Juried Exhibition

34th Annual Juried Exhibition

One of the most prestigious juried shows in San Diego, selected artists will exhibit their work in our galleries, receive excellent exposure, and mingle with both artists and art lovers at an opening reception. Prize winners, including the recipient of the Leslie Von Kolb Memorial Award, will be announced at the opening reception. Free and open to the public.

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library has announced the 42 artists selected for its 34th Annual Juried Exhibition, one of the region's most anticipated showcases of contemporary art. Chosen by internationally acclaimed photographer and artist Paul Mpagi Sepuya, the exhibition features 48 works by artists from across the San Diego–Tijuana region and will be on view August 1 through October 9, 2026.

This year, 357 artists submitted more than 1,000 works for consideration. Sepuya selected the final group of artists, whose work reflects the breadth of contemporary artistic practice in the binational region. The exhibition brings together both emerging and established artists working across a range of media, perspectives, and approaches.

A Los Angeles based artist and photographer, Sepuya is internationally recognized for work that explores portraiture, authorship, race, sexuality, and the photographic medium. His work is held in the collections of major institutions including the Getty, LACMA, the Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, the Stedelijk Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Sepuya also serves as an Associate Professor in Visual Arts at UC San Diego.

“One of the pleasures is getting to learn about hundreds of local talented artists through their submissions, and spending time looking closely at their work,” said Sepuya. “It allows me a unique opportunity to expand my knowledge of San Diego-area artists alongside my investment in students at UC San Diego campus where I teach. There are always more amazing artists than there is space to exhibit, and so the selection process was difficult and I want to encourage every applicant to continue in their pursuit and growth as an artist.”

Artists in the exhibition: Armando Aguilar, Tiffany Anderson, Stefanie Bales, Rachael Bertholino, Roni Breite, Carlos Castillo, Annie Claflin, Sheeva Davari, Kat Flyn, Christa Forrest, Lenny Gerard, Fritz Goeckner, Adrian Gomez, Abby Hanneman, Jill Marie Holslin, Barbara Inbody, Jessamyn Kaback, Aleya Lanteigne, Alejandro Leon, Alan Luna, Tina Mardan, Maya Grace Misra, Lori Mitchell, Benjamin Montag, Claudia Moreno, H.L. Myers, Ari Nathan, Milla Nelson, Phuc Ha Nguyen, Noelle Ocen-Odoge, Susan Osborn, Priyanka Pathak, Ana Maria Phelps, Jan Posvar, Nate Riedel, Ana Saad, Brandon Tani, Pasquale Verdicchio, Danny Warhole, Bay Weli, Helena Westra, and Cat Wilder. 

The call for entries for the Athenaeum's 34th Annual Juried Exhibition will open April 1 through June 30, 2026. Artists may enter up to three different works for juror consideration for this exhibition, which will open July 31. Our juror this year is artist Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Entry fee per artist is $15 for members and $20 for non-members.

The call for entries has now closed.

Deadline to Enter: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. PDT.
Artists will be notified via email in mid-July. Please, no calls.

The 34th Annual Juried Exhibition will be on view August 1 through October 9, 2026. Prize winners, including the recipient of the Leslie Von Kolb Memorial Award, will be announced at the opening reception on Friday, July 31, which will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Visit ljathenaeum.org/juried-exhibition for updates.

Exhibition dates: August 1–October 9, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, July 31, 5:30–7:30 PM. Free admission.

Submission Deadline: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. PDT

Criteria:

• Artists: Must live, work or exhibit within San Diego County or Tijuana, Mexico. Maximum 3 works/digital images per artist (jpegs, no larger than 2 MB each)

• Media: 2-D and 3-D media (no functional or craft art), or video. 2-D work must be ready-to-hang and may not exceed 60" width or height, framed. 3-D work may not exceed 8' H.

• Date: Pieces must have been completed within the past 5 years.

• Awards: 1st, 2nd and 3rd places, Leslie Von Kolb Memorial Award

• Fee per Artist: $15 for Athenaeum members; $20 for nonmembers. Payment must be submitted online at end of entry form. Fee is per artist, not per work.

Deadline to Enter: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. PDT. Artists will be notified via email in mid-July. Please, no calls.

Juror:

Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Photographer and artist

Paul Mpagi Sepuya is a Los Angeles-based artist working in photography and related zine and ephemera. He is known for his New York portrait series in the early 2000s, later moving into studio-based projects that question and complicate questions of authorship, the visualzation of race and sexuality, and the structures of the photographic medium. His work is international collections including the Getty, LACMA, Guggenheim, MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the Stedelijk, Tate Modern, and Victoria & Albert Museum among others. Museum surveys have been presented at CAM St. Louis and Nottingham Contemporary, and a comprehensive hybrid artist-book and monograph of the project “Dark Room A - Z,” was published by Aperture in Fall 2024. His most recent body of work has been exhibited in“TRANCE” at Bortolami Gallery in New York, the Mercosul Biennial in Porto Alegre Brazil, and “POSITIONER”at Vielmetter Los Angeles. Sepuya is an Associate Professor in Visual Arts at UC San Diego.

Questions: Jocelyn Saucedo Larson at jsaucedo@ljathenaeum.org.

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