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The clock is ticking! Applications for the Winter Residency with NextFab and the Museum for Art in Wood close this Monday, October 26. If you’ve been meaning to put your application together, this is your sign to do it this weekend.
The Winter Residency is a two-month, wood-centered residency running January 4 through March 4, 2027. It’s built for artists and designers in the greater Philadelphia region who are committed to environmental stewardship and are pursuing research-based inquiry into a sustainable creative practice.
The program is a collaboration between the Museum for Art in Wood and NextFab. Each year, the two organizations bring together a jury of makers and educators to award one fellowship to a regional artist who works solely in wood, or in wood combined with other materials, and who has solid technical skill on woodworking equipment.
In keeping with both organizations’ commitment to sustainability, reclaimed wood must make up at least 50 percent of the fellow’s work during the residency.
Our most recent fellow, Lin Elkins, spent her residency creating contemporary woodwork right here in our shops, culminating in her solo exhibition at NextFab.
For Lin, the residency was as much about being part of a creative ecosystem as it was about the work itself. “I really have loved being back in a space where there are people from all different walks of life, all different backgrounds, working on so many different projects,” she says.
When Lin first arrived in Philly, she spent a few months in a smaller private studio. Moving into NextFab’s communal shop changed things. Access to the full range of machines, support from our knowledgeable staff, and casual idea-swapping with fellow makers gave her room to experiment in ways she couldn’t have on her own.
She thrives on feedback and chance encounters, and the ability to walk a piece over to a stranger and ask, how does this make you feel? For Lin, that’s not just a preference; it’s central to her process. Her work is made to be interacted with, and making it in isolation would undercut everything it’s trying to do.
If you’re a Philadelphia-area maker working in wood and thinking hard about sustainable practice, we want to see your work. Applications close Monday, October 26.
Apply now →