Summary
The Arts Alive Gallery Exhibition is a highlight of the Arts Alive Festival. Opening the third weekend in May, and running through the month of June, the juried exhibit features artists from across the southeastern United States.
The galleries of the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts are filled each year with works by artists representing a wide array of genres and media. These artists utilize diverse materials from the traditional to the modern. Recent award winners included a pen-and-ink drawing, textile art, wooden furniture, and natural fiber sculpture. The Arts Alive Gallery Exhibition represents the best of every artistic category.
The juried exhibition opens on May 15, 2027 and runs through June 25, 2027. Works displayed during this time will be viewed by thousands of visitors. Each year more than a dozen prizes are awarded to exhibited works; prize money totals more than $6,000.00.
The purpose of the Arts Alive Festival is to raise money for the sponsorship of workshops and scholarships for art teachers and students in northwest Alabama. Your participation in Arts Alive aids in the promotion of local arts education.
The festival is committed to eliminating impediments and is dedicated to the involvement of artists and patrons of every social position, ethnology, convention, orientation, ability, and walk of life.
General information
Arts Alive Gallery Exhibition
Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts
217 Tuscaloosa Street, Florence AL
Opens: May 15, 2027
Closes: June 25, 2027
Nonrefundable $45 Jury Fee / Artists may enter up to 3 works per $45 jury fee Application Deadline is February 05, 2027.
Artists working in the areas of painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, textiles, mixed media, metal, clay, glass, jewelry, photography, wood and 'other' are invited to submit works for exhibition in the art center galleries. Up to three pieces may be submitted for consideration by each artist. Uploaded digital images of each work will be juried by a panel of judges for entrance into the exhibition. Each image submitted will be judged on its own merit.
Artwork will hang in the gallery from May 15, 2027 through June 25, 2027. As Arts Alive is an annual fund-raiser for the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts Volunteers, a 25% commission will be taken from the sale of artwork in the gallery.
All art for the Gallery Exhibition must be delivered to the Art Center by May 03, 2027 and should be picked up no later than July 02, 2027. All paintings must be titled, priced for purchase, framed, wired, and ready to hang. Unwired artwork will not be accepted.
Regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday 1p.m. to 4 p.m.
Rules and regulations
Gallery Eligibility and Rules
Open to all artists 18 years of age and older residing in the United States, Mexico, and Canada who are working in the following disciplines: painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, textiles, mixed media, metal, clay, glass, jewelry, photography, and wood. Other materials may be considered for including as 'other'. All submissions must be the work of the entrant, original, not entered previously in the Arts Alive Gallery Exhibition (whether accepted or not), must be framed or on gallery-wrapped canvas, ready for hanging or display, and completed within the last five years.
The mission of the Arts Alive Festival is to raise money for arts education in the Shoals. Therefore, all exhibited works must be for sale and priced with the intent to sell. Work designated NFS is not eligible.
Gallery sales will be encouraged, and a 25% commission will be incurred.
Artists are responsible for drop off and retrieval of unsold artwork. All framed artwork must be framed and ready to be hung by a wire. Sawtooth hooks will not be accepted.
Entries received after the deadline will not be considered.
Jury details
- Average number of applications submitted each year: 100
- Average number of artists selected from the jury to participate: 70
- Images are viewed by jurors on a computer monitor
- Jurors score applications on a 1-5 scale
- Number of jurors scoring applications: 6
- Jury process is closed