Shades of Black: A Celebration of History. A Vision for the Future

A national juried exhibition at Artspiration Frederick Gallery celebrating the creativity, history, culture, perspectives, and artistic excellence of Black artists. The exhibition runs February 5–28, 2027, and welcomes original, exhibition-ready visual art across media from eligible Black artists or artists of African descent.

The creativity, perspectives, experiences, history, culture, and artistic excellence of Black artists, including both artistic legacy and future visions.

Applicants must self-identify as Black and/or of African descent and must be visual artists age 18 or older residing in the continental United States. Artists may submit up to three original, exhibition-ready works; the jury submission requires one to three images, including a high-resolution 300 dpi image. All media are welcome, including 2D, 3D, ceramics, sculpture, photography, and mixed media. All artwork must be for sale, with 60% of sales paid to the artist and 40% to Artspiration. Two-dimensional work must be properly framed with a securely attached hanging wire; sawtooth hangers are prohibited. Accepted work must carry an identification label with artist name, artwork title, and price, and submitted prices cannot be changed after application. Artspiration Frederick may use images of accepted works for the concurrent online exhibition, documentation, and promotional materials. Shipped work must arrive by February 1, 2027. Shipping containers must be reusable and properly labeled; packing peanuts are prohibited. Artists remain responsible for retrieving unsold work, while artists who ship work must provide reusable packaging and a prepaid return label unless another arrangement is approved. Unretrieved work incurs a $50-per-day storage fee beginning 14 calendar days after the agreed pickup date.