Artist in Residence Program
Featuring local artists from your community in the canton symphony orchestra Gallery
The Canton Symphony Orchestra Artist in Residence program was established to give local Stark County artists a chance to have pieces commissioned by a professional orchestral institution while also creating a visually engaging experience for our audiences. The CSO Gallery is a space where artists and music come together to bring the auditory world into the visual world. This residency is open to any visual artist from Northeast Ohio familiar with working in 2D mediums. The aim of this residency is to foster developing professional artists, and give the Canton community the opportunity to buy local. The Resident will work with CSO staff and musicians throughout their term to create 7-14 pieces, to be displayed in the Larry and Nancy Hoover Gallery and auctioned off throughout the year.
Interested in Applying? Applications for the 23-24 season residency are due by August 21, 2023. Please fill out the below form. questions can be directed to Caroline Eberhard, Manager of Education and Community Engagement, at ceberhard@cantonsymphony.org.
2023-2024 CSO ARtist in residence: Chrystal Robinson-Shofroth
Chrystal Robinson-Shofroth is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, event coordinator, Entrepreneur, Innovator, and activist. She has been involved in the Arts and Events industry for over fifteen years. She fights for art and specializes in innovation and inclusion in her Multidisciplinary Arts Experiences that enhance all of the senses. Chrystal is the owner of GhostRighterz Artist Services and Events, Ghosted Reality Fashion and Merchandise, Administrator of MoonShine Q Smoked Meats and Mobile Catering, Vice president and co founder FashionAlliance. She works hard to give artists from all backgrounds opportunities/platforms to exhibit their work, including artists experiencing financial hardships offering opportunities free to artists or on a sliding fee schedule.
Chrystal’s award-winning Avant Garde Multidisciplinary art is nationally exhibited, for the past 20 years, and her events have won awards including the Most Creative Production Award at Ohio Fashion Week, Mount Union ArtFest, Alina health, Inspiration Award, and the 2022 Coke a Cola Leader of Promise Award. Chrystal’s artwork and curatorial work often depicts socially engaged themes and aims to ignite change and advocate for inclusion and diversity. This April her career and advocacy in the disabled community was highlighted with Arts Possible in Columbus and she will be serving as a grant panelist with Ohio Arts Council.
2022-2023 CSO Artist in Residence: Ashley Palmer
Local artists bring new perspective to the symphony
Ashley Palmer, an artist from NE Ohio, has been involved in the arts her whole life. She has played the flute for over 16 years and has always been a Visual Artist. Ashley has continued to be involved in her artistic journey through building her business called Palmystree. Through this business, she creates commissioned artworks, teaches yoga, makes jewelry, and provides Tarot and Astrology readings. Much of her inspiration comes from the interconnectedness of all things—sounds, colors, beings, experiences, the planets, etc. She is also enjoys teaching art and assisting others with tapping into their own creativity. See her art at palmystree.com or @palmystree.
The works during her Artist in Residence with the Canton Symphony Orchestra are inspired by Synesthesia.
Synesthesia happens when one hears music and sees colors, shapes, or images. Her works will be deeply focused and centered around translating the sounds she hears within the pieces played this season into visual art.
2021-2022 Composer Portrait Project
A year-long art installation to bring composers and local artists to the front...
Classical music listeners often forget about the composers behind the sounds they hear. We sit and bask in the music without much knowledge of the people who put pen to paper to create symphonies, concertos, and more. If we stop for a moment to imagine the person composing, the image is usually a male composer that is older and white. This is not surprising. For many years, composers represented on stage were primarily white men. While there is nothing wrong with Beethoven or Bach, the composers of classical music are much more diverse.
In the summer of 2021, Rachel Hagemeier, CSO Manager of Education and Community Engagement, and Errick Freeman, visual artist, molded the idea for the Composer Portrait Project. This portrait project aims to help the patrons of Canton Symphony Orchestra visualize the people behind the music and showcase the diversity we do not realize is on stage. Before each concert, portraits of the composers featured on that concert are unveiled to the public. Errick brought together a group of local artists, Dauber Copse Fam (Errick Freeman, DaQuane Finley, & Payton Finley), to create art pieces on wood, 2’x4′ in size. Each portrait is unique, different in composition, and representative of the character of the composer. By the end of the 2021-2022 season, 24 composers filled the space of CSO’s gallery.