Submit to the Maine Arts Journal!

Artists are now invited to submit to two different features:

 UMVA Members Showcase

(see theme description below) 

and a new feature:

Right Now!: Processing the Moment.

Feature description, formats, guidelines, and deadlines are below. Submissions should be identified in the email subject line according to the feature you are submitting for.

UMVA Members’ Showcase

Invitation and Theme – Fall 2026: Mapping

mapping Carte du tendre copy

François Chauveau (attrib.) La Carte de Tendre (The Map of Tender), 1656 (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

mapping mayers toward a town map of whitefield oil paintstick on rag paper 90x120 copy

Natasha Mayers, Toward a Town Map of Whitefield, oil paintstick on rag paper, 90 x 120 in.

Maps are a constant presence in our daily lives, yet we seldom reflect on the fact that they are based on conventions and specific sets of codes. They are abstractions—diagrammatic representations that help us make sense of our world and orient ourselves within it. While they are indispensable tools, they are also profound reflections of human constructs: political, social, and deeply imaginary. Maps define boundaries and can be used to challenge them—re-mapping lost histories, invisible borders, or shifting ecologies.

mapping Leo Belgicus (Dutch Belgic Lion of the Low Countries) Famiano Strada c1647 copy

Title page of De Bello Belgico by Famiano Strada, 1647 (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

Mapping is also a powerful metaphor for giving spatial form to cognitive processes. We map journeys, relationships, memories, and thoughts. Whether charting external territories or internal realities, mapping is an attempt to understand where we are and where we are going.

mapping Carrington map copy

Leonora Carrington, Map of Down Below, ink on paper, 12 3/4 x 9 7/8 in. (32.4 x 25.1 cm), c. 1941, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher (photo: Harvard Art Museums).

 

Deadline: 1 September 2026

Guidelines for UMVA Members’ Showcase:

We invite MAJ member artists to participate in the Showcase (to become a member, click here).

  • For the Mapping issue, submit up to four JPEG or png images (NO TIFF files), approximately 2500 pixels on longest side, resolution 72dpi.
  • Label each image file as follows: your last name_Number of Image_Title (with no spaces in the title). Please DO NOT put whole caption/credit in image file label, see image list/caption format below (if you are submitting for a group put your own last name in first).
  • Include a numbered image list at the end of your statement or brief essay (600 words or less) in Word doc. format, NOT a PDF.
  • Image list/caption format: create a list that is numbered to match the number in your image file label that includes the following in this order: Artist’s Name, Title of Work, medium, size (example: 9 x 12 in.), date (optional), photo credit (example: photo: Ansel Adams) if not included we assume it is courtesy of the artist. Example: Unknown Artist, Untitled, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in., 2000 (photo: Ansel Adams).
  • Label your document file names: Last Name_Title.
  • Please wait until all of your material is compiled to submit.

Put “Mapping” in the subject line and submit by email to umvalistings@gmail.com by the 1 September 2026 deadline. MAJ will limit the Members’ Showcase section to UMVA members who have not been published in the past year.

Do not send preformatted visual essays. Our editors will lay out text and images submitted using the guidelines above.

It is the MAJ’s policy to request and publish image credits. We will not publish images for which the contributor does not have the right to publish. However, it is to be assumed that any uncredited or unlabeled images are contributing artists’ own images. By submitting to the MAJ, you are acknowledging respect for these policies.

Right Now nadeau 1 we the people boots on the ground copy

Ed Nadeau,We the People, Boots on the Ground, ink and collage on mixed media paper, 14 x 11 in., 2026.

Right Now!: Processing the Moment

Visual Feature – Fall 2026

At a time when many of us feel despair over the erosion of our rights and the integrity of our democratic process, we believe there is power in witnessing how our community reacts. What are your creative responses to these difficult times? What is happening in your studio and on your streets as you process current events? It is increasingly difficult to focus on other issues when the threats to our daily lives feel both immediate and globally exponential. This will be a purely visual feature, interspersed with brief quotes from contributors. We invite you to send up to three images with captions in proper format, see guidelines below.
Right Now buotte peter Falling Stars re purposed unservicable flag fabric 2026jpg copy

Peter Buotte, Falling Stars, re-purposed unservicable flag fabric, 2026.

Right Now weiss image1 copy

Mary Becker Weiss, Ceasefire.

 Deadline: 1 September 2026.
Guidelines for Right Now!: Processing the Moment

Submit JPEG or png images (NO TIFF files), approximately 2500 pixels on longest side, resolution 72dpi. For Right Now!: Processing the Moment, artists can submit up to three images.

  • Label each image file as follows: your last name_Number of Image_Title (with no spaces in the title). Please DO NOT put whole caption/credit in image file label, see image list/caption format below (if you are submitting for a group put your own last name in first).
  • Include a numbered image list in Word doc. format, NOT a PDF.
  • Image list/caption format: create a list that is numbered to match the number in your image file label that includes the following in this order: Artist’s Name, Title of Work, medium, size (example: 9 x 12 in.), date (optional), photo credit (example: photo: Ansel Adams) if not included we assume it is courtesy of the artist. Example: Unknown Artist, Untitled, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in., 2000 (photo: Ansel Adams).
  • Label your Word document file names: Last Name_Title.
  • Please wait until all of your material is compiled to submit.

Put “Right Now!” in the email subject line and submit to umvalistings@gmail.com by the 1 September 2026 deadline. Do not send preformatted visual essays. Our editors will lay out text and images submitted using the guidelines above. It is the MAJ’s policy to request and publish image credits. We will not publish images for which the contributor does not have the right to publish. However, it is to be assumed that any uncredited or unlabeled images are contributing artists’ own images. By submitting to the MAJ, you are acknowledging respect for these policies.

Right Now starr liz untitled 20260602 160501~2 copy

Elizabeth Starr, Untitled.