The Arts & Culture Alliance announces a call for entries for the 20th annual National Juried Exhibition, developed to provide a forum for artists to compete on a national scale and display their work in downtown Knoxville. Approximately 40-50 fine art works encompassing all styles and genres from both emerging and established artists will be comprise the exhibition in the Emporium Center from February 6-28, 2026. Prizes include $1,800 in cash awards.
Artists may find more information and an online entry form at https://www.knoxalliance.com/nje-entry.
The deadline for entries is Sunday, December 14, 2025.
Entries must be original and completed within the last two years (2024-2025) in 2-D and 3-D (such as painting, watercolor, pastel, drawing, sculpture in any medium, jewelry, collage, printmaking, photography and digital media). Artwork created in whole or in part using any artificial intelligence system is not eligible.
New this year! The juror will offer a few lines of feedback to artists who opt-in for an additional $7.50.
Based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, juror Christina Renfer Vogel holds an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. Rooted firmly in perceptual painting, her work reflects direct encounters and everyday exchanges in her environment. Recent still life paintings explore intersections between work, life, and the studio. She has been featured in solo exhibitions at Spalding Nix Fine Art (Atlanta, GA) and the David Lusk Gallery (Nashville, TN), and her work was included in the 2021 Atlanta Biennial at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (Atlanta, GA). Vogel’s work has been shown at the Asheville Art Museum (Asheville, NC), LABspace (Hillsdale, NY), and The Painting Center (New York, NY). She has participated in artist residencies including the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Amherst, VA), and JSS in Civita (Civita Castellana, Italy). Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, and she is a recipient of an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant and a Lighton International Artists Exchange Program grant, among other awards. She is currently a member of Zeuxis, an association of still life painters. Vogel serves as a professor of painting and drawing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Instagram @christinarenfervogel
For more information, please contact Suzanne Cada at (865) 523-7543 or sc@knoxalliance.com.
**PICTURED: Artwork from National Juried Exhibition of 2025