Stitch and Resist — Open Call for Artists From Island Gateway Gallery

Applications close in 12 days

  • Type: Exhibition
  • Geography: Regional
  • Submission Deadline: July 01, 2026 @ 11:59PM (America - Chicago)
  • Event Dates: Sep 12, 2026 - Sep 20, 2026
  • Award: Yes
  • Submission limit: 2 pieces
Submit to Call
12 days left

We are looking for fiber and textile work that has something to say.


Work where the piece itself takes a position, bears witness, or asks something of the person standing in front of it.   And work that demonstrates a beautiful process.  If you have been making with intention, making toward something, making because the world requires it — this show is for you.

Fiber art carries a particular power: it is intimate and collective at once. It is the work of slowing down in a world that will not slow down, of sitting with something long enough to understand it, of building stitch by stitch until it exists in the world and cannot be unsaid. It speaks in a language that crosses difference, because nearly everyone has known the weight of cloth, the texture of thread, the memory of something made for them by someone who loved them. That familiarity is not incidental. It is the point. Craft enters rooms that division cannot.

We are not prescribing causes or positions. The work in this exhibition may speak quietly or at full volume. It may address the urgent or the enduring, the local or the global, the political or the profoundly personal. What we ask is that it be made with intention — that the fiber, the stitch, the color, the form are not incidental but part of what the work is saying. That the making itself is a stance.

Stitch and Resist is Island Gateway Gallery & Gathering's first curated exhibition — the fourth and final show of our inaugural 2026 season — opening September 12 as part of Bayfield Art Escape 2026 in Bayfield, Wisconsin, on the south shore of Lake Superior. Gallery admission is always free.

Full submission guidelines and instructions: https://islandgateway.org/submit/

Award Info:

Viewer's Choice: $50 Judges' Award: $50

Eligibility Criteria:

This call is open to artists at all stages — emerging to established — working individually or as part of a collective or guild.

Geographic focus: Artists residing in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and Illinois. Artists based elsewhere with strong regional ties are welcome to reach out before submitting.

Work must use fiber or textile as a primary or meaningful medium. Mixed media work in which fiber plays a central and intentional role is welcome.

All work must be two-dimensional and wall-ready, with hanging hardware in place (wire across the back or a hanging sleeve). Maximum size: 36" × 36" (including any frame or mounting).

No entry fee. We believe access matters.

Application Requirements:

Submit up to two works for consideration. One work per artist will be selected for the exhibition.

For each work submitted, provide:
  • Title
  • Medium (be specific — e.g. hand-quilted cotton with natural dye; wool felt and embroidery on linen)
  • Dimensions in inches (Width × Height), not to exceed 36" × 36"
  • One image per work: JPEG or PNG, minimum 1500px on the longest side.  No watermarks.
  • Artist statement for that work (150 words or fewer): Tell us what this piece is saying — what statement it makes, what it stands for, what it asks of the person standing in front of it. Write as a maker, not a grant applicant.
  • Sale price, or indicate Not for Sale.  Either are welcome.  If sold during the show, the artist will receive 60% of the sale price and the gallery will receive 40%.

You will also be asked:
  • A brief bio (2–4 sentences, first person)
  • An optional note on your connection to the show's themes
Questions before you submit? Email [email protected] — we respond within two business days.

Rules and Terms:

  • Work must be available for the full exhibition run: September 12–20, 2026.
  • All work must arrive with hanging hardware in place.
  • Work drop-off: September 4–8, 2026. Artists who need to ship their work should contact us in advance.
  • Island Gateway insures all exhibited work up to $25,000 aggregate while in the gallery's possession. Artists are responsible for transit coverage.
  • If work is offered for sale, Island Gateway will handle sales under our standard gallery terms. Pricing is at the artist's discretion.
  • Artists grant Island Gateway permission to reproduce images of submitted work for exhibition promotion, social media, and press, with attribution.
  • All submitted work must be the original creation of the submitting artist.
  • Artist notification: July 22, 2026. The decision of the curators is final.
  • Unsold work pickup: September 21–22, 2026.

Contact

For questions about the application itself (application requirements, terms, etc), please contact us directly at [email protected]

For questions or issues with the application process (setting up an account, submitting to the call, login issues, etc), please contact Artwork Archive or call 720-900-5506

Island Gateway Gallery