Liquid Commonwealth

This exhibition will explore the essential importance, richness, and beauty of water as a defining element of Virginia for all its residents. Co-sponsored by the Department of Art & Art History and the Muscarelle Museum of Art as the culminating outcome of the Fall 2025 Curatorial Project course (ARTH 331), the exhibition will be titled Liquid Commonwealth: The Art and Life of Water in Virginia. Water has become a familiar topic in recent contemporary art, but exhibitions have tended to emphasize national and international issues or very local concerns. Liquid Commonwealth takes a different approach by making the state of Virginia — and Virginia artists — its theme. Through an invitational approach to selection and curation, the exhibition will encourage artists of any community and locale in Virginia to express a range of perceptions, concerns, and joys about water as an essential element of life.

Although water certainly has both urgent political significance and abstract conceptual interest, the project proposed here deliberately celebrates the variety of ways in which the inhabitants of our commonwealth experience water as a tangible source of inspiration – materially, emotionally, spiritually, aesthetically, and more. This is not to say politics or criticality are unwelcome, especially at a time when climate change and pollution pose daunting challenges, but the exhibition seeks to be truly inclusive of a broad scope of perspectives in order to reflect the richly diverse aquatic dimensions of Virginia as a place shaped by various liquid environments: the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, and more than seventy rivers and lakes from the Shenandoah to the Eastern Shore, not to mention atmospheric water, underground aquifers, and the many human-made reservoirs and systems that sustain life for all species.

Terms and Conditions for the Liquid Commonwealth: The Art and Life of Water in Virginia Exhibition

The Liquid Commonwealth: The Art and Life of Water in Virginia (“Exhibition”) is organized by the Muscarelle Museum of Art in conjunction with the Department of Art & Art History at William & Mary (“Organizer”). The exhibition will serve as the final project for the Fall 2025 Curatorial Project class (ARTH 331).

Eligibility: The Exhibition is open to all artists who are over eighteen years old and legal residents of Virginia (“Artists”) except for Muscarelle Museum of Art employees and/or William & Mary faculty. All submissions must be original artwork created by the Artist themselves (for this competition we will not be accepting AI generated submissions). The Artist must not submit works that infringe on the rights of a third party. Works in all mediums and styles will be considered, so long as they adhere to the theme of water in Virginia. Upon submission, Artists retain all rights to their images, but Artists consent to use of their images for publicity and educational purposes related to the Exhibition in the form of a non-exclusive license with the Organizer.

Submission Guidelines: The submissions must align with the Exhibition theme as described above. The deadline for submissions is August 1, 2025. Artists may submit up to two works in any medium (born digital, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture, etc.). Please submit images as a JPEG file with a resolution of 300 dpi to ensure high-quality review. Artists will also be given the opportunity to provide a brief biography (no more than 200 words), and a statement (approx. 300 words) explaining the context and relevance of their submitted works. Identifying information will not be shared with the student jurors prior to their selection for the Exhibition.

Entry Fee: There is no entry fee for submissions. However, selected artists will be responsible for the packing and transport to and from the Museum (see Selected Work(s) section below for more information).

Jurying Process: Submissions will be reviewed by William & Mary undergraduate students enrolled in The Curatorial Project, a required practicum course for undergraduate students with a concentration in Art History, under the direction of Alan C. Braddock, Ralph H. Wark Professor of Art History, American Studies, and Environmental Humanities at William & Mary. The exhibition will be juried blindly – that is without context or information about the individual artists and their submissions (if works are signed on the face of the artwork, the jurors will receive a redacted image that excludes or blurs the signature). If a student jury member recognizes the work of a specific artist, they will recuse themselves from participating in deliberation about that artist’s submission(s). By submitting works, the Artist consents to the involvement of student jurors, and agrees to the sharing of submission materials for the purposes of jurying and exhibition.

Selected Work(s): Selected works must be delivered to the Museum ready for installation. All hanging hardware and reinforcements must be intact, functional and able to fully support the artwork. Delivered artwork that does not match the submission may be declined at the discretion of Museum staff. Please note that, for preventative pest management purposes, the Museum cannot accept works of art with live plant matter or soil (please be sure to list all media included in your artwork on the submission form).

Prize Money: The juried art competition may award up to $10,000 to three selected winners. The first place winner will be awarded $5,000, second place will be awarded $3,000, and third place $2,000.

Deliveries/Returns: Deliveries of artwork will be accepted by appointment and in consultation with Museum staff in advance of drop-off. Anticipated 2025 delivery dates include Saturday, November 1, Monday, November 3, and Tuesday, November 4 (between the hours of 10 AM – 5 PM). Artists will pick up their work by appointment at the end of the exhibition (works not collected within 30 days of the exhibition closure will be placed in storage, and artists will be charged regular storage fees).

The Organizer is not responsible for any damage, loss, or theft of works during transit. The Museum will exercise the same care with respect to loans as it does in the safekeeping of comparable objects of its own. It is understood by the lender and the Museum that all tangible objects are subject to gradual inherent deterioration for which neither party is responsible. All submission materials will be used for the sole purpose of the Exhibition. Additional terms may apply.