Digital Art Salon: Rendered Realities - Between Worlds

Description

Digital Art Salon 2026: Rendered Realities - Between Worlds  
Exhibit

Create Appalachia invites Appalachian artists to submit works for our 5th annual exhibit featuring digital art.
How will you express this year's theme: Rendered Realities - Between Worlds?
In a time where our lives unfold across both physical and digital spaces, artists are uniquely positioned to explore the intersections of tradition and technology, landscape and interface, memory and innovation. 
Rendered Realities - Between Worlds invites artists to examine how digital tools shape the way we see, construct, and inhabit our world. What does it mean to live between the tactile and the virtual? Between heritage and possibility? Between the mountains we know and the versions we reimagine through pixels, code, and light? 
The exhibit seeks work the explores these layered spaces - where identity, culture, environment, and imagination meet at the threshold of transformation.  Works may be submitted in most forms of digital media including but not limited to: Digital and Video: short film, video, animation, game art,digital illustration, graphic design, photography, 3D prints; and morePLEASE NOTE: this is for aphysical gallery, and for digital display. The work may be digitally rendered, but will be displayedas a physical piece in our space. Films and animations will be displayed on monitors. No digital submissions longer than 2 min.

Rendered Realities - Between Worlds will be displayed in the gallery at: 

Create Appalachia Kingsport Center for Art & Technology

225 W. Center St., Suite 115 Kingsport, TN 37660

Important Dates

Submission Deadline: May 22, 2026

Notification of selected artists: May 24, 2026, By 9:00pm

Drop off dates: Thursday, May 28th, 5:00pm - 7:00pmSaturday, May 30th, 10:00am - 2:00pm

**Physical work must be dropped off in person**

Exhibit Opening: Thursday, June 4th

Open House Reception: Thursday, June 4th, 6:00pm-8:00pm

Exhibit Closing: August 14th

Artwork Pickup: Saturday, August 15th 10:00am - 2:00pm, or Tuesday, August 18th 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Entry Fee: $30 for up to 3 submissions; if the works are part of a series, please note the series name in your submission. Artists may enter more than three works, but each additional set of 1-3 files will require an additional $30 fee.

Presentation: 2D artworks accepted into the show must be delivered ready to hang. 3D artworks & installations must be accompanied by detailed instructions & reference photos. New media, sound, and video work should be sent as .mp4 or .mp3 files. If you are including equipment necessary to display the work (digital frames, I-pads, min-projectors, etc.) please let us know ahead of time.

OUR DEFINITION OF READY-TO-HANG: 2D artwork must be wired or otherwise ready to hang so it is easy to secure on our gallery walls. Create Appalachia utilizes a track hanging system with various hook sizes. We prefer works with secure wires. Claw tooth, cardboard, or triangle hooks are NOT recommended as they often do not accommodate our hooks. No magnets or loose paper items. NOTE: Work that does not meet these specifications will not be included in the exhibit. If you have questions about how to meet our specs, please email cher@createappalachia.org for more information.

Pickup/Drop off: Please be respectful of our pickup and drop off dates and hours. Artists are expected to make arrangements to drop their pieces off and pick them up again on the scheduled dates and during scheduled hours. Please check these dates carefully before submitting your files to make sure that you or a designee can meet our deadlines. We are a non-profit gallery run by volunteers and cannot accommodate special requests for alternate dates and times.

Shipping/Delivery: Accepted works must be dropped off in person and picked up in person. Works can be shipped to Create Appalachia but the artist must make prior arrangements by emailing MercyBerryMB@gmail.com. All shipped work must include return shipping labels and the artist will pay all expenses. If there is no return shipping label, the artwork will not be returned. (See policy on unclaimed artwork, below.)

Sales: Create Appalachia will retain a 30% commission on all works sold. Please price your work to include the commission in your total retail price. Payment for works sold will be made to artists within 30 days of the close of the exhibit or sooner. All works submitted will be for sale unless marked “not for sale” (NFS). 

Unclaimed work: Artwork left for more than 30 days after the last pickup date will become the property of Create Appalachia and will be sold (with no commission to the artist) or otherwise disposed of. Thank you for understanding that we have very limited space and cannot accommodate storage of art works.

Liability: We take great care to ensure the safety of your artwork while in our possession. The gallery will be responsible for loss or damage for the value that the gallery owes the artist for the work if it had sold. Liability will be limited to the payment that our insurance company pays for such loss.

Submitting Images: Files must be titled with last and first name and title (Sample: DoeJoe-Title.jpg). Please submit as JPGs with a resolution of 1000 pixels in the long dimension. Please note that any accepted work not accurately represented by the entry submission may be rejected.

 Not sure how to enter on this site?  There is a video tutorial below: