National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition

Overview

Sculpture artists from across the nation were invited to enter their work for the 20th annual National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition. Thirteen sculptures from five different states were juried into the exhibit to compete for cash prizes totaling up to $25,500. Once installed, awards for Best in Show, Outstanding Merit, and Honorable Mentions were selected by the juror. Organized by the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department and presented as a component of the annual North Charleston Arts Fest, this unique exhibition offers established and emerging artists the opportunity to display their inspiring and extraordinary sculptures throughout the picturesque North Charleston Riverfront Park, set along the banks of the Cooper River. An estimated 50,000 people visit this public park annually to enjoy the amenities located in the heart of the city’s arts community.

For those who want to learn more about the sculptures in the National Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition from the artists themselves, download a mobile audio guide on the free app, OtoCast. Users can select “North Charleston, SC” from the list of active tours to begin a self-guided audio tour through Riverfront Park. The app is available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.

About the Juror

The juror for the 2026/2027 competition and exhibition is Mark E. Brown, artist and Chair of the Studio Art and Graphic Design program in the David R. Hayworth School of Arts and Design at High Point University in High Point, NC. Brown holds an MFA degree from East Carolina University and his works have been featured in over 350 exhibitions across the United States at venues including the National Arts Club (New York, NY), SECCA (Winston-Salem, NC), and Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton, NJ). Internationally, his work has been exhibited in Japan, France, New Zealand, Australia, Hungary, Finland, and Spain. His sculptural works are included in numerous private and public collections including the Daura Museum of Art at the University of Lynchburg, the Meridian Museum of Art, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, the Coca Cola Company, Toyota Motor Racing, and the city of Kinston, NC.

Brown is a past President of the Tri State Sculptors Educational Association and has contributed to and led panel discussions for the International Sculpture Center, FATE, Southeastern College Art Conference, the North Carolina Zoo, the NC Sculptors Consortium, and the Asheville Museum of Art. He has served as juror for the Virginia Commission on the Arts Sculpture Fellowship, the William King Arts Center, the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission, the Central Piedmont Artist Grant Program for the North Carolina Arts Council, and the SECAC Artists Fellowship. Additionally, he has curated three traveling exhibitions.

Juror’s Statement

When approaching sculpture, I begin with familiar considerations such as form, scale, materiality, and how a work occupies space. Entering the jurying process for the 20th National Outdoor Sculpture Competition, I expected those criteria to guide my decisions, shaping my responses in much the same way they always have. Instead, I found myself drawn in a different and somewhat unexpected direction.

What stood out most to me was the strong sense of narrative present in many of the submissions. I encountered works that seemed to carry stories about people, place, memory, or moments in time. These narrative qualities prompted me to slow down, look more closely, and spend time considering not just what I was seeing, but what I was being asked to feel or remember. In many ways, they reshaped how I engaged with the work and ultimately informed my selections.

Some of the selected pieces communicate their stories clearly and immediately, as in Kevin Vanek’s “Urban Blues,” while others offer only fragments or suggestions that gradually reveal themselves, as is the case with Doug McAbee’s “Bobby.” I was particularly drawn to works that embraced this openness; sculptures that resisted a single reading and instead invited viewers to bring their own experiences, questions, perspectives, and imagination into the encounter.

As you move through the exhibition, I encourage you to spend time with each piece and consider the same question that guided my process: What stories are these sculptures telling you, and how do they intersect with your own?

I am deeply grateful to the City of North Charleston for the opportunity to serve as a juror and for their support in enabling me to travel and experience the selected works in person. Special thanks to Camille Singh, whose thoughtful and affable communication throughout this process was invaluable. On behalf of myself and sculptors everywhere, thank you to the entire City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department for their dedication and care in sustaining this exhibition as an ongoing annual event; one does not reach a 20th anniversary without commitment. Finally, thank you to all the sculptors who entered the exhibition. Your creativity and inventiveness made this process delightfully difficult.

Taken together, these efforts create an exhibition that offers not only a compelling collection of works, but a shared space for stories: told by artists, shaped by place, and completed through the presence and imagination of its viewers.

-Mark E. Brown, April 2026

Submit Your Work

Sculptors from across the nation are invited to submit an application for participation in the Annual National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition. Up to 14 sculptures will be juried into the exhibit and compete for cash prizes totaling up to $25,500. The application period for 2026/27 is NOW CLOSED (deadline: February 25, 2026). Call the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department at 843-740-5854 for more information, or to be added to the application mailing list for 2027/28.