About Bellwethers

Bellwethers is a regional juried exhibition of collegiate student art held annually by the University of Tennessee at Martin’s Department of Visual and Theatre Arts in collaboration with the West Tennessee Regional Art Center in Humboldt, Tennessee. Originally known as Artists of the 21^st Century, this event was created by UT Martin Professor of Graphic Design Lane Last in 2000 as a way for college art students in the region to see how they measure up against students from other programs under the professional review of an outside juror. In 2018, Artists of the 21^st Century was rebranded as Bellwethers. The word bellwether, derived from a Middle English word that referred to a lead sheep in a flock with a bell around its neck, is often used to designate a leader or indicator of trends within a geographic region. In 2024, the UT Martin faculty created the Lane Last Award for Best in Show to honor Professor Last’s many years of support of the department and this exhibition. In 2025, programming for the exhibition was assumed by the newly formed Center for Southern Art, an academic center located in the Department of Visual and Theatre Arts on the UT Martin campus that is devoted to the cultivation of excellence in the visual art of the Southern United States.

Requirements

• Undergraduate art students enrolled in a visual arts program at two-year or four-year institutions.
• Students who have graduated from one of these programs within the past 6 months are also eligible to submit.
• Work entered must have been produced during the student’s undergraduate enrollment period, must have been created solely by the artist, and must have been finished within the last two years.
• Media may include painting, drawing, sculpture, glass, ceramics, photography, printmaking, digital art, fibers, mixed media, and jewelry.
• Video art or works requiring electricity and/or technology may be submitted, but any computer or display/projection technology must be provided by the artist and left for the duration of the exhibit.
• Each student may submit up to 3 entries for $25.

Awards

The Lane Last Award for Best in Show – $200

2D 

1st Place – $125

2nd Place – $75

3rd Place – $50

3D

1st Place – $125

2nd Place – $75

3rd Place – $50

Location

More information and Submissions

Find more information and the submission link here.

Questions can be sent to:

Clay Palmer,

Director of the Center for Southern Art.

jpalme36@utm.edu