RALEIGH FINE ARTS SOCIETY NC ARTISTS EXHIBITION 2023

RFAS celebrates diversity of thought, experience, and culture.

About the NC Artists Exhibition

From a small exhibition in 1964, RFAS North Carolina Artists Exhibition has evolved to become the largest annual all-media juried exhibition in the state. This juried exhibition offers artists an opportunity to present their works before a renowned art professional, art aficionados, and potential buyers. In its over 50-year history, thousands of North Carolina artists’ creative work has been celebrated in the North Carolina community. 

The 2023 North Carolina Artists Exhibition will be held at the Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh at 409 West Martin Street, Raleigh North Carolina from September 24, 2023 to October 22, 2023. $10,000 in prizes will be awarded, and artists receive 70% sales commissions. The Call for Entry will be sent out on May 8, 2023 and will be open until July 2, 2023. Check this website frequently for updates.

Introducing the Jurors for the 2023 Exhibition 

Dr. Valerie Hillings, Director of the North Carolina Museum of Art

In November 2018, Valerie Hillings, PhD, became the 9th director and first female director of the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2019, Hillings oversaw the development of a new five-year strategic plan dedicated to the Museum’s mission of stewarding and sharing the People’s Collection across the state and highlighting multiple, diverse histories, voices, and perspectives through the campus’s unique intersection of art, nature, and people. In 2019, Hillings received a Mellon grant to initiate a three-year project to reimagine the NCMA’s collection galleries.  In fall 2022, the Museum completed this project, which showcases new narratives, new acquisitions, and loans that reflect our global society and blur the often-strict borders between genres, time periods, and media.

From 2004 to 2018, Hillings held progressively senior curatorial positions for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation and worked on projects for museums in its global constellation—Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin; Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, Las Vegas; and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice—and with partner institutions in Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. In 2009, Hillings joined the Guggenheim’s dedicated Abu Dhabi Project staff, and as curator and associate director of curatorial affairs, Hillings led a team that developed a strategy for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi’s collection of art made around the world from the 1960s to today.

Hillings received her B.A. in art history from Duke University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. 

Dr. Paul Baker, Executive Director at the Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh

Paul Baker, PhD, serves as the Executive Director at CAM.  He received a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Art/African American Studies, a M.A. from North Carolina State University in Public History with a concentration in Museum Studies, and a Ph.D. from North Carolina  A&T State University School of Education  in Leadership Studies  with a focus area on management styles for cultural institutions, museums and libraries. He completed Harvard University's Management Development Program and Cornell University's Certification Program in Policy Development.

Baker teaches Museum Studies and History at North Carolina  A&T State University and has taught at other institutions including North Carolina Central University and Wayne State University. He has completed fellowships at Yale University, the University of Virginia and Oxford University, Oxford, England. Devoted to service, Baker is a member of the Board of Directors for Arts Greensboro.  He has served on the boards of the Raleigh City Museum, South Carolina African American Heritage Commission, and the Associates Board of Directors for the North Carolina Museum of History.