Maker-in-Residence Announced

The Chester County Library is pleased to announce Megan Raab Greenholt for the inaugural Maker-in-Residence program this spring. Selected through an open call conducted earlier this year, Ms. Raab Greenholt is a multi-disciplinary artist that explores printmaking, textiles, collage, painting, and sculpture. As a practicing artist and educator, discovery is integral to her practice as she uses a process-oriented approach to facilitate an intuitive response to materials as a means to encourage community engagement and wonder. Megan currently maintains an active studio practice in Elverson, PA.

We invite you to learn about natural dyes and observe Megan’s current work in progress using naturally dyed materials during open studio hours at the Exton and Henrietta Hankin Library branches that include 2 hours of hands-on maker experience (ages 6+) to create your own embroidered textile collage. Open studio hours will be held weekly beginning March 28th and run through June 28th. View the schedule here.

In addition to her open studio hours, Megan will be conducting four (4) workshops for people ages 16+ at the Chester County Library Center and two (2) workshops designed for a parent/guardian and child (age 8+) experience. The workshops will celebrate Chester County’s Juneteenth theme, “Journeying Towards Freedom” by learning about the history of indigo in our country and its use in the creative practices of contemporary African American artists.

This program is supported by the generosity of the Friends of the Chester County Library.

About the Maker-in-Residence Program

The Maker-in-Residence (MiR) program connects library visitors with art and the people who create it and includes various art forms such as visual arts, technology arts, media arts, written arts, music, and theater and performing arts.

The residency includes regular open studio hours at the library allowing the maker or artist to create on-site as patrons drop in, interact and learn about different artistic processes. Each maker also offers special free workshops for the public each month.

Our ideal candidate is someone who is passionate about creating and wants to connect and share their passion with others. Specifically, we seek creators who:

• possess skills to teach and share their work and creative process

• love to interact with people from a wide variety of backgrounds

• enjoy collaborating with others

• are passionate about their craft

The successful candidate has an idea for activities that will allow visitors to try out a new skill, experience a new craft, and/or participate in a collaborative project. We are particularly interested in a candidate who will incorporate the county’s 2023 Juneteenth theme “Journeying Towards Freedom” into their residency. This is a 14-16 week residency (March-June 2023).

Through the support of the Friends of the Chester County Library, the selected Maker will receive a $1500 stipend and supply reimbursement/budget up to $1000.

Selection Criteria

• Ability to teach and conduct workshops or presentations

• Readiness to engage with and benefit from the residency experience

• Artistic expression

• Special needs, costs, or requests associated with space use or workshops

• An arts practice focused on community engagement and collaboration, as opposed to an individual studio practice

Requirements of Selected Maker

During their residency, each Maker will:

• Hold regular in-studio hours four (4) hours per week (minimum 48 hours total) during library open hours, 2-hours of which must be scheduled drop-in hours.

• Weekly, 2-hour scheduled drop-in open studio time (once a week, minimum 30 hours total) at the main library in Exton. The drop-in hours allow the MiR to create and share their skills on-site with library visitors through guided projects, hands-on activities or materials exploration. This is an opportunity for MiRs to work on their own art/creations and act as a mentor for library visitors who want to develop new skills or hone existing ones.

• Work with library staff to provide at least four (4) 90-minute library programs during their residency at CCL and at least two (2) 90-minute library programs at the Hankin Branch.

• Help create one circulating Maker Kit that relates to their residency. Two kits will be created, one to be housed at each library.

• Provide a short presentation to the CCL Friends Board about their residency.

Allow the library to provide the following for its website:

• A photograph (taken by staff, in the studio or at a library program) of the artist at work

• One digitized piece of the artist’s work

• A video recording of a brief interview between the artist and the library

Any resulting artwork or product created by the Maker will become the property of the library. If the project is temporal in nature (i.e. a performance), the library will have the sole right to photograph or otherwise record the project. Following the public display, the library may decide to keep the finished project, return it to the maker, donate, or sell the work.

The residency will culminate in one of the following options with the library’s mission, policies and guidelines in mind:

• An option to exhibit work in the Makerspace and/or on the lower level of the Chester County Library in Exton. If the maker’s practice is temporal in nature, a performance or other means of sharing the final work will be created in lieu of an exhibit.

• An option to initiate and collaborate on a Makerspace community project or performance.

The library respects all copyright laws and recognizes that intellectual property rights reside with the artist.

The Library will:

• Allocate space for MiR to work during studio hours and encourage library visitors to engage with that day’s activity.

• Work with the resident to determine the appropriate schedule for workshops, studio hours and drop-in sessions.

• Publish all MiR activities to the Library event’s calendar, promote on social media, and create flyers and other marketing materials to promote MiR events.

• Communicate any holiday, weather-related, and/or unexpected building closures to MiR via email and/or text message.

• Handle program registrations and provide a list of program sign-ups to the MiR in advance of the program. Library staff will check-in attendees and handle cancellations and wait-list management.

• Coordinate with the MiR to schedule meeting room usage and usage of any Library owned equipment/technology for studio hours and/or programs based upon availability of rooms/equipment.

• Coordinate with the MiR on the final exhibit, performance or community project. This can include a community reception, performance or other means to share the artist’s final work.

• Share information about the resident including a picture and artist statement/information, studio hours and a showcase of the work produced during the residency on the Library’s website.

Application Process
All interested potential Makers-in-residence should apply online at https://bit.ly/CCLMaker23 by Tuesday, January 31st, 2023. The application will ask for:

• An artist statement detailing your creative practice

• What you would plan to do as a hands-on activity during open lab

• Any ideas for workshops you would like to present

• A link to five examples of your work (this can be as simple as photos uploaded to a folder)

• Details about any experience you might have teaching others your craft or working with people

• Two references familiar with your work

We will be interviewing and selecting candidates February 13 – February 24th, to ensure that the selected MiR can begin their residency no later than mid-March 2023.

Still have questions? Talk to the makerspace staff in the JTC or Hankin Branch or email us at cclmakerinresidence@ccls.org.