The Big Book of Mixed Media Artists | Open Call for Arts

There is something special about seeing artists gathered together in one place. Not because their work looks the same, but because it doesn’t. One artist may work with paint, another with fabric, another with found objects, collage, photography, or materials that are difficult to put into a single category at all. Together, these different practices begin to tell a larger story about the way artists are creating today.

That is the idea behind The Big Book.

Created by Arts to Hearts Project, The Big Book is a growing publishing series that brings artists working within a particular creative world together in thoughtfully produced books. Each edition has its own character, shaped by the artists who become part of it, their materials, their ideas, and the ways they choose to make.

And now, we are opening the pages to a particularly expansive group: mixed media artists.

Mixed media has always had a certain freedom to it. It does not ask an artist to stay within one material or one method. It leaves room for experimentation, layering, combining, breaking rules, and finding new possibilities. The Big Book of Mixed Media Artists 2026 celebrates that freedom by bringing together artists whose practices move across materials, techniques, and disciplines.

But before we get to this new edition, it is worth going back to where The Big Book began.

How It All Started

The Big Book began in 2024 with a simple question: What happens when artists working within the same creative world are brought together in one carefully considered publication?

The idea was never to create just another collection of artist profiles. We wanted to see what could happen when individual practices were placed side by side, when different ideas, materials, backgrounds, and ways of working could exist together between the same covers.

The first answer came in the form of The Big Book of Tiny Creatives, a special collection dedicated to young artists between the ages of 2 and 18. It was the beginning of the series and a celebration of something we believe strongly in: giving artists space to be seen, published, and part of a larger creative community from an early age.

What started with that first edition has continued to grow. The Big Book of Tiny Creatives has now reached its third edition, giving the project an opportunity to keep discovering and celebrating young creative voices from around the world.

From there, The Big Book began to move into new areas of artistic practice.

Next came The Big Book of Painters 2026, bringing together artists who work within the wonderfully broad world of painting. Where the Tiny Creatives editions introduced the spirit of the project, the painters edition opened the door to another community, one with its own materials, traditions, techniques, and contemporary approaches.

And now, we are here with The Big Book of Mixed Media Artists 2026.

This edition takes us somewhere a little harder to define, and that is exactly what makes it exciting. Mixed media artists often move between materials rather than staying within the boundaries of one. Their practices can bring together paint, paper, textiles, photography, objects, drawing, printmaking, and much more. There is no single formula for what mixed media can look like.

That openness is at the heart of this new edition.

The Big Book has always been about more than placing individual artists in the same publication. It is about creating a snapshot of a creative community, what artists are making, how they are making it, what materials they are drawn to, and what possibilities they are exploring at a particular moment.

With each new edition, that picture becomes a little bigger.

The Big Book of Mixed Media Artists 2026 is the next chapter.

A Theme Without Limits

If there is one thing we want this edition to make clear, it is that there is no box to fit your work into. The theme is limitless.

We are not looking for one particular subject, colour palette, style, or visual language. We want to see what mixed media looks like in your hands, the ideas you explore, the stories you tell, and the things that inspire you.

Your work might grow out of identity, memory, nature, people, place, culture, relationships, everyday life, imagination, social experiences, or personal stories. These are simply starting points, not categories you need to fit yourself into. Your work can be figurative, abstract, conceptual, narrative, observational, symbolic, experimental, or entirely personal to your practice.

What matters is that the work feels like you and shows the way you bring different materials, mediums, or processes together. Maybe you combine paint with paper, photography with drawing, fabric with found objects, or familiar materials in a completely unexpected way. Maybe the materials themselves carry part of the story. Maybe you have developed a process that belongs entirely to you.

There is no prescribed way to interpret the theme. Bring the work that best represents your practice, your ideas, and the way you make. We want this edition to reflect just how many directions mixed media can take, and the artists willing to explore them.

