The Center for Humanities and History of Modern Biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is pleased to announce the Celia and Wally Gilbert Artist-in-Residence Award for artists, composers, writers, and designers. The Artist-in-Residence will reside at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from one to three weeks, with room and board fully covered. An honorarium of $1,000, $1,200 or $1,500 will be given, based upon the length of stay.
Initiated with a gift by famed Nobel Prize laureate Wally Gilbert and his wife, poet and artist Celia, the annual Award will enable exceptionally creative individuals to stay on CSHL’s idyllic campus, explore the scientific process and interact with international scientific staff and visitors. Gilbert Residents may arrive with projects already in mind or come seeking inspiration for new ideas. Full access will be granted to CSHL’s archives invaluable resources, including historical papers, correspondence, photographs, and rare books in anthropology, experimental biology, eugenics, embryology, plant and animal genetics and related disciplines. The 117 acre CSHL campus is a registered botanical garden which features outdoor sculptures. Many of the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places and the interiors feature original artwork.
The 2026 Gilbert Artist-in-Residency Program application process is closed.
Please check back in Summer 2026 for deadline information for 2027.
Wally and Celia understand how creativity fuels scientific exploration, just as biological experimentation parallels an artist’s approach toward expression. They have created the Gilbert Residency Program to inspire creative thinking that will energize innovation in both culture and science. Learn more
about Celia & Wally Gilbert.
- One-week to three-week residency at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for selected participants—artists, filmmakers, poets, composers, illustrators, or designers.
- Opportunity to interact with our Library and Archives staff, CSHL scientists, and attendees at CSHL scientific meetings.
- Discussion, collaboration, and exchange of ideas between visiting participants and our resident scientists.
- Exploration of new areas of artistic inspiration, using our diverse resources to conceive new ideas for projects and assemble the requisite information for planned projects.
- The artist-in-residence will create at least one work that will be displayed or presented at a public event at CSHL and on CSHL’s website within a year of receiving the award.
Artists who can interpret scientific research elements into accessible works of art—paintings, novels, poetry, and more— will connect with CSHL scientists who can explain the significance of their research, lessening the prevailing distance between the public and science.
- Full access to, and a personal guided tour of, the CSHL Archives, which features a rich collection of photographs, letters, videos, manuscripts, maps, and memorabilia pertaining to groundbreaking research spanning the most revolutionary century in modern science
- The opportunity for inspiration and insight through one-on-one meetings with CSHL scientists to discuss the nature of their work in the field of cancer, plant genetics, neuroscience, quantitative biology, as well as to attend international scientific meetings on campus
- A generous stipend for the duration of the program
- The regular presence of an Artist-in-Residence on campus—whether a poet, sculptor, musician, painter, caricaturist, or others—will bring culture and other vibrant elements of life outside the laboratory bench
- Artist-in-Residence can advise the Archives staff in creating and curating The Center for Humanities and History of Modern Biology’s public events, exhibits, and activities
- Awarded Applicants will present a talk or a seminar about the work supported by the CSHL award for the general public and CSHL scientific community within a year of residencies start dates
How to Apply
A complete application package must include the following:
- CV or résumé
- Sample of your work no more than ten pages with a brief explanation of its aims and significance or Digital portfolio (submitted in a single PDF, if possible)
- Description (up to 2000 words) of how your work during the Residency engages with the interplay of art and science. This description may also indicate the scientific research at the Laboratory (https://www.cshl.edu/) that is of interest and/or the archival collections (https://www.cshl.edu/archives/) that plan to be used during the residency
- Preferred residency dates and length of stay
Application materials should be sent to Tricia Loria at [email protected] with the subject line “Celia & Wally Gilbert Art and Science Residency.”
Length of Residency
One to three weeks.
Honorarium
The program offers honorarium of $1,000, $1,200 or $1,500 USD, depending on length of stay.
