Artist in Residency Program

A year-long creative partnership bringing practicing artists and creative professionals into the everyday life of Xavier Art.

Learn Alongside a Working Creative Professional.

Xavier's Artist in Residency Program invites a practicing artist or creative professional to become part of the life of the Department of Art for a full academic year. Rather than arriving for a single lecture or workshop, the resident becomes a consistent presence in the department: creating, mentoring, listening, sharing experience, collaborating with students, and helping connect their creative education to opportunities beyond the classroom.

Rooted in Xavier's Jesuit mission, the program connects creativity, education, mentorship, and community. The goal is not simply to expose students to professional practice, but to give them meaningful access to someone who has lived a creative life and is willing to share that experience with them.

Mary Riffe

Mary Riffe Xavier Fine Arts Alumna Former Design Director Procter & Gamble Designer · Creative Leader · Mentor

2026–27 Artist in Residence A Career Built Around Creativity, Design, and People Mary Riffe is the inaugural Artist in Residence for the Xavier University Department of Art. A Cincinnati native and Xavier Fine Arts alumna, Mary brings more than three decades of experience in design, brand strategy, creative leadership, and mentorship. Mary spent 35 years at Procter & Gamble, where her career ranged across visual communications, trends and innovation, brand identity, packaging, retail, photography, digital and social media, experiential design, and creative direction. She most recently served as Design Director for P&G's Personal Health Care category, leading design strategy across brands including Vicks, VapoRub, NyQuil, Pepto-Bismol, Align, and Metamucil. Throughout her career, Mary became known not only for strong design thinking, but for building and empowering creative teams. Her work has consistently connected creativity with strategy, collaboration, communication, and problem solving. At Xavier, Mary brings that experience back to the place where her own creative life began. Her residency focuses on connecting with students, sharing lessons from a career in design, creating professional and community connections, and encouraging students to experiment, ask questions, take risks, and discover their own creative voices. LEARN MORE ABOUT MARY RIFFE

Inspired by an Experience That Stayed With Mary for a Lifetime.

The relaunch of Xavier's Artist in Residency Program has a personal connection for Mary. When she was an art student, artist Paul Chidlaw served as Artist in Residence at Edgecliff College, which later became part of Xavier University.

Chidlaw had studied and taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, traveled extensively, lived in Paris, spent time in Morocco, painted murals through the Works Progress Administration, and maintained a studio in Cincinnati's historic Rookwood building. But for Mary, what mattered most was not the résumé. It was his presence.

He walked around campus, told stories, critiqued student work, worked on his own paintings, joined conversations, and made himself available. Students could visit his studio, ask questions, or simply watch him work.

Mary has described realizing only years later what a gift that experience had been. The new residency program grows from that same idea: access to a creative professional can have an influence that a student may not fully understand until much later.

It's about giving students access to artists. It's about creating conversations. It's about mentorship. It's about opening doors.

A Year of Creative Connection.

Each residency develops differently according to the artist's expertise and the needs of Xavier students. Throughout the year, the resident becomes an active member of the department and helps create experiences that connect academic learning with creative practice and professional life.

A Dedicated Studio Inside the Department

The Artist in Residence has a dedicated studio in the Xavier University Department of Art, along with access to the department's studios, labs, galleries, and creative resources.

The studio is an important part of the program because it makes creative practice visible. Students do not encounter the resident only at scheduled events. They can see work developing, encounter ideas in progress, ask questions, and experience the rhythms of professional creative practice over time.

The Residency Begins by Listening.

One of the defining features of the program is that the resident does not simply arrive with a predetermined agenda. The residency begins by listening to Xavier students: what they want to learn, where they hope to go, what opportunities they need, and what they believe is missing from their creative education.

Early conversations with Xavier Art students identified a strong interest in internships, summer employment, portfolio development, study abroad, professional connections, interdisciplinary experiences, and greater engagement with Cincinnati's creative community.

Creativity Doesn't Stay in One Discipline.

The Artist in Residency Program is intentionally interdisciplinary. Residents may collaborate with programs across Xavier in areas such as design, marketing, philosophy, political science, history, education, science, entrepreneurship, experiential learning, and other fields.

Over time, those relationships can extend beyond Xavier into Greater Cincinnati through cultural institutions, nonprofits, businesses, civic partners, alumni, studios, and organizations working throughout the creative economy.

A Residency Connected to Place.

Residents are encouraged to engage with Xavier and with the cultural, historical, civic, and creative fabric of Cincinnati. The city itself becomes part of the residency: a source of ideas, collaborators, institutions, professional networks, stories, and opportunities for students.

These connections help students see their education not as something contained within campus, but as preparation to participate meaningfully in a larger creative community.

A Year of Work Becomes Visible.

The residency concludes with a public exhibition that brings together students, faculty, alumni, donors, creative professionals, and community partners.

The exhibition celebrates more than finished artwork. It provides a way to see the conversations, experiments, relationships, projects, and collaborations that developed throughout the year and to recognize the creative energy generated by sustained contact between an artist and a community of students.

Creative Practice in Service of Something Larger.

Help Create Opportunities for the Next Generation.

The Artist in Residency Program is designed to grow through relationships. Alumni, artists, designers, businesses, cultural organizations, community partners, and friends of Xavier Art can all help create meaningful experiences for students.

Support might take the form of an internship, mentorship, studio or company visit, guest lecture, collaborative project, professional connection, donated materials or equipment, financial support, or simply an introduction to someone who wants to invest in young creative professionals.

“I hope to encourage students to experiment, to ask questions, to take risks and to discover their own creative voices.”