Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters will be well represented this year among the Farmscapes to Forests: Kellogg Biological Station Long-Term Ecological Research Artist-in-Residence Program. The 2025 Artists-in-Residence at MSU’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) will include an assistant professor, post-doctoral research associate, and recent graduate, all from the College of Arts & Letters. They will be joined by an artist from New York to complete the 2025 artist-in-residence cohort at KBS, which is located in Hickory Corners, Michigan.
Launched in 2022 in an effort to promote art and science collaborations, this is the fourth year for the KBS Artist-in-Residence program, but the first time more than one artist has been chosen and also the first time an artist-in-residence – or three in this case – comes from MSU’s College of Arts & Letters.
“We have always wanted to grow the program to be more like a cohort model of artists because, when the artists come to KBS, they’re really joining a community of scientists,” said Elizabeth Schultheis, Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program at KBS. “And we thought if there was a community of artists to support each other, that would be a great way to expand the program.”
The 2025 Artists-in-Residence are:
- Mikayla Thompson, a poet with Cherokee Nation descendant who graduated from MSU in December 2023 with a B.A. in Linguistics and a minor in Indigenous Studies. Her residency will take place June 2-9, 2025.
- Blaire Morseau, a beadwork artist who is a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, a 1855 Professor at MSU, Assistant Professor in MSU’s Department of Religious Studies, and affiliate faculty in American Indian and Indigenous Studies. Her residency is scheduled for June 15-19, 2025.
- Olivia Furman, whose primary mediums include multimedia and digital collage, ceramics, quilting, and the written and spoken word, is a Post-Doctoral Scholar and Research Associate in MSU’s Department of African American and African Studies and an Assistant Project Director of the Quilt Index’s Black Diaspora Quilt History Project at MSU. Furman’s residency will take place July 28-August 1, 2025.
- Marika Jaeger, a self-taught New York-based artist who divides her time between environmental research at Stanford University and painting. Her residency is scheduled for July 3-10.
“This was our most competitive year with a ton of applicants,” Schultheis said. “The most important criterion was that applicants had to explain why they thought KBS was a place that would help develop their art, their artistic expression, or why this residency would be impactful for them.”
The KBS Artist-in-Residence program, which was started by Gretel Van Wieren, Professor of Religious Studies at MSU, in collaboration with Schultheis and KBS LTER Science Coordinator Nameer Baker, offers artists, working in any genre, a one-week immersion at KBS where they collaborate with scientists, students, and teachers, linked by their mutual passion for observing the world around them and their desire to understand and replicate the patterns present throughout nature.
During this week-long residency, artists become acquainted with KBS and the research taking place at LTER and the field station. They have opportunities to participate in lab activities, research, and observation, and to spend time in the field. They also are given the opportunity to return to KBS throughout the summer, if desired.
The program culminates with a return visit and public exhibition when they share their work and experience to the KBS community.
The 2024 Artist-in-Residence, Erica Bradshaw, who is a Kalamazoo-area author, illustrator, and muralist, is scheduled for her residency exhibition, titled “Now and Then: An Artist’s Reflection on a Century of Research,” on July 18, 2025, from 5 to 9 p.m.at the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary’s Overlook Building, 12685 East C Ave., Augusta, Michigan. Bradshaw will share pieces inspired by her time spent interacting with the people and habitats at KBS.
This story originally appeared on the Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters website.