Artist Residency | Wild Indigo Forest
Wild Indigo Forest · Southern Indiana
Artist Residency
Make room for the
W I L D in your work
An artist residency at the intersection of art, ecology, and commUnity. A place for artists and makers to follow their curiosity, deepen their relationship with the land, and contribute to Wild Indigo’s growing nature center vision.
Art Rooted in Place
Let the Forest Become Part of the Process
A sketch beneath the trees. A poem shaped by birdsong. A sculpture that invites a visitor to look closer. Art can change how we notice, understand, and care for the living world.
Here, creative practice follows the forest, gardens, and seasons, making room for connections between people, plants, and purpose.
SPACE TO MAKE · ROOM TO CONNECT
What Wild Indigo Offers
FREE CAMPING
Stay on the land free in your own tent, vehicle, camper, van, or RV during your agreed residency.
WEEKLY BODYWORK
Receive 22 minutes of complimentary bodywork with Kimberly at Wild Indigo Bodywork Studio for every full week (seven days) of your onsite residency. Use your earned time weekly or combine it into longer appointments during your stay. Four full weeks earn 88 minutes of bodywork.
ACUPUNCTURE FOR LONGER STAYS
Wild Indigo covers one acupuncture treatment for every three to four weeks of your residency. Participation is optional.
COMPLIMENTARY FARM EVENTS
Attend events taking place on the farm free during your residency. We’ll coordinate any required reservations and attendance arrangements with you.
TOOLS & SHARED MAKING SPACES
Create with access to our tool room, outdoor woodshed, and woodshop, with an introduction to the equipment and shared-space routines suited to your experience.
FOREST WOOD FOR YOUR WORK
Work with approved wood sourced from Wild Indigo’s forest: material already fallen, invasive woody growth being removed, or trees identified for selective removal because they compete for resources with the plants we are tending.
We coordinate wood selection and collection, preserving fallen material needed for wildlife and soil. Wild Indigo directs any tree removal. Available wood may be green or unmilled, and its suitability depends on condition and preparation.
PROJECT MATERIALS PROVIDED
Wild Indigo will purchase and provide materials needed for the agreed residency project when we do not already have them and they cannot be sourced from approved materials on the land. Create your project supply wish list with us; purchases are approved before work begins.
When available, volunteers can help with preparation and installation so you have support bringing your vision to life.
SEASONAL FOOD · DAILY NOURISHMENT
Food, Foraging & Kitchen Access
MEALS & SEASONAL FOOD
We provide our backyard-grown beef for residents who eat beef, along with a complimentary s’mores kit. Seasonal farm produce and selected meals may also be included depending on your stay and harvest availability.
WATER, HERBAL TEA & KOMBUCHA
Enjoy unlimited Berkey-filtered drinking water and Wild Indigo’s homegrown and foraged herbal teas during your residency, with ingredients identified so you can choose your cup. We also provide one complimentary glass of Basil & Blossom Co. kombucha each week.
FOOD & KITCHEN ACCESS
We welcome all dietary needs and will plan included meals with you, discussing ingredients, allergies, and preparation requirements in advance. Kitchen access can be arranged through agreed hours.
FOREST FORAGING & GARDEN FOOD
Residents can also forage food in the forest during their stay, following a land orientation and Wild Indigo’s harvest guidelines. Once our food gardens are established, residents will have full access to harvest and use the food grown there for their meals, coordinated with seasonal availability and shared garden care. Gather only positively identified edible species in approved areas, with seasonal availability and care for wildlife and plant populations guiding each harvest. Ask Elise before gathering unfamiliar plants or mushrooms.
Spend optional time tending the garden, harvesting, and learning what’s growing as the season and our schedules allow.
CREATIVE GROWTH · DAILY COMFORTS · CONNECTION
Resident Benefits & Farm Access
Build your body of work, share your practice, and grow lasting creative connections while spending time with the land.
ARTIST VISIBILITY, PORTFOLIO & CONNECTIONS
Every contributing artist receives a website feature with a bio, imagery of their work, and links to their website and social media, shared with permission. We’ll also promote their contribution through Wild Indigo’s social channels.
We’ll help document your process and work through portfolio photos and video, with your permission, alongside artist credit and usable copies for your own promotion.
Request a professional reference reflecting our work together, with referrals and introductions when a suitable connection arises.
SEASONAL HERBAL LEARNING
Join Elise for optional seasonal harvesting, preserving, and simple herbal medicine preparations, following the plants and work of the season.
