Elevate your research or artistic aspirations with the prestigious 2026 Liana Paredes Fellowship Program at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. We invite passionate PhD candidates, accomplished scholars, and visionary visual artists to embark on an enriching journey into the heart of our unique institution.

Who Should Apply?

If your research or artistic exploration aligns with Hillwood’s diverse collections, gardens, or the inspiring personal story of our founder, Marjorie Merriweather Post, we encourage you to apply. Our fellowship program welcomes individuals from various disciplines, including, but not limited to:

• Art & Architecture: Unearth the intricacies of art and architectural history within our captivating collections.
• Visual Art: Let our extraordinary art collection ignite your creativity, allowing you to craft your own masterpieces. Alternatively, deepen your research by immersing yourself in the captivating treasures housed at Hillwood.
• Landscape & Interior Design: Discover the secrets of our enchanting gardens and rich interiors and the genius behind their design and furnishing.
• Archives and Special Collections: Access Hillwood’s unique archival collections, rare books, and other resources in our dedicated Collections and Research Center.
• Broader Study Areas: Engage with broader topics, such as the history of collecting, women collectors, and material culture.

Fellowship Types

Type 1: 1-2 weeks (housing is included)
Receive round-trip travel expenses, housing near campus; shop and café discounts; free access to public programs; a stipend of up to $600 (based on length of stay). 

Type 2: 3 weeks-1 month (housing is not included)
Enjoy round-trip travel expenses (including visa support, if needed), shop and café discounts; free access to public programs; a stipend of up to $1,500 (dependent on length of stay). International applications are eligible for Type 2 fellowship only. 

How to Apply

To apply, please complete the application form. Applications should include the following information:

• Curriculum vitae, resume, or link to an online portfolio
• Project proposal (up to 500 words) specifying your desired award type (Type 1 or 2), length of residence, preferred dates, materials to be utilized, and your project’s relevance to Hillwood’s collections, gardens, and exhibition programs. Furthermore, please emphasize the tangible outcomes your project aims to achieve and how it will foster connections with Hillwood or contribute to the broader arts community.

Our selection committee will evaluate materials based on their relevance to Hillwood’s collections and exhibition program, as well as project specificity, feasibility, and alignment with existing scholarship.

Application deadline: February 17, 2026
Notification of Acceptance: March 3, 2026

Don’t miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of Marjorie Merriweather Post’s legacy established on twenty-five acres of serene landscaped gardens and natural woodlands. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens boasts about 20,000 works of art, including European art collections with an emphasis on French and Russian cultures, as well as extraordinary jewelry, textile, fashion, and accessories collections. Our library, with over 38,000 volumes, and archives, housing the papers of Marjorie Merriweather Post, offer a treasure trove of knowledge.

Scholars will enjoy access to Hillwood’s rich art and research collections, subject to availability and staff support.

For inquiries and application submissions, please contact us at: [email protected]

Join the legacy of esteemed fellows and embark on your scholarly or artistic journey at Hillwood. Apply for the Liana Paredes Fellowship Program, and become part of our vibrant community dedicated to the exploration of art, history, and culture.

Hillwood is seeking applicants from all backgrounds and educational levels to ensure we have the best, most creative talent. We are an equal opportunity employer, and we encourage people who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, and people with marginalized identities to apply for fellowship opportunities. We strive to make the application process as accessible as possible. When applying, please do not hesitate to share what will make the process best for you. We cannot guarantee all accommodations; our team will make accommodations where possible with sufficient notice.

What Past Fellows Say

Every year, the Liana Paredes Fellowship Program selects scholars and artists to unlock the treasure of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, providing unparalleled access to our library and collections. Past fellows have used museum, library, and archival materials to inspire their artwork and support their studies on interesting and varied subjects.

The 2025 fellow, Nakeya Brown, reflected on her time at Hillwood: "With support from the collections, curatorial, archives, and special collections teams, I explored new ways to connect with objects and contextualize their histories as a researcher and artist. ... This interdisciplinary experience contributed to an evolving photographic series, Even beloved things move, which speculates on Black women's underrecognized histories in the world of objects through a biomythographic framework." 

