Banner detail: Ephemeral Forest Land, anthotype print, Addie Ostendorf-Snell for MFA’s Imprint 2026

Now on Display August 20 – September 23, 2026 at Maryland Hall’s Earl Gallery

Closing Reception will be September 23 from 5:30 – 7 PM at Maryland Hall’s Earl Gallery

View Sales Gallery   View Participating Artists   Awards    Watch the Virtual Awards Ceremony

Introducing Imprint 

Printmaking is a dynamic and versatile form of artistic expression that bridges tradition and innovation. It allows artists to explore repetition, texture, and process while communicating powerful ideas and imagery. Through various techniques, printmakers harness the potential of line, form, and surface to captivate the viewer’s eye and convey meaning. The process-driven nature of printmaking invites exploration and innovation, making it a rich medium for storytelling, experimentation, and reimagining visual language. We invite artists working in traditional, contemporary, or hybrid forms of printmaking to submit works that demonstrate the transformative potential of this enduring art form.

Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) invites all artists residing in any of the states or territories of the US, Canada, or Mexico to enter. MFA exhibitions are blind juried by professional and credentialed art experts. Any original 2D and 3D artwork in any printmaking media will be considered. Works selected by the juror will be exhibited in Maryland Hall’s Earl Gallery from August 20 – September 23, 2026. Exhibition Chair: Nancy Keene Fishel

Click this icon to view and print the downloadable prospectus.

Juror: Jenn Bratovich, Chief Curator at the Print Center NYC

Jenn Bratovich is Chief Curator at Print Center New York, where she uses her decade of curatorial experience to lead all aspects of the organization’s artistic programming.

Since joining Print Center in 2019, she has played a key role in leading the organization through a transformational strategic plan that included a move to a new, ground-floor exhibition space in the heart of Chelsea, growing the organization’s operational and programmatic capacity, and sharpening its artistic vision. Working with invited guest curators, she has developed a program of exhibitions that have solidified the Center’s reputation for its rigorous yet accessible curatorial approach. She has also significantly grown the organization’s educational and public program offerings and led development of a new exhibition and artist development program that aims to provide meaningful material, artistic, and community support to emerging artists working in print. In 2025, she launched the Center’s first open call for emerging curators.

As a curator, her recent projects include the New York presentation of Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt (2024, with Robin Siddall; originally University Galleries at the University of San Diego); and Nicole Eisenman: Prince (2023, with Judy Hecker). With Alex Santana, she is co-curating Felipe Baeza’s first institutional exhibition in New York, scheduled for 2026.
Bratovich has previously held positions at Hunter College Art Galleries and Women’s Studio Workshop. She received her BA from the University of Rochester and her MA in art history from Hunter College, where she focused on postwar practices in Europe, the US, and Latin America. Her curatorial work is informed by the idea of the exhibition as a forum for public learning and discourse, and by artist-centered approaches to both expanding histories and uplifting emerging artists. She is interested in how print, as a set of tools, processes, and strategies, is used by artists working within interdisciplinary practices.

Jenn also serves on the Board of Directors at Women’s Studio Workshop.

Juror’s Statement

More than any one technical process, printmaking is a set of tools and ways of thinking that set the stage for aesthetic, material, and conceptual investigation. In it, we find conditions—iteration, indirectness, and chance—that set the stage for unexpected revelations. Given this, when working in the collaboration with matrix pressure, and ink, the artist has a many, many options for how to arrive at their image. Jurying an exhibition like MFA’s 2026 edition of Imprint, with limited information about any submitting artist’s practice, I had to focus first and foremost on what I could see. I was immediately drawn (as I often am) to works that exploited the material processes and strategies of printmaking. Many artists included here demonstrated their use of experimental approaches to creating impressions and transfers. Others showed skillful manipulating their materials—finely refining their drawing or carving on their plates, exploring the bite of acid and the viscosity of oil, or self-reflexively making visible ideas like layering and transparency that are inherent to printmaking. I want to congratulate the artists whose work I selected, and encourage all applicants to keep doing the work. Printmaking is a medium of endless possibility.

Awards

First Place

  • Six Girls, by Kathleen Wynn

Second Place

  • The Future, by L J Douglas

Third Place

  • Carnival in the Garden of Eden, by Deborah Schindler

Honorable Mentions

  • EVIL WORDS by Briar Craig
  • Searching by jim mackey
  • Strain by Michael Loren Diaz

Information for Accepted Artists

Exhibition Schedule

Exhibition Schedule:

  • Apr 28 Online Entry Opens for Submissions
  • Jun 24 Entry Deadline
  • Jul 23 Notification @ 5 PM
  • Aug 17 – 18 Accepted and Shipped Work Must Arrive at Maryland Hall’s Earl Gallery 10 AM – 2 PM
  • Aug 20 Exhibition Opens
  • Aug 23 Virtual Awards Ceremony @ 3:30 – 4:30 PM
  • Sep 23 Last Day of Exhibition; In-Person Reception at Maryland Hall’s Earl Gallery 5:30 – 7 PM
  • Sep 25 – 26 Pick Up Hand-Delivered Work from Maryland Hall’s Earl Gallery 10 AM – 2 PM
  • Oct 2 Shipped Work Will Be Sent

NOTE: Should Maryland Hall 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 with the exhibition guidelines and MFA’s General Guidelines will not be exhibited. No exceptions. Work delivered must correspond with the images submitted to the juror.
  • 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 eleanor@mdfedart.org and info@mdfedart.org. Contact Circle Gallery if you do not receive notice by 6 PM on the day of notification.