We are seeking a visual artist/designer to assist in the completion of our educational signage project. 

About the Project

   Here at TLC Farm, we are re-embodying and re-weaving ancient stories of what it is to be alive. We take as our base operating principle the fact that all systems, and all elements of each system, are interconnected, and that the deepest knowledge and understanding comes from looking at a subject within the context of the greater whole(s) in which it is embedded.

   As a land-based project which is open to the public 6 days of the week, we have the need for accessible, thorough and comprehensive signage so that visitors to the land are able to self-educate.  We have been developing concepts and design ideas for 9 educational signs for the past several months, and are now ready to move into the finalized design & production process.

   In some ways, each sign on this tour is telling the same story: one of the great web of life in which we find ourselves suspended. That said, each sign focuses on a different aspect of the web, magnifying one piece of what knowledge and skills are necessary for humans to relearn in order to live in harmony with our Mother Earth.

About the Residency

   In exchange for 25 hours of work a week (at least 15 of which must be spent on the land sign project) we will offer you space for a tent on our land, the opportunity to live in a thriving land-based community and support around integration into and completion of the project.  We ask $5 a day for food, and would welcome you to arrive generally in May and to stay through the end of August, with a project completion deadline of no later than September 1st.

   We are looking for a person who both has a developed understanding of the concepts about which the signs are meant to educate – including colonialism, permaculture, earth-based spirituality, bioregionalism, organic gardening, natural building, watershed ecology, native rights, etc. – as well as the ability to translate these relatively complex concepts into a coherent series of interconnected images.  The balance of design work to art production in this residency is yet to be determined, and will develop as the summer and project progress.

How To Apply

   Please send electronic copies of the work you feel best represents your ability to undertake this project along with answers to the following questions to maralena@tryonfarm.org

1. Who are you?  What are you doing?  How does this project interface with and build upon the time you have already spent upon this earth?
2. Tell us about your experiences living in community.
3. Tell us about your relationship with the land.
4. How do you work collaboratively as an artist?  As a designer?
5. How would you illustrate, with minimal text, the concepts of globalization and re-localization?
6. How will you deal with potentially having to do your creative work in a shared-use space in which there might be meetings, children and a general feeling of scrappiness and DIYishness?
7. How will you deal with the dynamic of this being a position which requires a lot of self-direction and motivation within the context of the community having a clear idea of the product desired and already having put a lot of foundational work into the project?
8. Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

This camp is taught by Waldorf and Waldorf-inspired teachers on the land at TLC Farm and in the surrounding forest of Tryon Creek State Park. Each week children participate in exciting nature-based crafts and empowering activities such as gardening, food harvesting & preservation, cooking, herbal medicine making, crafting, natural building, woodworking, forest exploration, etc. They spend time each day with the farm animals, in the gardens and immersed in the forest, hearing stories and singing about the native plants, animals and traditions indigenous to this landscape.

As children begin to develop a stronger sense of who they are as individuals in the world, many questions naturally arise. They begin to discover the uniqueness of their personal relationship with their surroundings and can be fraught with confusion and feelings of disconnection if they aren't fully realizing their capabilities. Our rite of passage work honors pre-teenagers by challenging them with skills that are deeply satisfying and empowering. By building respect and trust for each other and our surroundings, a reserve of strength is established which can be drawn upon throughout life. The children are grouped by gender during rites of passage since they are becoming aware of and sometimes self-conscious of their differences (and similarities!). Our goal is to create safe and sacred space for asking questions and sharing ideas and stories. Examples of activities in this age group are shelter building, animal tracking, gardening, fire by friction, rope making, drumming, silent meditation, leadership and trust-building games, cooking, sewing, etc. The children in the rite of passage programs will sleep over at the farm on Friday night and may participate in a sauna. Camp will end on Saturday morning at 10am with a farm-fresh brunch that the children prepare for their families.

As children begin to develop a stronger sense of who they are as individuals in the world, many questions naturally arise. They begin to discover the uniqueness of their personal relationship with their surroundings and can be fraught with confusion and feelings of disconnection if they aren't fully realizing their capabilities. Our rite of passage work honors pre-teenagers by challenging them with skills that are deeply satisfying and empowering. By building respect and trust for each other and our surroundings, a reserve of strength is established which can be drawn upon throughout life. The children are grouped by gender during rites of passage since they are becoming aware of and sometimes self-conscious of their differences (and similarities!). Our goal is to create safe and sacred space for asking questions and sharing ideas and stories. Examples of activities in this age group are shelter building, animal tracking, gardening, fire by friction, rope making, drumming, silent meditation, leadership and trust-building games, cooking, sewing, etc. The children in the rite of passage programs will sleep over at the farm on Friday night and may participate in a sauna. Camp will end on Saturday morning at 10am with a farm-fresh brunch that the children prepare for their families.