5th Annual Wild Art Open, International Call for Art
- Jun 29
- 5 min read
Deadline for Entries: August 20, 2026
Submit your art, sculpture, and photography. All forms of 2D and 3D artwork and photography desired. No AI.
It's been 5 years since we ran our first art call as part of our goal to create a place for animal artists and wildlife artists. Wild Heart Gallery's focus remains solely on artwork and photography that focuses on animals. Thank you all for being here, for participating, for finding new artists, and for letting us help you grow your own community through ours.
For our 5th Annual Wild Art Open, we are excited to ask once more for entries that focus on wild animals. Anything goes for Wild Art Open! Any wild animal, large, small, microscopic! Show us beauty, power, opulence, ridiculousness, or anything beyond or in between!
We are excited about wildlife art. Show us your dedication, skill, wildness, and originality!
All styles of art are welcome here, but, please, no AI.
About the Theme
All animal species that fit the theme are welcome: wild animals.
Any and all wild animals are welcome: Lions, tigers, bats, butterflies, marmots, platypi, tortoises, lobsters, fish, elephants, and so on.
This really is a no-holds-barred, let's-go-for-it kind of art call. If you were ever unsure about whether or not to submit a wild-animal-themed piece to another art show, consider submitting it to this one.
About Entries
2D and 3D artwork, printmaking, sculpture, pastels, mixed media, ceramics, original digital art (no AI), photography, and more
Any style as long there is an animal in it that fits the theme
All entries must feature an animal and must be the original artwork of the submitting artist
We embrace realism as fully as abstraction. We love loose brush strokes as much as highly detailed photographs. We live for finely crafted ceramics as much as mixed media experiments. We. Love. Art. Show us your Surrealism, Op Art, Baroque-inspired animal photography! Submit Contemporary Wildlife Art in all its forms, or floor us with hyper realism. We are here for every brush stroke, chiseled edge, soldered joint, and perfectly timed image. We love the animals as much as the art.
This art call is for a virtual art exhibition on wildheartgallery.com and our social media channels. Wild Heart Gallery recently moved to Redlands, California, and is currently focusing on virtual art exhibitions.
Click or tap the button below to read the full prospectus and submit your application via ArtCall.
The following information is repeated on the prospectus. Tap the "Apply Now" button above to skip to that page.
AWARDS
Best of Show ($350 cash award)
Overall Runner Up ($175 cash award)
Artivism Award ($75) - Art Activism about animals and/or the environment
Overall Honorable Mentions
Finalists
Best in Show receives $350 cash award and promotion on the following: Art Week, Wild Heart Gallery’s (WHG's) growing social media and other online media channels, WHG's eNewsletter, and WHG's home page (for duration of the exhibition).
Overall Runner Up receives $175 cash award and promotion on Wild Heart Gallery’s (WHG's) growing social media/other online media channels and WHG's eNewsletter and inclusion in a virtual group exhibition that lasts at least one month.
Artivism Award receives $75 cash award and promotion on Wild Heart Gallery’s (WHG's) growing social media/other online media channels and WHG's eNewsletter and inclusion in a virtual group exhibition that lasts at least one month.
Finalists receive promotion on Wild Heart Gallery’s (WHG's) growing social media/other online media channels and WHG's eNewsletter and inclusion in a virtual group exhibition that lasts at least one month. All award recipients also receive an award certificate, emailed as a PDF to the email address used for the submission process.
Selected Works are not awarded entries, but they are included in virtual group exhibition that lasts at least one month. There is no set number of Selected Works.
*Artists shown above are Peter Doroh, Joyce Danko, Susan Humphrey, Molly Mellinger, Jace Laakso, and Dawn Pavloski.
IMPORTANT DATES
Deadline for Entries: August 20, 2026
Notification of Jury Results on or before: September 2, 2026
Virtual Show Dates: September 2026
ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS
All entries must be the original artwork of the submitting artist.
Entries will be evaluated based on originality, technique, skill, relevance to theme, and quality of work. Please submit a quality image of the work for jurying. We can't review blurry art.
Artwork entered in this competition is not required to be for sale. Any inquiries about a piece will be directed to the artist. We do not take any commission.
Artwork must not have been included in one of our previous shows.
Policy: No nudity (private parts must be covered), no profanity, no animal cruelty, no gore, and no political artwork will be accepted for jury. Topics of animal conservation and environmental protection are not considered political for the purposes of Wild Heart Gallery.
IMAGE REQUIREMENTS
You may submit up to 2 images.
*For Sculpture entries only, you may submit up to 3 additional views per piece.
*For Photography, please note the make and model of the camera used and whether is film or digital.
Accepted File Types: JPG, PNG, GIF
File Size must be between 500 KB minimum and 5 MB maximum
Minimum Image Width or Height: 1080 px
This is an art competition. Only the award recipients will be in the online group exhibition.
Artwork for the exhibition will be selected by industry professionals, referred to as jurors. The jurors will vote based on the number of entries, criteria for this event (theme), originality, technique, skill, and quality of work.
Entry Fees (non-refundable):
$18 for 1-2 images
All dollar amount listed are in USD.
TERMS OF ENTRY FOR ENTRANTS
Artist Entry Requirements:
Competitions are open to all artists age 18 or older
Entries must follow each individual competition theme
Each piece must be an original or a sold original
Files must be in JPG, GIF, or PNG format
Files may not exceed 5MB
No AI
Artwork images must be photographed/presented in a professional manner: properly cropped, no glare, no frames, no watermarks. Image quality really makes a difference.
For digital art, photography is not necessary; a JPG file of the digital artwork is preferred
Not mandatory, but it is preferred that artwork be completed within the last 2 years
Artwork must not have been included in Wild Heart Gallery's shows previously.
Entry fee based on the competition
Entry fees are non-refundable. No exceptions
JURY SELECTION
Jury Selection begins within 7 days after final entry date and ends within 15 days after final entry date.
Award recipients are the entered into an online group award exhibition that is published at a date sometime after final entry date.
The Jurors and Jury Process:
The Juror(s) of the art competition are art industry professionals.
Jurors: Sarah Soward, Sharon Eisley and TBA
There are several criteria for selection for the award exhibition. These include relevance to the theme, appropriate medium, originality, quality of work, technique, and technical skill. The goal is to have a cohesive, high quality virtual art exhibition that embraces various genres of animal and wildlife art. To make the experience enjoyable and worthwhile to artists, visitors, and more, we strive to select and display the artwork that best represents animal and wildlife art today. Please remember that this is a competition; only the best art will be selected for exhibition. Not all art that was entered will be included.
COPYRIGHT
The artist retains all copyrights to their artwork without exception.
If your name is visible on your artwork, please leave it that way. We fully support artists' copyright. As well as being one layer of protection for the artist, we believe it makes your art easier to find and recognize when your name is visible and legible on your work.
Comments