Art that Matters to the Planet: Beyond Beauty – Call for Entries
The Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, NY, invites artists to submit work for our fifth annual juried exhibition of Art that Matters to the Planet.
Call dates: October 1, 2025 — January 9, 2026
Art that Matters to the Planet explores the ways in which art and artists matter – by drawing us into a deeper relationship with nature, opening hearts and minds to the critical challenges of our time, and inspiring us to the solutions we need to address those challenges.
Each year, the theme for this exhibition draws inspiration from the work of Roger Tory Peterson, typically his series of field guides. Our 2026 theme, inspired by A Field Guide to Wildflowers, is titled Art that Matters to the Planet: Beyond Beauty. This exhibition will focus on flowering plants across the country and what they can teach us through the dual lenses of science and art. More than just a pretty face (Stamen? Pistil? Calyx?), flowers play vital roles ecologically, biologically, culturally, and spiritually.
We are pleased to announce that Heeyoung Kim will be serving as the juror for 2026. Kim is a wildflower painter who contributes to public awareness about native plants and nature conservation. She is also the first living artist to be represented by the renowned natural history art gallery, Joel Oppenheimer Gallery, in downtown Chicago.
ABOUT GUEST JUROR HEEYOUNG KIM
Growing up in an environment where plants were used as medicine, Heeyoung Kim’s connection to the plant world goes beyond the ‘pretty look’. Her art communicates the profound purposes of plants intertwined with other lives in functioning ecosystems, urging the viewers to see the world around them with deeper appreciation. Her works have been exhibited in prestigious galleries and institutions and included in public and private collections, including Transylvania Florilegium. Her renderings of native flora and fauna received Gold Medal (Royal Horticultural Society, London, 2012) and Best In Show (American Society of Botanical Artists/Horticultural Society of New York, 2012), among others.
Headshot credit: ©Indre Cantero 2024
RTP credit: Roger Tory Peterson. Yellow – Large Cup-like Flowers (Lotus). Mixed media, 1968.