The Big Show 2026

Juried by Valerie Cassel Oliver, the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

June 12 – August 15, 2026

The Big Show is an ambitious exhibition of new work by artists practicing within a 100-mile radius of Lawndale.

Eligibility

• The Big Show is open to artists living within a 100-mile radius of Lawndale.
• Each artist may submit up to 3 original artworks completed between January 2024 to present.
• Work must fit through the 6'9" x 4'11" entryway and cannot exceed 200 pounds in weight.
• Works previously exhibited in Houston are not eligible. However, works exhibited as part of a school program in Houston (e.g. MFA thesis) are allowed.
• All works must be exhibition-ready. For framed works and stretched canvas, this includes proper hanging hardware such as D-rings or a wire. Display options for non-wall hanging artwork (e.g. sculptures, videos, and performances) will be discussed between Lawndale staff and the artist(s).
• All works must be available for installation and delivered between May 19 - 30, 2026 and remain on view for the duration of the exhibition (June 12 - August 15, 2026).

Application Requirements

• All works must be submitted online via Submittable.
• Applications will be accepted March 16, 2025 through Wednesday, April 8, 2026, until 11:59 PM (Central Standard Time).
• There is no submission fee.
• Artists must submit a narrative biography OR artist statement (up to 200 words)
• Applicants may submit up to 3 works.
• Only one (1) image of each work is allowed, along with the image captions (title, medium, dimensions, and year) 
• Detail images of artwork(s) not allowed
• Images should be .jpeg format. Please limit each file size to 1 MB (minimum size of 4 x 6" at 300 dpi).
• Video submissions require a hosting site link (e.g. Vimeo or YouTube). If selected, all final work must be submitted in .mp4 format.
• All files should be labeled as LastNameFirstName_Title_Year completed (e.g.  “SmithJohn_Work1_2023.jpg”)
• Incomplete or late applications will not be considered

We strongly encourage you to apply early. If you are having trouble with the online application system, you can call us at 713-528-5858 during office hours (Tuesday - Friday, 10 AM - 5 PM) or email askus@lawndaleartcenter.org. If questions are related to the Submittable portal please contact their help desk: https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter/

Accepted Works: Artists should be notified of their application status by early May. Accepted artists will be given artwork drop-off details then.

About the Juror

Valerie Cassel Oliver is the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Prior to her position at the VMFA, she was Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston where she began in 2000. At the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Cassel Oliver organized numerous exhibitions including the acclaimedDouble Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970 (2005);Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art (2012) and major survey exhibitions for Donald Moffett; Benjamin Patterson, Jennie C. Jones, Angel Otero and Annabeth Rosen. 

Her debut at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was the critically acclaimed retrospective entitled, Howardena Pindell: What Remains to be Seen coorganized with Naomi Beckwith (2018). In 2021, she opened the groundbreaking exhibition, The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture and the Sonic Impulse that toured nationally. And in 2023, she organized the exhibition, Dawoud Bey: Elegy that looks at the artist’s preoccupation with histories of place. The work included commissioned photographs of Richmond’s Historic Slave Trail exhibited with previous bodies of work created in Louisiana and Ohio. The exhibition toured to the New Orleans Museum of Art where it closed January, 2026. Cassel Oliver has also organized the exhibitions, “Ted Joans: Drawings from Africa” (2024) that featured the complete portfolio of Joans’ drawings from 1956 (2023); Theaster Gates: Wonder Working Power (2024) and Robert Rauschenberg: Cardbirds (2025), a centennial project that will also feature a commissioned performance work by Ellen Fullman.

Cassel Oliver is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards including fellowships from the Getty Research Institute (2007) and the Center of Curatorial Leadership (2009); the High Museum of Art’s David C. Driskell Award (2011); the James A. Porter Book Award from Howard University (2018) as well as the Alain Locke International Arts Award, Detroit Institute of Art; the College Arts Association’s Excellence in Diversity Award; the Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College; and Brandywine Workshop and Archives’ Lifetime Achievement Award (all 2022). She was recently presented with an award of distinction from the American Folk Art Society (2023) for her work to bring art from the African American South into the collection of the museum. In 2022, she was also tapped to curate Spotlight, a section for the Frieze Masters Art Fair in London–a role she reprised in 2024 and in 2025 bringing a diverse range of under recognized artists and galleries into the fair’s holdings.

Cassel Oliver holds an Executive MBA from Columbia University, New York; an M.A. in Art History from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and, a B.S. in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin. Beyond her curatorial endeavors, she has previously worked in the field as a Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Arts (1988-95) and as Director of the Visiting Artists Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1995-2000).