ARTIST RESOURCES
How to Apply
Apply to participate in the Cottonwood Art Festival as an exhibiting artist.
Artist Hotel Accomidations
Stay the night in Richardson at the official host hotel of Cottonwood at a discounted rate!
Exhibiting Artist Planning Guide
Exhibiting in the upcoming festival? View everything you need to know in the Artist Newsletter.
Since that first weekend in 1969, five decades later, Cottonwood has established itself as a signature national art event, become a tradition in the community and the home to the finest artists in the country. With the City of Richardson’s support, the Cottonwood Art Festival strives to deliver an experience for our patrons that allows them to engage, experience, and grow their appreciation of the arts. We celebrate the inclusivity of our community, the originality and creativity of our artists, and value the quality in which we operate.
Cottonwood Art Festival is committed to enriching lives through arts education and experiences by continuing to engage, enhance, and inspire the creativity of Richardson and surrounding communities. Through local partnerships with the Richardson Independent School District, Cottonwood has the ability to inspire creativity and provide innovative support to young aspiring artists, via the Emerging Artist Program and Visiting Artist Program.
How to Apply
Cottonwood Art Festival is now accepting applications for the Fall 2026 Show. For additional information on Artist requirements and to apply, click on the button below. The application deadline is May 11.
Application Fee
A non-refundable application and jury fee of $35 is required for each entry form/category submitted and payed through ZAPP.
Jury Process
Approximately 200 artists will exhibit at the Cottonwood Art Festival, and 190 spots will be available for applicants this year. These spots will be determined through a competitive monitor jury process, where each artist is scored by jury members on a scale of yes-no-maybe in the first round, creating a ranked group of artists in each category deemed qualified to advance to the second round after reviewing submitted images and Artist Statement.
Booth Details
Each artist will be provided a 13” x 13” booth space for your tent. Artists are to provide their own display booth, racks, and/or tables in order to display their work in an outdoor environment.
Single Booth: $500
Double Booth: $1,000 (first-come, first-served basis, with limited availability.)
Electricity: $100
Artist Amentities
- Two-day set-up schedule for artists
- Artist Set-up and Take-down assistance by local Boy Scout Troop
- Exclusive Friday night invite to Artist and VIP dinner, including fully catered dinner, drinks, and entertainment.
- Designated Artist Hospitality Area with continental breakfast, afternoon snacks, chilled water, and private restroom
- Responsive website and integrated social media campaign with over 35,000+ followers
- Event Guide for patrons with map, artists’ names and booth locations
- Festival T-Shirt
- Friendly volunteers to assist with booth sitting – available by cell throughout the festival weekend
- Comprehensive emergency/evacuation plan with 24-hour weather monitoring
- 24 Hour Security and the City of Richardson Police presence
- Discounted hotel rates at designated hotel locations within Richardson
- Extensive marketing campaign to include the entire DFW region and state of Texas
- Free Admission and Free Parking for all attendees
Medium Categories
Ceramics: All original clay and porcelain work other than jewelry is accepted in this category. No machine-made or mass-produced work is permitted. If multiple pieces of the same design are displayed, each must be signed.
Digital Art: This category includes any original work for which the original image, or the manipulation of other source material, was executed by the artist using a computer. Work in this category must be in limited editions, signed and numbered on archival quality materials. Traditional photographs taken through digital media should apply in the photography category. Work that starts with a photograph and is manipulated by digital means must be entered in either Mixed Media or Photography.
Drawing/Pastels: Works created using dry media including chalk, charcoal, pastels, pencil, wax crayon, etc., or from the fluid medium of inks and washes applied by pen or brush are to be entered in this category.
Fiber: All work crafted from fibers including basketry, embroidery, weaving, leatherwork, tapestry, and papermaking. This can be wearable or non-wearable. No machine tooling, machine-screened patterns, or other forms of mass production are permitted. No factory-produced wearable items, regardless of additional modification or enhancement by the artist, may be exhibited.
Glass: No forms of mass production are permitted
Jewelry: All jewelry whether the work is produced from metal, glass, clay, fiber, paper, plastic, or other materials must be entered in this category. No commercial casts, molds, or production studio work is allowed.
