In September of 2025, Loghaven had the honor of welcoming Fellow Lara Downes and three East Tennessee artists, Wyatt Ellis, Aram Demirjian, and Obayana Ajanaku to our campus to record a beautiful new arrangement of “Amazing Grace”.

“The goal of my work as a musician, traversing the landscape of American music to show how profoundly our songs connect us. What we hear in our music are echoes of collective histories, a map of crossroads where our journeys converge.” — Lara Downes

Many instruments, one voice.

Join pianist Lara Downes on her journey through the landscape of American music, where songs become maps of connection and shared history. This stop finds grace in a mosaic of cultures and traditions growing in the hills of Tennessee.

For more insights into this iconic song, you can listen to Lara’s conversation with author, scholar, and MacArthur Fellow Imani Perry, which aired on All Things Considered.

Credits:
Lara Downes — piano
Wyatt Ellis — mandolin
Aram Demirjian — cello
Obayana Ajanaku — djembe

Videography — @mikestuckey
Audio — @peopleholdingmics

Special Thanks — @loghavenartistresidency

Loghaven Artist Residency partners with The University of Tennessee’s School of Art to offer one graduate student a paid, live-work internship. The intern lives in subsidized campus housing and works at Loghaven and the Aslan Foundation. Below, our current Graduate Intern, Nyssa Collins, reflects on her experience at Loghaven over the past two years. 

I am a graduate student at the University of Tennessee pursuing an MFA in Time-Based Art, focusing mainly on stop motion animation and puppet performance. For the last two years, I have been very lucky to live and work at Loghaven as part of the graduate live/work internship. This position includes beautiful subsidized housing and the opportunity to do paid work with the Loghaven team to learn about every aspect of running an artist residency. Loghaven has a small team, so I really did get to learn about everything it takes to run the residency, including research, recruitment of panelists and artists, logistics of keeping the artist cabins well stocked and comfortable, landscape management, and the small details that make this residency unique, like preparing artist welcome packets that include pressed ferns from the campus.

After working for two years with Sarah, Lynne, and the property team, I can truly say that every decision here is made with thoughtfulness and care. One of my favorite parts of the job is researching current and upcoming events of the Loghaven alumni network, to share on social media and artist newsletters. These Loghaven Fellows work across numerous disciplines, and researching their work is an exciting front seat to contemporary art and the many ways to pursue a creative career. As a multidisciplinary artist just beginning my career, this has greatly expanded my own imagination of what is possible.

Living on the Loghaven campus has been a serene experience, and I will be sad to leave it behind. My favorite part has been seeing the landscape in all four seasons, because each is breathtaking in its own way. Right now is spring, and this means the ferns are sending up fiddleheads, ephemeral flowers have reemerged, and the wild turkeys are a frequent sight again. The summer means swimming in the nearby Augusta Quarry and many animal sightings – lizards, hawks, box turtles; winters mean dustings of snow and being able to see through the trees to the peak of Mount Le Conte. In some seasons of the year, the full moon rises in the vista right in front of my house with an incredible view from my porch. I have also loved getting to know the many interesting people who work here in the office and on the grounds. Everyone is so knowledgeable about the wildlife and history of our neighborhood, Vestal, so I have enjoyed learning so much from them. I have been so grateful to spend two peaceful years here in this beautiful place!

In late March, Loghaven hosted artists from the collective, Bloodlines Interwoven, for a weeklong residency in preparation for their trio of performances at the 2026 Big Ears Festival.

Bloodlines Interwoven is a collaborative performance project created by composer and flutist Kaoru Watanabe, with support from the Mellon Foundation and Baryshnikov Arts Center. The project “brings together artists from many cultural backgrounds to share their family histories and collaborate around music-making and sharing our ‘intrinsic interconnectedness.'” The group consists of Fay Victor, Marika Hughes, Kweku Sumbry, Sunny Jain, Cyro Baptista, Kaoru Watanabe, gamin, Yuniya Edi Kwon, Shahzad Ismaily, and Mafer Bandola.

