Friends of Salt Springs State Park

Specialist-in-Residence Program

The Specialist-in-Residence Program operates on a yearly basis and is designed to benefit both Salt Springs Park and the Specialist — artist, geologist, photographer, writer, historian. . . . The Friends of Salt Springs Park hope that specialists will explore the park’s rich geological and natural terrain, its unique heritage and history, and its beauty. Together, the Friends and the Specialist will design a specific goal to be achieved at the Park, including opportunities for public involvement and education.

Application Process

Send completed application to
Specialist-in-Residence Program
Friends of Salt SpringsPark
PO Box 541
Montrose, PA 18801
All applications must be received by February 1. Letters with details of the application process will be sent after the application is received.
Applicants will be invited to a Specialist-in-Residence Committee meeting to review the specialist’s work and to discuss the proposal.
The Committee will present its choice to the Board for approval. Candidates will be notified of the status of their application after the May board meeting.
After Board approval the Specialist will meet with the Board.

Click here for a printable application form.

2006 Specialist-in-Residence

Melissa Haertsch is a writer working in the genres of literary non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and children’s literature. She lives in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania with her children and a large family of animals. She thrives on music, gardening, hiking, and feeding people. You can also find her sitting by the fire or listening to the soothing conversation of chickens.

Melissa’s Specialist-in-Residence project will involve a poem cycle to be written at Salt Springs in the course of the year and two educational workshops open to the public, one for children and one for teens and adults. Participants will briefly examine the elements of nature-inspired poetry, take a hike to gather some mental material, and then return to the farmhouse to write a poem.

2005 Specialist-in-Residence

	Photographer Renee Coy was the Specialist in Residence in 2005. Renee is a life-long resident of Susquehanna County and appreciates the infinite beauty of the park. She is a graduate of Marywood College in Scranton and has worked as a photographer for the Scranton Times. She is proficient in traditional film photography as well as digital imagery and alternative creative processes. Renee’s work was exhibited in the Wheaton House during the annual Friends’ Salt Springs Celebration, and she held several photography workshops. Some of Renee’s photographs are used in notecards offered for sale at the park.

Renee’s studio, Sapphire Images, is located at 19 Public Avenue in Montrose. To contact Renee, call (570) 278-4504 or email reneecoy@gmail.com.	Penny Rock, 2005, purchased from Renee by the Friends for the permanent collection at the Wheaton House.

2004 Specialist-in-Residence

Rodrica Tilley, well-known local artist, was the first Specialist to take part in the Friends’ Specialist-in-Residence Program, which debuted in 2004. Over the course of the year, Rodrica produced a series of plein-air and studio paintings inspired by the vistas at the Park through the changing seasons. Rodrica hosted two public programs in the summer, a day of painting at the park and an introduction to field sketching art. In August and September, the Friends sponsored a three-week art exhibit of Rodrica’s Park-inspired paintings. The Friends were honored to have two of Ms. Tilley’s paintings purchased and then donated back to the Park. They hang in the Wheaton House, where the Friends hold programs and maintain their offices.


Little Red Barn. Pastel. 2004. Collection of the Friends of Salt Springs Park, Wheaton House.	Rodrica Tilley, 2004 Specialist-in-Residence. Ms. Tilley’s residency culminated in a three-week exhibition at the Wheaton House. Here, Ms. Tilley welcomes a full house on opening night, August 27, 2004. To view further examples of Ms. Tilley’s work, visit www.rodricatilley.com.

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