Metal: Includes all non-sculptural, non-jewelry works crafted from metals. No production studio work is allowed.
Mixed Media: Works that include both 2 and 3-dimensional, that incorporate more than one type of physical material in their production. Includes non-sculptural work as determined by the artist.
Painting – Oil/Acrylic: Works created in oil or acrylic
Painting – Watercolor: Work created in watercolor
Photography: Photographic prints made from the artist’s original image, which have been processed by that artist, or under his or her direct supervision, are included in this category. Photographers are required to disclose both their creative and printing processes on prints that have been properly signed and numbered as a limited edition.
Printmaking/Graphics: Printed works for which the artist’s hand manipulated the plates, stones, or screens and which have been properly signed and numbered as a limited edition may be entered in this category. All photogravure, giclee, photocopy, and/or offset reproductions, will be rejected. Printmakers are encouraged to do their own printing which has been processed by the artist, or under his/her direct supervision. Printmakers are required to disclose both their creative and printmaking processes.
Sculpture: Three-dimensional works done in any medium.
Wood: Original works in wood that are hand-tooled, machine-worked, turned, or carved are accepted in this category.
Artist Hotel Accomidations
Courtyard Dallas Richardson at Spring Valley offers our Cottonwood artists a discounted rate!
Location: 1000 South Sherman Street, Richardson, TX 75081
Rate: $109 per night
Available discount dates: Wednesday, April 29 – Monday, May 4
Last day to book: Monday, April 20
*Additional nights at the discounted rate can be added by contacting Michele.Stephens@marriott.com.
Visiting Artist Program
Cottonwood Art Festival invites you to participate in our Visiting Artist Program, designed to encourage school age children the opportunity to participate in the visual arts and interact with Cottonwood professional artist. Through this partnership with the Richardson Independent School District, students will gain valuable information, inspiration and encouragement from participating artist who have taken the time to share their passion and talent of the arts. For a young student who loves to draw it may be just what he or she needs to set them on a career path in art!
Participating artist receive additional perks such as front of the line passes for load-in and load-out, Cottonwood gift bag and our sincere appreciation. Cottonwood Art Festival is very grateful to all of the artists who have participated in this program and hope you will continue to support our efforts in art education by participating.
If you are interesting in visiting a classroom for a presentation or demonstration through the program, email us at cottonwood@cor.gov.
2026 Jury
The Cottonwood jury is comprised of artists and art professionals. The jury will review applications in a “blind jury” process and view each artist’s set of five images individually on a monitor, arranged by the date the artist’s application was submitted. The process, materials, dimensions for each image, and artist information statements will be made available to the jury. A well-balanced show of artistic excellence, quality, creativity, and overall impression of work are the criteria for the selection of exhibiting artists.
Ally Haynes-Hamblen
Executive Director |Eisemann Center for Performing Arts
Ally Haynes-Hamblen is the Executive Director of the Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations, a city of Richardson, Texas facility. In her role at the Eisemann, Haynes-Hamblen is responsible for overseeing the programming, long-term visioning, and strategic direction for the arts center, including the Virgina and Forrest Green Mezzanine Art Gallery. Previously, Haynes-Hamblen was the Director of the City of Las Vegas’ Office of Cultural Affairs, overseeing the city’s performing, visual and public art programs and facilities, special event and festival programming and permitting, and the city’s Percent for the Arts fund through the Las Vegas Arts Commission. In this role, she oversaw the curation of nine art galleries throughout the city, created a public art maintenance and restoration fund, and grew the City’s public art collection from approximately 300 pieces to more than 800 works of art. Prior to serving in Las Vegas, she was the Director of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (SCPA), overseeing all aspects of programming, production, marketing, operations, and finance. In this role, she oversaw the production of the annual Scottsdale Arts Festival, consistently ranked among the top 10 arts festivals in the country. Prior to joining Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Haynes-Hamblen was general manager and associate producer for NY-based Entertainment Events, Inc., a national touring and off-Broadway theatrical production company.
Originally from Denver, Colo., Haynes-Hamblen earned her M.B.A. from Regis University and B.A. in theater and mass communication from University of Denver, is a member of the 2nd cohort of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals’ Leadership Fellows Program (2016-2018), completed the 2015 International Festival Encounters course with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the 2013 California Presenters Mentorship Program, and the 2012 Emerging Leadership Institute of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. Ms. Haynes-Hamblen has served as a member of the United States Urban Arts Federation, and previously served as a member of the Expedia Corporate Travel Advisory Board, and the Las Vegas Committee of the Nevada Museum of Art.
In 2013, Haynes-Hamblen received the Mentoring Award from the Western Arts Alliance, and in 2015 received the Chandler Center for the Arts’ Katrina Pappas Award and in 2016 was honored by the Phoenix New Times as one of “100 Creatives You Need To Know in Metro Phoenix.”
Cecilia Labora
Artist
Cecilia Labora is a glass bead artist whose passion for color, texture, and pattern began in childhood with chaquira—traditional Mexican seed beads. Her creative journey has included batik, ceramics, drawing, and pastels, but she always returned to glass beads as her primary form of expression.
In 2003, after taking her first class in flamework, she was immediately drawn to the process of melting glass in a flame. Since then, she has studied with master glass beadmakers and continues to explore the artistic possibilities of molten glass.
Cecilia has exhibited her work at fine art fairs for over 20 years.
Delwyn Davis
Curatorial Assistant | Crow Museum of Asian Art at the University of Texas-Dallas
Delwyn Davis is currently the Curatorial Assistant at the Crow Museum of Asian Art at the University of Texas, Dallas. She holds an MA in East Asian art history from the University of Kansas, where she specialized in Korean art. Her curatorial practice concentrates on modern and contemporary Asian art, and she leads the Texas Ties Series at the Crow.
Gregory Arth
Artist
Gregory Arth was born in Albuquerque New Mexico, was raised and still lives in the Fort Worth area of Texas. He studied fine art and theater at the University of Texas Arlington and enjoyed a brief stint at the American School in London where he designed and built an elaborate interactive backdrop for the production of “Annie Get Your Gun”. His work is extraordinarily diverse and includes contemporary painting and mixed media using circuit boards and tech hardware, traditional, classic and old world painting, and kinetic pieces displayed in galleries, corporate offices, and private homes around the country. He has created many commissions for private and corporate clients. His award winning circuit board mixed media pieces have been used for illustration on college textbook covers and other print and digital media as well as limited prints that are currently being sold on cruise ships represented by the Park West Gallery. His murals are seen nationally and internationally in the Cinemark Theater chain and in their corporate offices in Dallas Texas. He was also know for his trompe l’oeil and faux fresco work on the walls, ceilings and domes of some of the finest homes in Texas.
Some of the many projects he has been involved in include painting backdrops for the Dallas and Houston Opera and Ballet companies, designing and creating sets for the Six Flags theme parks, working on production company sets, painting private and commercial murals, while continuing to sell his paintings and mixed media pieces through numerous galleries. He was once featured in a Neiman Marcus catalog for his ability to paint the bottom of swimming pools to look like underwater scenes.
Around 2005, Arth decided to start applying to art festivals around the country and was accepted to his first art festival, the Cottonwood Art Festival in Richardson, Texas. For over 19 years, he enjoyed this engaging method of selling his work. He has been the featured artist several times, won best in category mixed media category numerous times and voted best in show several times. Over the years he has sold countless original pieces, embellished prints and commissions.
His studio in Colleyville Texas is set among 150+ year old oak trees that are the inspiration for his popular trees series. Though semi-retired from the art festival shows he continues to work on commissions for clients around the country and is always looking for a new inspiration.
See a sampling of his work at gregoryarth.com. Contact him at gregoryarth@tx.rr.com or 817-846-5501.
Nancy Cohen Israel
Art History Diva| Writer | Educator
Nancy Cohen Israel is an art historian, arts writer and a museum educator at the Meadows Museum. In addition to being a contributing writer to Patron magazine and the annual Dallas Arts District Guide, over the past 30 years, she has been involved in the local art world in myriad roles, including gallery director, lecturer, curator and juror, as well as the owner of Art à la Carte. In the latter capacity, she organized and led art tours across the region for 15 years. Nancy is also a contributing writer to exhibition catalogues for artists across Texas.