🎨 🖼️ 2026 Artist open calls and opportunities 🖼️ 🎨
We celebrate themed art exhibitions for local artists and groups to display and sell their work. From new, emerging to established artists, we celebrate a creative community here in Crystal Palace. We sell a selection of artists’ prints and cards in the cafe.
For more information on how the group art shows work, email thepaxtoncentre@gmail.com or call us on 020 8659 4701.
📣 📣 Open Call: September Group Art Show - ‘Nature Reclaimed’ 📣 📣
OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS - September Exhibition: “Nature Reclaimed'
We are delighted to announce an open call for artists to participate in our upcoming September exhibition, Nature Reclaimed.
This exhibition invites creative interpretations of the natural world—its beauty, fragility, power, and mystery. We welcome works that explore landscapes, ecosystems, climate, human connection to nature, or abstract responses inspired by the environment.
Who Can Apply: Visual artists of all backgrounds and experience levels are encouraged to submit.
How to Apply: fill in an expression of interest form linked at the top of this page.
Key Dates
Submission Deadline for Expression of Interest: 27th July
Set up: Sunday 30th August 1-4pm
Launch Night: Friday 11th September 6-9pm
Exhibition Dates: Month of September
Take Down: Sunday 27th September 10-1pm
Free to enter the exhibition.
About the Exhibition
Nature Reclaimed seeks to spark reflection, dialogue, and appreciation for the world around us. Whether celebrating its serenity or confronting its challenges, we invite artists to share their unique perspectives.
Please note that we particularly encourage submissions from artists based in South East London and the surrounding areas. Selected artists will need to be available to install their work and, we hope, attend the launch event along with your family and friends.
As a community arts space, we value a lively and welcoming opening night, where local audiences are invited to meet the artists and engage with the work in a warm, social atmosphere.
📣 📣 Open Call: August Group Art Show - ‘Local’ 📣 📣
For our August group art show, we have decided to return to the theme Local, which has seen two great shows over the past couple of years, attended by a range of brilliant, talented local artists of SE19 and beyond.
We invite visual artists, whatever your medium, to show interest by completing and emailing the centre the linked ‘Artist Information Sheet and Expression of Interest’ form, also below.
Deadline to express your interest: 30th June – using The Paxton Centre Artist Information & Expression of Interest Form linked below.
Exhibition dates: Saturday 1st - 29th August
Exhibition installation: Saturday 1st August, 1 - 4 pm
Exhibition breakdown: Saturday 29th August
Launch party: Friday 7th August, 6 - 9 pm
📷 📷 Open Call: July Group Art Show - Photography 📷 📷
🎨 🖼️ Following our highly successful run of 2024, 2025 and now 2026 group art exhibitions, we are excited to present our next group art show for July. 🖼️ 🤩
📷 📷 Open Call: Photography Exhibition 📷 📷
The Paxton Centre is pleased to invite submissions for our upcoming group art Photography Exhibition, taking place in July.
We are seeking compelling, original photographic work from UK-based artists across all styles and approaches, covering themes such as street, people, places, landscapes, local culture, and more. We welcome images from our local area and from those celebrating the wonderful, diverse culture of our brilliant City. With this show, we aim to celebrate the breadth and diversity of contemporary photography in the UK.
Eligibility: Open to artists currently based in London. Emerging and established photographers are equally encouraged to apply. Work must be original and created by the submitting artist. Selected artists must be available to deliver and put up their work in time for installation. We will host a launch party, and participating artists are encouraged to attend.
Deadline to express your interest: 30th May – using The Paxton Centre Artist Information & Expression of Interest Form linked below.
Exhibition dates: Sunday 5th July - Saturday 1st August
Exhibition installation: Sunday 5th July, 1 - 4 pm
Exhibition breakdown: Saturday 1st August am
Launch party: Friday 10th July, 6 - 9 pm
To express your interest, download, review, and complete the Artist Information & Expression of Interest Form (linked below) and email it to thepaxtoncentre@gmail.com by the deadline. Dates can be discussed with Beth.
Please note: We are a creative community cafe and arts space; we are not funded, and we run on skeleton staff, so we ask all participating artists to read the form thoroughly and direct any questions (not answerable via the form) to Beth at the centre. Unlike some art spaces and galleries, we do not charge a fee to participate in the exhibition. If you so wish, there is an opportunity to make a donation if you are applying or are chosen to showcase your work, e.g., from £5, any amount will go towards supporting the team's time taken to manage:
- Marketing and administration of the show, artist selection , organisation and planning logistics
- Audience reach of over 9,000+ followers via our social media platforms and local community platforms (10k+)
- Ad hoc promotion in the monthly newsletter, The Paxton Post
- Dedicated social media promotion before and during the exhibition
- A launch party event held at the centre
- The opportunity to exhibit and sell your work within a supported gallery environment that has had an excellent run of launches and footfall for over 10 years
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Open Call: May - June 2026 group art show theme ‘Abstract: Floating Forms’
Following our highly successful ‘Abstract: Echoes in Exploration’ exhibition in 2025, we are keen to revisit the theme of Abstract.
This May-June group art show will celebrate ‘Abstract: Floating Forms’.
Floating Forms is an abstract exhibition that explores movement, balance, and the quiet spaces between structure and freedom. Through shifting shapes, layered textures, and expressive colour, the works evoke a sense of weightlessness and flow. Each piece invites viewers to pause, drift, and interpret freely—finding meaning in motion, stillness, and uncertainty. Together, the collection will create an immersive visual experience that celebrates abstraction as a language of emotion, imagination, and open-ended discovery.
Deadline to express your interest is 31st March - using the below Expression of Interest Form
Exhibition dates: 2nd May - 30th June 2026
Exhibition put up: Saturday 2nd May 1-4pm
Launch party: Friday 8th May 6-9pm
To express your interest, download, review and fill in the Artist Information & Expression of Interest Form (linked below) and email it back to The Paxton Centre, thepaxtoncentre@gmail.com by the deadline date.
Please note: There is no cost to enter the show, aside from your own exhibition expenses. You will be supported through our marketing communications when we announce the show and during the launch evening, with social media to promote the exhibition. More information is available in the Artist Information Form.
#artexhibtion #artspace #creativecommunity #crystalpalaceartspace #exhibitionspace #artgallerycrystalpalace