Are you an artist who is blind or low vision? We are now accepting submissions for our 2026 Gallery Night, taking place Friday, November 6.
“We are so privileged to feature the work of blind and low vision artists from around Wisconsin at our annual Gallery Night,” says Executive Director Denise Jess. “Their pieces are lovely and their ingenuity shines through, with each artist finding their own adaptations for accessing the artistic process.”
We are pleased to consider artwork in a wide range of formats. Past exhibits have included paintings, photographs, digital drawings, fiber arts, wood carvings, ceramics and more. You can check out last year’s pieces by exploring our 2025 virtual gallery at WCBlind.org/Events/Virtual-Gallery.
We encourage artists selected for Gallery Night to make their pieces available for purchase. The Council retains 20% of the proceeds from any art sales.
Gallery Night is a fantastic demonstration of how people who are blind or low vision can do most things a fully-sighted person can do with the right adaptations. Janae Nell of Waterloo started painting when she wanted to touch up a painting created by her grandfather. She enjoyed the process so much that she started painting regularly herself. Her work focuses on natural landscapes. Due to her macular degeneration, Janae uses either a magnifier or a flat-screen closed circuit TV to enlarge her canvas, allowing her to focus on details she would not otherwise be able to discern. With magnification and strategic light placement, Janae’s artistic talent has continued to grow, and her work has been on display at Gallery Night for the past two years.
“When I first heard about Gallery Night, my husband really encouraged me to submit my art, and I’m so glad that I did,” Janae says. “Gallery Night is such a nice event; it’s really exciting to see my art on the wall being shared with people. It was great to be able to talk to some of the other artists who also have vision loss and talk to them about their experiences. I strongly encourage artists with vision loss to submit their art and attend.”
If you would like us to consider your work for inclusion in this year’s Gallery Night exhibit, you can find the submission form on the Gallery Night page of our website.