The Big Show 2026 Open Call Exhibition
Annual juried exhibition for artists within 100-mile radius of Houston. Juror: Valerie Cassel Oliver, curator at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Lawndale Art Center is launching an open call for The Big Show 2026, its flagship annual juried group exhibition. This prestigious opportunity is open to artists living or working within a 100-mile radius of Lawndale's central Houston location. The geographic eligibility area roughly extends from Schulenburg to the west, Madisonville to the north, Matagorda to the south, and just past Port Arthur and Beaumont to the east.
The juror for 2026 is Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA). Oliver brings extensive curatorial experience, having organized landmark exhibitions of work by Robert Rauschenberg, Theaster Gates, Ted Joans, Dawoud Bey, and Howardena Pindell. She previously served as Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) from 2000 to 2018, where she organized survey shows and group exhibitions including "Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art." Oliver has also curated the Spotlight section of Frieze Masters Art Fair in London multiple times and holds an Executive MBA from Columbia University, an MA in Art History from Howard University, and a BS in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin.
The Big Show began in 1984 as the East End Show and has become a significant platform for regional artists. The 2026 exhibition will open Friday, June 12, and run through Saturday, August 15. Past jurors have included Dr. Phillip A. Townsend (2025), Dr. Laura Augusta (2024), Dr. Kanitra Fletcher (2023), and Daisy Nam (2022).