Artist in Residence
Throughout its rich history, Lakewood has been a place of comfort, solace, and beauty that is shared with our families and the community, providing inspiration for many artistic ideas. As both an active cemetery, and a cultural landscape, Lakewood is committed to providing new ways to honor, remember, and memorialize through a variety of mediums.
The Artist in Residence program, sponsored by the Lakewood Heritage Foundation, engages local artists to create and share new original artwork with our families, visitors and community. The resident artists will explore our beautiful and sacred grounds and create art drawn from their own experiences of the cemetery, using their creative practices to highlight new perspectives on Lakewood and engage our visitors.
On this page: Upcoming Events | 2025 Artists | 26-27 Application | FAQs for Interested Artists
Meet the Artists
We are excited to announce the selected winners of our 25-26 Artist in Residence Program! Learn more about the artists.
Diana Eicher
Recycling and Repurposing the flowers of Lakewood
Diana has a BA in painting from the University of California, Santa Cruz, an MFA in printmaking from the University of Hawaii. Diana balances her life as an artist for over thirty-five years with her career as Director of the Printmaking and Papermaking Studios at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Diana works in printmaking, handmade paper, papercutting, and installation work.
I am a printmaker and papermaker and my residency project is to use and repurpose flowers that are being discarded after a funeral. I will use these flowers to make handmade paper that people can take with them. I plan to make prints on the handmade paper with floral imagery that I will exhibit at the end of the residency. I will also teach two workshops in printmaking on the handmade paper that will be free and open to the public.
Sarah M. Greer
Giving Voice to Grief
Based in the Twin Cities on Dakota homelands, vocalist Sarah M. Greer (www.sarahmgreer.com) has invented music on local and international stages. An avid singer and song carrier, she developed Giving Voice to Grief to help communities in the Twin Cities come together to hold and transmute our grief over local and global events. Sarah has led her song circle, Songtaneous, since 2006 and teaches singing at Minneapolis College as well as to private students. They are passionate, almost evangelical, about every person’s right to sing and about the power of singing to change the world.
Andrew Grum Carr
An Opening
Andrew Grum Carr is a Twin Cities painter, writer and teacher. Whether in pictures or in words, his work seeks out quiet, restful corners and unhurried rhythms: from an arrangement of leaves at the conservatory, to the unexpected dignity in a freeway overpass.
I will write an extended narrative essay, meditating on an experience as a teacher, visiting the Lakewood chapel with students after a classmate’s death. I’ll also paint nine large watercolors of the cemetery through the changing seasons, to accompany the essay.
RJ Kern
Ethereal Echoes: A Journey of Light
R. J. Kern (b. 1978) is an American artist whose work investigates ideas of home, ancestry and a sense of place. Accolades include Critical Mass Top 50 (2018, 2021, 2024), artist grants from Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and seven grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board. Monographs include The Sheep and the Goats (Kehrer Verlag, 2017) and The Unchosen Ones (MW Editions, 2021). Public collections include Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center.
This body of work merges Buddhist teachings on impermanence and rebirth with the alchemy of Chromoskedasic photography—a technique that transforms expired silver gelatin prints into mirror-like images echoing 19th-century daguerreotypes. Created steps from Minneapolis’ Lakewood Cemetery, where generations of my family rest, these meditative pieces invite viewers to contemplate life’s cycles (birth, community, mortality) through organic patterns shaped by light, chemistry, and memory.
Interested in Becoming a 2026 Lakewood Artist in Residence?
The 2026 application form will be available starting October 20, 2025. The grant must result in a deliverable product, program, or event that is unique to Lakewood Cemetery. All projects will be presented to the public (how and when projects are presented is to be determined by the artist and Lakewood).
Award amount: $500 – $10,000
Total Awards: 2 – 4 artists selected
Application Opens: October 20, 2025
Application due: December 15, 2025
Award notifications: Between January 22 – 31
Residency start: May 1, 2026
Residency end: April 30, 2027
FAQs for Interested Artists
How do I apply for the program?
Please complete the application above. It will be available on this page October 20, 2025 until December 15, 2025. Artists working as a pair, group, or collective should submit a single application.
Are there any requirements or parameters for the art being displayed or performed?
- Resident artists must communicate and coordinate with Lakewood staff so their activities do not interfere with family needs and experiences, such as planning, burials, placements, funerals, receptions, visiting a grave or mausoleum, and all other types of family events/services.
- The making and presentation of art must not impact, alter, or affect Lakewood’s plant collections, monuments, buildings, waters, wildlife, landscaping, or grounds maintenance.
- Lakewood cannot provide studio space or equipment. Resident artists will be based out of their own homes or studios, incorporate visits to Lakewood into their creative process, and use Lakewood as a venue for research, inspiration and presentation.
- Between the residency start and end dates, residents will present their project at Lakewood. Art will not remain permanently at Lakewood.
- Art that includes physical objects, such as paintings or sculptures, will be displayed as a temporary exhibition in the Welcome Center gallery space. Art cannot be installed across the grounds or at any graves or markers.
- Art that includes non-physical experiences, such as performances or readings, cannot be presented at any graves or markers, but will instead take place in buildings or open outdoor areas approved by Lakewood staff.
Will the artists receive office space at Lakewood?
Lakewood does not provide office or studio space. Use of our buildings can be requested on a case-by-case basis as needed by the artist.
What should I include in my stipend request? What costs will Lakewood cover?
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Time
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Travel and accommodations (if not local)
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Materials and supplies for creation of art/performance
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Materials and supplies for any relevant workshops
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Costs for additional performers, musicians, or others involved in the project
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Framing or printing costs if needed
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Use of the site and buildings with permission from Lakewood staff
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Installation materials for framed artworks
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Rentals for performances or receptions, including:
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Tables
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Chairs
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3- 10×10′ small pop-up tents
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8×12′ stage
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Refreshments for any receptions or events
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AV for performances
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It’s important to note that many of our spaces cannot accommodate excessive audio-visual needs (beyond mics and a few speakers). For more information on specific AV needs, please contact amandal@lakewoodcemetery.org to see if you’re request can be accommodated.
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Photography (with our house photographer) – this can be used by the artists in the future with proper credit to the photographer when applicable.
How will funding work?
Artists will be granted a check for 50% of their total award upon acceptance. The other 50% will be delivered upon completion of the residency.
How will artists be selected?
A small jury of cross-departmental staff at Lakewood will select artists based on the strength of project proposals and their positive impact for our community.
The Lakewood Heritage Foundation
This offering is sponsored by the Lakewood Heritage Foundation. Donations to the Lakewood Heritage Foundation support educational programming and the preservation and restoration of Lakewood’s landscape, art, architecture and public spaces—for the benefit of all.
You can donate on the Lakewood Heritage Foundation page.
