Statewide Emerging Artists Annual 2026

Description

Bountiful Davis Art Center Presents:
Statewide Emerging Artists' Annual
Call for Artwork Submissions
Submissions Open:  May 5 - July 20, 2026 open till 11:59PM
Location: Bountiful Davis Art Center, 90 N Main Street, Bountiful, UT 84010

The Statewide Emerging Artists' Annual is a competitive juried exhibition celebrating the outstanding creativity and potential of Utah’s emerging artists. Open to current BFA or MFA students and artists who have had five or fewer solo exhibitions, this show highlights the vibrant voices shaping the future of contemporary art. All submitted works must have been created within the past two years.
This exhibition features a diverse range of artistic disciplines, including traditional painting, sculpture, installation, and new media. Each year, BDAC invites guest jurors to curate the exhibition and select three outstanding works to receive unrestricted cash awards. For 2026, our juror is Christopher Lynn.
The artist selected for Best in Show will also be offered a solo exhibition at BDAC in 2027.
The preliminary round is ONLINE ONLY. Artists accepted into the exhibition will be notified by August 14, 2026. Accepted artists will be asked to bring their work in person to the BDAC. The jurors will then select award winners from the accepted pieces.

How to ApplyBefore submitting artwork, each artist must create a profile on ArtCall.org. Click the "Register and Apply" button to set up your account and begin your submission.Each $20 registration fee allows you to submit up to three (3) artworks, with up to three (3) images per piece. The first image uploaded will be the primary one viewed by the jurors.Applications must include the following:Artist Statement: 350 - 500 wordsArtist Bio: 100-200 wordsCV: up to 5 pagesHigh Resolution Images: 1-3 high resolution images of your piece (1500 px on the longest side, 10MB max per image)Entry registration fee: $20 (All fees are non-refundable.)All works must be original, completed within the past two years, and must not have been previously exhibited at BDAC. Selected pieces must be delivered ready for installation—dry, properly framed, and presentation-ready. All two-dimensional works must be equipped with D-rings and wire for hanging. Artwork that does not meet these criteria may be declined at drop-off.
Please label all pieces clearly with the artist’s name and artwork title.
Submissions in all media are welcome, including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, installation, printmaking, mixed media, fiber arts, digital media, performance, video, and new media.

Important Dates
Please note the following dates:
Applications open: May 5, 2026
Applications close: July 20, 2026 (at 11:59 pm)Jurying process:  July 21 - August 11, 2026
Artists are notified: August 14, 2026 (via email)
Artwork drop-off for accepted artist only: Saturday August 29 from noon to 5 pm and Tuesday September 1 from 10 am to 6 pm.Exhibition installation: September 2 - September 10, 2026
Exhibit on view: September 11 - November 13, 2026
Opening reception: Friday, September 11, 2026 @ 6-8pm. Awards announced at 7pm. Family and friends are welcome.Artwork pick-up: November 14 and 17, 2026 during business hours. Artists who do not retrieve their work or coordinate a pickup with Exhibitions Director Sara Serratos (by phone (801) 295-3618 or at sara@bdac.org) will incur a storage fee. Due to limited space, BDAC is unable to hold artwork beyond the designated pickup period.

About the Juror:
Christopher Lynn (lives/works in West Valley City, Utah) is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, writer, and educator. His work has been shown at The Holland Project: Serva Pool Flux, Reno, NV; Kunsthalle Below, Germany; Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA), South Korea; I Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel, Switzerland; North Art, Auckland, NZ; Alfred University, NY; Mess Hall, Chicago; Dorsch Gallery, Miami, FL (now Emerson Dorsch); Hedge Gallery, Cleveland, OH; American Greetings, Cleveland, OH; Thomas Nelson Community College’s Visual Art Gallery, Williamsburg, VA; Finch Lane Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT; the Rio Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT; Southern Utah Museum of Art, Cedar City, UT; and The Flat File, Salt Lake City, UT. He was a 2017 Peripheral Vision Publication Fellow and a 2025 Utah Artist Fellow.

He has also been the gallery director for the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College, Chicago; assistant curator for galleries and museums at DePauw University; and executive director of the Gallery of Contemporary Art at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. From 2008 to 2013, he was the executive director of SPACES in Cleveland, OH where he worked with artists such as Steve Lambert, Temporary Services, William Pope.L, Jon Rubin, Machine Project, Efrat Klipshtien, Arzu Ozkal, Ben Kinsley and Jessica Langley, and many other great people. He is currently Associate Professor of Historical, Critical, and Cultural Studies in Art at Brigham Young University.

His most recent curatorial projects were for the Journal for Transnational American Studies and SPRING/BREAK Los Angeles. His writing has appeared in the Miami Art Exchange, New Art Examiner, 15 Bytes, Temporary Art Review, the Journal of the Utah Academy, the Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, and Wicked Arts Assignments.

Find more information on our website. 

Note: All submitting artists must register for a free Art Call account. If you need help registering for an account, please watch the YouTube video linked at the bottom of this page. 
If you need additional help with registering for an account, please watch the YouTube video linked at the bottom of this page. How to create an ArtCall.org profile

Detailed Instructions on How to Create an ArtCall.org Profile (Required for submitting artwork.)