The BEAR's first juried exhibition. One entry, any medium. Bring your interpretation of light into the gallery.

Submit Your Work

Submit Your Work ⋅

Illumination An Exploration of Light in the Dark Months of the Year

As the days shorten and the nights grow longer, our relationship with light changes. The glare that once woke us from sleep is gone. The threat of sunburn all but disappears.
Light becomes something rarer — a visitor we rush to greet in its few appearances as fall folds into winter.

Stars blinking in a black sky. Gilded letters on a parchment page. A candle in the dark. The crackle of a fire that warms against the cold.

Illumination is a juried, open-medium exhibition inviting artists to explore not just light itself, but what its presence reveals — and what stays hidden without it.
The dawning of an idea. The turn of a camera's exposure. The moment a truth comes into focus.

We're asking artists across Bath County and beyond to help us mark this seasonal shift — through the interplay of darkness and light, winter and warmth, day and night.

ON VIEW

Oct 18 '26 – Jan 31 '27

SUBMISSIONS CLOSE

September 15

ENTRY FEE

$20

Key Details

  • Submissions: open now, close September 15 at 11:59 PM

  • Entry fee: $20 (does not guarantee acceptance)

  • Format: open medium, one submission per artist, max 48"H x 48"W

  • Notification: by September 20

  • Drop-off: October 9–12, 11 AM–4 PM at The BEAR

  • On view: October 18, 2026 – January 31, 2027

  • Sales: all work is displayed and for sale; a 40% commission supports Bath County Arts and BEAR programming — price accordingly

  • Flat work must arrive wired to hang; textiles may or may not include sleeves; sculptural work needs its own pedestal or staging

  • Work from the past five years is eligible; all submissions must be by the original arti