A core component of the project includes the artists sharing the food of their families and native regions with one another. From cachupa of beans and hominy to arepas with avocado and bacalhau, the team gathered around the table each night to eat together and converse about their family histories as part of a larger storytelling process. The residency at Loghaven provided time to connect, play, and prepare for the premiere of the work for festival audiences later that week. From the first rehearsal to the final performance, it was a joy to have them in residency, sharing stories, meals, and music.

Loghaven Artist Residency Announces twenty-nine Awardees, including Brandon Clifford, Lydi Conklin, Moriah Evans, Gwen Laster, Anna Roberts-Gevalt, Xuan Juliana Wang, and Carolyn Yarnell.

Knoxville, TN – November 12, 2025 – Loghaven Artist Residency is delighted to announce its residency awardees from the summer 2025 open call for applications. These twenty-nine artists were selected from over twelve hundred applications by a national panel of artists, writers, curators, performers, and other arts professionals based on the criteria of artistic excellence and creative potential. Artists will work and reside on Loghaven’s award-winning campus, taking advantage of time, space, and support to advance their work.

Artists Participating in Loghaven Residencies starting in February 2026:

ARCHITECTURE
_Ashley Bigham
_Elgin Cleckley
_Brandon Clifford
_Shelby Doyle

INTERDISCIPLINARY WORK
_Phoebe Bachman
_Stephanie Brown
_Jova Lynne
_Anna Roberts-Gevalt
_Matt Romein
_Carolyn Yarnell

MUSIC COMPOSITION
_Anthony Brandt
_Gwen Laster
_Jessica Pavone
_Peter Shin

PERFORMANCE
_Jay Carlon
_Moriah Evans
_Alethea Pace
_Anna Sperber

VISUAL ARTS
_Casey Fletcher
_Priya Kambli
_Liz Miller

WRITING
_Karl-Mary Akre
_Grace M. Cho
_Lydi Conklin
_Ella Jacobson
_Michelle Tea
_Xuan Juliana Wang
_Jane Wong
_Beina Xu

About Loghaven’s Fellows

After finishing their residency, artists become Loghaven Fellows. Current Loghaven Fellows include Jamel Brinkley, Ann Carlson, Mary Ellen Childs, Cathy Linh Che, Nina Cooke John, Annie Gosfield, Carrie Hawks, Robert Hutchison, Jared Jackson, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Erika Meitner, Dantiel Moniz, Alethea Pace, Mary Prescott, Lauren Sandler, Andrew Schneider, Hrag Vartanian, and Keith Wilson.

To see a complete list of Loghaven Fellows, please go to the Artist page of the Loghaven website.

“The combination of beautiful, thoughtfully designed spaces, a peaceful natural setting, and a supportive community of staff and artists was the ideal environment for creative work. I felt both energized and grounded during my time there, and it allowed me to make meaningful progress on my project. I would absolutely recommend Loghaven to other artists—it’s rare and special place to create.”
-Jared Jackson

“I would describe my experience at Loghaven as both deeply inspiring and wonderfully supportive. The residency offers generous studio space, a peaceful natural setting, amazing meals, and a close-knit community of artists, all of which create the ideal environment for focused creative work.”
-Mahwish Chishty

As part of our residency experience, we offer optional site visits so artists can learn more about our area. These weekly site visits provide an excellent opportunity to step away from the work and return refreshed and inspired. Our past site visits have included hiking on local trails, tours of the McClung Museum of Natural History & Culture, University of Tennessee’s Library Archives and Herbarium, the historic Bijou Theater, and more.

This fall, a unique opportunity arose to couple two complementary tours: a new exhibition at the Knoxville Museum of Art and the modern homes it features. The exhibition, “Seeds of Regionalism,” tells the story of Alfred and Jane Clauss, two architects with world-class pedigrees (having previously worked with Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier) and the homes they built in South Knoxville. The Clausses moved to Knoxville to work with the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, as part of the New Deal. They lived at Loghaven for a time before designing, building, and living in a cluster of modern homes called Little Switzerland, “the first modern deed-restricted subdivision in America.”

