INT'L All Media 2026

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We are excited to announce the 31st year of the INT’L All Media juried exhibition at Minot State University. What began as part of the Americas 2000 series has grown into a vibrant showcase of diverse media, methods, and ideas. Presented by the Northwest Arts Center, the exhibition continues a long-standing commitment to fostering contemporary visual arts and honors a legacy rooted in community yet encouraging new perspectives. We are grateful to the many artists who have shared their work and passion for art with our audiences and invite you to join them in 2026!

INT'L All Media Juried Exhibition
August 20 through October 3, 2026
Walter Piehl Gallery
Northwest Arts Center
Minot State University
Minot, North Dakota

Juror: Sarah Conti, Boise, ID – www.sjconti.com

SARAH CONTI is a ceramic sculptor who sculpts birds as an access point to discuss social and environmental issues. Sarah is passionate about ecology, human rights, and sparking conversations about climate change and human impacts on the earth. Sarah is from western Washington, she received her BFA with a sculptural emphasis from University of Idaho. After undergrad Sarah lived in Illinois for three years and was a resident artist at Terra Incognito ceramic studio. She then moved to Portland, Oregon and attended Oregon College of Art and Craft to receive her post baccalaureate in ceramics. She then completed a second ceramics post baccalaureate at the University of Montana. With a group of four other ceramicists, Sarah cofounded Wildfire Ceramic Studio in Missoula, Montana and ran the in-house gallery. Sarah now lives in Boise where she sculpts full-time and keeps busy bird watching, hiking with her dogs, and gardening.

Reception & Online Viewing
Friday, September 11, 2026
6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m. Juror's Talk and Awards
Best of Show, Merit and Purchase Awards to be announced at the reception.

JUROR'S STATEMENT:

It has been an honor to jury the work for the Northwest Arts Center’s 31st annual All Media show. Narrowing down the profound and expansive pool of artwork submissions to the final fraction was a challenge that was equally torturous and enthralling. To all the artists who applied and whose work unfortunately did not fit with the final selection, I encourage your continued passion toward making. Your voice is important and I hope I have the pleasure of seeing more of your work one day.

When sorting through the submissions to make my final selections I considered the technical prowess of the work and the conceptual fortitude of the ideas. I continually asked myself; what is this work doing that is important in this time and in this place? I often find myself looking to the title for insight into the work. When I don’t have the luxury of reading a statement or talking to the artist, I turn to the title as a way to understand what the maker was responding to or pondering.

Many included works discuss a reverence to nature, as well as offering a critique to our relationship to the natural world. References to the act of collection weave their way through the show; sometimes bringing to mind the generous idea of gathering, sometimes evoking the uglier act of consuming and hoarding. My selection includes a breadth of portraiture, explored in many different ways and mediums. All these works feel insightful to a specific person but also elicit in me a larger conversion about the contrast between the ideas of individualism and the melting pot. These connecting fibers bring me back to questions I wrestle with when I am making in my studio and when I am considering my place in the world and my obligations to it.

- Sarah J. Conti


Artists and Works Selected
Artists and Works Selected:

 

Kathryn Jill Johnson, Huntsville, AL, USA. “Secretly Familiar,” graphite, oil, ink, pastel, and gold leaf on panel.
Somia Sharif, Montreal, QC, Canada. “Peeping into the Past,” mixed media.
Somia Sharif, Montreal, QC, Canada. “Common Denominator,” mixed media.
Ryo Kajitani, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. “Inward Red,” digital photo collage, archival pigment print.
Angelo Varisano, Blairs Mills, PA, USA. “Prairie Sunrise,” acrylic and watercolor on canvas.
Blaire Engel, Minot, ND, USA. “Out of Sight,” high fire ceramic.
Susan Heggestad, Vermillion, SD, USA. “a nation with more guns than people,” wooden rifle box, preserved grasses, beeswax, clay, and acrylic paint.
Eric Zuccola, Minneapolis, MN, USA. “Climate Migrations,” mixed media.
Minyu Zhu, London, United Kingdom. “Interweave 02,” hand-knitted textile, stitched fabric, thread, steel.
Gregory Fry, Florence, SC, USA. “Śūnyatā,” serigraphy, foil.
Linda Olson, Minot, ND, USA. “Oval Carbon Trap,” stoneware.
Susan Brekke, Minot, ND, USA. “McHenry County,” acrylic on canvas.
Ryan Lewis, Kalamazoo, MI, USA. “Synthesis II: To Points Beyond (Stereoscopic),” digital video and handmade book.
Brigid O’Kane, Cincinnati, OH, USA. “Pears of Padula,” graphite on paper.
Brigid O’Kane, Cincinnati, OH, USA. “Vessel,” stone lithography.
Mary Johnson, Shoreview, MN, USA. “Sweethearts (I),” broken ceramic figurines, plastic figurine and flowers, seashells, glass Avon bottle, acrylic, resin on foam.
Ariana Padovano, Providence, RI, USA. “Felt Study No. 4,” needle-felted merino wool.
Bruce Williams, Haledon, NJ, USA. “From Ashes to Light,” acrylic and collage on canvas.
Derek Wilkinson, Emporia, KS, USA. “Self-Portrait at 46,” watercolor on paper.
Joshua Newth, Cape Girardeau, MO, USA. “Plausible Implausibilities,” oil on paper, mounted on panel.
Joshua Newth, Cape Girardeau, MO, USA. “America the Beautiful, Reno NV,” oil on paper, mounted on panel.
Kate Kulish, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia. “Fire of Wisdom,” ink, oil, acrylic on canvas.
Kate Kulish, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia. “The Horse,” oil, ink, markers on canvas.
Thomas Pickarski, NY, USA. “The Protocol of Peace,” film.
Ryan Stander, Minot, ND, USA. “Sound the Horns,” wet plate collodion.
Ryan Stander, Minot, ND, USA. “Notes on a Growing Insecurity,” wet plate collodion.
Alexandra Franz, Cincinnati, OH, USA. “Wilted Flowers,” oil on panel.
Sadie Weninger, Velva, ND, USA. “Misaki,” 35mm gelatin silver print.
Jason Franz, Cincinnati, OH, USA. “2025_3_2 (resolution forty-two),” india ink, walnut ink, and gouache on watercolor paper.
Jason Franz, Cincinnati, OH, USA. “2026_1_4 (resolution seventy-three),” india ink, walnut ink, and gouache on watercolor paper.
Marilyn Waligore, Richardson, TX, USA. “Aluminum Blue Fish # 16,” archival pigment print on cotton.
Frank Pishkur, Joplin, MO, USA. “Imposter Syndrome,” reduction-fired stoneware.
Mario Bocanegra Martinez, Auburn, AL, USA. “Combinados IV,” digital collage using original photography, found paper ephemera, and original textures.
Mario Bocanegra Martinez, Auburn, AL, USA. “Combinados V,” digital collage using original photography, found paper ephemera, and original textures.

 


For More Information
Phone: 701-858-3264 or 800-777-0750 (ex.3264)
E-mail: nac@minotstateu.edu

History
» The History of the Northwest Arts Center
» The History of the MSU Annual Juried Competitions