FOREST TRAILS & QUIET PLACES
Enjoy unlimited access to our forest trails during your residency, including Loki’s Labyrinth Trail and Luna’s Loop. Explore the Daffodil Renewal Labyrinth and the persimmon and pawpaw orchard, or find a place to sit, sketch, and listen.
POND ACCESS
Spend time at Princess Leia’s Pond, with paddleboards and water hammocks available during your residency. We’ll introduce the equipment and pond routines when you arrive.
BEEKEEPING AT DIAGON APIARY
Interested in beekeeping or learning how to begin? Join us at Diagon Apiary for coordinated time with the beehives, following the bees’ needs, seasonal work, and your experience.
ANIMALS WELCOME
You’re welcome to bring your animals during your residency. Animals must be leashed. Let us know who is coming so we can plan your stay together.
EXPERIMENT · CONNECT · SHARE
Room for Your Practice to Grow
ARTIST SHOWCASE & SHOW AND TELL
Share a finished piece, a performance, a reading, or work in progress through an artist showcase. Informal show-and-tell gatherings offer another way to exchange ideas and connect. We’ll shape the format and timing with you.
Share additional artwork through an outdoor gallery, showcase, or an agreed indoor display when suitable space is available. Artists receive 100% of the sale price of their additional artwork; Wild Indigo takes no commission.
MENTORS & STUDIO CONVERSATIONS
When possible, we’ll invite a local artist, maker, or creative commUnity leader for a studio visit, promotional conversation, or feedback session, guided by your interests and their availability.
PROTECTED EXPERIMENTATION TIME
Your schedule includes room to explore, test materials, rest, and develop your own practice alongside the agreed creative contribution.
FOREST & GARDEN EXPERIENCES
Alongside learning with Elise on the farm, Wild Indigo is willing to cover admission and provide transportation for agreed outings to places such as Bernheim, Fox Hollow Farm, and Yew Dell Botanical Gardens. Destinations and timing are planned together around availability and your interests.
RETURNING ARTIST DAYS
Your connection can continue after your residency. Returning artists are welcome to arrange future creative days, project visits, and opportunities to reconnect with the land and fellow makers.
LOCAL ROOTS · VISITING ARTISTS · SHARED CREATION
Different Ways to Be in Residence
Come for the day, return over time, or stay and camp with us. Individuals, creative partners, and groups are welcome.
LOCAL DAY RESIDENCIES
For nearby artists who want to create at Wild Indigo and return home at the end of the day. Propose a single project day or a series of visits that fits your creative practice and daily life.
GROUP & COLLABORATIVE RESIDENCIES
Come with a creative partner, collective, or group to develop a shared project.
Before You Arrive
Arrival, Access & Your Stay
TIMING & STAY
Share your preferred dates, camping setup, and vehicle dimensions. We’ll confirm your site, facilities, and any hookups before arrival.
YOUR RESIDENCY AGREEMENT
Before confirming your residency, we’ll agree on project scope, time commitments, workspace and equipment needs, materials, ownership, and public sharing. We’ll also coordinate appointments, food and dietary needs, facility access, transportation, and any display or sales arrangements.
Bring an idea that nourishes your practice and contributes to Wild Indigo’s nature center vision: a collaborative project, an installation, an educational offering, or another creation we dream up together.
Plan with respect for living plants, wildlife, existing habitats, and the people who share this place. Materials, placement, and harvesting require prior agreement.
LAND ORIENTATION
Find your bearings with a welcome walk through the land, trails, and shared spaces, and an introduction to farm life.
SHOWERS & INDIGO ROOM ACCESS
Artists camping in tents or vehicles without bathing facilities can arrange daily shower access as needed while our bathhouse is being completed. Designated Indigo Room hours provide indoor space to work, read, relax, and connect.
TRANSPORTATION & GROCERY SUPPORT
Arriving by plane or bus? We’re happy to provide airport and bus station transfers, local rides, and grocery trips or pickups.
REST & FLEXIBLE PARTICIPATION
Benches, outdoor seating, and covered porches offer places to pause. Day visits, shorter sessions, recurring visits, seated work, and breaks can be discussed as we shape your project and schedule.
KNOW THE SETTING
Wild Indigo is a rural, working forest farm. Ask us about routes, ground surfaces, slopes, steps, distances, toilets, showers, indoor access, and transportation before your visit. We’ll discuss the actual spaces your project would use, rather than assume every area will suit every person.
Wild Indigo is a rural setting. Share access needs and questions about terrain, facilities, or daily routines so we can discuss fit with care.
Keep Exploring Wild Indigo
MATERIALS & FOREST STEWARDSHIP
Yakisugi & Thoughtful Wood Finishes
We welcome makers experienced in yakisugi, also called shou sugi ban: the Japanese tradition of surface-charring wood, traditionally sugi siding. It creates a rich charcoal texture and can reduce moisture uptake under suitable conditions. We’d love to explore it where appropriate as an alternative to polyurethane coatings.
