21st National Juried Exhibition

Axis Gallery invites you to submit work in all media to its 20th National Juried Exhibition selected by juror Sharon Butler of Two Coats of Paint.

Accepted artworks will be displayed at our gallery in downtown Sacramento in August.

Axis Gallery invites you to submit work to its 21st National Juried Exhibition, featuring juror Sharon Butler of Two Coats of Paint. Accepted artworks will be displayed at our gallery space in downtown Sacramento in August.

Eligibility & Media

• Open to all artists residing in the U.S.
• Contemporary original 2D and 3D work in any medium including painting, print, drawings, video, photography, or digital images.
• All work must be original (no reproductions), produced within the last two years and not previously shown at Axis Gallery.
• 2D work should not exceed a framed size of 48” in the longest dimension.
• 3D work is limited to 36” and not more than 60 lbs.
• Video work must either be a) 5 min or shorter (this work will be rotated on a 60” monitor installed in the gallery with other accepted work) or b) you must provide and install your own equipment. In this case, monitors should be no larger than 30” diagonal. If audio is integral to your work, please provide headphones for viewers.
• Work with complex installations will be included at the discretion of the juror and gallery

About the Juror

Sharon Butler is a painter and the founder of Two Coats of Paint, an award-winning NYC blogazine about painting. She has held solo exhibitions in at CLEA RSKY, Jennifer Baahng Gallery, Theodore Gallery, Pocket Utopia, and Central Fine Arts (all in NYC); in Connecticut at Slater Memorial Museum, Real Art Ways, and Furnace Art on Paper Archive; and in the university galleries at University of Alabama, University of Connecticut, and SUNY Westchester. Her paintings are characterized by a tendency toward Casualism, a term she coined in an article published in The Brooklyn Rail to describe an approach to painting that values imperfection, incompleteness, and process over traditional color theory, pleasing composition, and polished forms.

Her work has been featured in publications such as The Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, artcritical, The New Criterion, and New York Magazine. She has received awards from Creative Capital and the Warhol Foundation, Yaddo, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.

She lives and works in Long Island City, Queens.

About the Space

Axis Gallery is an artist-run space in downtown Sacramento that has been in operation for well over 30 years, with a national reputation for presenting contemporary and challenging exhibitions in Sacramento. We are dedicated to the highest standards of excellence in the selection and presentation of works of art.

Awards

Cash awards and a printed exhibition catalog.

Submission Requirements

Please submit JPEG files and prepare your images following CaFÉ guidelines.

Be sure to select all the images you want before you submit your work. You will not be able to add onto your submission after you have check out.

Entry Fee

$40 for three images/videos, additional entries $10.00 each, limit 6.
You can submit up to 3 videos

Timeline

Call for Entry Opens:
April 16, 2026

Entry Deadline:
May 17, 2026, 11:59pm PDT

Notification of Selected Artists: 
Mid-June

Gallery-ready artwork received by Axis:
No later than July 26
Further details on work eligible for showing and how to prepare and deliver work to Axis will be provided upon acceptance.

Exhibition dates:
August 7–30, 2026
Second Saturday reception evening of August 8

Questions

Email us: juried@axisgallery.org

If your work is selected

Here are some guidelines to make sure your work is ready for display at Axis.

Preparing your work for exhibition

All 2D artwork chosen by the juror must be framed or mounted and ready to hang. Frames can be in any style or material, but if work is glazed, we prefer acrylic over glass. Matted but unframed work will not be displayed. Mounted work is welcome as long as it has some hanging method. One exception: no sawtooth hangers for any work. Instead, consider D-rings, cleats, or hanging wire. 

We can provide pedestals and plinths for 3D works, but you must include any specialized hardware required for a safe and stable display.

For the safety of your work and our gallery visitors, we cannot make exceptions to these display requirements.

Delivery and return of artwork

Accepted work needs to arrive at Axis by Sunday, July 26 In-person drop-off is available during our gallery hours, Saturday and Sunday, noon – 5:00 pm. If an accepted submission reaches us after July 26, we will not be able to show it.
 

Shipping

If you ship your work, please use sturdy, art-safe, reusable packaging and crating. Note that we will use the same packaging to return the piece to you, so both the work and the packaging must be able to survive the return trip intact. Please include return postage to make the return journey as smooth as possible.

Shipping instructions will be emailed following the jury process.

Unsold artworks will be returned after the close of the exhibition.

Sales

• Sales are encouraged. The gallery will retain 40% commission on any work sold. Please confirm the price listed for your pieces when submitting via CaFÉ.
• The price you set should include this commission to Axis.

Insurance & Liability

• Work will be insured while at Axis Gallery, but we cannot insure work while it is in transit.
• The gallery will not assume responsibility for work improperly framed or poorly packaged for shipping.
• Images of accepted work will be featured in an exhibition catalog and may be used for promotional purposes.

Submit files via CaFÉ and pay application fee

This is a national call for all media