Update on Our Artists in Residence

As the new year rolls around, our Artists in Residence (Jess Dunn and Michael Moskaliuk) have been reflecting on their favorite moments of their first year working with the Crown Hill Foundation. From their initial artist talk, to the summer solstice workshop, to Behind Closed Doors and Homeschool day, they have enjoyed connecting with Crown Hill’s community. Over the past year, Jess and Michael have learned so much about the cemetery and Foundation through attending public tours, participating in tombstone preservation, and getting to know the docents and Crown Hill Foundation.

They ended the year with the Winter Solstice Audiovisual Concert set in the Gothic Chapel. The concert transformed the chapel interior with light and projection for three electronic music performances that night. It was a huge hit that brought light on the shortest day of the year, and it’s sure to happen again.

Their main project, Resting Place, is a documentary film incorporating research, time lapses, footage, music, and other artwork/animation, which they worked on throughout 2025. Each week, they visited the cemetery to photograph around 30 specific locations for time lapse animations. They started most of these on January 1, 2025. With the new year, it is coming full circle on these animations, which show the cemetery in all the elements. Rain or shine, snow or ice, the seasonal shifts at these locations show the special experience of the passage of time. Over 600 hours have been put into these time lapses, and we are so excited to share the completed animations soon. Stayed tuned for the viewing of the project in 2026.

The Foundation looks forward to working with Jess and Michael again in 2026 for more workshops, artistic expression, and creative engagement. For the Foundation Staff, their favorite activity conducted by our Artists in Residence was the coloring activity at our annual Home School Day. Check out the time lapse of the little hands coloring Crown Hill.