As part of our fall site visits, we toured the museum exhibit, followed by a tour of the homes led by John Sanders, the architect who is lovingly restoring them and ensuring the Clausses’ legacy lives on. Site visits like this one are especially rich for residents as they are both unique to this region and embedded in our larger national history.

As a relatively new program, Loghaven wanted to be intentional about its archive from its inception. We ask every artist who passes through our doors to leave us something to remember them by, whether that be a drawing, a poem, a composition, or a note to a future resident. We are continually astounded and moved by what our Fellows leave behind. Each of these precious works offers some singular window into their creator’s time with us, and each is treasured.
We wanted to share a few examples of this archive with you. We hope you enjoy the peek into each resident’s experience.

Loghaven Artist Residency offers artists the time, space, and support to take the next big step in their creative practice. We often find artists at a critical moment in the arc of their projects. The dedicated time in residency can be a vital incubation space for an idea, a catalyst for new risk-taking, or the space for the last close edit before the work is shared in the public realm. It is a true pleasure to continue to follow Fellows and their work and celebrate with them as it is released into the world for new audiences to enjoy.

We are sharing the work of three recent Writing Fellows that was recently published or will be available soon. These three represent just a few of the many works that have traveled through our doors and that you can now find in your local bookstore or library.

Jennifer Hope Choi

Fellow Jennifer Hope Choi’s new memoir, The Wanderer’s Curse, was released in May. She spent her 2024 residency editing the book, which chronicles her relationship with her mother and the discovery of a curse that causes one to wander increasingly farther from home. “Jennifer Hope Choi has a voice all her own, and writes with a singular blend of wholeheartedness and perfect comedic timing about family, home, Korean Americanness, and so much more.” writes Rachel Khong. Conde Nast Traveler recently named the book one of “11 Releases Worth Bookmarking This Spring.”

Erika Meitner

Five new poems by author and Fellow Erika Meitner appeared in the May/June Issue of The American Poetry Review. Erika also appeared on a recent episode of The New Yorker’s Poetry Podcast with Kevin Young, which you can enjoy here. In the podcast, she reads a poem by Philip Levine in addition to her poem, “To Gather Together.” This poem is part of the forthcoming book Assembled Audience, which will be published by Milkweed Editions in 2026. Meitner used her very snowy 2024 residency to work on the book, which explores the many ways we gather in both public and private.

Nicholas Boggs

Author, scholar, and Fellow Nicholas Boggs’s new book, Baldwin: A Love Story, will be published in August and represents the first biography about Baldwin in three decades. The book looks at Baldwin through the lens of his relationships, including with Knoxville-born Beauford Delaney. Boggs spent his 2023 residency researching and writing the book. Imani Perry said of the book, “Boggs’s storytelling, so tenderly rendered, brings us the beautiful yet tattered heart of not only Baldwin, the intellectual and artist, but Baldwin, the vulnerable, yearning, flesh-and-blood person.”

To learn more about the work of our Fellows out in the world, we encourage you to follow us on Facebook or Instagram.

Loghaven Artist Residency began as a preservation project to protect an endangered area in Knoxville. It has become an extraordinary place for artists from across the country to come and have uninterrupted time to create new work. Though we are not open to the public during artist residency sessions, we are pleased to offer free tours of Loghaven’s award-winning campus several times a year. The tour includes a glimpse of our historic log cabins and the newly built McDonough House and Artist Studios. Guests will see indoor and outdoor spaces; we ask that everyone wear comfortable walking shoes. To view upcoming tour dates and register for one of our tours, please reserve your free ticket here

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Loghaven Artist Residency Announces twenty-eight Awardees, including Janani Balasubramanian, Elvira Clayton, Mary Ellen Childs, Reza Filsoofi, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Joanna Kotze, Jonathan Sanchez Noa, Lauren Sandler, and Katie Stranix.