MORE ABOUT WOOD FINISHES
Durability depends on the wood, charring process, installation, and exposure. Charring does not make wood waterproof, rot-proof, or fireproof, or replace appropriate treatment for ground contact. We’ll choose finishes suited to touch surfaces, growing areas, wildlife, and ongoing care. Charring takes place in an agreed work area; boardwalk grip and accessibility need separate design.
PROJECT INSPIRATION
For Artists, Makers & Curious Minds
Painters, sculptors, writers, photographers, musicians, fiber artists, woodworkers, and interdisciplinary creatives are welcome. Explore these reference images for woodland structures, branch art, gathering spaces, and handmade details, and tell us how your practice might connect. These are inspiration images, rather than completed projects at Wild Indigo.
HELP SHAPE THE FOREST
Projects We’re Looking For
Bring your skills to one of these projects, individually or with a group.
A painted sign, a carved piece, a poem, a mural, or a larger installation: proposals can range from a focused contribution to a project developed across multiple visits or an extended stay.
FARM STRUCTURES & HOUSE ART
- An apitherapy hut at Diagon Apiary
- A chicken coop and barn built with approved tree trunks, limbs, and natural timber
- Murals on agreed exterior and interior house walls
- Painting the exterior of the house sage green
FOREST BOUNDARIES & WELCOME
- Dead hedges: woven or stacked fallen branches forming a woodland boundary to help protect the forest and discourage unauthorized entry, including hunting access
- Hand-painted welcome and wayfinding signs along the three-mile approach and down our driveway
- Painted trailhead signs for Loki’s Labyrinth Trail, Luna’s Loop, and other agreed locations
FOREST PORTALS, GIANTS & FOUND-MATERIAL ART
- LIVING ARTIST TRAIL: We’re building a living artist trail throughout Loki’s Labyrinth Trail and Luna’s Loop, weaving creative contributions into the experience of walking this land. From small discoveries to larger installations, each agreed work becomes part of a growing conversation between people, plants, and purpose. Placement, materials, artist credit, ownership, care, and display duration are agreed upon together.
- Additional labyrinths for walking, reflection, and exploration
- Forest portal archways built from approved tree limbs and fallen wood
- Forest giants and limb-built sculptures throughout the woods
- Sculptures, installations, and woodland discoveries made from approved fallen materials
MUSHROOMS & TEACHING GARDENS
- A dome greenhouse for growing, teaching, and seasonal learning
- A woodland mushroom fungarium and log garden: a dedicated area for arranging and tending mushroom-growing logs
- Raised teaching-garden beds along the dam, with placement and construction planned for the site
MOSAICS & OUTDOOR FURNITURE
- Additional handmade and hand-painted furniture
- Mosaic stepping stones and connected garden paths
- Mosaic outdoor furniture and benches
- Woodland benches and resting places made from approved forest materials
GATHERING SPACES & SHELTER
- A center floating dock for Princess Leia’s Pond
- A new pond-side deck
- A garden work area connected to the house, with enclosed and open-air space. It will overlook the native pollinator gardens, persimmon and pawpaw orchard, Daffodil Renewal Labyrinth, and beehives, and connect with the planned herbal gardens to the left.
- A large commUnity table with tree-stump seating for shared meals, workshops, and gatherings
- Simple, large platforms for yoga, workshops, and shared practice
- Covered pavilions designed for use across seasons and changing weather
- A large tipi-style gathering structure, with the proposed 15 × 20 × 20-foot dimensions and design to be clarified together
- A treehouse, developed with appropriate design and construction expertise
EARTH BUILDING & OUTDOOR COOKING
- A cob hot tub, cob sauna, and cob huts, with design and specialist requirements developed for each project
- Resealing and restoring our existing cob oven
- An outdoor kitchen for shared cooking and learning
LAND ACCESS & INFRASTRUCTURE
- Forest boardwalks and improved paths designed with wheelchair users and people who find uneven natural terrain difficult, connecting meaningful destinations on the land
- Extending, widening, and building up driveway infrastructure, plus a new driveway on the other side of the meadow and a walking path connecting one side of the driveway to the other, with the route, drainage, and access planned together
- Collaborative build days bringing together artists, skilled makers, builders, and available volunteers
Begin a Conversation
Bring Your Practice to Wild Indigo
Applications are open. Introduce yourself and the work you’d like to explore at Wild Indigo using the form below.
wildindigoforest@gmail.com