Call Description

Memory and Myth

SDA’s 2026 International Exhibition in Print

Memory and Myth considers artistic practice as a site for storytelling: where lived experience, inherited knowledge and imagined worlds converge through creativity and the skill of the maker. Memory, whether personal, familial, or collective, is rarely fixed or complete. Myth is not only expressed through folklore or a personal narrative, but also as a way of understanding the world. Memory and myth both shift through repetition, embellishment, omission and care. In fiber art practices, these processes become visible through material, surface pattern and labor.

Memory and Myth seeks work that engages textiles—in its many forms—to hold memories and share stories. Submissions may explore personal or collective histories, reimagined traditions, speculative narratives, or the blending of past, present and future. Together, these works reveal the ways surface design may keep memory and myth both alive and mutable.

Meli Bandera will serve as this year’s EIP juror, , selecting work for inclusion in a comprehensive print and digital edition of the Fall 2026 Surface Design Journal. The publication will include full color images, individual artist statements and an essay by the juror addressing the context of the work in the exhibition and its place within the evolution of broader trends in contemporary textile and fiber-based arts. Artists whose work is selected will receive one complimentary print copy of Surface Design Journal.

• This exhibition is open to all artists working in fibers/textiles, with a discounted entry fee offered to SDA members and students
• Students can use the code STUDENT for $15 off the entry fee 
• Not an SDA Member? Join today and get 10% off your membership with the code WELCOME26

JOURNAL OVERVIEW: Meli Bandera will serve as this year’s EIP juror, , selecting work for inclusion in a comprehensive print and digital edition of the Fall 2026 Surface Design Journal. The publication will include full color images, individual artist statements and an essay by the juror addressing the context of the work in the exhibition and its place within the evolution of broader trends in contemporary textile and fiber-based arts. Artists whose work is selected will receive one complimentary print copy of Surface Design Journal.

JUROR BIO: Meli Bandera is a Chicana multi-disciplinary artist and educator based in the Midwest. They are from South Bend, IN. Their work focuses on the interaction of ancestral fiber techniques and contemporary practices, such as Chicano Tattoo traditions, to investigate cultural shifts and the effect migration and place contribute to a cultural identity. They hold a BFA in Drawing and Painting from Indiana University South Bend and an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Meli is currently the Associate Curator at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, MI.

In 2018, Meli was an artist in residence at the South Bend Museum of Art and at Praxis Fiber Workshop within their Digital Weaving Residency. In 2024, they spent time at T.e.x.e.r.e. in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca funded by the Robert C. Larson Travel Award. As an educator, Meli has taught youth programming at the South Bend Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Meli’s work has been exhibited nationally at the South Bend Museum of Art, Colfax Cultural Center, Notre Dame Center for Arts and Culture, The Scarab Club, Purple Window Gallery, Buckham Gallery, Ann Arbor Art Center, and Playground Detroit.

Application Requirements

ENTRY PROCEDURE: Entries are accepted online through the CaFÉ website. The entry deadline is May 18, 2026 and applications will close at 11:59 PM Mountain Time Zone (Denver, CO, USA) on the day of the deadline.

PLEASE NOTE: CaFÉ does not allow you to make changes to your application once you have submitted. Once the exhibition has been juried, you will receive email notifications from CaFÉ listing each artwork as “invited” or “not invited.” (You may receive more than one email.) Notifications will also appear in your CaFÉ account.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:

1. Name, address, telephone, e-mail
2. Up to 3 artworks (2 images max per artwork: 1 overall image & 1 detail) 6 images total may be submitted per entrant. Jurors request one overall and one detail of each original artwork.
3. Images Requirements

• File format: jpeg only
• File dimensions: 1200 pixels or on shortest side
• File resolution: 72 ppi/dpi (standard web resolution)
• File size: 5 MB maximum
• NOTE: Uploaded images are scaled by the Café system and two monitor versions are created: a small 100-pixel thumbnail and a large 700-pixel image. These images are available for preview in your portfolio after uploading.

     4. A brief artist statement (up to 1,000 characters).

• Since this is an anonymous jury process, please do not include identifying information in the statement such as your name.
• Please note that the artist statement should address the artist's overall practice.
• Within each individual submission, there is a description field where you may include additional information about the specific piece (i.e. method, concept, etc.). Artists are highly encouraged to complete the description field as it provides important context for the juror.

PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDELINES: As this call is for an Exhibition in Print, the quality of photographic documentation will impact the assessment of your work for inclusion in the Journal. All backgrounds should be neutral or grayscale unless color is part of the work.

***NOTE: Selected artists must be able to provide print quality images of juried work (300 dpi, 6 x 8 inches min, jpg, png, or tiff). Failure to do so will result in exclusion from the exhibition in print. 

AWARDS: Seven Award Winners will each receive an expanded, 3-page spread in the Journal. Criteria for selection includes work that demonstrates clear visual and conceptual cohesion as well as a dynamic approach to the theme. The following award categories will be presented for this year’s Exhibition in Print: Modern Myth; Guest Juror; Storytelling; Archival/Analog Innovator; Ecological Award; Spatial Fiber and the Chromatic Award.

IMPORTANT DATES: 

• May 18: CaFÉ Call for entry closes
• May 22 – June 19: Jurying process
• June 26: Artist notification of acceptance
• July 20: Selected artists provide text/ images/captions for publication
• August 17: Design Phase for Journal begins
• Mid October: Publication of Journal

Eligibility Criteria

ELIGIBILITY AND ENTRY FEE: This international exhibition is open to both SDA members and non-members. Up to two artworks may be submitted per artist. Entries must be original work not previously exhibited in an SDA exhibition. Work executed under classroom or educational guidance is not eligible.

Entries that do not meet the stated requirements will not be considered. Artists who have been included in prior SDA exhibits are encouraged to apply, but work should show a progression or be from a different body of work. Works previously exhibited with SDA will not be considered. No substitutions for accepted work may be made. Accepted artwork that differs significantly from image in online submission may be disqualified.

Information about SDA membership is available at the SDA website.

Join today to enter at the SDA member price and  and get 10% off your membership with the code SDAEXHIBITS

• $40 entry fee for SDA members, up to 3 artworks
• $50 entry fee for non-members, up to 3 artworks
• Student members and non-members can use the coupon code STUDENT26 for $15 on respective entry fees.