Knoxville, TN – November 13, 2024– Loghaven Artist Residency is delighted to announce its residency awardees from the summer 2024 open call for applications. These artists were selected from over twelve hundred applications by a national panel of artists, writers, curators, performers, and other arts professionals based on the criteria of artistic excellence and creative potential. Artists will work and reside on the Loghaven campus, taking advantage of time, space, and support to advance their work.

Artists Participating in Loghaven Residencies from February 2025 – January 2026:

ARCHITECTURE
_Katie Stranix
_Hans Tursack

INTERDISCIPLINARY WORK
_Janani Balasubramanian
_Tyler Eschendal
_Reza Filsoofi
_Carrie Hawks
_Aaron Landsman
_Maria-Luisa Ornelas-June
_Yuliya Tsukerman

MUSIC COMPOSITION
_Zack Baltich
_Anuj Bhutani
_Mary Ellen Childs
_The Narcotix

PERFORMANCE
_Isabella Dawis
_Milka Djordjevich
_Joanna Kotze
_Jaamil Olawale Kosoko

VISUAL ARTS
_Elvira Clayton
_Jacq Groves
_Jonathan Sanchez Noa
_Soo Shin
_Natalia Villanueva Linares
_Sangwoo Yoo

WRITING
_Steve Chang
_Victoria Cho
_Amira Hanafi
_Susan Nguyen
_Lauren Sandler

About Loghaven’s Fellows

After finishing their residency, artists become Loghaven Fellows. Current Loghaven Fellows include Ann Carlson, Elgin Cleckley, Nina Cooke John, Annie Gosfield, Anthony R. Green, Robert Hutchison, John Jesurun, Tsering Yangzom Lama, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Gabriel Martinez, Erika Meitner, Dantiel Moniz, Angélica Negrón, Alethea Pace, Michelle Peñaloza, Rone Shavers, Hrag Vartanian, and Keith Wilson.

To see a complete list of Loghaven Fellows, please go to the Artist page of the Loghaven website.

“I would tell another artist that Loghaven is singular and exceptional in the many ways that this residency goes above and beyond to support artists in our work and growth…Everything at Loghaven is in service of helping artists grow and focus in our work.” – Kate Bredeson

“It’s very clear this is an intentional space and that the artists’ wellbeing is at the forefront. Loghaven was a time of calm in what’s proven to be a busy last year for me, and I’m grateful for the work I accomplished here and am looking forward to continuing it outside of this space.” – Dantiel Moniz

“I have told my friends: ‘Please apply to this residency. I feel so supported and cared for here. The accommodations, studio space, generosity, and beauty of the environment are profound.'” – Jonathan VanDyke

Loghaven Artist Residency partners with The University of Tennessee’s School of Art to offer one graduate student a paid, live-work internship each year. The intern lives in subsidized campus housing and works at Loghaven and the Aslan Foundation. Below, this year’s Graduate Intern, Saloni Parekh, reflects on her experience at Loghaven during the 2023-2024 school year. We are happy to share that Saloni has accepted a position at Oberlin College where she will be teaching painting and drawing.

By Saloni Parekh

Over the last year, I have been the Loghaven Graduate Intern. I am a multidisciplinary visual artist. My practice spans a range of media, including painting, video, and sound. I explore the intricate aspects of the term ‘god,’ recognizing its historical, mnemonic, and emotional significance, addressing the inconsistencies contributing to societal divisions.

During my third year as an MFA student at the University of Tennessee, I landed a year-long live-work internship at Loghaven. Nestled in the woods, Loghaven provided a serene environment where I could start my mornings with meditation amidst nature. My on-campus house in the woods became a sanctuary, nurturing my creative process and enriching my thesis work throughout the year.

Reflecting on my time at Loghaven, I found it to be one of my most enriching experiences. Collaborating with a team dedicated to supporting artists and their endeavors was uplifting and gave me invaluable learning opportunities. I enjoyed various projects, from learning about the incoming artists to understanding Loghaven’s operations and applications and gaining insights into the review process.

Witnessing Sarah Swinford and Lynne Ghenov’s adept orchestration of the residency operations was profoundly inspiring. The empowerment I gained from observing these two women manage the residency was admirable and motivated me to pursue excellence in my endeavors.