2024 fellow Patience Williams, a lecturer of English at Howard University, commented, "Hillwood is a magical place to visit, but an even more glorious place to research. There were many gems I was able to discover within the archives, and the archivists are beyond experts in their respective fields. This entire experience was one of my greatest as a professor and writer, and I have the Liana Paredes Fellowship Program to thank for that."

Lens-based artist Redeat (Red) Wondemu, 2024 fellow, added, "My journey began with a visit to the library, where I explored various images and archival materials showcasing the gardens in their historical context. I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of how the garden has evolved, which would allow me to compare its past aesthetic to what it looks like now." Since that initial visit, Redeat actively photographed the gardens, "focusing on specific flowers...during key moments of garden change...shooting in black and white for its classic appeal [and]...experimenting with different types and sizes of color films..."

In 2023, MK Bailey, a Washington, D.C.-based artist shared, “The six weeks I was in residence at Hillwood’s idyllic grounds was transformative for my art practice. I spent the summer photographing the gardens, researching in the archives, and learning from staff members in different departments. Museum staff were unwaveringly generous with their time and resources, and I credit my residency at Hillwood as a major catalyst for my scholarly interest in the garden.”

In 2022, fellow Ann Glasscock, Associate Curator, Decorative Arts Specialist at the Taft Museum of Art, noted, "Conducting research at Hillwood is an art historian's dream. Each day, I was surrounded by beautiful works of decorative art, rare books and auction catalogues, and staff members that are knowledgeable, supportive, and incredibly welcoming. Invigorating afternoon walks in the gardens further awakened my senses, making for a truly wonderful experience."

In 2020, fellow Khamal Patterson, an attorney specialized in cultural property law, remarked, "My time at Hillwood was incredible. It was a privilege to work alongside such engaged and knowledgeable professionals...I am grateful to Hillwood and its wonderful staff for opening their doors to me and supporting my desire to learn how Hillwood grew into the respected and resplendent institution it is today."

In 2019, fellow Justin Willson, PhD candidate in art and archaeology at Princeton University, stated, "Hillwood is the ideal place for scholars of art history. The wonderful curatorial and library staff combined with the excellent collection of objects embedded in the layers of Marjorie Merriweather Post's life bring before one's eyes the intersection of biography with history and scholarly constructs. It was a pleasure to be able to enjoy the calm of the garden in the afternoons, and I felt sincerely welcomed and appreciated by all of my Hillwood colleagues. Washington is full of wonderful cultural institutions, and Hillwood is among the very finest."

In 2017, visual artist Roberley Bell reported, “The fellowship at Hillwood offered the perfect environment for realizing my ongoing project an object a day… My goal is to render a three-dimensional response to locale daily for the course of a specific block of time. Additionally, the desire to sum up each day by a color and single word, help to emphasize the sensory experiences of the day. The Gardens at Hillwood were the ideal surroundings for such research… During the small space of two weeks I was able to set up again and again, re arranging, re defining and re thinking the process by which I made visible an object a day as a direct response to place. Each iteration afforded new insight to my process both visually and conceptually. The numerous spontaneous conversations offered greater depth to my own understanding of my project. I am appreciative of the time and space the fellowship gave to me. I find these to be the two greatest gifts an artist can receive.” 

In 2016, fellow Andrew Nedd, professor of art history at Savannah College of Art and Design added, "I am very grateful to the Hillwood community for providing me with this valuable opportunity and for supporting my work during my visit. Everyone made me feel so welcome, and the library and curatorial staff were particularly helpful and obliging. The access I was provided to the works of art in the collection and to the library's resources are proving to be crucial to completion of my project."

Fellow Andrea Rusnock (2015), associate professor of art history at Indiana University South Bend remarked, "I want to thank you for the wonderful opportunity I had by being a Hillwood Scholar-in-Residence. It was a great experience for me to study actual objects firsthand and use the library resources. It is a valuable program and I am grateful to have been one of the first recipients of this important venture."

Past Awards

Nakeya Brown, 2025
Photographer, Washington, D.C.
Nakeya Brown's conceptual photography explores concepts of beauty, race, gender, and memory. During her fellowship, she conducted comparative object studies within Marjorie Merriweather Post's collection, created new still-life photographs, and researched women's 18th and 19th-century still-life paintings at the research center. Having an interdisciplinary experience supported new developments in her ongoing body of work, Even beloved things move.

