Bristol Art Museum Announces National Call for Collage for Torn Boundaries

The Bristol Art Museum announces a national call for collage for Torn Boundaries, a juried exhibit inviting artists to examine the boundaries that define, separate, connect and sometimes divide us. The exhibition will be on view from Sun., Jan. 31, through Thurs., April 1, with an artist reception on Sun., Feb. 7, from 2 to 4 p.m. Francine Weiss, Ph.D., will serve as juror for the exhibit. 

“Collage is uniquely suited to exploring boundaries because its very process depends on separating, layering and bringing disparate elements into new relationships,” said <ary Dondero, Museum Curator and Board member. “Through Torn Boundaries, we invite artists to challenge familiar divisions and help us see identity, place and one another from new perspectives.”

Artists residing throughout the United States are invited to submit work that explores boundaries, physical or psychological, personal or cultural, geographic or political, historical or imagined. These boundaries may define the edge of a body, place, image or identity, or shape our understanding of where one thing ends and another begins.

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

The exhibition welcomes collage that considers edges both visible and invisible—and the boundaries that influence how we understand ourselves, one another and the world around us.

About the juror
The exhibition will be juried by Francine Weiss, Ph.D., an artist, art advisor and museum professional with more than 20 years of experience. She has held curatorial positions at the National Gallery of Art, Harvard Art Museums, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, Photographic Resource Center and Newport Art Museum.

Weiss holds a doctorate in American art and the history of photography from Boston University. Her photographs, mixed-media works and drawings have been exhibited nationally and internationally. She currently serves as director of the Vanderbilt University Museum of Art and lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee.

Submission information
Artists must reside in the United States and be at least 18 years old. Each artist may submit up to three original artworks for consideration  The deadline for online submissions is midnight on Sunday, November 29, 2026. Notifications will be sent by email through OnlineJuriedShows.

Submitted artwork may not exceed 40 inches in either direction. Diptychs and triptychs will be treated as one work. Unframed work may be submitted if it includes clips, magnets or another appropriate hanging system.

Each submission must include a brief artist statement of no more than 200 words describing the artist’s creative process and the ideas or concepts informing the work. Digital images must be submitted as JPG files under 4 MB in the sRGB color space. For best results, images should measure at least 1,920 pixels on the longest side at 72 dpi.

Accepted artwork must arrive at the Museum by Friday, January 15, 2027. Hand-delivered work will be accepted at the Museum, 10 Wardwell St., Bristol, on Thursday, January 14, from noon to 3 p.m. and Friday, January 15, from noon to 3 p.m.

Artists may offer their work for sale. Sales will be arranged directly between the artist and collector, and the Museum will not take a commission.

Cash awards will be announced.

For complete submission requirements and to enter, click here.

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