Land Line: Denver Botanic Gardens' 2024 Artist Residency Program

Land Line: Denver Botanic Gardens’ Artist Residency Program

Land Line supports visual artists creating works that foster appreciation, understanding, and stewardship of the natural world. Supported by curators, scientists, and other staff from Denver Botanic Gardens, Land Line artists have access to the Gardens’ resources and collections to support their particular project, including living collections, fungi and vascular plant herbaria, art collections, or the School of Botanical Art & Illustration. Artists receive a $3,500 honorarium and the flexible, low-residency format allows artists to maintain other professional pursuits during their residency. Artists working in any 2D or 3D visual art medium will be considered. Denver Botanic Gardens aims to support and strengthen diverse perspectives; people in the LGBTQ community and from various racial and ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to apply. 

Land Line artists in residence use Denver Botanic Gardens’ collections, landscapes, and other resources to create artworks that explore nature and the relationship between humans and the natural world. Land Line has a unique low-residency format: artists create most of their work in their own studio spaces, but are required to visit the Gardens at least once within a pre-determined timeframe. As a result, artists outside of Colorado or the Denver metro area are welcome to apply. Time spent on-site at the Gardens is geared towards meeting with staff, exploring gardens and collections, research, and conceptualization. Supported by a $3,500 honorarium, artists are responsible for arranging their own travel, lodging, food, and supplies.

Artists are additionally required to attend three virtual cohort meetings to share progress and connect with other artists, including a meeting to share their completed work at the close of the residency. Artworks must be completed by the end of the residency year. As part of the residency, Denver Botanic Gardens may acquire one artwork, which is proposed by the artist for consideration. Though these acquired artworks may be exhibited in the future, the Land Line residency does not culminate in an exhibition.

Land Line artists select a residency focus and are then paired with a staff member to serve as catalyst and knowledge resource for the artist’s research and project.  In 2024 artists can select one of the following thematic areas for their work and explorations:

1.     Urban trees and connections to people or wildlife

2.     Urban ecology

3.     Scientific / botanical illustration

4.     Habitat restoration and native plants

The artist can work independently through the end of the calendar year, but artists choose a two-month timeframe, a Focus Period, for scheduling site visits to the Gardens and communication with their staff partner. Artists are welcome to work on their projects before and after their Focus Period, but should concentrate their engagement with Gardens staff during the identified Focus Period.

Honorarium: $3,500

Deadline: October 31, 2023

To apply, submit the following materials and answer questions accordingly.

• Artist statement
• Select one of the three thematic areas.
• Select your preferred Focus Period timeframes.
• In a project proposal, articulate your vision or proposed exploration that addresses the theme and how the project connects people to plants. Why does the theme interest you? What do you hope to explore through your project? What is the desired product or body of work?
• Website or link to professional portfolio
• Work samples
  • Three to 20 representative images, 1200 pixels or greater on the longest side, under 5MB in size.
  • File types accepted: JPEGs under 100MB, maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080.
• Resume / CV and/or artist biography

The residency is open to all professional and emerging artists located in the continental United States, age 21 and over, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, or physical or mental disability.