Trail Wood’s Artist/Writer-in-Residence Program

Edwin Way Teale’s writing cabin, at Trail Wood Photo by Richard Telford

Connecticut Audubon Society is accepting applications for the 2014 Edwin Way Teale Artists-in-Residence program at the Trail Wood sanctuary in Hampton.

Through the program, inaugurated in 2013, Connecticut Audubon invites written word and visual artists chosen through a juried process to spend one week in residence at the former home of Pulitzer Prize-winning naturalist writer Edwin Way Teale. The home is situated in the 168-acre Trail Wood/Edwin Way Teale Memorial Sanctuary, which Yankee Magazine in 2013 named as one of Connecticut’s two best nature sanctuaries.

The sanctuary still contains the trails cut by Edwin and Nellie Teale. Edwin’s site observations, as well as some of Nellie’s, are thoroughly documented in the two books he wrote about Trail Wood, A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm and A Walk Through the Year. Applicants are encouraged to read one or both to more fully understand the intent of this program. The sanctuary is open to the public but generally experiences low visitorship, allowing a solitary and contemplative experience conducive to the creative process.

While in residence, artists are encouraged to practice their craft in the context of the natural dynamics of the site and its role in American natural history writing. Edwin’s writing study is preserved as it was at the time of his death, in 1980. The house’s caretaker can provide visiting artists with access to the study.

Residencies are scheduled for the summer months. With planned further restoration of the Teale home, an 1801 center-chimney Cape Cod, Connecticut Audubon hopes to expand the residency offerings to a year-round schedule.

After the completion of the residency, participating writers and visual artists will be invited to attend Trail Wood’s Under the Harvest Moon event, held each September. Each resident artist is expected to read or present a sampling of work completed during the residency. This work can be in process.

The residency application can be found here. It provides a fuller explanation of the program. For more information, email Richard Telford, the program’s coordinator, at rtelford397@gmail.com.