The Great Rivers Biennial (GRB)—a collaborative initiative between CAM and the Gateway Foundation—recognizes and fosters artistic talent in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area. The artists selected receive $25,000 in unrestricted funding and are featured in the Great Rivers Biennial exhibition every two years at CAM. Since 2003, the GRB has recognized the standout creative voices of 36 local artists in our region.

For the 2026 Biennial, artists Vaughn Terrell Davis Jr., Lauren dela Roche, and Vincent Stemmler have proposed ambitious exhibitions that explore figuration, gesture, materiality, and color through painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, video, and digital media. Their thoughtful considerations of repair and regeneration offer visions of resilience.

The three award winners were unanimously selected by a distinguished panel of independent jurors: Leslie Hewitt, artist and Associate Professor of Art at Rice University in Houston; Margot Norton, Chief Curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley; and Pavel Pyś, Curator of Visual Arts and Collections Strategy at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The jurors made the selection after visiting the studios of ten semifinalist artists who were chosen from a pool of 93 applicants.

(Great rivers biennial 2026 is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Dean Daderko, Ferring Foundation Chief Curator, and Misa Jeffereis, Associate Curator, with support from Grace Early, Exhibitions Assistant)