We value the relationships we build with each artist during their residency. Whether they are formed when artists pop their heads into our staff office on the way to pick up lunch, at a studio visit, or around the ever-popular McDonough House espresso machine, we hope each artist feels a sense of care from our staff. When designing Loghaven’s program, one of our goals was to structure a program where the relationships we build with artists don’t end when the residency session comes to a close. We enjoy staying in contact with all our Fellows and provide multiple avenues for Fellows to engage with us.

We offer an annual spring call for Fellows, which includes opportunities to reconnect with residency cohort members, updates about Loghaven programs and facilities, and a career workshop led by an industry professional. We also regularly invite Fellows to be part of our annual application review panel. They work alongside other invited curators, artists, and arts administrators to select future Loghaven residents from our open application cycle.

Starting in 2022, we also implemented a new post-residency survey that all of our Fellows receive one year after their residency concludes. This survey asks Fellows about what the year held for them and how their Loghaven residency impacted their career in the last year. The survey also asks the residents if they would like to share any career news of the past or upcoming year.

We hope the hospitality we extend to artists can be felt upon arrival at the residency and as we continue to be in touch, championing them and their work.

Loghaven Artist Residency Announces thirty-three Awardees, including Jamel Brinkley, Cathy Linh Che, Nina Cooke John, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Dantiel W. Moniz, Mary Prescott, Andrew Schneider, and Jonathan VanDyke, and Many Others.

Knoxville, TN – November 14, 2023– Loghaven Artist Residency is delighted to announce its residency awardees from the summer 2023 Open Call for Applications. These artists were selected from over a thousand applications by a national panel of artists, writers, curators, performers, and other arts professionals based on the criteria of artistic excellence and creative potential. Artists will work and reside on the Loghaven campus, awarded the 2021 American Institute of Architects (AIA) highest honor for architecture.

Artists Participating in Loghaven Residencies from February 2024 – January 2025:

Performance
_Dave Cerf
_Catherine Galasso
_Alexander Gedeon
_DaEun Jung
_Adrienne Mackey
_Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez
_Jasmine Orpilla
_Karla Quintero
_Andrew Schneider

Writing
_S. Erin Batiste
_Jamel Brinkley
_Cathy Linh Che
_Jennifer Hope Choi
_Mita Mahato
_Dantiel W. Moniz
_Shruti Swamy

Architecture
_Nina Cooke John
_Tsz Yan Ng
_SILO AR+D

Music Composition
_Lisa Bielawa
_Isabel Crespo Pardo
_Rudresh Mahanthappa
_Alexander Noice
_Mary Prescott
_Dorian Wood

Visual Arts
_Amy Boone-McCreesh
_Mahwish Chishty
_Cameron Patricia Downey
_Mark Steven Greenfield
_Jennifer Wen Ma
_Gabriel Martinez
_Jonathan VanDyke

About Loghaven’s Fellows

Loghaven residency artists become Fellows after finishing their residency. Loghaven Fellows include Ann Carlson, Elgin Cleckley, Annie Gosfield, Anthony R. Green, Tsering Yangzom Lama, Aaron Landsman, NIC Kay, Angélica Negrón, Alethea Pace, Jessica Pavone, Michelle Peñaloza, Rone Shavers, and Hrag Vartanian.

To see a complete list of Loghaven Fellows, please go to the Artist page of the Loghaven website.

“I have so much gratitude for this experience and the incredible artists I got to spend time with.” – Jenny Xie

“This is the best residency I have attended. I will be recommending this residency to all of my artist friends/community. I would describe this residency as a peaceful, calm, and well-organized residency. The stipend helps tremendously… Loghaven is a residency where you are taken care of, fed and nurtured. It’s a space where you can reflect and deepen your craft…” – Amir Rabiyah

“I would recommend Loghaven wholeheartedly. My time here was productive, restorative, and inspiring (the latter in terms of location and the work of and conversations with other residents).” – Nicholas Boggs