Artist in Residence Program

“Pond Farm is such a special oasis, a realm where time slows and the world opens into the quiet of nature. My time there was both soothing and invigorating, a balm to my spirit and mind. The space invited me to slow down entirely and listen to the sounds of my surroundings and the music of the loom. It provided peace to approach my art practice with a clarity of mind normal daily life responsibilities cannot allow. Thank you, Pond Farm, for existing as a reminder of a different way to approach the reality of living.” – Niki Tsukamoto, 2019 Artist in Residence

Applications for 2027 Residencies

The application for 2027 cohort will start in early 2027, and will close on February 7th. Subscribe to our e-news or follow us on instagram to learn more and for notifications about the program including the application process for next year which will open January 2027.

Program Description

The Artist in Residence Program at Pond Farm is administered by Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods in partnership with California State Parks. The program welcomes artists working across a wide range of visual, literary, and performance-based disciplines, including interdisciplinary practices. Artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, lived experiences, and artistic perspectives are encouraged to apply.

Situated within the Austin Creek State Recreation Area and adjacent to the iconic Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, the residency provides a unique opportunity for creative exploration in a rural, rustic setting. Removed from the demands and distractions of daily life, residents are invited to engage deeply with their practice while honoring the site’s historical and environmental significance.

In addition to access to more than 6,000 acres of Austin Creek State Recreation Area, residents may explore the surrounding natural landscape, including Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, the Russian River, and the northern California coastal range. Each residency spans three weeks, with six sessions offered between May and September. October is reserved for a special international exchange in partnership with Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, a contemporary arts foundation based in Germany.

Pond Farm was established as an artists’ community in the late 1940s and was home to internationally recognized studio potter Marguerite Wildenhain, who lived, worked, and taught there for more than forty years. After becoming the first female master potter and teaching ceramics in Germany and the Netherlands, Wildenhain emigrated to the United States to escape Nazi persecution, arriving at Pond Farm in 1942. Her work and pedagogy played a pivotal role in shaping the American Studio Pottery movement.

To preserve the historic integrity of Pond Farm, certain limitations apply. Clay artists are not eligible to apply, as the historic barn does not support ceramic production; throwing wheels and kiln facilities are not available. The program is open only to artists who have not previously participated in the Pond Farm Artist in Residence program. Pets and overnight guests are not permitted. Guests must arrive in their own car (motor vehicle). Bicycles and alternative transport are not sufficient due to access and distance.

The Pond Farm property is periodically open to the public for group and school tours. During these times, visitors may be present on the grounds; however, the interior of the residence remains private to the artist. Occasional visits by State Parks staff, maintenance personnel, or utility vendors may also occur.

Location and Facilities

Artists reside in Lanier House, the guest cottage of the historic Pond Farm Pottery property, which includes an historic barn built in the late 1800s, Wildenhain’s house, and the guest cottage. Artists are free to work in the studio workspace of the barn or in the barn’s covered breezeway, and outside in nature. The ADA-accessible guest cottage is fully equipped, including internet access. Residents are responsible for providing their own transportation. Please include any specific living or studio needs in your application. The residency is awarded only to individuals, not to couples or groups of artists due to the amenities and utilities available on site.

As Pond Farm is located within a California State Park, we encourage artwork that is inspired by but does not disturb the environment. Due to fire risk, there currently is no working facility for firing pottery or welding. Pond Farm also is unable to accommodate pets except for service animals. Both Austin Creek SRA and Armstrong Redwoods SNR offer many hiking opportunities, and the nearby Russian River is a recreational hub in the summer months. The town of Guerneville, with a grocery store, laundromat, post office, library, and other services, is a twenty-minute drive down the winding hillside road from Pond Farm. Artists are required to have a personal vehicle onsite.

Download information about the Pond Farm Guest House

Community Engagement Activity or Event

Pond Farm was built by people who were committed to the arts and to nature, and who engaged with the community through teaching, lectures, workshops, and collaboration. As such, an important component of the residency is engagement with the local community.

During the residency we ask the artist to give back in some way to the community. This component is a key consideration for a successful candidacy. Applicants are asked to propose concepts for community engagement, such as workshops or talks, in their application. These can take place in the park, at Pond Farm, with the Russian River artist community, schools, or more broadly. Artists are also asked to donate one of their art pieces to Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods to be used for fundraising efforts.

Cost and Julia Terr Fellowship

Once accepted, there is a fee of $500 for the three-week, onsite living residency. The Julia Terr Fellowship supports residencies for and gives priority to artists from historically marginalized groups (including Asian, Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, people from low-income or working-class families, and people whose parents have not had the benefits of a college education). The goal of the fellowship program is to welcome diverse artists and writers to work on specific projects or investigate new areas of interest. The Julia Terr Fellowship underwrites the $500 fee for these artists and in addition provides a stipend of $400 to help cover food and travel expenses.

Arts in California Parks

The Artist in Residence program at Pond Farm is in part funded by Arts in California Parks, a California State Parks program created in partnership with California Arts Council and Parks California. The program Arts in CA Parks is meant to help make California’s parks more relevant and inclusive. The program supports artists, culture bearers, and California Native American tribes, and communities will receive funding to use sound, color, texture, words, movement, and other creative expressions to expand the meaning of “park” and extend the benefits of both arts and parks to all Californians. Visit the website to learn more!

2026 Artists in Residence

May: Victoria Wagner, Instagram gallery– Website — Victoria Wagner is a Sonoma County, California–based wood sculptor and abstract painter whose work explores emotional and physical responses to the natural world. Using reclaimed wood, paint, and sculptural form, she reflects on ecological loss and the concept of “solastalgia,” the distress caused by environmental change within one’s home landscape. Her sculptures are created from fallen or removed trees, shaped by natural damage such as rot, fractures, and disease. Working with arborists and land stewards, she transforms these materials into sculptural monuments honoring threatened forests and environmental cycles. Wagner describes this process as an act of repair. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in collections such as the United States Embassy in Sri Lanka and Google BayView Campus. She is represented by Maybaum Gallery and serves as Associate Professor and Co-Chair of the Core Studio Program at California College of the Arts.

June: Eileen Parent, Instagram gallery – Website — Eileen Parent is a Sonoma County–based abstract artist working in printmaking, painting, and drawing. Inspired by patterns found in nature and urban environments, her work explores repetition, mark-making, time, and the documentation of human presence through organic forms and gesture. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley, a BFA in Printmaking from Sonoma State University, and an MFA from California College of the Arts. Parent currently teaches art studio courses at Sonoma State University, Napa Valley College, and Santa Rosa Junior College. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the de Young Museum, and she has received awards and grants supporting printmaking and environmental inquiry. Her artistic practice combines close observation with intuitive mark-making, drawing influence from natural patterns, botanical forms, and historical traditions of abstraction. She is especially interested in botanical illustration and printmaking as tools for studying and interpreting the natural world. Parent will be spending her time at Pond Farm to deepen her exploration of botanical drawing and printmaking through immersive observation of the surrounding landscape, flora, and seasonal changes.

July: Erica Bailey, Instagram gallery – Website — This artist creates meditative video works that combine field recordings of clouds, water, plants, and animals with visual effects to evoke awe, tenderness, and ecological reflection. Using a still camera and rejecting traditional narrative structure, the videos function as “moving stills,” suspending subjects outside conventional time and encouraging contemplative viewing. Their recent project, Kindred Spirits, features ethereal “ghost animals” rendered as negative-image figures against dark voids. These works serve as ecological memento mori, responding to the mass-extinction crisis while emphasizing both the individuality of each animal and its connection to the larger history of life on Earth. Inspired by the coastal redwood forests surrounding Pond Farm, the artist seeks uninterrupted time in nature to film local fauna and landscapes for new work. During the residency, they plan to create site-specific video and sound pieces using footage and field recordings from Austin Creek State Recreation Area and Armstrong Redwoods, exploring themes of presence, absence, and environmental preservation.

