Ceramics School Artist Residency, Spring, Summer and Fall call now open! * Deadline Sunday February 8th *

Spring residency window | May 3rd - May 30th | 4 weeks | Possibility to extend residency in trade for studio technician work through June 16th.

Summer residency window | June 21st - July 31st | 6 weeks | Possibility to extend residency in trade for studio technician work through August 29th

Fall residency window | September 20th - November 28th | 10 weeks

Residents may apply for all or part of any residency window, just let us know when you’d like to come and for how long!

Ceramics School’s Artist Residency is an effort to offer a uniquely intimate, affordable and immersive time and space - inviting artists to share and grow their creative practices within our community.

Ceramics School is dedicated to facilitating a safe, supportive, critical and creative space that’s open to members, students and resident artists of all races, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages and abilities. We are a ceramics-centric facility, but our residency is open to all artists who may be interested in the opportunity to work with clay in our ceramics studio. It is an independent, unstructured residency, meaning we don’t have any specific expectations about what our residents make or how they spend their time. Residents are welcome to join for any or all of our scheduled programming while they’re here including classes and studio events. Residents are expected to participate in Ceramic School’s community and to be open and engaged with our students, members and visitors. We work with our residents to plan some form of optional presentation while they’re here: workshop, exhibition, artist talk, etc. 

Accommodations | Ceramics School is located in a storefront connected to a three story row house, the first floor of which is a private fully furnished 650 sq ft one-bedroom apartment for our visiting artist residents. Virginia and Henry who own and run Ceramics School live on the 2nd and 3rd floor with their two small friendly dogs and four moderately friendly cats. The residency apartment has a bedroom with a queen sized bed, a bathroom with a walk in shower, a full kitchen, a living room, a drawing/painting/office room and a laundry closet. The apartment is cozy, sweet and full of ceramics. The side yard has a vegetable garden in warm months, a fire pit and a wood kiln. Resident artists are welcome to bring a partner and/or children, but no pets. The residency apartment is not wheelchair accessible due to stairs leading to the front door. The ceramics studio is wheelchair accessible.

We recommend you bring a car if you have access to one, which you can park on the street. If you do not have a car we are happy to pick you up at the train station/airport and we have a residency bike you can use while you are here, but keep in mind Michigan has seasons.

We are so happy to share many meals together, but in general residents are responsible for their own food. The apartment has a fully equipped kitchen that should have everything you need to cook with and there are many grocery stores in the area, some within a short bike ride. We will provide a document with local grocery stores and other resources upon arrival.

Studio | Our residency includes 24 hour access to Ceramic School’s studio.  We have reclaim clay that residents can use for free if they process it- otherwise we sell a variety of boxed clay bodies. Studio glazes are included, bisque and glaze firings are included when within the community firings, and independent/specialty firings will have a fee for electricity used. We have a fully equipped glaze lab to which residents have limited access to for making glaze and clay tests; for large batches of glaze and clay, residents pay for materials. As an educational space with a sustainable ethos we encourage ideas, experimentation and expression, over branding and production. We are a small studio and all work space is communal and shared between students, members, staff and residents.  We are happy to do all we can to facilitate our resident’s artwork within reason.  Check out our studio facilities Here

Cost and work exchange | The full residency fee is $300 a week without work exchange. Resident artists can work up to 7.5 hours a week at $20 an hour towards their residency fee. With full work exchange hours, residents will owe $150 a week for the residency fee. Residents are expected to pay their expected residency fee in full upon or prior to their arrival. 

We currently offer a $300 scholarship to each resident artist towards subsidizing their residency fee.

~Resident artists must be 21 years of age or older

~We accept applications from international artists, although we cannot assist with visas, funding or travel arrangements. 

Our Past resident artists

Ceramics School Artist Residency Application