Verge Center for the Arts

Type: Print Exchange

Theme: Arboretum
Eligibility: Artists willing to drive to drop off and pick up prints from Myrtle Press-
Location: Sacramento, CA

Deadline to Apply: July 24, 2026
Notification Date: August 7th 2026
Edition Due: November 9, 2026 

Myrtle Press is excited to invite printmakers of all levels to apply for this juried open call. Participants will submit minimum images of their work to be reviewed by a guest juror, who will select artists that submit quality work, no limit on number of applicants. Selected artists will create an edition of 13 hand pulled prints. One full set will remain with Verge for their use, and another will be added to the Sac State Archive, and one set will be for exhibitions. In return, each artist will receive a randomly selected collection of 10 prints, offering a meaningful way to grow your personal collection, see a wide range of approaches to printmaking, and build connections within a broader printmaking community. Participants must be willing to pick up and drop off prints to Myrtle Press in Sacramento, CA. Mailing prints to artists at the end of the print exchange will not be permitted. Pickup will take place during or just after a print social at Myrtle Press, giving everyone a chance to meet, talk about their print, and celebrate printmaking together.

INFORMATION ABOUT GUEST JUROR SUMMER VENTIS: Summer Ventis’s work uses the printed surface to address internal and external landscapes and their intersections; the imprints we leave on each other and our surroundings and the imprints that our surroundings leave on us. She received a BA in Art from Grinnell College and an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work has appeared in national and international exhibitions and is held by collections including those of the Denver Art Museum and Proyecto ’ace in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is a member of the Colorado-based collectives Hyperlink and ARTNAUTS and of Sacramento-based Axis Gallery and is Associate Professor of Printmaking at California State University Sacramento.

The Theme: Arboretum

Sacramento is known as the “City of Trees” because of its dense urban canopy. With tree varieties imported from all over the world, this forest resembles an arboretum more than the region’s native oak woodlands. Sacramento’s trees provide enormous benefits. They provide habitat for wildlife and improve the health of the people who live in their shade, lowering temperatures and improving air quality. Mature trees help manage storm water. But this protection doesn’t extend to every resident, with trees more concentrated in higher-income areas. Trees also bring safety risks and maintenance concerns. The Sacramento forest has to be nurtured by humans to continue to exist. This exchange invites artists to consider trees and their meanings in the Sacramento region broadly. Prints may draw on any aspect of trees and their relationships to the region and its people, climate, history, etc.