Location: Marquette, Nebraska
Mission: Operating as an artist residency program since 1993, Art Farm offers artists an opportunity to live and work in a rural environment. An unusual and growing collection of traditional agricultural buildings and experimental structures provides accommodation and studio space for artists. An abundance of materials (scrap and organic) and space, allows room for creative interactions between ideas and the environment.
Art Farm is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization registered with the State of Nebraska providing a rural work site for artists. For more information about Art Farm email af@artfarmnebraska.org or call 402.854.3120 and ask for Ed Dadey.
Cost: Artists are expected to have money to cover your daily living expenses and to cover your transportation cost for shopping. Usually there are enough cars for ride sharing and sharing the cost of fuel. An organic vegetable garden is available for everyone without charge.
We suggest that you take out a personal accident insurance policy to cover you while at Art Farm.
One piece of art work, chosen jointly by the director and the artist, donated to Art Farm for its permanent collection.
Application Fee: $20
Number of Artists: Up to 9 at a time
Accommodations: Residents have free accommodations choices in three buildings. One is a furnished, 100+ year old two-story farmhouse with three bedrooms, an additional house named, Victoria, is still under renovation, accommodates up to three people, depending on the renovation project underway. The third accommodations center is on the second floor the main barn complex (also under renovation), with a furnished communal space. In each building, residents have private bedrooms while sharing a bathroom, sitting room, and kitchen. All kitchens are fully equipped and each location has laundry facilities. Linens, sheets, blankets, and towels are also provided
There is wireless Internet access in the barn complex and Victoria.
Studio space in one of 5 (4 are approximately 400-500 sq. ft. and one is 750 sq. ft.) barn studios. Other non-refurbished building spaces around the farm are accessible as installation/performance spaces. Up to 20 acres of land are available for artists who wish to work on temporary or permanent outdoor sculptural, environmental, or installation projects.
Access to machinery and equipment including metalworking, woodworking, earth-moving, and ceramic. An assortment of metal scrap, timber/logs, clay on site and an abundance of organic material from the prairie is available. Tractors, loaders, wagons, etc. are available for moving and lifting heavy materials and work.
No meals/food provided. During the growing season, produce is available from an organic garden and if the chickens cooperate, there are eggs. Organic grain and dairy products are available from local farmers.
Art Farm offers accommodations and studio space to pursue their art in exchange for a contribution of labor of 12 hours per week to help renovate and maintain Art Farm’s buildings and grounds as well as other projects, suited to skills and temperament. Projects include general construction, deconstruction and carpentry, grounds maintenance, fund raising projects and office work. If you wish to learn construction skills, this could be your chance to pick up a little knowledge about house renovation, studio improvements, building dismantling and material reuse.
Length of Stay: 2 weeks to 5 months from 1 June – 1 November
Demographic/Medium: Art Farm’s artist residency program for professionals, emerging or established, in all areas of the arts. Book Arts, Ceramics / Pottery, Exhibition / Installation, Heavy metals / Blacksmithing, Painting, Photography (non-digital), Sculpture, Woodworking.
All who apply need to be self-motivated and resourceful and appreciate a quiet working environment. Art Farm’s location is semi-isolated and rural and because of this condition, co-operation and an ability to share tasks is helpful.
Benefits: Ceramics/pottery studio (1 gas and 1 electric kilns, pug mill, electric wheel), metal (heavy fabrication and precision) equipment, woodworking (construction and furniture), letterpress, and tractors with loaders, earth-movers, and pickup truck for outdoor projects. Tons of materials of all description and some empty buildings, waiting to be renovated, can be used as installation or performance sites.
There is opportunity to participate in the October Art Harvest, open studio tours, special events, and the occasional visit of school, college and art-club groups.
Deadline: March 1
Rate My Artist Residency 
Funky, weird, and fun, Art Farm provides a rural backdrop for your creative endeavors. For over 20 years, Artist Ed Dadey has kept these acres of misfit buildings and piles of surplus as a safe haven for the artist who seeks to enter a community and roll up their sleeves to keep it going. Participating artists (up to 12 at a time) agree to work for 12 hours a week to improve the place in return for your own room, studio, and access to a myriad supply of tools and materials. If you can find them. The place is piles upon piles of stuff, some old and rusting in the field, some newly acquired from auction. You see something that sparks your imagination, and ask Ed if you can do something with it, maybe leave an outdoor sculpture in the field, or make a crazy new door for a studio, or . . . Ed is open minded, patient, and passionate about this project. He can teach you to weld or use a router, fire up the kiln, drive a tractor, and who knows what else.
Nebraska in the fall gets cold and if you want to warm up, you’ll have to fire up the woodstove. Summer is hot and muggy. There’s no air conditioning here. A public swimming lake is a 5 minute drive away. Insects, spiders, and mice are abundant. Rabbits dash across your path and a raccoon might be living in the attic above your studio. You buy and cook your own food, and there’s no cleaning service here, so depending on the artists before you, it might be a mess. Much of the place is falling apart, or never finished. Your work may not be so efficient, in part because of how chaotic things are, but in return, you’ll feel a kind of anarchic freedom to range wild, run through the nearby cornfields, make something new, and meet great new people. I’ve never met a residency I didn’t like, but don’t come if you need to be in a cozy pampered place. This one is raw. Bring your banjo, any tools you absolutely need to work, and any spare and useful materials, tools, furniture, or kitchen gadget you might have lying around to donate. There’s a use for it here somewhere.
Funky, weird, and fun, Art Farm provides a rural backdrop for your creative endeavors. For over 20 years, Artist Ed Dadey has kept these acres of misfit buildings and piles of surplus as a safe haven for the artist who seeks to enter a community and roll up their sleeves to keep it going. Participating artists (up to 12 at a time) agree to work for 12 hours a week to improve the place in return for your own room, studio, and access to a myriad supply of tools and materials. If you can find them. The place is piles upon piles of stuff, some old and rusting in the field, some newly acquired from auction. You see something that sparks your imagination, and ask Ed if you can do something with it, maybe leave an outdoor sculpture in the field, or make a crazy new door for a studio, or . . . Ed is open minded, patient, and passionate about this project. He can teach you to weld or use a router, fire up the kiln, drive a tractor, and who knows what else.
Nebraska in the fall gets cold and if you want to warm up, you’ll have to fire up the wood stove. Summer is hot and muggy. There’s no air conditioning here. A public swimming lake is a 5 minute drive away. Insects, spiders, and mice are abundant. Rabbits dash across your path and a raccoon might be living in the attic above your studio. You buy and cook your own food, and there’s no cleaning service here, so depending on the artists before you, it might be a mess. Much of the place is falling apart, or never finished. Your work may not be so efficient, in part because of how chaotic things are, but in return, you’ll feel a kind of anarchic freedom to range wild, run through the nearby cornfields, make something new, and meet great new people. I’ve never met a residency I didn’t like, but don’t come if you need to be in a cozy pampered place. This one is raw. Bring your banjo, any tools you absolutely need to work, and any spare and useful materials, tools, furniture, or kitchen gadget you might have lying around to donate. There’s a use for it here somewhere.