On Display January 28 – February 28, 2026

Closing Reception February 28 from 4 – 6 PM at Circle Gallery

View Web Gallery   View Participating Artists    View Virtual Award Ceremony

Introducing Digital Explorations

Computer software and technology have forever expanded the ways artists capture and produce their work. Artists can weave together scenes in photoshop, produce paintings through a screen, create videos, animations, and projections that transport us to new worlds, and sculpt with a 3D printer. Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) invites all artists residing in any of the states or territories of the US, Canada, or Mexico to enter our 4th annual exhibition dedicated to digitally-produced art. Any original 2D or 3D image based work created and/or produced through digital software and following exhibition guidelines will be considered. This includes, but is not limited to digitally produced photography, digital painting, illustration, graphic design, digital video and projection. Works selected will be exhibited in MFA’s Circle Gallery from January 28 – February 28, 2026. Exhibition co-chairs: Emil Petruncio and Erica Krieger.

Click this icon to view and print the downloadable prospectus.

Juror: Andy Holtin, Professor of Extended Media at American University

Andy Holtin received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Sculpture and Extended Media program. His work uses technological systems to create performative objects and interactive installations, incorporating an exploratory range of
materials and processes. Holtin currently works as half of the collaborative duo CausalityLabs, pursuing projects that explore mechanism as a metaphor for human experience and perception. His work has been exhibited internationally at locations including Galerie35, Berlin, Germany; Museo Antropologico y de Arte Contemporaneo, Ecuador; Museo Universitario Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City; Planetario Alfa Science and Culture Museum, Mexico; and nationally at museums, galleries, and universities from New York to Portland to Florida. Holtin teaches all levels of Sculpture, addressing traditional media as well as installation formats, kinetic and interactive systems, and digital audio and video.

Holtin’s current work and research focuses on the exploration of cognitive processes through the development of and interaction with performative objects in a form of sculptural theater. Using systems ranging from simple machines to interactive robotics, his works orchestrate events that ask us to scrutinize cause and effect and our assumptions about the objects and materials of our culture. He has particular interests in the history of the sciences and linguistics.

Juror’s Statement

The works submitted to this exhibition opportunity are truly a testament to the expansiveness of the role of digital tools and practices in art making today. In reviewing these works, each representing immense imagination and creative drive, I found three distinct approaches to the use of digital tools emerging among so many disparate practices. First, as a vibrant extension of the skills of traditional art making, in which hand and mark form images on a digital canvas; second, as a process embracing the systems and structures of the technologies used, with forms and outcomes that are unique to the tools that generated them; and third, works which explore the technology itself, our relationship to it, and how it changes the meaning-making that art enables for us.

The selections made for the exhibition, then, represent all three of these modes of engaging with digital tools as a studio practice. At a time of tumultuous change in the creation of imagery in the digital sphere, I am encouraged by the individuality apparent in all these works and a hope for the insight that explorations in digital media can bring.

Andy Holtin

Awards

Best in Show:

Jon Lundak– Birding at the Radar Dome and Wait for Me at the Airport

Juror’s Choice:

Caroline Dinh– Jitter 20251124_203612267177 and Moon Print 20251123_9944836

Harriet Smith– Token Thoughts and Midnight Musings

Elise Racine– Digital Manifest and Scroll A(n)d Infinitum

Information for Accepted Artists

Exhibition Schedule

Exhibition Schedule:

  • Sept 23 Online Entry Opens for Submissions
  • Nov 26 Entry Deadline @ 11:59 PM
  • Dec 18 Notification @ 5 PM
  • Jan 21 – 25 Accepted and Shipped Work Must Arrive at MFA Circle Gallery 11 AM – 4 PM
  • Jan 28 Exhibition Opens
  • Feb 1 Virtual Awards Ceremony from 4 – 5 PM via Zoom
  • Feb 28 Last Day of the Exhibition; Closing Reception at MFA Circle Gallery from 4 – 6 PM
  • Mar 1 –  2 Pick-up Hand-Delivered Work 11 AM – 4 PM
  • Mar 8 Shipped Work Will Be Sent

NOTE: Should Circle Gallery be closed for reasons beyond our control, MFA reserves the right to move a planned physical exhibit to our online gallery.

Delivery and Shipping

Delivery

  • All work delivered to the gallery must have the following information affixed to the non-viewing side of the artwork:
    • Artist Name
    • Address, phone number, and email
    • Title of the work, medium, and price. Be specific with medium descriptions (e.g., oil on hardboard or canvas, not oil; chromogenic print or archival inkjet print, not photography or digital print; oil pastel on paper, not pastel; etc.)
  • Work must arrive on scheduled dates.
  • Paintings must be dry.
  • Measure to ensure work meets size limitations before delivery, include outer edges of frames. Work not in compliance will not be exhibited. No exceptions.
  • All shipped work must include a bar-coded shipping label. Do not send by United States Postal Service (USPS). We prefer UPS but accept FedEx. No shipping peanuts allowed.
  • Please affix packing/repacking instructions to OUTSIDE of the shipping box.
  • Tips on shipping can be viewed on the RedDotBlog

Pickup and Storage

Pickup and Storage

  • Work may not be removed from the exhibition early for any reason. Artists may pick up their work on the specified dates, or at 6 PM after the Closing Reception.
  • Unless previous arrangements have been made, work placed in storage after announced pickup dates will be subject to a fine of $10 per piece, per week. Work left in storage longer than two (2) weeks shall become MFA property and may be disposed of, or used for fundraising purposes. There are no exceptions.

Liability

Liability

All work will be handled with all possible care, but pieces submitted for the exhibition are at the artist’s risk. In the event of damage or theft, MFA will not be held liable. If insurance is desired, the artist must carry it.

Sales

Sales

  • All work entered into any exhibition must be for sale unless prior agreements are made, and marked either with a price or POR for Price On Request.
  • Artists will retain 70% from sales (75% for MFA Members). MFA will retain 30% commission (25% for MFA Members) on any work sold through MFA.
  • The sale of artwork is taxable and all sales tax processing will be handled by MFA.
  • Sold artwork requiring shipment will be handled by MFA with costs collected from the buyer. Buyers will be asked if the work may be retained until the exhibit ends. If the buyer disagrees, the Gallery will let the work go, and the artist will be informed.
  • MFA asks that artists donate 20% from any sale made through a direct referral from MFA within three months. All donations are used to help defray operating costs of the Maryland Federation of Art and are tax-deductible by the artists to the full extent of the law.

Notification

All entrants will receive notification by email. Accepted artists will also be posted on MFA’s website. Artists who have unsubscribed from MFA emails will not receive notification. The notice to accepted artists will include specific details and could vary from the prospectus. Please set your email account to recognize amani@mdfedart.org and info@mdfedart.org. Contact Circle Gallery if you do not receive notice by 6 PM on the day of notification.