MAJ Theme Emin

Tracey Emin, I Followed You into the Water Knowing I Would Never Return, neon, 33.11 x 72.95 x 3.15 in. (84.1 x 185.3 x 8 cm), 2011 (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

MAJ Theme Whistler

James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, oil on panel, 18.2 x 23.7 in. (46.4 x 60.3 cm), Detroit Institute of Art (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

UMVA Members’ Showcase

Spring 2026: Light

Tracey Emin, I Followed You into the Water Knowing I Would Never Return, neon, 33.11 x 72.95 x 3.15 in. (84.1 x 185.3 x 8 cm), 2011 (photo: Wikimedia Commons). 

 

 

James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, oil on panel, 18.2 x 23.7 in. (46.4 x 60.3 cm), Detroit Institute of Art (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

stanton 1 yourlyingmouth copy

Sally Stanton, Your Lying Mouth, graphite, 12” x 32”, 2026.

Right Now!: Processing the Moment.

Sally Stanton, Your Lying Mouth, graphite, 12” x 32”, 2026.

Submit to the Maine Arts Journal

Artists are now invited to submit to two different features: the UMVA Members’ Showcase which follows the theme of the upcoming issue, and/or our new feature: Right Now!: Processing the Moment.

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

UMVA Members’ Showcase

Invitation and Theme – Summer 2026: Light

It’s spring and there’s more daylight. Light is our summer theme.

Indispensable to life, light is the sine qua non of vision and, by extension, of art itself. It is a physical reality that artists have chased for centuries. To represent light—to capture the immaterial—remains a fundamental challenge that inherently requires its opposite: darkness.

MAJ Theme Reni

Guido Reni, Aurora, ceiling fresco, 1613–14, Casino dell’Aurora, Rome (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

Artists have always made art that might serve as a candle to light the way in dark times. We are interested in moving beyond a passive “light in the dark” toward an active quest for illumination and revelation. We are thinking of light as an active force against obfuscation and even obscurantism—the “casting of light” on what is hidden and forbidden. This enduring symbolism is etched into our collective history, found in mottos ranging from Geneva’s Post Tenebras Lux (After darkness, light) to Colby College’s Ex Scientia, Lux (From knowledge, light). Also compelling are the links between light and acts of discovery and creation—how the process of “unearthing” is to bring it to light, or how the French describe the act of birth as donner le jour (to give the day).

MAJ Theme de la Tour

 Georges de La Tour, The Penitent Magdalen, oil on canvas, 52.5  x 40.25 in. (133.4 x 102.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

We invite you to reflect on what these concepts hold for you and your work today. Beyond the technical strategies of depicting highlights, what symbolism do you attach to light? Are you exploring the “light at the end of the tunnel,” the “blindness” of glare, or the transformative power of revelation? Tell us how you experience light, the meanings it holds for you, and how you translate it into the material world of your art.

For the Summer 2026 issue, the Maine Arts Journal is delighted to partner once again with the L.C. Bates Museum’s summer exhibition, Light. While the exhibition will explore light through the lens of natural history—for instance, seasonal cycles, the opposition between natural and artificial light, and nighttime phenomena—we invite our MAJ contributors to go beyond this horizon.

 

Deadline: 1 June 2026.

Guidelines for UMVA Members’ Showcase:

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

  • For the Light 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 “Light” in the subject line and submit by email to umvalistings@gmail.com by the 1 June 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.

blackwell matt drops the big one Screenshot 2026 03 05 at 21 05 06 (1) Instagram copy

Matt Blackwell, Drops the Big One.

Matt Blackwell, Drops the Big One.

torlen cole Tell Me What s Gioin On copy copy

 Kenny Cole and Michael Torlen, Cowboys, Fishermen, and Thieves: Tell Me What’s Goin’ On?, monoprint with acrylic, collage, and Flashe paints on BFK paper, 22 x 18 in., 2025.

Kenny Cole and Michael Torlen, Cowboys, Fishermen, and Thieves: Tell Me What’s Goin’ On?, monoprint with acrylic, collage and Flashe paints on BFK paper, 22 x 18 in., 2025.

 

 

Right Now!: Processing the Moment

Visual Feature – Summer 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.

Deadline: 1 June 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 June 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.

goetz Unblended younger voices can be held and answeredWalking with Healing 20 x24 jpeg copy

Eva Goetz, Unblended, Younger Voices Can Be Held and Answered, acrylic gouache on panel, 20 x 24 in., 2026.. 

Eva Goetz, Unblended, Younger Voices Can Be Held and Answered, acrylic gouache on panel, 20 x 24 in., 2026..