National Academy of Design

09/29/2026

Jane Dickson and Julie Heffernan, two New York-based artists taking part in “Shelter from the Storm,” will be in conversation moderated by Eugenie Tsai, New York-based curator and writer. Join Dickson and Heffernan as they will discuss their works on view in the exhibition as well as imagining changes to the current art ecosystem that could further empower artists.

🗓️ October 14, 2026
6–8pm
📍National Academy of Design

🔗Admission is free but reservations are required. RSVP here:

Jane Dickson and Julie Heffernan, moderated by Eugenie Tsai, imagine changes to the current art ecosystem that could empower artists.

09/08/2026

The National Academy of Design is delighted to announce that 12 artists and architects from across the United States have been elected as National Academicians in the Class of 2026. Recognized for their contributions to contemporary American art and architecture, this year’s class of newly elected Academicians includes:

Candida Alvarez
Amale Andraos | WORKac .ac
Kendall Buster
James Casebere
Ellen Driscoll
Emmet Gowin
Gary Hilderbrand | Reed Hilderbrand .hilderbrand
Alyson Shotz
Robert Storr
Leo Villareal
Stephen Vitiello
Dan Wood | WORKac .ac

Congratulations to our class of 2026! Read about the 12 NAs on our website.

Image Credits from left to right, top to bottom:

Stephen Vitiello, World Trade Center Recordings: Winds After Hurricane Floyd Photo by Johnna MacArthur

Emmet Gowin, Subsidence Craters, Northern End of Yucca Flat, Nevada Test Site

Leo Villareal, The Bay Lights, Photo by James Ewing

WORKac, Riverhouse, Photo by Bruce Damonte

Candida Alvarez, ESTOY BIEN, FROM AIR PAINTINGS (2017-2019)

Alyson Shotz, Object for Reflection

Ellen Driscoll, Fastforwardfossil Part 2 Photo by Etienne Frossard.

Gary Hilderbrand, Long Dock Park Photo by James Ewing.

James Casebere, Landscape with Houses (Dutchess County, NY) #1

Robert Storr, Untitled

Kendall Buster, Calyces

08/31/2026

Opening September 17, 2026: "Shelter from the Storm: An Artist’s Eye with Stan Allen and Polly Apfelbaum" is the third and final exhibition of our 200th Anniversary year.

Since 1992, the Academy’s Artist’s Eye series has invited National Academicians to curate exhibitions using its collection. "Shelter from the Storm" brings together architect Stan Allen and visual artist Polly Apfelbaum in a collaborative curatorial project that builds on decades of dialogue and creative exchange between them as a married couple.

Allen and Apfelbaum reframe their selections from the Academy’s historic holdings to offer a personal, nuanced perspective on how artists and architects have responded to two centuries of upheaval.

Curated by Stan Allen NA and Polly Apfelbaum NA, with collection research and guidance provided by Diana Thompson, National Academy of Design Director of Collections.

On view through January 16.
RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exhibition-opening-shelter-from-the-storm-an-artists-eye-tickets-1996827386466?aff=oddtdtcreator

06/04/2026

The National Academy of Design is excited to announce its 200th Anniversary Benefit Auction, hosted by Artsy.

The 200th Anniversary Benefit Auction features dozens of works in painting, drawing, and other media made by National Academicians including:

Suzanne Anker / Willard Boepple / James Bohary / Gregory Botts / Henry Casselli / Diana Cooper / Donna Dennis / Lesley Dill / Garth Evans / Alan Feltus / Nancy Friese / Andrew Ginzel / Jacqueline Gourevitch / Joanne Greenbaum / Barbara Grossman / Nancy Hagin / Harmony Hammond / Nona Hershey / Elana Herzog / Lisa Hoke / Eric Holzman / Diana Horowitz / Sharon Horvath / Penelope Jencks / Howard Kalish / Robert Kipniss / Harriet Korman / Joyce Kozloff / Karen Kunc / Mernet Larsen / Pat Lasch / Beverly McIver / Mary Beth McKenzie / Amalia Mesa-Bains / Ruth Miller / John Moore / Jim Osman / Don Perlis / Don Porcaro / Andrew Raftery / Carole Robb / David Row / Arthur Simms / Ed Smith / Gary Stephan / Claire Van Vliet / Don Voisine / Leslie Wayne / Sharon Yates.

