Studio Break is now accepting from submissions from Professional Artists, Deadline: June 15th.

Eligibility: The competition is open to all Emerging, Mid-Career, and Established Artists. Applicants should have a demonstrated track record of creating thematic bodies of work. Artists who’ve been featured on/at Studio Break in 2026 are ineligible.

Studio Break Winners:
1 Solo Exhibition at Studio Brak Gallery & Podcast Feature
1 Two- Person Exhibition at Studio Break Gallery & Podcast Feature
1 Two- Person Exhibition at Studio Break Gallery & Podcast Feature

5 Total Competition winners will be featured in a solo or two-person exhibition (5 total) and featured on the Studio Break website with a podcast feature highlighting the artists studio practice & online gallery. Podcasts will coincide with the artists exhibition at Studio Break Gallery.

Media:  the competition is open to all visual media:
2-D (drawing, painting, printmaking, photography)
3-D (sculpture, installation)
New Media (video, performance)

Juror: Erika Diamond, Artist, Curator, Educator based in Asheville, NC

Application:
__Applicants should submit a $20 application fee via Venmo Link or PayPal Link
__Interested applicants can send an email directly to studiobreak@studiobreak.com with a subject marked "2026 Studio Break Professional Competition". 
__Artists should include their full name, a website link to their portfolio & Instagram account.
__Artists submitting video or time based work should include hyperlinks to review video on portfolio websites or video sites like vimeo, youtube, etc...
__Questions concerning the application may be sent to: studiobreak@studiobreak.com

Erika Diamond is a textile-focused artist, curator, and educator based in Asheville, NC. Born in Germany to two ballet dancers, she grew up backstage and touring across Europe in her adolescence. This gave her early insight into the ephemeral nature of touch, the expressive qualities of the body, and the transformative capabilities of costume. In 2000, she earned a degree in Sculpture at RISD, experimenting with bronze, honey, performance, and chocolate. For the next 12 years she maintained a studio practice while working as a freelance artist assistant and art preparator in NYC, Los Angeles, and Charlotte. She was the sole proprietor of a specialty chocolate company from 2004-2010.

Diamond received her MFA in Fibers from the Craft/Material Studies department at VCU where she learned how to weave tapestry, commemorate her physical encounters through objects, and identified her preoccupation with mortality. Since then, she has lived nomadically, making her own work and teaching textile classes in Richmond, Milwaukee, Denver, NYC, and Penland. Several residencies and grants have facilitated her recent projects focusing on the politics of queer safety and visibility. Most recently, she has exhibited at Cameron Art Museum, Dinner Gallery, Form & Concept Gallery, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Tracey Morgan Gallery and Contemporary Craft. She has been reviewed in Metalsmith Magazine, Glasstire, and Whitehot Magazine.

As Associate Director of Galleries at Chautauqua Institution and as a freelance curator, she curates and manages exhibitions that blur distinctions between the genres of art, design, and craft.