The Woodmere Annual: 83rd Juried Exhibition

The Woodmere Annual exhibition presents the work of Philadelphia’s contemporary artists. Each year, a different juror prepares a call for artists, soliciting submissions related to a distinct theme or idea. This year’s juror, Ron Tarver, invites makers to submit works that reflect on the theme of Family.

**Artwork submissions will open on MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2026. Please follow us on social media (@woodmereart) for the latest updates, or visit this website page for more information.

Call to Artists

Family can be an inheritance, a chosen community, a structure of care, a site of rupture, or even a collection of salient objects. Definitions of family may be intimate or expansive, encompassing close personal bonds and broader conceptions of collective family across time and place.

For Woodmere's 83rd Annual Juried Exhibition, presented in dialogue with the exhibition Arc of Promise, celebrating the USA's 250th anniversary, the juror invites artists to submit works that engage the theme of family. How do families shape individual and collective identities, including national ones? How can ideas of kinship, responsibility, and belonging contribute to nation-building?

Artists working in all media are encouraged to apply. As part of the submission process, applicants will be asked to share a word or brief statement describing what "family" means to them, which may be incorporated into the exhibition.

About the Juror

Ron Tarver has spent nearly 50 years creating photo essays on subjects from double-Dutch jump rope to the 1980s crack epidemic, Black architecture, veterans, and cowboys. His recent work appropriates his father's midcentury photographs to address today's racial climate.

Tarver holds a BA from Northeastern State University and an MFA from the University of the Arts. His honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Pew Fellowship, two Independence Foundation Fellowships, and NEA funding. As a Philadelphia Inquirer staff photojournalist for 32 years, Tarver shared the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for documenting school violence and received three additional Pulitzer nominations, plus awards from World Press Photos, Society of Professional Journalists, and National Press Photographers Association.

His work has appeared in National Geographic, Life, Time, and other major publications. He co-authored We Were There: Voices of African American Veterans (Harper Collins, 2004) and The Long Ride Home: Black Cowboys in America, which debuted as Amazon's number one release in 2024.

Tarver's photographs have been featured in over 30 solo and 50 group exhibitions nationally and internationally, and are held in collections including Woodmere, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Philadelphia Art Museum, and The Studio Museum in Harlem. He is a professor at Swarthmore College and is represented by Robin Rice Gallery.

Application Procedure 

Starting February 16, 2026, submissions must be made online at woodmere.slideroom.com and formatted as a JPG, GIF, PNG, MP3, MP4, or MOV file. Artists may submit up to FIVE artworks for consideration. Each artwork should be represented with one image only (two views if the artwork is three-dimensional. Multiple views can be combined split-screen style into one image) or in video format for animation, film, or other time-based media.  

Entries sent via email or by mail will NOT be considered.  

Images should be formatted so that the orientation of the work is clear. Full, accurate information for each submission must be supplied. 

Entry Fee 

The online application fee is $30.00 and is non-refundable.  

Submission Dates 

February 16 – March 16, 2026 

Accepted Work/Notification 

Artists will be notified of the juror’s selections by April 20, 2026. Woodmere may retain images of accepted works for the duration of the exhibition for publicity and archival purposes. 

Accepted works must be accompanied by a high-resolution digital image (JPG, 300 DPI, 5 x 7 in. minimum) for the digital exhibition catalogue. 

Artists will be responsible for delivery (delivery will take place in early June) and retrieval (retrieval will take place in early September) of accepted artworks to Woodmere.  All accepted works MUST remain for the duration of the exhibition. Works will be insured from the date of delivery to the date of retrieval. Woodmere is not responsible for any shipping or handling costs. 

All work must be exhibition-ready. 

Exhibition dates 

The Woodmere Annual: 83rd Juried Exhibition will be on view June 27–September 6, 2026.  

Prizes 

Ten prizes totaling over $2,000 will be awarded by the juror. 

Eligibility

Artists must currently reside within fifty miles of the Museum. Works by undergraduate students are ineligible for submission.  

Works in the exhibition will NOT be listed for sale.  

Only artworks that have not been previously exhibited at Woodmere are eligible for submission.  

Woodmere reserves the right to reject any accepted artwork that does not meet the standards for display or the eligibility rules listed above, is deemed unsafe, differs from the artist's photo(s) and/or description, or for any other reason. 

Questions 

ALL inquiries must be made via email to annual@woodmereartmuseum.org.