International Association of Pastel Societies
Exhibition artwork

International Association of Pastel Societies

17th Master Circle Division

2026 Fall Online Exhibition

October 8 – December 8, 2026

Deadline is September 7th.
Find Open Calls

Opens for entry Jul 24th.

This is the Master Circle Online Exhibition

Location

Online

Awards

  • Prix de Pastel - $2,000
  • Gold Award in Honor of Daniel Greene - $1000
  • Silver Award in Honor of Elizabeth Mowry - $600
  • Bronze Award in Honor of Bill Creevy - $400
  • Four Awards of Excellence - $200 each.

Eligibility

Open only to artists who have earned IAPS Master Circle or Eminent Pastelist status. Artists who have qualified for the Master Circle in the 48th IAPS Exhibition and before, are required to enter only this Division. Master Circle/Eminent Pastelist artists must have an up-to-date membership with an IAPS member society. Upon acceptance artists will be required to show proof of membership (membership card, cancelled check, or email from society president). A current list of IAPS member societies can be viewed at iapspastel.org.

Eligible Work

Please read carefully to make sure your work meets the following entry requirements.
  • Works must be in dry pastel. No oil pastels. Mixed media must be predominantly dry pastel.
  • Work must be original, not copied from other artists or published materials and from your own reference. Any reference provided by an instructor is not eligible, including an instructor-provided photo, still life setup or model setup.
  • Work that was done in a classroom or workshop scenario is ineligible.
  • All artwork must be originally drawn and not created on top of any type of photographic image.
  • All work must have been created within the last two years.
  • Paintings of nudes will be considered for acceptance.
  • Work may not have been accepted in any previous IAPS Exhibitions. This does not include IAPS Member Society shows.
  • Artwork may be for sale. You can list your art as Not For Sale (NFS).
These are things that we ask you to consider, which the jurors will be aware of when they are choosing paintings for a show:
  • The top layer of the painting should be at least 80% dry application of pastel.
  • In the spirit of honesty and integrity each work should reflect human originality.
  • We recommend that you submit work that has not been included in a national show during the last 12 months and has not won an award in any previous exhibition. We suggest that you not submit your entries into shows that will be running concurrently.
Failure to meet any of the requirements for eligibility may result in the artwork not being juried.

Artwork submitted and accepted into this show that has been shown in a previous IAPS exhibition will be rejected and one honors point will be taken from the point total of the Artist. If this is a second infraction, the Artist will receive a two-year ban on entering future IAPS shows. IAPS reserves the right to exclude from exhibitions any artwork deemed offensive, or any artwork that violates the laws of the United States, or of state or local governments.

Entry Fee

  • $35 for the first image and $10 for each additional image.
  • Up to 5 images may be submitted by an individual artist.
  • Entry fees are not refundable and must be paid by the entry deadline.

Notification

Up to 5 entries may be submitted, no more than one per artist will be accepted for the exhibition. All Artists will receive notification by email after jurying is complete. Please add [email protected] to your safe senders list to ensure email delivery.
If you need help with the online entry system, please contact Austin at [email protected]. For any other questions, please send email to Caprise Cooper at [email protected].

NOTICE OF CHANGE TO PAYMENT OF AWARDS: Going forward, all Award recipients will be paid by PayPal transfer. No more paper checks will be provided. If you do not currently have a PayPal account, we suggest that you create an account keeping in mind that a business account may be charged a percentage for processing.

Entry Procedures for Artists Outside the United States

Use the same entry procedures listed above. All payments are in USD.

Sales

Sales are the responsibility of the artist. A 30% donation to IAPS will be accepted on all sales through the Website

Show Catalog

This year the show will be posted on the ShowSubmit Website and will be linked to the IAPS Website.

IAPS Master Circle and IAPS Eminent Pastelist Honors

Acceptance into this exhibition earns 1 point; an award earns an additional point. For information about the IAPS Master Circle, Eminent Pastelist, or the IAPS Code of Ethics, please see the IAPS Honors page on the IAPS web site, iapspastel.org

Jurors

IAPS has built a group of knowledgeable, accomplished artists to serve as a Jury Pool for our Exhibitions. We are pleased to announce the current esteemed members of this pool: Ellen Eagle, Ray Hassard, Isabelle V. Lim, Richard McKinley, Colette Odya Smith, Rae Smith, Nancie King Mertz, and Jimmy Wright. The jury process will be completed by members of the Jury Pool, and for the purpose of efficiency, the specific members working on each Exhibition will remain anonymous.

Judge of Awards

Natasha Isenhour

Natasha is a Contemporary American Realist who expresses her emotional response to unpopulated spaces with an edgy, lonesome starkness that defines the very essence of her work in oil and pastel. Isenhour exhibits throughout the Southwest and teaches several sold-out workshops each year, both plein air and studio. “Light turns the land and everything in it into a shapeshifter; it changes it every second. Each of those seconds is precious and has its own story to tell. I want to share with you those stories as I heard them.” Several galleries in AZ, CA, CO, and NM represent Natasha. She is an IAPS Master Circle Recipient, Signature Member of PSA, Distinguished Pastelist of the Pastel Society of NM, Signature Member of Plein Air Painters of NM, Signature Member of American Women Artists, and Oil Painters of America.

Additional Notification Information

Notifications will be emailed and posted in your ShowSubmit account by the end of the day on October 8, 2026.

If you do not receive your email, login and view the notification in your account. We cannot respond to inquiries regarding the status of notifications.

Image and Filename Specifications

  • File Format: Submit original, high-quality JPEG image files. Other formats (e.g., PNG, TIFF) are not accepted.
  • Crop Your Image: Ensure only the artwork itself is visible in the image. Do not show any visible matting, frames, or background distractions.
  • Orientation: Make sure your image is oriented correctly (right side up) so that the artwork appears in its intended viewing direction.
  • Image Size: You do not need to resize your image files before uploading. The system will automatically resize them. Smaller images cannot be enlarged to meet the requirements, so ensure your images are high resolution before uploading.
  • File Names: You do not need to rename your files before uploading them. The system will handle any file naming requirements.
  • File Size: There is a 30MB maximum file size limit. Larger image files will take longer to upload and process.

Additional Entry Information

  • You will pay for your entry by credit or debit card using our secure checkout system.
  • After your entry is submitted and paid for, you may log back in to review your entry, edit artist and image information, and add or substitute images up until the entry deadline (September 7, 2026.)
  • Entry fees are not refundable and must be submitted and paid by the entry deadline.
  • Entries cannot be accepted or changed after the deadline. Incomplete entries will be disqualified.

Support

Questions about this exhibition?
Contact Caprise Cooper ([email protected]) for questions about the prospectus, IAPS, eligibility, artwork requirements, sales, etc.

Need help with ShowSubmit?
Visit our Help Center or Entry Guide for guidance on image uploads, payments, and managing your entry. If you still need help, email ShowSubmit Support ([email protected]). We respond Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm Eastern.