The Weatherspoon Art Museum is pleased to announce the opening of Art on Paper 2026: The 48th Exhibition. A beloved museum tradition, the exhibition features the work of artists who demonstrate the breadth of ways in which one can elevate the humble medium of paper to extraordinary ends. From building a cityscape out of discarded lottery tickets, to crafting imaginative armor from molded paper pulp, to exploring the anatomy of insects through careful cuts and folds, these artists harness paper’s seemingly infinite ability to take on different forms. Simultaneously, they use those forms to explore a rich array of topics—from traditional crafts to contemporary foodways, from comedic situations to the weight of grief, from the built environment to the natural world, and so many more.
This year’s installation includes work by the following artists: Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo (Memphis, TN), Jerstin Crosby (Winston-Salem, NC), Ingrid Erickson (Salisbury, NC), Kirk Fanelly (Charlotte, NC), Susan Hamburger (New York, NY), Roberto Jackson Harrington (Austin, TX), Sedrick Huckaby (Fort Worth, TX), Morgan (Chicago, IL), Kasia Ozga (Greensboro, NC), Wendy Red Star (Portland, OR), Allison Schulnik (Sky Valley, CA), Jean Shin (New York, NY), Leigh Suggs (Richmond, VA), Rhiannon Skye Tafoya (Cherokee, NC), and Laura Tanner (Boca Raton, FL).
Curator Emily Stamey celebrates the exhibition’s range and scope: “No matter your interests or stylistic preferences, this installation offers up something for each of us—please come and enjoy!” As in years past, the museum will seek to acquire a selection of these works for its Dillard Collection of Art on Paper, which now numbers some 600 works of art, including examples by noteworthy and established artists such as Robert Smithson, Louise Bourgeois, and Lee Krasner, as well as contemporary artists such as Julie Buffalohead, Nate Lewis, Sherrill Roland, and Saya Woolfalk.
Organized by Dr. Emily Stamey, Elizabeth McIver Weatherspoon Curator of Academic Programming and Head of Exhibitions