The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 to participate in the nine-week intensive summer program. Admissions decisions are announced in April. The school provides participants with housing, food, and studio space, and the campus offers a library, media lab, and sculpture shop, among other amenities. The tuition for the program is $6,000, however, aid is available.

Gregory Coates is an African-American artist known for working in the realm of social abstraction. Coates also works in three-dimensional formats including wall sculpture, sculpture in the round, installation art, and public sculpture, and less frequently in video and performance.