🗓️Bid Online: June 4–18
Bid here: https://www.artsy.net/auction/national-academy-of-design-benefit-auction-2026



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06/03/2026

Get ready! The 200th Anniversary Benefit Auction goes live tomorrow featuring 49 National Academicians. Celebrate the National Academy and its powerful community of artists, architects, scholars, students, and art-lovers and support us in our 200th anniversary year!

If you haven't already, sign up to register on Artsy.




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05/29/2026

LA ESCUELA___’s participation in the Future Schools exhibition at the National Academy of Design activates a space for research, material exploration, and collective learning—imagining pathways toward a regenerative and ecologically just world.

In ‘GEL-Architecture: Compositions and Decompositions of Jelly Constructions’, Jessica Briceño Cisneros proposes a practical and collective experience centered on the use of gelatin as a binding agent, ranging from preparing biomaterial mixtures to molding and constructing an edible skyline. Participants will experiment with the physical and symbolic properties of this material, exploring its structural possibilities, its behavior over time, and its capacity to generate forms.

In this way, the AULA not only proposes a material exploration but also a reconfiguration of the relationships between production, consumption, and community, positioning artistic practice as a space for embodied and collective research.

🔎 Explore the full program and register:

https://laescuela.art/es/campus/classrooms/local/gel-architecture-future-schools-jessica-briceno-cisneros

05/29/2026

LA ESCUELA___’s participation in the Future Schools exhibition at the National Academy of Design activates a space for research, material exploration, and collective learning—imagining pathways toward a regenerative and ecologically just world.

‘Secado Al Sol (Sundried): Minimal Architectures for Tomorrow’ explores drying structures as spaces of transformation, memory, and collective knowledge, led by architect, artist, and educator Oscar M. Caballero and the transdisciplinary collective Ensayos Urbanos.

Reimagining ancestral Latin American drying racks once used to cure meat, hides, and fibers, the project proposes these structures as ritual infrastructures for preservation, exchange, and shared learning.

🔎 Explore the full program and register:

https://laescuela.art/en/campus/classrooms/local/future-schools-national-academy-of-desing-oscar-caballero-ensayos-urbanos

05/14/2026

Applications for the 2026 Abbey Mural Prize close on Monday.

The Abbey Mural Prize awards $125,000 to support the creation and restoration of public murals, especially projects that prioritize accessibility and connect deeply with local communities.

🗓️ Deadline to apply: May 18, 2025.

Submit your mural proposal here: https://nationalacademy.org/the-academy/grants-and-fellowships/abbey-mural-prize

Good luck to all applicants!

Mural pictured: 2021 Abbey Mural Prize recipient: Creston Community High School, Creston Arts, Creston CWC.

05/14/2026

Exploring Material Pedagogies with LA ESCUELA___ at Future Schools, hosted by the National Academy of Design.

This May in New York City, LA ESCUELA___ activates a four-week educational program that unfolds across the Academy’s Classroom and public spaces in the city. Through collective experiments, the program approaches biomaterials as both speculative research and ancestral technology, opening questions around how we build, learn, and imagine shared spaces together.

Bringing together invited artists, architects, and researchers—María Elena Pombo, Jessica Briceño Cisneros, Oscar M. Caballero, and Ensayos Urbanos—the program will take shape through workshops, installations, panel talks, and public activations, engaging vegetal structures, organic residues, and biomaterials as carriers of collective knowledge.

🔎 Explore the full program and register for the educational activities at:

🖇 https://laescuela.art/en/calendar/news/la-escuela-at-the-national-academy-of-design-s-future-schools-exhibition

04/28/2026

Join Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson for a discussion of ""Glorious Country"" (Simon & Schuster, 2026), her sweeping, deeply researched new biography of Hudson River School painter, Frederic Church NA.

Exhibited to acclaim abroad, Church’s blockbuster paintings persuaded skeptical critics that the so-called “New World” could, in fact, give birth to towering artists and furnish the subject matter for great art. Church became the youngest artist elected a National Academician at the time of his election in 1849. He later served on the Academy’s Council and played an instrumental role in shaping the organization’s history. Presented in conjunction with the bicentennial of the founding of the National Academy of Design and the birth of Frederic Church.

6-8pm, May 13, 2026
📍National Academy of Design
🔗Admission is free but reservations are required.

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/glorious-country-tickets-1987155122464?