2026 Mid-Atlantic Juried Show
You are invited to apply to be a part of McGuffey Art Center’s Second Annual
Mid-Atlantic Juried Show!
McGuffey Art Center is located in downtown Charlottesville, VA and is one of the oldest artist-run cooperative art centers in the country. The show will take place April 3 - April 25, 2026 in the historic elementary school building that is McGuffey’s home and will feature an opening reception on Friday, April 3, 2026, 5:30 - 7:30pm.
Any artist residing in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, or North Carolina may enter. All work must be original and completed within the last three years.The competition is open to the following categories: painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, fiber, sculpture and mixed media. 2-D entries should not exceed 8 feet in any direction. No entry that requires the artist to be present for moving or assembly will be accepted.
Questions? please email
All entries must be submitted via CaFÉ
ENTRY FEE
A non-refundable application fee of $35.00 covers up to three (3) submissions per artist.
Payment can be made securely online through CaFÉ. Payment options with CaFÉ include credit cards, PayPal, and check. McGuffey Art Center Association Member Fee: $25.00. Please contact the front office for the coupon code.
INSURANCE
McGuffey Art Center is not responsible for theft or damage of artwork from any cause whatsoever. Artists should insure their own work. McGuffey will not be responsible for insuring work in transit or on exhibit or for works unclaimed after date specified in contract.
DELIVERY OF ACCEPTED WORK
Entries may be shipped or hand-delivered to:
McGuffey Art Center
201 2nd St., NW
Main Office, 1st Floor
Charlottesville, VA 22902
phone: (434) 295-7973
mac@mcguffeyartcenter.com
Shipped entries must be sent in reusable containers (no packing peanuts) with return shipping label enclosed. Works selected for exhibition must either be delivered in-person or shipped PREPAID between March 26 - 28.
If shipping, please make certain that the shipper is aware that the art center can only accept delivery during open hours (Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-6pm; Sunday 1pm-5pm).
A $15 handling fee is required from each artist that gets accepted to the show. If shipping, please include a check made payable to McGuffey Art Center. If dropping off in-person, you are welcome to pay by check or by credit card at the front desk.
McGuffey Art Center reserves the right to reject, upon additional review, work deemed not to have been accurately reflected in original submission images.
RETURN OF ARTWORK
Exhibited work may be picked up in person from April 26 - 29 during McGuffey’s public open hours. McGuffey will not be responsible for work not claimed by date above.
Shipped work will be returned in the method it was received, unless otherwise specified by the artist. All shipping costs and liability for damage are the responsibility of the artist. Return shipping labels must be included in packaging material.
SALES
All of the works are available for purchase unless designated “Not for Sale” at the time of entry. Artists receive 65% of the sale price of their art. McGuffey receives 35% of the sales price. For sold work, a check will be mailed to artists a few weeks after the show end date.
AGREEMENT
Submission for a work of art to this exhibition shall be understood to indicate an agreement on the part of the entrant, with all conditions set forth, including permission for reproduction in general publication, newspapers, and social media. By entering the show you are agreeing to the statements set forth in the prospectus.
JURORS
Acceptance of work is decided by the jurors. All decisions of the jury are final.
Criteria used by the jurors to evaluate each submission may include, but are not limited to:
• Artistic Voice / Vision – design, creativity, originality
• Technical Execution – technique / skill, mastery of materials
MID-ATLANTIC JURIED SHOW 2026 JURORS
Maya Brooks
Maya Brooks is the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh and Winston-Salem. She received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her M.A. in History from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Karen E. Milbourne, PhD
Karen E. Milbourne, PhD, is the J. Sanford Miller Family Director of The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia. She previously served as Senior Curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, where she also held leadership roles in knowledge production. Earlier in her career, she was Associate Curator of African Art at The Baltimore Museum of Art and Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Kentucky.
A specialist in contemporary African art and the arts of western Zambia, Milbourne has curated major exhibitions including Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa (2013), I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa (2019), and From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson (2023–24). Her scholarship appears in leading journals and exhibition catalogues, and she has received fellowships and awards including the Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize, AAMC Award for Curatorial Excellence, and a Fulbright Fellowship.
She earned her PhD in Art History from the University of Iowa and serves on boards and committees including AWARE (Archives of Women Artists, Research, and Exhibitions) and the Lusaka Contemporary Art Center.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Call opens: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Deadline for entries: Thursday, January 15, 2026
Notification of decision sent to artists: Sunday, February 15, 2026
Receiving accepted work: Late March (exact dates TBD)
First Friday Opening Reception: Friday, April 3, 2026
Show closes: Saturday, April 25, 2026
Ship returns/In-person pick up:
Sunday, April 26, 2026 (1-5pm)
Monday, April 27, 2026 (TBD)
Tuesday, April 28, 2026 (10am-6pm)
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 (10am-6pm)
