2026 Studio Residencies

Exemplifying the spirit of UrbanGlass' mission, the residency fosters experimentation and advances the critical understanding of glass as a creative medium. The program offers three artists a $5,000 budget to be used for scheduled studio rentals, $500 of which may be allocated for materials. At the end of their residency, the artists will present their work, discuss their practice, and connect with the greater UrbanGlass community with an artist-talk or similar public program. 

UrbanGlass’ 17,000-square-foot state-of-the-art glass studio offers a complete glassworking studio with a hot shop, cold shop, flameworking studio, neon shop, mold shop, and kiln shop. Residents may make use of any or all of these areas of the studio.

This year's residency will run from April, 2026 - September 2026.

Eligibility

• Residents must be able to work independently in glass.
• Artists who work independently or as a collaborative pair (no more than two) are eligible to apply. Collaborative applicants should submit one application and a joint biography and resume that demonstrate a history of collaboration.
• Please note this residency does not include assistants, room and board, or travel.
• Participants cannot be enrolled in a full-time degree-granting program or its equivalent. 
• Current UrbanGlass board members, artists who have participated in the UrbanGlass residency or fellowship programs in the last two years are not eligible.
• As part of our continued mission to ensure space for underheard voices and perspectives in the field, we strongly encourage individuals that have not been historically represented in the arts sector to apply.

How to Apply

Please submit your proposal through Zealous 

Deadline: March 19th by 11:59pm est

Required Materials

• Your resume 
• A one-page proposal including the nature of the work you would like to create and how your time at UrbanGlass will benefit your career and artistic development 
• One image or sketch to aid in understanding your new proposed work
• Five examples of previously made work; images, video or sound files can be submitted.  For time based work, edit to a max of 2 mins per file.

You will submit a total of 8 files. 

Judging Criteria and Notification

Applicants will be chosen on the basis of past work and on a new project as described in their proposal. An outside jury, consisting of experts in the field of art and design, will review all applicants through the online platform and then meet virtually to select the finalists.

Applicants will be notified by March 24th.

Meet the Jury

Dean Erdmann

dean erdmann is a multidisciplinary artist working in moving and still images, sculpture and installation. Their work in the past several years grapples specifically with how biography and history collide. Accordingly, their practice often centers archival research from pre-existing or self generated archives. Their work explores class, whiteness and Americana; the body and queerness; place, family, geopolitics, and recuperative histories.

erdmann is a 20182020 Vera List Center for Art Politics Fellow, the recipient of the 2019 Urban Glass Fellowship, a 2013 California Community Foundation Fellow, and recipient Center for Cultural Innovation grant. Their work has been exhibited at ONE Archives, Mexicali Biennial, Hammer Museum, REDCAT, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Spiral Hall, Tokyo, Kavi Gupta Berlin, the Sheila Johnson Design Center, Torrance Art Museum, and Public Fiction, to name a few. Upcoming, their public commission for the new Los Angeles Metro Crenshaw line opens Fall 2022, alongside recent exhibitions at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum and String Room Gallery (NY).

Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy

Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy is a curator and writer of contemporary art and craft advocating for underrepresented communities, stories, materials, and approaches. She has curated and juried exhibitions across the United States and has written for many publications. Recent projects include curating R & Company second triennial Objects: USA 2024 and the critically acclaimed Funk You Too! at the Museum of Arts and Design. Her book, New Women's Work, highlighting contemporary artists continuing the legacy of women's work came out in 2024. She holds a BA in art history from the University of Florida and an MA in decorative arts, design history, and material culture from the Bard Graduate Center, New York. 

@angelik.wiki

Diane Wright

Diane C. Wright is senior curator of glass and contemporary craft at the Toledo Museum of Art. With more than twenty years of experience in contemporary and craft-based practices, she is interested in artists who explore and express their ideas through a mastery of materials such as ceramics, fiber, metals, and glass. She has championed a wide range of voices through exhibitions and acquisitions, including Beth Lipman, Matt Wedel, Sibylle Peretti, Amber Cowan, Lenore Tawney, Viola Frey, Katsuyo Aoki, Wangechi Mutu, Joyce Scott and Elizabeth Talford Scott, Josiah McElheny, Claire Falkenstein, Deborah Czeresko, and Olga de Amaral. She is also a recognized scholar of Tiffany Studios’ stained-glass windows and mosaics. 

Wright’s most recent project, Radiance and Reverie: Jewels from the Collection of Neil Lane, explores a century of glamorous jewelry, taking you on a journey from 19th-century Paris to present-day Hollywood. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue featuring lavish new photography and will travel to venues across the United States. 

Wright has held positions at Blair House, The Corning Museum of Glass, Pilchuck Glass School, the Chrysler Museum of Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery. She holds an MA in the history of decorative arts from Parsons the New School for Design and is originally from Los Angeles. 

For further questions, please email Kate Dowd at kate@urbanglass.org.