August: Jane Ingram Allen, Instagram gallery – Website — Jane Ingram Allen is a Santa Rosa–based multimedia artist whose international practice uses handmade paper, natural materials, and community collaboration to raise awareness about environmental and social issues. She has completed residencies and public art projects across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, including Fulbright residencies in Taiwan and Turkey. Her work has been supported by grants from the NEA, NYFA, Puffin Foundation, and other organizations. Allen creates site-specific indoor and outdoor installations using sustainable handmade paper made from local plant waste and recycled materials. Her recent work focuses on water, ecology, and the interconnectedness of natural systems. A former college art instructor, writer, curator, and workshop leader, she continues to teach papermaking and fiber arts internationally. For the residency, Allen hopes to create work inspired by the redwoods and the ecological importance of trees, using recycled and brought-in materials while adapting her portable papermaking practice to the site.

September: Chelsa Willis, Instgram gallery — Website — This artist’s work centers on creativity, belonging, ecological awareness, and participatory practice. Working across writing, painting, and social practice, they explore themes of wildness, food sovereignty, seasonal living, and the liberatory power of attention. Their current project, the re-enchantment, began as a newsletter and is evolving into an artist’s book combining essays, poems, plant knowledge, seasonal recipes, and reflections on daily practice. Rooted in years of work as a naturalist, farmer, educator, organizer, and artist, the project invites readers to reconnect with what matters through close attention to the ordinary and the rhythms of the natural world. Influenced by participatory action research, their work emphasizes relationship-building, creativity, and resilience in a changing world. They are drawn to Pond Farm’s history of integrating craft, daily life, and creative practice, and seek residency time to focus on completing the book through sustained writing, editing, and reflection in a quiet natural setting.

2025 Artist in Residence

Meet our 2025 Artist Cohort.

2024 Artists in Residence

2024 Artists in Residence Biographies

May: Sue Ellen McCann (painting, printmaking, fiber arts) – community engagement flyer – read about the event

June: Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán (multigenre writer, multimedia artist) – community engagement flyer – read about the event

July: Asmara Beraki (filmmaker, writer, visual artist) – community engagement flyer – read about the event

August: Laurin C Guthrie (fiber arts) – community engagement flyer – read about the event

September: Katherine Lam (wood and clay) – community engagement flyer – read about the event “My time at Pond Farm has contributed immensely to furthering my studies of craft in Northern California, and will enrich future scholarship/writing. I feel deeply connected to Marguerite and her legacy as an educator, and will continue to share her story with my own students and colleagues. Most importantly I learned from Marguerite that you don’t find it… you build it! Words to live by.”

October: Antje Halter (ceramics) – community engagement flyer – read about the event

2022 Artists in Residence

2022 Artists in Residence Biographies

April: Mary Burger – Images while at Pond Farm – #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 One of the best things about my Pond Farm artist residency was the chance to immerse myself in the nearly 6,000 acres of the Austin Creek State Recreation Area. I hiked the trails amid oak woodlands, redwood groves, wildflower meadows, and chaparrals, witnessing the devastating impacts of recent wildfires, but also the landscape’s resilience. My experiences there have had a lasting influence on my art practice, and my appreciation for the wild ecosystems that still surround us. – Mary Burger, 2022 Artist in Residence

June: Sally Baho

August: Ashwini Bhat – #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, Wildenhain’s history has been an important source of inspiration for me, to better understand the history of California Clay and the complexity of immigrant-women-artists. My month-long residency gave me a lot of space for experimentation, where I worked on a performance video amidst the glorious Redwoods. It was a true honor to be a recipient of the Julia Terr Fellowship at Marguerite Wildenhain’s Pond Farm. – Ashwini Bhat, 2022 Artist in Residence and Julia Terr Fellow