Founded in 1996, Illinois State’s Visiting Artist Program brings diverse artistic practices and voices to the Wonsook Kim School of Art. The Visiting Artist Committee seeks artists of all ethnic backgrounds, gender expressions, geographic locations, viewpoints, and practices. We welcome applicants who work in any medium.
The Visiting Artist Program provides comfortable living accommodations for our visitors. Currently, visiting artists stay at a local Airbnb or the recently constructed Hyatt Place Hotel,both within easy walking distance from the visiting artist studio, seminar classroom, restaurants, and other attractions.
The Wonsook Kim School of Art provides a studio for visiting artists to further their practices while in residence. Studio Space is located in the Center for the Visual Arts. The studio is a secure, private, internet-enabled 12’ by 40' space and is adjacent to a small wood shop that is available during scheduled hours.
Each artist gives a public lecture on her/his/their practice and conducts private studio visits with undergraduate and graduate students.
Lectures are generally held on Wednesday at noon in University Galleries located in Uptown Normal, a short walk from the Center for the Visual Arts.
Visiting artists lectures generally range from 40 to 45 minutes with discussion following each talk.
Each visiting artist teaches a weekly 2-hour seminar on a topic that the artist proposes. Seminars typically take place on Tuesday afternoon or evening.
The Visiting Artist Program seeks artists who are excited to share innovative approaches to making art.
Successful proposals encourage engagement in the social, cultural, intellectual, material, theoretical, or historical issues at the root of applicants’ working processes.
The Visiting Artist Seminar is open to undergraduate and graduate students in the Wonsook Kim School of Art. It is the only course where students from all studio disciplines and levels of study gather, collaborate, and sustain dialogue.
Students in the Visiting Artist Seminar work with multiple visiting artists each semester. This exposes students to a range of identities, viewpoints, ideas, and activities.
Most of the locations where visiting artist activities take place are within walking distance of each other. A well-maintained bicycle with lock, rack, tools, pump, and pannier is provided for local travel. Artists who intend to use the bicycle should bring a helmet.
Residency periods are based on the number of Tuesdays an artist is on campus.
The length of residency offered is determined by the Visiting Artist Program. The ideal length of residency is six weeks.
Applicants should prepare a seminar of up to 6 meetings but be able to shorten their proposal to as little as 3 meetings.
Residency periods typically begin the Monday evening before the first Visiting Artist Seminar taught by each artist and end the Wednesday morning following the last seminar class taught by each artist.
Visiting artists receive a stipend based on length of residency.
Current Rate: $825 per work week (Monday—Friday) or $165 per workday (Monday—Friday).
Travel to and from Illinois State University, travel in town during residency (except for bike travel), food, studio supplies, and all other expenses are the responsibility of the visiting artist.
Although we try to accommodate everyone’s schedule, occasionally schedule conflicts can prevent an invited artist from visiting. Flexibility is beneficial in successful candidacy.
One or more date ranges will be offered to invited artists. If none of the dates offered work for the individual artist, the committee will move on to another applicant. Following notification, artists have one week to accept or decline the invitation.
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For further information, please contact the Visiting Artist Coordinator at: visitingartists@IllinoisState.edu.