The Eliza Moore Fellowship for Artistic Excellence is awarded annually to one outstanding, early-career artist who is developing new works that address plants, gardens, or landscapes in the broad sense.
This fellowship award and grant is open to visual artists, literary artists, dancers, and musicians. The award includes a $10,000 individual grant and requires a 2 – 5 week stay at Oak Spring. While at OSGF, the Fellow will be able to meet with staff, explore our 700-acre landscape and our efforts in sustainable land management, and visit our rare book library that holds over 19,000 objects, including many examples of botanical art.
OSGF intends to award the Fellowship to an exceptional artist whose works show remarkable promise to contribute to a deeper understanding of the natural world, and humankind’s place in it. The Fellow will be scheduled to visit when there are other Interdisciplinary Residents or Fellows on-site. This scheduling will allow the Fellow to join in communal meals, and optional activities and field trips with other artists, ecologists, researchers, or scholars working on projects related to OSGF’s mission. Beyond time devoted to their projects, a Fellow’s typical day at Oak Spring might include a walk to enjoy the landscape or birds; an appointment to visit the Oak Spring Library; and/or a morning spent volunteering at the BCCF or in the formal garden. These optional activities provide Fellows time to learn from, and interact with our staff. None of these activities are required, and we understand that some Fellows might want to spend most of their time in their writing or working independently. We support and enable Fellows to use their time as they best see fit.
At the culmination of their stay, we encourage, but don’t require, Fellows to give a 20 – 30 minute presentation with time for questions, to Oak Spring staff and any other Fellows, Residents, or program participants who might be on site.
Application Process
The application portal for the grant and award is now open and will close May 31st, 2024. Please note that there is one application for all of our 2024 Residency and Fellowship programs, and you will be prompted to select which programs you would like to be considered for. You will be asked to submit:
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a resume/curriculum vitae (not to exceed two pages),
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a 200 – 300-word statement on your artistic practice,
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a statement of 200 – 300 words stating how your work relates to Oak Spring Garden Foundation’s mission to “perpetuate and share the gifts of Rachel (“Bunny”) Lambert Mellon, including her residence, garden, estate and the Oak Spring Garden Library, to serve the public interest. OSGF is dedicated to inspiring and facilitating scholarship and public dialogue on the history and future of plants, including the culture of gardens and landscapes and the importance of plants for human well-being,”
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work samples
For visual artists: 5 – 10 images, please include the dimensions, year, medium, and title of each work sample.
For creative non-fiction, fiction, essayists, or other writers: 7 – 10 pages total that demonstrate your current interests. Please use 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and double-space your writing sample. Do not include photocopies of published work, title pages, tables of contents or HYPERLINKS. Please be sure to state the genre of the work sample.
For time-based artists, including: filmmakers, musicians, dancers, and performance artists: 10 minutes cumulatively of work samples. OSGF encourages video files to be uploaded directly to Submittable, but when necessary, we also accept links to vimeo or other external sites as long as the appropriate passwords are provided.
For poets and playwrights: you may submit 7 – 10 pages total. Poetry may be spaced as needed, and scripts should follow standard script formatting.
NOTE: When applying to this Fellowship, you will be asked if you are interested in being considered for one of our other residencies, if you are not selected for the Fellowship. To learn more about our residencies, visit www.osgf.org/residencies.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants must be early-career artists not enrolled in an undergraduate degree program in 2025. We will consider individuals with a proven track-record of professionalism, but who are yet under-recognized, as early-career. Eligible early-career applicants will have some recognition in the form of exhibitions, commissions, performances, grant awards, residencies, Fellowships and/or publications.
Individuals who have participated in an extensive number of solo exhibitions, or who have published a significant number of books will be considered established or late career, and are not eligible for the Eliza Moore Fellowship. We encourage those who are not eligible for this Fellowship to apply to the Interdisciplinary Residency.
The successful Fellow must be self-directed and able to work independently while on site. Applicants are expected to show dedication to their artistic practice, clear connection to the natural world in their work, exceptional promise, and good communication skills.
Dates
Fellows should arrive on the same start date of an Interdisciplinary Residency, or Botanical Artist Residency, and the Fellow will complete their introductory tours with other Residents. In 2025, these dates are:
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Monday, March 3, 2025
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Sunday, April 13, 2025 (only available for a 3-week residency)
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Monday, May 19, 2025
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Monday, June 30, 2025
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Sunday, August 10, 2025
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Monday, September 8, 2025
Award
The $10,000 individual grant associated with this award can be put towards travel to and from OSGF, materials and supplies purchased for their residency, and other items that will support their work, before or after their stay at OSGF.
The selected Fellow should make travel arrangements to Dulles International Airport, where Oak Spring will arrange ground transportation for them to our estate in Upperville, VA. The Fellow will be housed in nicely appointed shared accommodations. The Fellow will have a private bedroom and bathroom, and share a living room and kitchen with 1 – 3 other Residents or Fellows.
Selection
Fellows are carefully selected through a multi-round review process in which OSGF staff, residency alumni, and external jurors review and score applications. Fellows are ultimately selected by panels of external reviewers who are established and working in fields or practices relevant to OSGF’s mission. The primary criteria for scoring applicants include: an applicant’s current work’s relationship to the OSGF mission; potential of applicant; and quality of work samples.
Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we are unfortunately not able to provide individualized feedback to applicants who are not selected for a residency.
Quotes from previous eliza moore fellows
“Overall, my experience at OSGF was amazing. My only regret is that I couldn’t stay longer. I loved spending time just walking the grounds, soaking up all the beautiful landscape and stunning views. The dinners were wonderful, props to Chef Jason. I felt there was a really nice balance between group activities that allowed me to interact with the other Fellows and Residents and space to write and work on my own projects. I also really appreciated the fresh veggies from the garden. I would definitely recommend OSGF to other writers/artists.” Ariana Benson, 2022 Eliza Moore Fellow
“Generous in multiple ways. The research done at the library was exactly what I needed for the next projects but also to be inspired and motivated to keep making for the next year. I came into the residency completely burnt out but everything about it was necessary to pull myself back together.” Fidencio Fifeld-Perez, 2021 Eliza Moore Fellow
“My residency at Oak Spring was a dream. The program is designed to make artists feel cared for and welcomed while accomplishing meaningful work. There are so many special touches to make life easier and lovelier: a stylish bicycle, a CSA from the garden, movie nights, and beautifully illustrated maps of the properties. Each part of the program enhanced my stay. I discovered new research directions through the generosity of the library staff, while the farm team taught me about the history and uses of different plants. It’s just a beautiful place and an incredibly well-run residency.” Emma Steinkraus, 2020 Eliza Moore Fellow
“Transcendent! Honestly, it was such a nourishing, wonderful time, and could not have been better geared towards my practice and specific project. Everyone was so wonderful – I got to learn about the land, work in the library and on the farm, and meet so many wonderful people despite the restrictions COVID placed on us. I felt like I could have spent months there and would never have run short of new things to wonder at and learn – it’s such an abundant place.” Maddison Colvin, 2020 Eliza Moore Fellow