Submissions are open through February 13, 2026, for the New Jersey Arts Annual, a unique series of exhibitions highlighting the State’s visual and performing artists. In partnership with major museums around the state, one exhibition takes place each year, alternating between host institutions. These exhibitions are open to any artist over the age of 18 currently living or working in New Jersey.
The Arts Annual series is sponsored by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts. Since 1984, the New Jersey State Arts Council has co-sponsored the prestigious Annual in keeping with its mission to encourage and foster public interest in the arts, promote freedom of expression in the arts, and to facilitate the inclusion of art in every building in New Jersey. To learn more about the Council, please visit www.artscouncil.nj.gov.
The 2026 exhibit will be hosted at the Morris Museum. Founded in 1913 and located on 8.5 acres in Morris Township since the mid-1960s, the museum draws visitors across the region to its dynamic and acclaimed art exhibitions program and performing arts events. Its 45,000+ object collection of art and material culture from around the world joins the art of our time in displays throughout the Museum’s purpose-built spaces and within the historic Twin Oaks mansion.
The Morris Museum invites submissions for the New Jersey Arts Annual 2026, Grounded: Contemporary Sculpture in the Open, a juried outdoor sculpture exhibition that will transform the Museum’s 8.4-acre campus into a dynamic landscape of contemporary art.
Submitted works should respond to scale, terrain, materiality, and public space — works that provoke curiosity, invite movement, and reimagine how art lives in shared environments. Whether abstract or figurative, playful or contemplative, temporary or durable, submissions should embody a sense of place, community, or collective experience on a large scale. The exhibition seeks sculptures and installations that engage thoughtfully with the outdoors—works that respond to light, weather, and the natural environment, or that reimagine our relationship to landscape and community. Artists are encouraged to submit pieces that demonstrate technical excellence, conceptual depth, and a strong sense of spatial dialogue.
Through Common Ground: NJ Artists Think Monumental, the Morris Museum continues its commitment to presenting contemporary art beyond traditional gallery walls — celebrating the power of sculpture to transform open space into a site of reflection, discovery, and wonder.
Juried by Johannah Hutchinson, executive director of the International Sculpture Center, Common Ground celebrates the creativity and innovation of New Jersey–based sculptors.
There is no entry fee. To submit their artwork, interested artists must apply online at www.callforentry.org (CaFÉ). Submissions via email will not be accepted.
Artists may submit work samples representing up to three total sculptural works in any media for consideration. Total work samples may be up to 16 representing no more than three completed works.
Submissions must also include:
• A current résumé
• Brief artist biography (no more than 500 words)
• An artist’s statement (no more than 150 words)
• Complete and accurate dimensions (in inches) of no more than three (3) completed works. Height x Width x Depth; approximate weight of the work submitted.
For works selected for the exhibition, artists must be prepared to submit high resolution images to be used in the catalogue, on the Museum website and publications, programs, and/or for press purposes. If you do not choose to have your images retained by the Museum, please note that at the top of your artists’ statement document. The Museum reserves the right to edit the artist’s statement with the artist’s approval.
All work samples must be submitted via the CaFÉ application portal. Each digital file must include the following as accompanying information in the CAFÉ upload: artist’s name, title of work, date, medium and dimensions (in inches, height x width [x depth, if appropriate]; approximate weight ; (Example: “Jane Smith, Untitled, 2021, oil on canvas, 24 x 24”)
Artwork must be ready to install and include all necessary installation hardware — mounts, screws etc. Sculpture pads will be provided. If artwork is not inherently balanced or stable, an appropriate mount or method must be provided.
Electrical requirements must be stated; US/North America standard: 115/120V, 60hz; no more than 15 amp. Delicate electronics must include their own battery back-up (UPS). Audio, video and media works must be accompanied by all the necessary AV equipment. They must have the ability to automatically restart components and initialize the multimedia program if power is interrupted. Multimedia must function without active WiFi and all auto update features should be disabled. Sound volume must be adjustable.
Following the February 13 submission deadline, juror review takes place from February 14 through 25. Acceptance notifications will go out on or before March 1. Shipping and installation of artwork takes place April 1 through May 23. The exhibit runs May 28 through August 23.
Visit artist.callforentry.org for full submission information.