Redeat (Red) Wondemu, 2024
Lens-based artist, Washington, D.C.
Wondemu’s practice revolves around the creation of long-form photographic series. This ongoing photography series, titled Flower Studies, has been a focal point of her artistic exploration. During her fellowship, Redeat delved deeply into Hillwood's collection, the gardens, and the library as she continues to develop and expand upon this series. She created a collection of garden photos and floral arrangements in different seasons. She envisions her project at Hillwood to add to her collection of handmade print installations and perhaps turn it into a photography book.

Patience Williams, 2024
Lecturer of English, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
Williams’ research connects with her academic interests focusing on letters and correspondence written by women. During her week as a fellow, Patience “was able to curate curriculum for [her] students at Howard University pertaining to high society and generational wealth—subjects they are very fond of.”

MK Bailey, 2023
Artist, Washington, D.C.
MK spent several weeks in the Collections and Research Center conducting research on formal gardens and found inspiration in Hillwood’s many outdoor spaces as well in the Collection. MK will exhibit artwork inspired in part by her time with Hillwood at the Washington, D.C. art gallery, Transformer.

Ann Glasscock, 2022
Associate Curator, Decorative Arts Specialist, Taft Museum of Art
During her fellowship, Ann researched the provenance of objects in the Fabergé collection (11.77.1-2, 11.30.1-2, 11.18, and 11.188).

Khamal Patterson, 2020 (rescheduled to 2021)
Attorney specialized in Cultural Property Law, MD
During his fellowship, Khamal researched the provenance of objects in the collection with a special focus on two silver Torah pointers (yads) (12.191 and 13.18).

Justin Willson, 2019
PhD Candidate in Art and Archaeology at Princeton University, NJ
Justin studies Byzantine and early Slavic art and aesthetics. At Hillwood, he examined a selection of the museum's early icons and the Avinoff-Shoumatoff holdings in the library collection.

Agnieszka Whelan, 2018 
Senior Lecturer in Art History at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA 
Agnieszka studied Hillwood’s tapestries designed by François Boucher (41.1, 41.2, and 41.3)  in relation to garden design.

Ashley Hannebrink, 2018
PhD candidate at Harvard University, MA 
Ashley’s dissertation is titled “Living with the Past: Antiquity and Sculptural Production in mid- to late 18th-century France.” She studied a selection of eighteenth-century French marble sculptures of classical subjects from Hillwood’s collection, with the goal of attributing them to specific sculptors.

Roberley Bell, 2017 
Visual artist from Batavia, New York
Roberley studied Hillwood’s gardens and collections, each day selecting an image, word, and color that would inform the creation of an “object of the day.” It is her hope, and ours, that these studies will go on to inform the work she produces in the coming months and years.

Yelena Harbick, 2017
International Director, Russian Fine and Decorative Arts, Bonhams, New York
While at Hillwood, Yelena examined and studied three of Hillwood’s masterpieces of Russian works of art (32.22, 15.202, and 15.205).

Jill Martiniuk, 2016
Lecturer, Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, University of Virginia
Jill examined Hillwood's collection of icons that depict Mary as a figure that both mourns and relieves others of their grieving for her research titled "An Inconsolable Grief: The Feminization of Grief and Mourning in Russian Literature and Visual Arts."

Andrew M. Nedd, 2016
Professor, Art History Department, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
Andrew studied Hillwood’s collection and library holdings related to his research project titled "Defending Russia: History Through Pictorial Narratives of the Patriotic War, 1812-1912."

Julia Landweber, 2015
Assistant Professor of European History and of Women’s and Gender Studies, Montclair State University
Julia focused on Hillwood's collection of eighteenth-century coffee, tea, and chocolate services for her research titled "Embracing the Queen of Beans: How Coffee was Adopted into French Medicine, Fashion, and Diet, 1660-1789."

Andrea Rusnock, 2015
Associate Professor of Art History, Indiana University, South Bend
Andrea studied the museum and library's collection of Russian imperial needlework and textiles to support her projects titled "Russian Needlework in the Life of Imperial Elite Females" and "Old Stitches/New Patterns: Russian Fin-de-Siècle Needlework and Imperial Culture."