About the Show

The competition focuses on contemporary art, showcasing a wide variety of art forms, mediums and expressions. This national, juried show offers more than $4,000 in prize awards and has been a staple of the Council’s programming for two decades.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, in 2020 we will host both a virtual exhibition in our Digital Gallery along with a physical exhibition in our galleries located in Cumberland, Maryland.

A Virtual Awards Presentation & Juror’s Talk will take place Saturday, September 12, 2020, beginning at 7:00PM via Facebook Live! @AlleganyArtsCouncil. Watch here!

The exhibition will run from August 29 - September 26, 2020.

The Call

Annually, entries are accepted through Call for Entry, an online entry platform. The 2020 exhibition call is now closed.

The Theme

The theme for this year's exhibition and competition is "Shelter".

Shelter can be defined as an establishment that affords protection, cover, food and safety for the homeless, orphaned, or abandoned. Shelter can also be synonymous with home—space to seek refuge from the erratic elements of mother nature, to raise a family or to create personal, private space. Shelter too can be found abstractly through intimacy, such as the familial bonds of a child finding safety in a mother’s arms or the warmth and reassurance of a lover’s embrace.

Climate change, public health crises, migration, have all undermined our collective sense of permanence and shelter. Once understood to be a fixed physical structure, the definition of shelter now feels precarious, subject to change, and boundaries of our private spaces have now become blurred as homes are becoming multifunctional spaces for living, working, schooling, and caring for immediate and extended family members. The habits, functions and fundamental conception of shelter—how we create it, understand it and see it—is now more than ever being redefined. This exhibition will offer various perspectives on shelter by straddling both physical realms of refuge and protection, and the psychological, emotional bonds constituted by human connection.

Prizes

The 21st Annual Will's Creek Exhibition of Fine Art will offer more than $4000 in prize money in the following categories: