National Academy of Design

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design promotes art and architecture in America through exhibition, education, and research.

Founded in 1825, the National Academy is the leading honorary society for visual artists and architects in the United States. We advocate for the arts as a tool for education, celebrate the role of artists and architects in public life, and serve as a catalyst for cultural conversations that propel society forward. At the core of our mission are the National Academicians, a vibrant community of 45

0 artists and architects selected by their peers in recognition of their extraordinary contributions to art and architecture in America. Support the National Academy of Design today: https://bit.ly/donate-natlacademy-now

The National Academy of Design is delighted to announce that 12 artists and architects from across the United States hav...
09/08/2026

The National Academy of Design is delighted to announce that 12 artists and architects from across the United States have been elected as National Academicians in the Class of 2026. Recognized for their contributions to contemporary American art and architecture, this year’s class of newly elected Academicians includes:

Candida Alvarez
Amale Andraos | WORKac .ac
Kendall Buster
James Casebere
Ellen Driscoll
Emmet Gowin
Gary Hilderbrand | Reed Hilderbrand .hilderbrand
Alyson Shotz
Robert Storr
Leo Villareal
Stephen Vitiello
Dan Wood | WORKac .ac

Congratulations to our class of 2026! Read about the 12 NAs on our website.

Image Credits from left to right, top to bottom:

Stephen Vitiello, World Trade Center Recordings: Winds After Hurricane Floyd Photo by Johnna MacArthur

Emmet Gowin, Subsidence Craters, Northern End of Yucca Flat, Nevada Test Site

Leo Villareal, The Bay Lights, Photo by James Ewing

WORKac, Riverhouse, Photo by Bruce Damonte

Candida Alvarez, ESTOY BIEN, FROM AIR PAINTINGS (2017-2019)

Alyson Shotz, Object for Reflection

Ellen Driscoll, Fastforwardfossil Part 2 Photo by Etienne Frossard.

Gary Hilderbrand, Long Dock Park Photo by James Ewing.

James Casebere, Landscape with Houses (Dutchess County, NY) #1

Robert Storr, Untitled

Kendall Buster, Calyces

Opening September 17, 2026: "Shelter from the Storm: An Artist’s Eye with Stan Allen and Polly Apfelbaum" is the third a...
08/31/2026

Opening September 17, 2026: "Shelter from the Storm: An Artist’s Eye with Stan Allen and Polly Apfelbaum" is the third and final exhibition of our 200th Anniversary year.

Since 1992, the Academy’s Artist’s Eye series has invited National Academicians to curate exhibitions using its collection. "Shelter from the Storm" brings together architect Stan Allen and visual artist Polly Apfelbaum in a collaborative curatorial project that builds on decades of dialogue and creative exchange between them as a married couple.

Allen and Apfelbaum reframe their selections from the Academy’s historic holdings to offer a personal, nuanced perspective on how artists and architects have responded to two centuries of upheaval.

Curated by Stan Allen NA and Polly Apfelbaum NA, with collection research and guidance provided by Diana Thompson, National Academy of Design Director of Collections.

On view through January 16.
RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exhibition-opening-shelter-from-the-storm-an-artists-eye-tickets-1996827386466?aff=oddtdtcreator

06/04/2026

The National Academy of Design is excited to announce its 200th Anniversary Benefit Auction, hosted by Artsy.

The 200th Anniversary Benefit Auction features dozens of works in painting, drawing, and other media made by National Academicians including:

Suzanne Anker / Willard Boepple / James Bohary / Gregory Botts / Henry Casselli / Diana Cooper / Donna Dennis / Lesley Dill / Garth Evans / Alan Feltus / Nancy Friese / Andrew Ginzel / Jacqueline Gourevitch / Joanne Greenbaum / Barbara Grossman / Nancy Hagin / Harmony Hammond / Nona Hershey / Elana Herzog / Lisa Hoke / Eric Holzman / Diana Horowitz / Sharon Horvath / Penelope Jencks / Howard Kalish / Robert Kipniss / Harriet Korman / Joyce Kozloff / Karen Kunc / Mernet Larsen / Pat Lasch / Beverly McIver / Mary Beth McKenzie / Amalia Mesa-Bains / Ruth Miller / John Moore / Jim Osman / Don Perlis / Don Porcaro / Andrew Raftery / Carole Robb / David Row / Arthur Simms / Ed Smith / Gary Stephan / Claire Van Vliet / Don Voisine / Leslie Wayne / Sharon Yates.

🗓️Bid Online: June 4–18
Bid here: https://www.artsy.net/auction/national-academy-of-design-benefit-auction-2026



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Get ready! The 200th Anniversary Benefit Auction goes live tomorrow featuring 49 National Academicians. Celebrate the Na...
06/03/2026

Get ready! The 200th Anniversary Benefit Auction goes live tomorrow featuring 49 National Academicians. Celebrate the National Academy and its powerful community of artists, architects, scholars, students, and art-lovers and support us in our 200th anniversary year!

If you haven't already, sign up to register on Artsy.




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LA ESCUELA___’s participation in the Future Schools exhibition at the National Academy of Design activates a space for r...
05/29/2026

LA ESCUELA___’s participation in the Future Schools exhibition at the National Academy of Design activates a space for research, material exploration, and collective learning—imagining pathways toward a regenerative and ecologically just world.

In ‘GEL-Architecture: Compositions and Decompositions of Jelly Constructions’, Jessica Briceño Cisneros proposes a practical and collective experience centered on the use of gelatin as a binding agent, ranging from preparing biomaterial mixtures to molding and constructing an edible skyline. Participants will experiment with the physical and symbolic properties of this material, exploring its structural possibilities, its behavior over time, and its capacity to generate forms.

In this way, the AULA not only proposes a material exploration but also a reconfiguration of the relationships between production, consumption, and community, positioning artistic practice as a space for embodied and collective research.

🔎 Explore the full program and register:

https://laescuela.art/es/campus/classrooms/local/gel-architecture-future-schools-jessica-briceno-cisneros

LA ESCUELA___’s participation in the Future Schools exhibition at the National Academy of Design activates a space for ...
05/29/2026

LA ESCUELA___’s participation in the Future Schools exhibition at the National Academy of Design activates a space for research, material exploration, and collective learning—imagining pathways toward a regenerative and ecologically just world.

‘Secado Al Sol (Sundried): Minimal Architectures for Tomorrow’ explores drying structures as spaces of transformation, memory, and collective knowledge, led by architect, artist, and educator Oscar M. Caballero and the transdisciplinary collective Ensayos Urbanos.

Reimagining ancestral Latin American drying racks once used to cure meat, hides, and fibers, the project proposes these structures as ritual infrastructures for preservation, exchange, and shared learning.

🔎 Explore the full program and register:

https://laescuela.art/en/campus/classrooms/local/future-schools-national-academy-of-desing-oscar-caballero-ensayos-urbanos

Applications for the 2026 Abbey Mural Prize close on Monday. The Abbey Mural Prize awards $125,000 to support the creati...
05/14/2026

Applications for the 2026 Abbey Mural Prize close on Monday.

The Abbey Mural Prize awards $125,000 to support the creation and restoration of public murals, especially projects that prioritize accessibility and connect deeply with local communities.

🗓️ Deadline to apply: May 18, 2025.

Submit your mural proposal here: https://nationalacademy.org/the-academy/grants-and-fellowships/abbey-mural-prize

Good luck to all applicants!

Mural pictured: 2021 Abbey Mural Prize recipient: Creston Community High School, Creston Arts, Creston CWC.

Exploring Material Pedagogies with LA ESCUELA___ at Future Schools, hosted by the National Academy of Design.This May in...
05/14/2026

Exploring Material Pedagogies with LA ESCUELA___ at Future Schools, hosted by the National Academy of Design.

This May in New York City, LA ESCUELA___ activates a four-week educational program that unfolds across the Academy’s Classroom and public spaces in the city. Through collective experiments, the program approaches biomaterials as both speculative research and ancestral technology, opening questions around how we build, learn, and imagine shared spaces together.

Bringing together invited artists, architects, and researchers—María Elena Pombo, Jessica Briceño Cisneros, Oscar M. Caballero, and Ensayos Urbanos—the program will take shape through workshops, installations, panel talks, and public activations, engaging vegetal structures, organic residues, and biomaterials as carriers of collective knowledge.

🔎 Explore the full program and register for the educational activities at:

🖇 https://laescuela.art/en/calendar/news/la-escuela-at-the-national-academy-of-design-s-future-schools-exhibition

Join Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson for a discussion of ""Glorious Country"" (Simon & ...
04/28/2026

Join Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Victoria Johnson for a discussion of ""Glorious Country"" (Simon & Schuster, 2026), her sweeping, deeply researched new biography of Hudson River School painter, Frederic Church NA.

Exhibited to acclaim abroad, Church’s blockbuster paintings persuaded skeptical critics that the so-called “New World” could, in fact, give birth to towering artists and furnish the subject matter for great art. Church became the youngest artist elected a National Academician at the time of his election in 1849. He later served on the Academy’s Council and played an instrumental role in shaping the organization’s history. Presented in conjunction with the bicentennial of the founding of the National Academy of Design and the birth of Frederic Church.

6-8pm, May 13, 2026
📍National Academy of Design
🔗Admission is free but reservations are required.

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/glorious-country-tickets-1987155122464?

Applications for the Abbey Mural Prize 2026 are now open! Through the Abbey Mural Prize, the allocates $125,000 annuall...
03/11/2026

Applications for the Abbey Mural Prize 2026 are now open!

Through the Abbey Mural Prize, the allocates $125,000 annually to restore and commission public murals, especially those that promote accessibility and serve local audiences.

Since 1940, the National Academy of Design has awarded funds to hundreds of individuals or organizations who are building on a tradition of public murals as instruments of social activism, neighborhood revitalization, and community engagement.

The Abbey Mural Prize is now accepting applications for 2026. Apply now with your project here:
https://nationalacademy.org/the-academy/grants-and-fellowships/abbey-mural-prize

Submissions close at 11:59 pm on May 18, 2026.

Mural: ​​​​2025 project, constellation (rumi maki) by William Cordova) for ArtWorks Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

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