Call Description

EXHIBITION: Following the success of the first two biennial exhibitions, the Department of Art and Art History at the University of North Carolina Asheville is excited to announce In the Round: 3rd Biennial Outdoor Sculpture Competition. Seven works will be selected by the juror and displayed for two years around the newly renovated and state-of-the-art Owen Hall within the beautiful UNC Asheville campus. There will be cash prizes awarded during an opening reception and juror’s walk on October 16th, 2026. Additionally, stipends will be given to each accepted artist. In the Round is made possible by the generous support from the Windgate Charitable Foundation.

ABOUT THE JUROR: Ledelle Moe (b.1971, Durban, South Africa) graduated from Natal Technikon in 1993. She was one of the founding members of the FLAT Gallery, an alternative space in Durban. A travel grant in 1994 took her to the United States where she attended the Virginia Commonwealth University. She completed her Master’s Degree in 1996 before becoming an adjunct professor in the Sculpture Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. She has also taught at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC, Virginia Commonwealth University, and St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Moe has exhibited in a number of international venues including the Pérez Art Museum Miami; Semaphore Gallery, Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.; Smack Mellon, Brooklyn; the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York; Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, New York; Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden; MASS MoCA, Massachusetts; the Omachi Triennale, Japan and Art Rooms, Kyrenia in Cyprus, among others. Moe’s work is permanently installed at the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Museum Park in Raleigh. In 2002 Moe was the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Award and in 2008 received the Kreeger Museum Artist Award. Moe is head of sculpture at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. She currently lives and works in Cape Town.

CATALOGUE: A full-color catalogue of the exhibition will be printed. Each exhibiting artist will receive one complimentary copy and additional copies will be available for purchase. To view the catalog of the current biennial, click HERE.

AWARDS/INSTALLATION: A total of $3000 in cash prizes will be determined and awarded by the juror. A stipend of $2000 will be provided to each accepted artist in order to help offset shipping and travel. Assistance with installation will be available in the form of front loader and excavator equipment managed by UNC Asheville staff. Any additional equipment needs, such as crane assistance, are the responsibility of the artist. Artwork will be insured while on campus for the duration of the exhibition. Artists are responsible for insurance while in transit.

CALENDAR:

CaFÉ application opens     April 1, 2026

*** Deadline to apply               June 30, 2026 ***

*** Notifications sent               July 15, 2026 ***

Installation dates                Late September/early October, 2026

Juror’s Walk & Reception  October 16, 2026 

Exhibition dates                 October 2026-September 2028

Deinstallation                     Late September 2028

Artists unable to meet the installation and deinstallation dates are not eligible to participate and may forfeit the stipend.

Application Requirements

Artists may submit up to five total entries. For each entry, there is an application fee of $25 and two alternate views may be included (i.e., two overview images and one detail image for each entry). Artists may also submit an artist statement for consideration. Applications may only be submitted through the CaFÉ online system.

Eligibility Criteria

This competition is open to artists 18 years or older currently residing in the United States. There is no required timeframe for when the work was created. NEW for this biennial - models and proposals for in-progress work may be considered (if the application for proposed/uncompleted work is compelling, the juror may request additional information and/or prior work examples). All work must be original and cannot have been exhibited at The University of North Carolina Asheville before. Work must be able to withstand adverse weather conditions, such as heavy winds, rain, ice and snow, as well as public interaction. Work may be one autonomous object or several related pieces, but must not exceed a total footprint of 10’ x 10’ or weigh more than 3000 lbs. (please email for questions concerning these limitations). All submitted work must also be able to be secured to a concrete pad, safe for diverse audiences and maintenance-free for the duration of the exhibition. Sales are encouraged and a 30% commission will be retained by UNC Asheville from the retail price listed on the entry form.

QUESTIONS: Please contact Associate Professor and Department Chair, Jackson Martin at jmartin5@unca.edu with questions about the application and/or exhibition.