Call for Submissions: 2026 Exhibitions Curated by Kelsey Watson
Call for Submissions: 2026 Exhibitions Curated by Kelsey Watson
We invite Atlantic Canadian artists and makers to explore ideas in two of the upcoming 2026 exhibitions at Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design focusing on how experience, memory, and identity are carried through cycles. Together, the exhibitions explore how life is shaped by repeating patterns. In nature, through tidal movement, and in culture through inherited roles, skills, and expectations. We are seeking craft-based works that engage these ideas through material, process, and transformation.
The first exhibition from August 4 – September 18, 2026, explores water tides the profound connection between natural cycles and human experience through the lens of maritime identity. This exhibition positions water as both literal and metaphorical force, examining how tidal rhythms mirror our own patterns of breathing, living, and being.
High tide represents moments of abundance, joy, and discovery in times when we feel full and expansive. Conversely, low tide embodies vulnerability, survival, and introspection in periods of exposure and careful navigation.
Through the works, artists will translate these aquatic rhythms into tangible form, using repetitive processes that echo the cyclical nature of waves. The exhibition celebrates our shared pulse with nature, acknowledging how coastal communities have long understood their lives as fundamentally intertwined with oceanic forces.
The second exhibition from October 5 – December 31, 2026, examines girlhood and motherhood in the complex transmission of knowledge, identity, and creativity across generations of women. This exhibition positions traditional crafts as vessels for intergenerational dialogue, where skills pass from mentor to maker alongside stories, expectations, and reimagined possibilities.
The works serve as portals to memory, evoking childhood’s dual nature of innocence and formation, play and preparation. Artists explore how creativity coexists with cultural expectations, revealing how traditions are simultaneously inherited and transformed. The exhibition interrogates “women’s work”, both domestic craft and motherhood, examining how creative labour shifts when women transition into caregiving roles.
Do you use traditional techniques, local materials, or community engagement to explore how shared experiences shape identity within natural or social contexts?
Water tides reflect on tidal rhythms, human emotions, and a shared pulse, while the examination of girlhood and motherhood explores how skills, ideas, and identities are shared and reimagined over time. Together, the exhibitions highlight how memory and knowledge are carried through making. Artists are invited to submit material and process-driven works that respond to themes of cycles, repetition, and the evolving nature of memory.
Deadline: March 13, 2026, at 5:00 PM
Submission Format
All materials must be compiled into one PDF document and submitted to Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design and include:
Artist Bio (250 words maximum)
- Brief overview of your artistic background
- Notable exhibitions, awards, or achievements
- Connection to Atlantic Canada and/or the Unama’ki Cape Breton art communities
Artist Statement (250 words maximum)
- Description of your artistic practice and approach
- How your work relates to the exhibition themes of water, tides, girlhood, or motherhood
Images (Maximum 5 images)
- High-resolution digital images of proposed artworks
- Each image must include:
Title of work
Medium
Dimensions
Year created
- Images should represent works that align with exhibition themes
- Include installation shots if applicable
Technical Specifications
- PDF file size should not exceed 10MB
- Images should be minimum 300 DPI resolution
- Label your PDF file as: LastName_FirstName_2026Exhibitions.pdf
Submission Method
Email completed PDF to: lori@capebretoncraft.com
Subject line: “2026 Exhibition Submission – [Your Name]”
Selection Process
The exhibitions are curated by Kelsey Watson. Kelsey is a ceramic artist living and working in Inverness, Nova Scotia. After studying at NSCAD University (BFA 2013), she later completed a graduate certificate in Non-Profit Leadership at NSCC in 2023. Alongside her studio practice, Kelsey works as the Exhibitions Coordinator at Inverness County Centre for the Arts, where she is also beginning her career in curating. Her creative work is currently shaped by the new rhythm of motherhood, and balancing being a parent, artist, and community arts professional.
Selected artists will be notified by March 30, 2026.
Questions?
Contact Lori Burke, Executive Director at lori@capebretoncraft.com
Cape Breton Centre for Craft & Design
322 Charlotte Street
Sydney, Nova Scotia
@capebretoncraft