MIXMASTER 2026 Juried Members Exhibition

Description

MIXMASTER 2026 Juried Members Exhibition

MIXMASTER is an annual juried exhibition that seeks to discover and recognize the talents of the Mattatuck Museum’s artist members working in New England and the Tri-State region. Initiated to support contemporary art and artists, MIXMASTER provides an opportunity for both established and emerging artists to debut their most recent work.

The juror for MIXMASTER 2026 is Laurel V. McLaughlin, PhD, the Curator and Director of the Collective Futures Fund at Tufts University Art Galleries. 

Exhibition:                         Sunday, January 18 – Sunday, February 22, 2026
Reception & Awards:        Sunday, January 18, 2026
Location:                           Mattatuck Museum, 144 W Main St, Waterbury, CT 06702
Prizes:                                First Prize: $500 and a solo show at the Mattatuck Museum in the fall of 2026
                                          Second Prize: $300
                                          Third Prize:  $200                                          Staff Selection: Upgraded membership to Director’s Circle membership level and all benefits ($500 value)                                          Visitor’s Award: Upgraded membership to Director’s Circle membership level and all benefits ($500 value)

Current Mattatuck Museum membership at any level is required at the time of submission. There is an additional $20.00 fee for each work submitted, with a maximum of three works allowed per artist. MIXMASTER is open to all New England, New Jersey, and New York residents. Please refer to Submission Guidelines and review eligibility before applying. 



JUROR: Laurel V. McLaughlin, PhD Laurel V. McLaughlin, PhD is a writer, curator, art historian, and educator, working as a Curator and the Director of the Collective Futures Fund at Tufts University Art Galleries. Her curatorial work focuses on contemporary research-based sculpture, installation, new media, and social practice works concerning formal liminalities, globalized migration, and ecological networks. McLaughlin has curated exhibitions Emilio Rojas: tracing a wound through my body; Bergman & Salinas: Against the General Good/ Contra El Bien General; Ulises: Assembly; Waste Scenes (featuring Maia Chao and Fred Schmidt-Arenales; and Mira Dayal: conjunctions, among others, and her curatorial work has been supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, and the Dutch Consulate of New York, and she is currently undertaking a 2022 Andy Warhol Curatorial Research Fellowship for a forthcoming exhibition How do you throw a brick through a window…(2025).

KEY DATES:
October 20, 2025: Submissions open on ArtCall.orgNovember 17,  2025: Deadline for submissions on ArtCall.orgNovember 24, 2025: Notification of selected works via ArtCall.org and on mattmuseum.orgDecember 2 - December 19, 2025: Delivery of accepted works: 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Friday at the Mattatuck Museum. Upon acceptance, artists will receive an email from Julie Francois, Art Bridges Fellow, at julie@mattmuseum.org to schedule drop offs
January 18, 2026: Reception and Opening CelebrationFebruary 22, 2026: Exhibition closes 

February 25 – March 13, 2026: Pick up work at the Mattatuck Museum, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. In early February, artists will receive an email from Julie Francois at julie@mattmuseum.org to schedule pick ups