Artist-In-Residence
Overview
Current Program
Donate
Previous Artists-in-Residence
OVERVIEW
It has been recognized since Mount Auburn’s early decades that its aesthetic richness, educational value, and historic significance are derived in large part from the remarkable tapestry formed by its diverse collection of monuments carefully sited in the landscape. Visitors experienced the site as an outdoor museum as well as a place of burial. Today, Mount Auburn continues its dual mission of active cemetery and cultural landscape by striving to inspire all who visit and commemorating the dead in a landscape of exceptional beauty. While we long offered public tours and programs, in recent years we have further embraced our role as a cultural resource by working with contemporary artists and art organizations to create original site-specific programming.
In 2014, Mount Auburn became the first cemetery in the United States to establish an artist residency program. Our program supports the creation of new work by a contemporary artist inspired by his or her in-depth experience at the Cemetery. The resident artist is charged with creating works for visitors, drawn from their direct experience, that convey a fresh and innovative perspective of Mount Auburn.
CURRENT PROGRAM
Since 2021, we have awarded smaller one-year residencies to a cohort of local artists to work on projects at Mount Auburn. Each artist is creating works or programs unique to and inspired by Mount Auburn. Artists also have the option to use their residency as a planning grant for a larger project to be completed the following year.
Artist-in-Residence Application
The 2024 application period is now closed. The next application cycle will begin November 2024.
Award amount: $500 – $5,000
Application due date: February 1, 2024
Notification date: March 1, 2024
Project start date: April 1, 2024
End date: March 31, 2025
DONATE
Support from friends like you makes this program possible every year. Donate today to ensure many more years of creativity in our landscape!
PREVIOUS ARTISTS
2020
Jesse Aron Green, Visual Artist
Mount Auburn Cemetery’s 2020 Artist-in-Residence was visual artist Jesse Aron Green. Jesse’s work has been exhibited at the Tate Modern; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Harvard Art Museums; the ICA Boston; the Museum of Modern Art, Bologna; and many other museums and galleries around the world. Jesse received a BA from Harvard and an MFA from UCLA.
During his residency, Jesse envisioned several ambitious and large-scale public art projects. Due to COVD-19, implementing these projects was not logistically possible. However, Jesse’s research and concepts were added to the Mount Auburn archives. Learn more>>
2018-2019
Patrick Gabridge, Playwright
The Mount Auburn Plays: The Nature Plays and The America Plays
During his residency, playwright Patrick Gabridge wrote two series of plays inspired by Mount Auburn. In June 2019, we produced The Nature Plays, a series of five one-act plays that explored the rich natural environment of Mount Auburn Cemetery. The plays touched on topics such as spotted salamanders in Consecration Dell, birders at Auburn Lake, and historic debates between naturalists who are buried at the Cemetery. Audiences experienced the performances at various spots across the grounds, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the natural world. In September 2019, we presented The America Plays. This series of five short plays, staged at sites across the landscape, brought to life the drama, philosophies, and struggles shared by Mount Auburn founders Jacob Bigelow, by sculptors Edmonia Lewis and Martin Milmore, and by strong women like Harriot Kezia Hunt and Charlotte Cushman who sought new opportunities beyond the social norms of the time. The journey through the American experience concluded with an immigrant story, featuring some of Mount Auburn’s Armenian residents. Audiences experienced the personalities and drama that lie at the heart of America’s first large-scale designed landscape open to the public.
Since concluding his residency, Gabridge has published The Mount Auburn Plays as a book, allowing readers to experience Mount Auburn landscape, its “residents,” and its many stories. Learn more>>
2016-2017
Mary Bichner, Musician and Composer
Mount Auburn: Spring & Autumn Suites
During her residency, musician and composer Mary Bichner composed a series of new works inspired by Mount Auburn’s breathtaking landscape and landmarks, using her sound-to-color synesthesia to select the musical components that best “match” the natural color palette of each location. As Bichner completed her compositions in 2016, she performed a series of “pop-up” concerts and gave talks about her artistic process. In early 2017, her Mount Auburn compositions were professionally recorded. Bichner completed her residency with two sold-out concerts in Story Chapel. Mount Auburn: Spring & Autumn Suites, the product of her Mount Auburn residency, is now available to stream or as a free digital download. Visitors may also experience Bichner’s music in the setting that inspired it through Mount Auburn’s app. Learn more>>
2014-2016
Roberto Mighty, New Media Artist
earth.sky
Roberto Mighty, Mount Auburn’s inaugural artist-in-residence from 2014 through 2016, drew inspiration from the sights, sounds, and individual stories of the Cemetery to create earth.sky, an immersive meditation on life, death, ritual, history, landscape, nature, and culture. The original version of his project, designed to be screened in Mount Auburn’s Story Chapel, premiered in full in November 2016. To make the films, music, images, and storytelling of the original exhibit available to audiences worldwide, Mighty completed his residency with the release of an online version of his project. Learn more>>
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