HMS Artist Residency
Bring your art to the HMLC
In early 2021, an opportunity was presented to host painter Kyle Scheurmann for a two-week visit and the Harvest Moon Society Artist Residency began to take shape. Kyle helped the new HMS Coordinator to see the value to artists in coming to stay in Clearwater: an HMS residency not only provides studio space and a connection to nature but also helps to facilitate conversations, provides access to farm tours, and shared learning opportunities with farmers and land stewards. This proves to be valuable to the community and the farmers, as well, as they are just as excited to learn about the artists as the artists are to learn about the community and its progressive, experimental, sustainable approach to environmental care. This has become evident in the robust turnout at the Artist Talks given in Clearwater as part of the residencies, drawing attendees from neighbouring communities, as well as online viewers to streamed events.
The success of our first residency, both from the artists’ perspective as well as the community’s, led to a two-week residency for Rachel MacFarlane, an established Canadian painter currently based in New York City. Rachel’s residency included a talk to students of the School of Art at the University of Manitoba which helped build the relationships that brought about the creation of the Recent Graduate stream.
As of 2023, the Harvest Moon Artist Residency has grown into a multistreamed interdisciplinary residency program that is continually evolving.
Professional
Harvest Moon’s Professional Artist Residency program is firmly established after visits from Kyle Scheurmann in 2021 and Rachel MacFarlane in 2022. The Harvest Moon Learning Centre’s infrastructure of dorm rooms and recently renovated washrooms along with our commercial kitchen, greenhouse, and large classroom spaces provide an excellent venue for these recent graduates to stay and our longstanding network of farmers, environmentalists, and historians are always willing to engage in knowledge sharing opportunities.
TO APPLY:
Please send the following to info@harvestmoonsociety.org with the subject "ARTIST RESIDENCY APPLICATION".
For your application, please include:
artist bio (max 500 words)
artist statement (max 500 words)
Project proposal: "Why is coming to the Harvest Moon Learning Centre in Clearwater, Manitoba important at this stage in your practice?"
samples of work, may include:
a portfolio of 5-10 images (Jpeg only, max 1MB per file)
up to 5 audio files (streaming links only, YouTube or SoundCloud preferred)
up to 3 pages of writing samples (PDF)
Website/social media links
CV (exhibition/residency history)
Recent Graduate
Harvest Moon’s Recent Graduate Residency began in 2023 and is designed to provide a professional knowledge-sharing experience to emerging artists from the University of Manitoba School of Art. In their final semester, fourth year students were invited to submit artist statements and proposals outlining how experiences at Harvest Moon would affect their emerging practices.
A jury consisting of artists, faculty of the School of Art, and Harvest Moon members assessed the applications and evaluated the proposals. After deliberation, Rae Swan and Alice Hamilton were invited to Clearwater, MB for a two-week residency and were each awarded $1,000 to facilitate their stay at the end of May.
The inaugural invitees were Rae Swan and Alice Hamilton.
During their time in Clearwater, Alice and Rae engaged in shared learning opportunities with land stewards and regenerative farmers. They worked with HMS staff and interacted with the community while having plenty of time and studio space to work. Rae and Alice hosted a “responsive Art Making” workshop at United Community Arts in nearby Pilot Mound and delivered Artist Talks to the public near the end of their stay.
They’ve been invited back to deliver a workshop at the 22nd Perennial Harvest Moon Festival, September 15-17, 2023.
Festival
Every September, the Harvest Moon Learning Centre plays host to the Harvest Moon Festival, a celebration of rural life and cultural aimed at bridging the urban/rural divide and connecting people to the land that grows their food.
The Harvest Moon Society organizes the Educational Workshops for the Festival and saw an opportunity to combine efforts by inviting a musician to attend a residency in the lead up to the Festival and then play on the mainstage and host a workshop.
For the 22nd Perennial Harvest Moon Festival being held September 15-17, 2023 in Clearwater, MB, we are excited to host Slow Spirit (Natalie Bohrn and Eric Roberts) for a two-week residency culminating in a Songwriting 101 workshop Saturday morning and a mainstage slot Saturday night.
If you’re interested in applying to the Harvest Moon Festival Residency, Please send the following to info@harvestmoonsociety.org with the subject "FESTIVAL RESIDENCY APPLICATION".
For your application, please include:
artist bio (max 500 words)
artist statement (max 500 words)
Project proposal: "Why is coming to the Harvest Moon Learning Centre in Clearwater, Manitoba important at this stage in your practice?"
samples of work, may include:
up to 5 audio files (streaming links only, YouTube or SoundCloud preferred)