Many Ways to Make

Mixed media has never belonged to one material, one technique, or one visual language. That freedom is part of what makes it such an exciting space for artists to explore.

An artist might move between painting, drawing, collage, photography, textiles, found materials, digital processes, sculpture, or several of these at once. Some combinations may feel familiar, while others may be completely unexpected. There is no single formula for bringing these elements together, and that is exactly the point.

The Big Book of Mixed Media Artists 2026 brings 100 such practices together in one publication, creating a glimpse into the different ways artists are working across materials and methods today.

Rather than trying to define mixed media in one way, this edition allows different approaches to exist side by side. One artist’s process may be layered and tactile, another’s may bring traditional and digital methods together, while someone else may have developed an entirely personal relationship with their materials.

For readers, this creates a wider view of a field that is constantly shifting and difficult to place within a single definition. For the artists included, it offers the opportunity to see their work as part of a larger creative conversation.

And for The Big Book, this edition becomes another piece of a growing collection, one that continues to document the many different ways artists choose to make.

This is not a book about one way of working. It is a book about the many ways artists are choosing to work.

Why Be Part of The Big Book?

Being selected for The Big Book of Mixed Media Artists 2026 is about more than having your name appear in a publication. It is an opportunity to place your work within an international volume alongside 99 other selected artists, creating a published record of your practice that you can carry with you beyond the book itself.

That record can become part of your portfolio, CV, website, studio archive, exhibition applications, and future opportunities. For an emerging artist, it can be a meaningful addition to the early stages of a professional practice. For an established artist, it becomes another document of where your work and ideas are at this point in your journey.

But the opportunity does not end with the pages of the book.

The books are also intended to reach beyond the existing community, introducing the work to relevant curators, galleries, museums, collectors, art press, art schools, residency and grant programmes, and other art-world contacts.

The purpose is simple: to put your work in more places where it can be discovered.

Of course, inclusion cannot promise a gallery, collector, exhibition, or career opportunity. What it can offer is something more tangible: a professional publication, a point of discovery, and a place within a growing contemporary art project.

And as The Big Book continues to expand into new disciplines and editions, being part of it today means becoming part of the story we are building for tomorrow.

Who Can Apply?

We welcome artists whose work brings together two or more materials, mediums, or processes within the same artwork or practice. This can include collage, assemblage, painting, drawing, photography, textiles, printmaking, sculpture, found objects, digital media, fiber, installation, or mixed techniques. Experimental and interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged.

There is no required style, subject, or aesthetic. Your work should be original, representative of your artistic practice, and rooted in mixed media, submitted as a high-resolution digital image and available for publication if selected. Artists may also submit work that has been exhibited or published previously, provided they hold the necessary rights.

AI-generated artwork is not eligible for this edition.

If your practice moves between mediums, materials, or processes, there is a place for your work in this conversation.

What’s in It for Artists?

Being selected for The Big Book of Mixed Media Artists 2026 comes with more than a publication credit. Every selected artist receives a dedicated two-page spread in the hardcover book, an official certificate, and promotion through the Arts to Hearts Project’s 200,000+ creative community and 100,000+ email subscribers. The completed book will also be available through publishing and retail channels including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the Arts to Hearts Project Shop.

For the Three Top Winners

Three selected artists will receive expanded recognition:

• Winner: $500 cash award, four-page feature, glass trophy, certificate, Arts to Hearts promotional feature, and Artsy artist listing through Arts to Hearts Project.
• First Runner-Up: Four-page feature, glass trophy, certificate, Arts to Hearts promotional feature, and Artsy artist listing.
• Second Runner-Up: Four-page feature, glass trophy, certificate, Arts to Hearts promotional feature, and Artsy artist listing.

Ready to Be Part of It?

The submission deadline is September 21, 2026. If you have been waiting for the right opportunity to share your mixed media practice, this is your chance.

Bring us the work that feels most like you, and let it become part of this growing collection of artists and ideas.