Housing and transportation
Artist-in-Residents will stay on campus in CSHL housing*, with room and board fully covered. The CSHL campus is accessible from New York City via the Long Island Railroad to the Syosset train station, then a quick ride on the campus shuttle.
*On campus housing accommodations are generally available during January, February, March, July, first half of August, second half of October, November and December. There is no on-campus housing available during April, May, June, & September. Off-campus accommodations may be made if CSHL housing is not available during preferred residency dates and personal transportation may be required.
Questions
If you have any questions about applying, please contact Ms. Tricia Loria: (516) 367-5020 or [email protected].
Celia & Wally Gilbert Artist-in-Residency Program Recipients
2026 Artists
Jeremy Bolen (GA)
Visual Artist – February 2026
Project: Photosynthetic Futures: Plant Intelligence and Solar Speculation proposes an inquiry into plant communication, photosynthetic adaption, and the ethics of bioengineering
Nicholas Edwards (MD)
Composer – March 2026
Project: To compose a musical interpretation of concepts in neuroscience being studies at CSHL
Annabel Romero Hernandez (NY)
Book Artist/Researcher – March 2026
Project: Groundwork for a pair of artist’s books that center on maize as the cultural root of Mexico and the model organism that allowed Barbara McClintock to show genes in motion
Julia Forrest (LI)
Photographer – May 2025
Project: Engaging and photographing the specimen collection within CSHL and the people involved with biological preservation
Ruichao Jiang (MD)
Multidisciplinary Artist – June 2026
Project: Working on various projects regarding queerness of plant reproduction, plant civilization, gene regulation, brain sex differences and gender structure.
Liberty Styles (NY)
Performance Artist – June/July 2026
Project: Hybrid Vigor: Queer Growths in the Garden of Science proposes a research-based artistic inquiry into the historical and conceptual intersections of gender, biology and power
Niki Hatzidis (United Kingdom)
Playwright – July/August 2026
Project: The Elect, a stage play exploring the ethical and psychological consequences of genetic engineering
Obie Simonis (MA)
Sculptor – September/October 2026
Project: Seeking to create a new sculptural work that represents his investigation into the complex relationships between logic, abstraction, and the intellect and evolution. cognitive and brain science.
Brad Abrahams (TX)
Filmmaker – October 2026
Project: Work on upcoming feature documentary, Gimme Truth, which looks at how human cognition interacts with information, through the cultural force of conspiracies.
Paula Bohince (PA)
Poet – November 2026
Project: Generate new ideas for poems intended for a fifth collection in progress, Milk Music. Interests and ideas materializing in this book so far touch on sublimation, transfiguration, dissonance and coherence in various forms, many grounded in images from the natural sciences.
2025 Artists
Christine Lorenz (PA)
Macro Photography – January 2025
Project: Goal is to find the best next steps to extend the reach of my photography to the microscopic level
Kirsten Stolle (NC)
Mixed Media Artist – February 2025
Project: Using the Matt Meselson collection related to his advocacy into the cessation of “rainbow herbicides” to further enhance existing projects as well as develop new collages and text-based works
Hugo Perez (Guatemala)
Visual Artist – March 2025
Project: Collaborate with scientists at the forefront of genetic discovery, exploring the intricate details of DNA through both artistic and scientific visions
Gabi Graceffo (MT)
Writer – April 2025
Project: Complete manuscript for Good Honey which allows to present trauma research through a creative medium to the broader audience
Monica Wendel (NY)
Poet – May 2025
Project: Gain understanding of what it was like for her aunt, Patti Wendel, who worked with Bruce Stillman and grandmother, Ingrid Wendel, who was a research assistant in the Sambrook lab
Yoko Shimizu (Austria/Japan)
Artist/Researcher – July 2025
Project: Aims to transform biological research into new artworks, fostering a mutual inspiration between art and science that contributes to the evolution of both fields
Liza Duncan (NJ)
Writer – August 2025
Project: Working on new essay collection about the Jersey Shore, building on these in my previous work and exploring them through the lends of marine life and water ecology
Jonah Goodman (UK/France)
Writer – August 2025
Project: Writing a book on literary non-fiction about the history of iodine deficiency in Switzerland and how it was resolved
Lisa Ampleman (OH)
Writer/Poet – October 2025
Project: Speculative Science, a potential fourth full-length collection of poetry
JiaLi Feng (China)
Mixed Media Artist – November 2025
Project: Draw some portraits of scientists and learn about their research results, and express them through painting, comprehensive materials and videos
Jeremy Dennis (LI)
Photographer/Artist – December 2025
Project: “On this Site: An Intersection of Indigenous Heritage and Scientific Endeavor”
2024 Artists
Lauren Acampora (NY)
Writer
Project: Developing a new fiction piece that investigates the nexus of science and humanity.
