The Windgate Artist in Residence is made possible through a generous grant from the Windgate foundation. The Windgate Foundation, based in Little Rock Arkansas, is a private foundation established in 1993 whose purpose is to advance contemporary craft and strengthen visual arts education in the United States. Education, health, and community initiatives are an additional area of focus in Arkansas.
About
The Windgate Artist in Residence at UA Little Rock is a semester-long residency program open to artists, designers, and craftspeople. This residency offers the selected applicant the opportunity to create work and engage with the School of Art and Design community, as well as the greater Little Rock community.
The primary goal of the residency program is to provide time to make and develop work, and the space to make it while interacting with our community. This program provides a $30,000 stipend, housing, funding for materials and travel, studio space, and access to UA Little Rock’s extensive studios.
The selected artist will have 24-hour access to a private studio and specialized areas including: a Woodshop equipped with a CNC and laser cutter, Ceramics Studio, Jewelry and Metalsmithing Studio, Smithy and Foundry, Photography Studio, and a Printmaking Studio.
Artists will interact with students through weekly open studio hours, studio visits, and in-class activities (artists will not be required to teach courses).
The Artist in Residence will run a minimum of one 2-day workshop for students during the semester. There are also opportunities for artists to teach paid workshops at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art’s Windgate Art School for those interested.
The Artist in Residence will give an artist talk at the Windgate Center of Art + Design and the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art. Participating artists give one work of art to be added to the Permanent Collection at UA Little Rock.
Current Artist in Residence – Fall 2025 – Spring 2026
Mark Joshua Epstein received his MFA from the Slade School of Fine Arts (London, UK), and a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University (Boston, MA). Solo shows include: Matéria Gallery (Detroit, MI), Turley Gallery (Hudson, NY), Asya Geisberg Gallery (NY, NY), Ortega y Gasset Projects (Brooklyn, NY), Ithaca College (Ithaca, NY), Vane Gallery (Newcastle, UK), and Biquini Wax Gallery (Mexico City).
Selected group shows include: Oakland University (Rochester, MI), Hexum Gallery (Montpelier, VT), Geary Contemporary (Millerton, NY), Gaa Gallery (Provincetown, MA), Marquee Projects (Bellport, NY), TSA New York (Brooklyn, NY), Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (Arlington, VA), Collar Works (Troy, NY), Good Children Gallery (New Orleans, LA), Monaco (St Louis, MO), Beverly’s (New York, NY) and Des Moines Art Center (Des Moines, IA).
A 2025 recipient of the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, Epstein has been an artist-in-residence at the Sharpe Walentas Studio Program (Brooklyn, NY), British School at Rome (Rome, Italy), the Fine Arts Work Center (Provincetown, MA), Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), Millay (Austerlitz, NY), Macdowell (Peterborough, NH), and other places. His work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Runner Magazine, Hyperallergic, Whitewall, Two Coats of Paint, New American Paintings, Art Maze, and Dovetail.
Epstein lives and works in a 130 year old brick church, in southeast Michigan. He is currently at work on an upcoming project at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, and a solo show at Cellar Contemporary Gallery in Trento, Italy.
Artist Statement
My studio practice is driven by a desire to formulate an abstract visual language that is embedded with markers of personal history and cultural identity. Recent works take the form of three-dimensional paintings and works on paper. The simultaneously discordant and harmonious shapes that play across the surfaces of my work encode reference points drawn from aspects of my Jewish and queer identities, inviting questions about the coordinates where they may intersect.
In my current sculptural paintings and works on paper, these entangled shapes are themselves echoes of those that appear in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Eastern European Jewish cut paper works. Made with laborious care by both amateur and professional artists, the central texts that they depicted are typically framed by intricate patterned borders, and were displayed in the home as both ornament and talisman. Taking inspiration from these works is a reclamation, one that seeks to revive a domestic history that was nearly erased by the Second World War. In responding to their forms, my practice envisions what might have been if once thriving Jewish communities in Europe had stayed intact.
