaboration among the six residents. While a part-time technician is hired to assist the residents in using the studio equipment and facilitate their projects, no instruction is provided. As residents possess varying experience in creating with glass – ranging from none to accomplished – they learn from one another, forming strong bonds as artists and as friends.

2004 Emerging Artists in Residence and their program technician offer special insights into the experience. Left to right, top row: Kristina Arnold (Nashville, TN); Lenka Novakova (Alpharetta, GA); Elizabeth Perkins (Bumpass, VA); Mielle Riggie (Seattle, WA); and technician Tim O’Niell (Seattle, WA). Left to right, bottom: Laura Ward (Seattle, WA); and Jessyca Burke (Eugene, OR).

Kristina Arnold: People have been asking me upon my return, “How was Pilchuck?” How can you sum up two months in two sentences, because more than that and folks start to glaze over. My answer is, “It was amazing!” The best things were the time (to have two months to yourself to pursue art 24/7 is truly a luxury for those of us who normally have to work for a living); the people (the other residents all had diverse experiences, knowledge, ideas and skills which we all were the beneficiaries of); the facilities (this once again includes people – the support we were given technically was great, and also includes the fact that we had the run of approximately 20 kilns and surrounding areas); the place (the Pacific Northwest is beautiful, and Pilchuck’s hill even has a view of the ocean); the generosity.

Lenka Novakova: Pilchuck Glass School is set in a beautiful country where you can dream and make art at the same time, and meet other great artists who are going to become your best friends in a scope of two months. The school is very generous with their support to emerging artists, lending incredible assistance with in kiln-casting techniques, not to mention the great glass facilities. I applied for the residency to explore the potential of cast glass in installation/video art. I created a body of work consisting of cast glass slumped into bowls which will be used for a video installation project dealing with natural phenomena. I have come back not only with a project just completed, but many new ideas that I will be able to pursue with the knowledge and experience gained throughout this residency.

Mielle Riggie: Going into the residency, I knew that I had some very different ideas and goals regarding my time than what I originally proposed. I was a little concerned about this but also thought it must be pretty normal for EAiRs to develop new ideas between applying and actually starting their residencies. It definitely made me curious about Pilchuck’s definition of a residency; what are Pilchuck’s expectations? That aside, even my newest ideas ended up on their heads when so many materials were made available to us. Maybe that is a little bit of an exaggeration -- I still stayed within the basic theme of my goals but I spent my time pursuing them in manner that I did not anticipate – namely, I got to work more with glass. So, basically, it was all awesome; everything expected and unexpected. I have left this time feeling so thankful for the opportunities, anxious for projects I never got to, and inspired to work even more. I never truly thought I would be able to map out all of my time and goals and pretty much banked on there being some wonderful unknown variables. I was not disappointed.

Tim O’Niell: As tech for the 2004 Emerging Artist program I was fortunate to spend eight weeks with six talented artists. I watched them arrive and settle into our work area in the studio building. The first week and a half was a lot of assessing going on - the facilities, the other artists, the staff. Once they focused and defined their projects, they dug in and worked amazingly hard. All of the artists were very focused on making the most of the opportunity and it was not at all uncommon to find the bulk of our group up and working at 1 or 2 in the morning.

For me it was a fabulous opportunity to spend time with such a talented and nice group. It was also very rich for me to get to be at Pilchuck for eight weeks. As an artist I got some good work done and started into some new work that I am very excited about. Seeds that were sown this fall will, I hope, bear fruit throughout the coming year.

Laura Ward: The Pilchuck residency was more than I could have imagined. My hopes of creating a body of work in a peaceful setting with unlimited time and excellent facilities were met and immediately surpassed by the generosity and support of the staff, artists and technicians working at Pilchuck. The unexpected, for me, was the invaluable ideas and talents of the other artists. Through conversation and technical discussions, I was able to create a second body of ongoing work as a direct result of the residency. I began using new materials and working with the other artists on projects that would never have come to fruition without their aid, talents, insight and encouragement. An outstanding creative experience!

Jessyca Burke: To awaken each morning to a day that is entirely yours is truly extraordinary. It is a difficult thing to describe – outside the realm of ordinary life, but a daily event as a Pilchuck Emerging Artist in Residence. Working in Pilchuck’s quiet and serenely beautiful setting with a group of dedicated colleagues necessarily results in significant learning experiences for all the residents. My tenure at Pilchuck facilitated an intensity of focus and freedom I had never experienced previously. I discovered a tremendous amount about my studio practices, made considerable technical and conceptual progress in my work, and found lasting friendships with remarkable people.

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