JoeAnn Hart (MA)
Writer
Project: Link of short stories set in a post-Extinction Emergency
Lise Borel – France
Composer
Project: Compose a piece based on CSHL setting and scientific environmen
Mari Nagem (NY/Brazil)
Conceptual Artist
Project: The Future of Plants
JM Masson – UK
Visual Artist
Project: Piece mixing digital and analogue art forms
Rebecca Kamen (PA)
Visual Artist
Project: Continuum – Using the archives to investigate McClintock and Greider collections
Nene Humphrey (NY)
Visual Artist
John O’Connor (NY)
Drawing and painting
Project: Interested in CSHL’s Professor Saket Navlakha and research scientist Jonathan Suen’s research on the link between ants and Internet engineers
2023 Artists
Rachel Khong (CA)
Writer
Project: Working on revisions of her novel called Real Americans, which merges art and science to tell the story of an immigrant family, following three members of this family from the years 1999 to 2030. Novel to be published by Alfred A. Knoft in Spring 2024.
Julie Harrison (NY)
Multidisciplinary Visual Artist
Project: To create a new kind of self-portrait – one that utilizes and is inspired by images of my body tissue, cells and neuronal connections samples from the resources at the lab.
Lynn Fellman (VA)
Artist-Author for Genomics
Project: An illustrated, picture-book style book about the plant biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory decoding and editing plant genomes to withstand the climate crisis.
Tina Lam (Canada)
Multimedia Abstract Artist
Project: Creation of a large-scale immersive multimedia art installation
Jacqueline Abend (NJ)
Abstract Artist
Project: To gain inspiration for new works, using photomicrographs from CSHL’s research of various cancer cells and the work of the Jackson Lab, specifically with maize.
Daphne Kaloty (MA)
Writer
Project: Working on novel, Conditions of Flight, about the intersection between global trade and global migration.
Cynthia Fan (UK/S.Africa)
Plant Sculptor
Project: An investigation into plant morphology and the sculptural potential of plants
Robert Ballagh (Ireland)
Painter
Project: Piece of original artwork based on the cross fertilization of ideas across art and scientific discovery
Lauren Camp (NM)
Poet
Project: To continue work on series of poems about female scientists, including Barbara McClintock, and biological study of sight and seeing.
Sarah Aziz (IL)
Abstract Artist
Project : Plans to work with the plant biology group to deepen her understanding of tumbleweeds and other plant species non-native to North America.
2022 Artists
Karl-Oskar Gustafsson (Sweden)
Independent Filmmaker/Creative Director
Project: Film with the working title “Barbara & The Jumping Genes”
Nancy Lord (Alaska)
Writer/Poet
Project: Plans to continue work on a collection of science-oriented short fictions, and use the CSHL experience for one or more stories and hope to move closer to completion of a book.
Roxane Revon (France/NY)
Multidisciplinary artist
Project: Plans to work on daily drawing/photography art practice on human/plants relationships and document the way biologists and scientists develop a regular conversation with the plant specimen they are working with.
