The 2026 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition (DNSPE) will return with newly selected artworks from artists across three countries, including the United States, France, and the United Kingdom.

Artists were required to submit works created in the last two years that fit into the exhibition’s criteria. Artists submitted works created with printmaking, a process where images are carved and then inked before being transferred to another surface, usually paper or fabric. 

Julia Wintner, director and curator for the Bradbury Art Museum (BAM), said that printmaking is powerful in its process and significance. 

“The process demands both precision and risk: artists work through stages, drawing, carving, etching, layering, inking, and printing, where the image evolves through repetition and revision,” Wintner said. “Printmaking also has a deeply democratic history: it’s a medium of circulation and access, allowing images and ideas to reach wide publics beyond elite or singular audiences.”

The juror of the exhibition is Ann “Sole Sister” Johnson, an artist and assistant professor of art at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. She is a co-founder of Print Houston and is well-known as a multidisciplinary printmaker. She will also have an exhibit in the museum at the same time, titled “Hoop Dreamin.”

Carolyn Monteilh is an artist from Atlanta whose work is featured in the DNSPE. Her work, “Ayoka’s Golden Thread, Red Clay Edition,” is a woodblock print that combines Monteilh’s interest in factors that connect families with depicting textile fabrics while using the image of a friend’s daughter.

The work tells the daughter’s, Ayoka’s, story of the connection between Arkansas and Ghana. 

“Ayoka is a child of Little Rock. Her mother’s family has deep roots in Arkansas and her father’s in Ghana. Both places have strong textile and quilting traditions, one way that family practices and stories can be passed on,” Monteilh said. “This was a Golden Thread binding a child to prior generations in both family lines.”

The Delta National Small Prints Exhibition was established in 1996 by American artist Evan Lindquist and BAM founding director Les Christensen. According to the BAM website, they wanted the DNSPE to evolve as the world did, incorporating all types of contemporary and traditional prints.

“Our DNSPE founder Evan Lindquist and founding museum director Les Christensen wanted this exhibition to be an evolving cross-section of contemporary print, developing and changing as the print world has changed,” The Bradbury Art Museum said on its website. 

Wintner said that preparation for the event focused on balancing tradition and new art. 

“For DNSPE specifically, preparation also means honoring the exhibition’s legacy while keeping the presentation fresh, accessible, and relevant to today’s audiences,” Wintner said. 

The opening reception of the exhibition, scheduled for Jan. 29, has been canceled due to inclement weather. However, the exhibition will be viewable once campus re-opens. It is free and available to the public. For more information, contact the Bradbury Art Museum at 870-972-3687.

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