2026 West Michigan Area Show
May 29, 2026 - September 27, 2026
The work of West Michigan’s talented artistic community is on view during the annual West Michigan Area Show. This crowd-pleasing annual juried exhibition was carefully curated from more than 300 submitted entries, ranging from paintings, prints, and photos to mosaics, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, and mixed-media works.
Applications for the 2026 West Michigan Area Show are open until March 29. Local artists from 14 West Michigan counties submit their art for a chance to be juried into the show. More than $6,000 will be awarded and entries can range from paintings, prints, and photos to mosaics, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, and mixed-media works.
The 2026 West Michigan Area Show will be on view from May 29–September 27, 2026.
2026 WMAS Juror
This year’s juror is Xuxa Rodríguez, Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curator of Contemporary Art at Duke University’s Nasher Museum. Prior to her role at Duke, Rodríguez served as the Associate Curator of Contemporary Arts at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Rodríguez will present an ArtBreak lecture on Wednesday, May 27, at noon in the KIA auditorium.
2026 WMAS Awards
- $1,000 Helen Sheridan Memorial Grand Prize
- $ 500 Second Place
- $ 400 Third Place
- $ 300 Fourth Place
- $ 200 Fifth Place
- Portage Community Art Award
- Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo’s People’s Choice Award
- The Martin Maddox Prize for Imaginative Realism
- Ninth Wave Studio Award for Ingenuity in Mixed Media or Intermedia
- Art League Award
- Signature Artists, LLC, Award
- Eclectic Glass Guild of Southwest Michigan
- Kalamazoo Log Cabin Quilters’ Art Quilt Award
- Southwest Michigan Printmakers Excellence in Printmaking Award
- Kalamazoo Book Arts Center Book, Print, and Paper Award
- West Michigan Potters Guild Award for Ceramics
- The Ward H. and Cora E. Nay Director’s Purchase Prize
The West Michigan Area Show is made possible by generous support from:
David Isaacson in memory of his wife, Helen Sheridan