A different vernacular of the home–the curvilinear forms of 1980s laminate furnishings–finds its way into my work through an even more personal link. This same furniture was sold by my Jewish, Polish-born grandfather in the store he co-owned on Long Island. In my youth, the stylized dressers and desks that were displayed on the shop floor imprinted on me, in all of their pastel, melamine glory, the wares he sold gave shape to my dreams of vibrant futures.
While these visual elements draw directly on my relationship to biological family and cultural tradition, the visualization of queerness in my work purposely eschews a straightforward correspondence to definitive forms. This stance reflects my commitment to exploring the inherent complexity of visibility politics through abstraction. The histories of queer and Jewish people alike are shaped by an awareness that obscuring markers of identity in certain situations is essential for survival. Strategic adaptation was, and remains, a vital strategy, and so the colored shapes that cloak these reliefs function in some way as camouflage that conceals their formal and conceptual armatures. Yet at the same time, these very systems of dissemblance can also serve as beacons, as invitations to new home places of refuge, solidarity, and possibility.
View our Past Artists in Residence.
How to Apply
Applications are now open for Fall 2026 & Spring 2027.
For full consideration, submit applications by March 12th 2026.
Application Links:
Fall 2026: https://uasys.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/UASYS/job/Little-Rock/Adjunct-Lecturer_R0081392
Spring 2027: https://uasys.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/UASYS/job/Little-Rock/Adjunct-Lecturer_R0081643
- You will need to set up an account with Workday through our site.
- “My Information”: Add your personal information
- “My Experience”: Only add your most recent position. There is no need to add everything from your CV as you will upload it later in the application.
- “Application Questions 1 of 3”: We can’t provide visas for international artists. If you are an international artist with a visa that lasts through the AIR make sure you say NO to question 2, “Will you now or in the future require sponsorship or other assistance to obtain employment authorization?”.
- “Application Questions 2 of 3”: answer questions.
- “Application Questions 3 of 3”:
- Upload Cover Letter
- Upload CV
- Upload a Document with a link to your portfolio. Our system has a very small limit. If using Google Drive, ensure your share settings are set to “anyone with the link” as a viewer.
- There are Three questions at the bottom of this page. Please note: Answering NO to any of these questions will disqualify you for this position:
- Do you have a college degree, certificate, or commensurate experience?
- Do you have evidence of active participation in exhibitions at the national or international level?
- Do you have experience with and commitment to working with diverse populations of learners?
- Complete the following application sections:
- Voluntary discloser
- Self identify
- Review and Submit
Qualifications:
Required Education and/or Experience:
- Active artistic practice
- Evidence of active participation in exhibitions at the national or international level
- Experience working with students at any level
Preferred Education and/or Experience:
- MFA, BFA, BA, or commensurate experience
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Being present for the duration of the residency (Fall: Aug. 15 – Dec. 15) or (Spring: Jan. 15 – May 15)
- Making artwork in the Windgate Center M-F (daily)
- Maintaining open studio hours (weekly)
- Giving a public artist’s talk (2 times)
- Running a 2-day workshop
- Critiquing BFA students
- Participating as a guest artist in relevant classes, leading an in-class activity (up to two times per semester)
- Attending welcome and farewell receptions
- Donating a work to the UA Little Rock’s collection
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Knowledge of artistic processes and media
- Knowledge of studio safety procedures
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Ability to teach
- Ability to effectively communicate and collaborate
- Willingness to engage in collaboration with faculty as a guest artist in their classes
- Willingness to engage with students and the broader community
Salary Information:
This position is awarded a stipend of $30,000 for the semester. The position has an additional $2,000 budget for materials and travel.
Required Documentation:
Important note: Please upload all of the following files to the field on the application that prompts you to upload your CV. You may submit them individually or as one large PDF. This is the only place on the application that allows file uploads.
- Letter of interest specifying qualifications and experience (cover letter)
- Curriculum Vitae
- Professional work samples to include a portfolio or link to an online portfolio (20 images maximum, with explanatory notes or captions. Upload all attachments as one PDF document)
- Names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of at least three references who can comment upon your experience and professional preparation