On Display April 30 – May 24 in Circle Gallery

Join us for the closing reception at Circle Gallery on Saturday May 24th from 4 – 6 PM

Awards were announced May 4th. Watch the Virtual Awards Ceremony on YouTube below.

Sales Gallery    Artists In This Show   Watch The Virtual Awards Ceremony   

Introducing the Spring Member Show

Maryland Federation of Art (MFA) invites all MFA Members residing in any of the states or territories of the US, Canada, and Mexico to enter our Spring Member Show 2025. Any original 2D or 3D work will be considered. Works selected by the juror will be exhibited in MFA’s Circle Gallery from April 30 – May 24, 2025.

Click this icon to view and print the downloadable prospectus.

Juror: Clayton Merrell: Dorothy L. Stubnitz Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University

Clayton Merrell grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, and Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. He studied painting and printmaking at the Yale School of Art, where he earned an MFA in 1995. He was awarded a Fulbright Grant for research and creative work in Oaxaca, Mexico in 1996-97. His work is exhibited widely, with recent exhibitions at: Slow Gallery, Chicago; the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC; Concept Gallery, Pittsburgh PA; the A+D Gallery, Chicago; the Westmoreland Museum of Art, and the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua NY. His work is in the collections of the American Embassy in Belmopan, Belize, the Smithsonian Museum, the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and numerous private and corporate collections. He was the 2005 Artist of the Year at The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and in 2016 was named Creator-of-the Year by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. He has received awards and grants from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Skowhegan, The Millay Colony for the Arts, the Blue Mountain Center, the Vermont Studio Center, ProArts, Artists Image Resource, and the Center for the Arts in Society. During 2004-05 he was a fellow at the Roswell Artist-In-Residence Foundation in Roswell, New Mexico. In 2015, the Pittsburgh International Airport completed construction of a 69,000 square foot terrazzo floor image based on his design. He is currently the Dorothy L. Stubnitz Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University.

Juror’s Statement

The fact that artworks can catch and hold our attention in so many different ways is exactly what can make a group exhibition of this kind exciting, fascinating and surprising.

In the process of jurying this exhibition, I noticed that the artworks I kept going back to were very different from one another, but they each made me feel something or think something or see something in a fresh way.

Some works dazzled through technical virtuosity.
Others focused my attention with formal complexity, inventiveness and beauty.
A few won me over with sheer gestural expressiveness.
Some impressed through ambition and intensity of labor.
A few caused me to linger to savor a particularly lovely combination of color and light.
Several landed through intensity of content.
Others held my gaze with the power of direct human connection.

The works in this show convey a varied and diverse world of feelings: tenderness, love, anger, awe, pensiveness, reverence and joy. But all of them made me feel something, and I hope that they do the same for everyone who sees the show.

Thank you to all the artists who submitted work for consideration.

– Clayton Merrell

Awards

Awards total $700.

  • $500 is designated by the juror.
  • $100 Conley Award for 3D work chosen by Susi and Rob Conley.
  • $100 Friends of the Arts (FOTA) Award chosen by Art Historian, Wil Scott

Juror’s Choice

  • Emma by Paul Adams
  • Opposing Views by Esperanza Alzona
  • Rural Farm at Sunrise by George Ianaki
  • Nocturne in Blue by Deborah Maklowski
  • Unfolding Rainbow by Cindy Mehr

Honorable Mention

  • Utterly Awesome by Nada Romanos Abizaid
  • Porcelain Blue Birds by Jennifer Hudson

Conley Award 

  • Stator & Rotor Sun by Christy Dunkle

Friends of the Arts Award

  • Promise of a Future by Debbie Rider

Information for Accepted Artists

Exhibition Schedule

Exhibition Schedule:

  • Jan 7 Online Entry Opens for Submissions
  • Mar 6 Entry Deadline
  • Apr 3 Notification @ 5 PM
  • Apr 23 – 27 Accepted and Shipped Work Must Arrive at MFA Circle Gallery from 11 AM – 4 PM
  • Apr 30 Exhibition Opens
  • May 4 Virtual Awards Ceremony from 4 – 5 PM via Zoom
  • May 24 Last Day of the Exhibition; Closing Reception at MFA Circle Gallery from 4 – 6 PM
  • May 25 – 28 Pick-up Hand-Delivered Work from 11 AM – 4 PM
  • May 30 Shipped Work Will Be Sent

NOTE: Should Circle Gallery or any other exhibition space 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.
  • Artist members will retain 75% from sales. MFA will retain 25% commission 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.