elizabeth murray artist residency 2026

The Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency (EMAR) program by Collar Works is designed to provide emerging, underrepresented, and established artists an immersive, supportive, productive, and communal atmosphere for art-making and dialogue on a bucolic 77-acre farm in Granville, NY. The summer residency offers 2-week residencies for individual artists and 1-week residencies for families.

In 2017, the Murray-Holman family partnered with Collar Works to design a summer residency program for visual artists, with unique opportunities for individuals and families. Dedicated to supporting the legacy of Elizabeth Murray, Collar Works believes there is a kindred connection between its mission and what Murray’s story symbolizes to emerging artists, to those who are artists as well as parents, and to individuals who overcome adversity to achieve their vision.

EMAR creates opportunities for artists to take risks and develop new contemporary works across many art forms, primarily visual and literary arts, while engaging in meaningful dialogue with fellow residents and arts professionals.

Our goal is to create a residency program that addresses the critical needs of emerging and underrepresented artists, as well as artists with children, while offering a program that reflects the rich cultural environment of today through an active commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. Since its inception, the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency has been committed to creating an environment that stands out as a safe space for creative risk-taking, personal growth, and respite.

The late, visionary artist Elizabeth Murray believed that each person deserves an opportunity to make their art and for their art to be visible on equal platforms. With that in mind, our goal is to provide space and access for all, regardless of differences of race, age, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, national origin, migratory status, disability/abilities, political affiliation, veteran status and/or socioeconomic background.

For more than two decades, Elizabeth Murray and her husband Bob Holman, together with their children, split their time between a Tribeca loft and a classic farmhouse in Washington County, New York. Murray, who passed away in 2007, was a groundbreaking artist. Her many honors include a Skowhegan Medal in Painting in 1986, a MacArthur “genius” grant in 1999, and a career retrospective at MoMA in 2005. Holman, a poet and arts activist, founded the Bowery Poetry Club in 2002 and produced the PBS series The United States of Poetry (1996) and Language Matters (2019). In 2017, the Murray-Holman family partnered with Collar Works to design a summer residency program for artists.

For many years, the farm served as both a summer home for the Murray-Holmans and a creative retreat for Elizabeth Murray, whose studio was located in the large, cathedral-like dairy barn. Given the history, location, and amenities, the family felt that the creative use of the property and its natural surroundings would carry on Elizabeth Murray’s legacy.

2026 Individual Artist Residency Dates:

Session 1: May 23- June 6, 2026

Session 2: June 10 -June 24, 2026

2026 Family Residency Dates:

Session 3: August 1-8, 2026

Finalist Interviews: November 2025

Final Notification of Acceptance: December 2025