National Juried Exhibition

Bristol Art Museum Announces a National Call for Collage

Torn Boundaries

On View: Sunday, January 31 – Thursday, April 1, 2027
Artist Reception: Sunday, February 7, 2027 | 2:00–4:00 p.m.

Torn Boundaries invites artists to explore the boundaries that define, separate, connect, and sometimes divide us. Boundaries can be physical or psychological, personal or cultural, geographic or political, historical or imagined. They can define the edge of a body, a place, an image, an identity, or shape our understanding of where one thing ends and another begins.

Collage offers a powerful means of questioning these boundaries. Through cutting, tearing, layering, juxtaposition, fragmentation, and recombination, artists can disrupt established relationships and create new ones. What happens when an edge is crossed, a border is redrawn, a familiar image is removed from its context, or the boundary between body and world is disrupted?

Torn Boundaries welcomes collage that considers the edges both visible and invisible. Boundaries that shape how we understand ourselves, one another, history, culture, place, and the world around us.

Cash Awards: TBA

Juror: Francine Weiss

Francine Weiss, Ph.D. is an artist, art advisor, and museum professional. Her over 20 years of professional experience includes curatorial positions at the National Gallery of Art, Harvard Art Museums, deCordova Sculpture Park, Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, Photographic Resource Center, and Newport Art Museum. She holds a Ph.D. in American art and the history of photography from Boston University. Her photographs, mixed-media works, and drawings have been exhibited at the Bristol Art Museum, Waterfire Arts Center, Griffin Museum of Photography, Leica Gallery (Boston), Rhode Island Center for Photography, Danforth Art Museum, Cambridge Art Association, Overlap Gallery, ArtsWorcester, Center for Fine Art Photography, Photosynthesis Gallery, Somerville Toy Camera Festival, Bromfield Gallery, Espace Canopy (Paris), and Municipal Academy of Waregem (Belgium). Currently the Director of the Vanderbilt University Museum of Art, Francine lives and works in Nashville, TN.

Submission Criteria

• Up to three pieces may be submitted:

• $25 for the first entry
• $35 for two entries
• $45 for three entries.

• Submitting artists must reside in the USA and be at least eighteen years old.
• The deadline for online submissions is midnight, Sunday, November 29, 2026.
• Notifications will be announced by email from “Online Juried Shows”.
• All work must arrive at the Museum via UPS by Friday, January 15^th
• Exhibit is on view Sunday, January 31 – Thursday, April 1, 2027.
• Images submitted must be jpg, under 4 mb, and in sRGB colorspace. For best results, images should be at least 1920 pixels on the longest side @ 72 dpi.
• For help with your entries, contact onlinejuriedshows@gmail.com or 888-666-1351.

The Artwork

• Artists are invited to submit artworks no larger than 40” in either direction.
• Diptychs and triptychs are treated as one work.
• Unframed works accepted if presented with clips, magnets, or alternative hanging systems.
• All work must arrive by UPS, United Parcel Service.
• All work must be original.
• Each artist may submit up to three artworks for consideration.
• All decisions by the juror are final.
• Please include a brief artist statement (200 words maximum) describing your creative process and the ideas or concepts informing the submitted work.
• Work received must be accurately represented by images submitted online.
• Artists may make their works available for sale. All sales of artwork are negotiated between the artist and the collector. No commission is taken by the Museum. The Museum will provide all collectors with the artist contact information.    

Shipping or In Person Delivery & Drop-Off

• Artist must agree to ship artwork via UPS
• All accepted artworks that are shipped must arrive at the Museum via US Postal Service by Friday, January 15^th.
• All accepted artworks that are hand delivered must arrive between Noon and 3:00pm on Thursday, January 14^th or Friday, January 15^th - 10 Wardwell Street, Bristol, RI 02809
• Return of work. Artist MUST include a prepaid return label with their original packaging.

Jury Process

• All work will be juried using the online images submitted by artists.
• All juror’s selections are final
• The Museum carries insurance for the artwork while it is in the building, not while in transit.

Pick Up of Art Work

• Hand delivered artwork must be picked up at the Museum on Monday April 5, Between noon and 3:00pm
• Artwork cannot be stored at the Museum beyond the end of the exhibit.