Entry Deadline: December 10, 2026
Exhibition Dates: January 21 – March 11, 2027
Reception Date: February 18, 2027 at 6:00 p.m.
Location: Royal Nebeker Art Gallery, Clatsop Community College, Astoria, Oregon
Clatsop Community College is pleased to announce a call for entries for the seventeenth annual international juried exhibition, Au Naturel: The Nude in the 21st Century. This highly regarded exhibition will be on view in the Royal Nebeker Art Gallery from January 21 through March 11, 2027, with a community reception on Thursday, February 18 at 6:00 p.m.
Open to artists worldwide, Au Naturel invites contemporary interpretations of the nude human figure in drawing, painting, and printmaking, ranging from representational approaches to abstraction. The exhibition places particular emphasis on the handmade mark and the expressive, conceptual, and formal possibilities of the human form. This year, a limited number of three-dimensional works will also be considered. Please see the application for size and weight restrictions.
Now in its seventeenth year, Au Naturel continues to provide a thoughtful and dynamic forum for artists whose work centers on the direct, hand-rendered mark, engaging the nude as a time-honored subject of enduring artistic inquiry. The exhibition welcomes work that reflects a wide range of perspectives, approaches, and lived experiences, while contributing to an ongoing dialogue around the body, vulnerability, identity, beauty, and contemporary figuration. To preserve the exhibition’s longstanding focus on direct, hand-rendered processes, eligible works must be rooted in drawing, painting, printmaking, or select three-dimensional media. Lens-based, digital, and photo-mechanical works fall outside the scope of this exhibition.
We are honored to welcome Daniel Peabody, a Portland-based curator and gallery director as the juror of the show. He is Senior Gallery Director at Elizabeth Leach Gallery where he has been employed since 2006. He served on the Board of Directors of the Portland Art Dealers Association from 2010 to 2023, including as President from 2014 to 2018. Additional board service includes the Contemporary Art Council of the Portland Art Museum and Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, now Oregon Contemporary. From 2019 to 2024 he served on the Art Task Force for Central City Concern, working to site donated artworks in the public spaces of Central City Concern’s buildings throughout Portland. In the past he has served as juror for art exhibitions at Portland Community College and Oregon College of Art and Craft, as well as ten CAP Art Auctions, for Cascade AIDS Project, including three as auction curator. Prior to joining Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Peabody served as the Director and Coordinator of the Laverne Krause Gallery at the University of Oregon. He holds a Master of Fine Art and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon.
For details and to view artwork from past exhibitions, please visit www.aunaturelart.com.
Application Details:
Application & Fees
Entries must be submitted through CaFÉ at the following link: Au Naturel: the Nude in the 21st Century 2027
- Entry Fee: $45 (non-refundable) for up to 3 images
- Additional Images: $5 each, up to a maximum of 15 images total
Eligibility
- Artists must be 18 years or older.
- Artwork must depict the nude human figure.
- Eligible media: drawing, painting, printmaking, and select 3D works.
- All works must employ the handmade mark as the primary means of image-making.
Exhibition Awards
- $1000 in cash prizes
- Up to $2000 in purchase awards
- Future Exhibition Opportunities: One or more artists may be selected for a group or solo exhibition at the Royal Nebeker Art Gallery.
- Visiting Artist Workshop Awards: A select number may also be granted.
Au Naturel invites artists to engage with the nude as a subject that remains both timeless and urgently contemporary. Through works that honor the handmade mark and the expressive potential of the human form, the exhibition offers viewers an opportunity to consider the body as a site of beauty, vulnerability, strength, identity, and transformation.
Artists are encouraged to apply and add their voices to this vibrant international conversation.
The CCC Royal Nebeker Gallery is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of the campus, the local community, and the North Coast region. Please join CCC in its mission to sustain and promote contemporary art and visual culture through professional exhibitions and programming.
The CCC Royal Nebeker Gallery is located at 1799 Lexington Avenue in Astoria. Gallery hours are 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and on weekends and holidays by appointment only. For more information, please contact Kristin Shauck by phone (503‑338‑2472) or e‑mail (kshauck@clatsopcc.edu).
