42nd Annual Capitol Rotunda Art Show Visitor’s Choice Award Winners

This year, we received over 1,200 public votes for our 42nd Annual Capitol Rotunda Art Show Visitor’s Choice Awards, the highest participation we’ve seen to date. Even more meaningful, every painting in the show received votes, reflecting how widely the work resonated with visitors!!  We’re happy to share the 2026 Visitor’s Choice Award winners:
1st Place ($200) “Ol’ Blue Eyes” by Carol HasBrouck Browning
2nd Place ($100) “The Poser” by Shelly Johnson
3rd Place (Blick Art Materials Merchandise Award) “South of Cascade” by Sharon Herther
4th Place (The Merri Artist Merchandise Award) “Henrietta the Hedgehog” by Tamara Burnett
Honorable Mentions
5th Place: “The Family That Digs Together” by Beth Trott
6th Place: “Catching Some Z’s XVIII” by Lauren Johnson

A special thank you to Blick Art Materials and The Merri Artist for supporting this year’s awards!!! And a sincere thank you to all participating artists. This show is entirely volunteer driven and truly a labor of love. It exists because IWS artists are willing to share their work with the broader community in such an open and accessible space.

IWS 2026 46th Annual Juried Membership Exhibition, Water’s Edge Gallery at the Riverside Hotel, Boise, ID, May 4 – June 29

The annual statewide exhibition will be juried by nationally renowned artist JJ Jiang. JJ Jiang will also lead the annual workshop, June 3-5.  Access workshop details from JJ Jiang. The Critique/Awards Ceremony will be held on Tuesday, June 2, 6:30 – 8:15 pm.

IWS 50th Anniversary Founders Art Show and Reception

The Founder’s Art Show – May 8 – July 5 –  will feature artists who were early organizers, leaders, and mentors from across the state. Paintings will hang on the north wall of the ballroom.  The book we are producing will be available for your preview and purchase. It is a pictorial history of 50 years of annual award winners, notable events, illustrious artists, and treasured interviews of members’ voices. The book will be available for on-demand printing. The Celebration Reception – June 7, 4:00 – 6:00pm will be held  in the Aspen Room at the Riverside Hotel, Boise, ID. Light refreshments and a no host bar will be available during the reception.

SHOWS and EXHIBITS

Southwest Members:

Linda Aman- Linda is pleased to announce her painting “Beyond the Rim of Light” has been accepted into the Idaho Watercolor Society Annual Juried Exhibition. The show is held at The Riverside Hotel 2900 W Chinden Blvd, Garden City. April 30th -June 27th. The Award ceremony will be June 2nd 6:30-8:15 open to the public. 

Jessica L Bryant will be on the faculty for the Plein Air Convention and Expo, and this year there is an option to join online as well as in-person. The online streaming option comes with 90 days of replay, access to all five demo stages, and you can even join us for the paint-outs. Visit www.jessicabryant.com/links for links to both options and discount codes for extra savings. Jessica will also be giving a free online demo for Art School Live with Eric Rhoads on May 6th at 10am Mountain/9am Pacific. In May, Jessica’s work will be in several exhibitions, including the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, Watercolor USA, Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, Idaho Watercolor Society, and the Settler’s West Galleries Summer Show.

Ileana Cordova -I’m excited to share that my Call to Artists application was accepted to exhibit my watercolors at the Kuna Arts and History Center in 2026. My work will be featured alongside two other artists in a three-person showcase from April 24 to July 3, 2026.

Carrie Cornils will spend two weeks in Nice, France and Fermo, Italy painting in watercolors and pastels with Laura Pollak.

Helen Edwards has two paintings displayed at the Rising Stars Show in downtown Salt Lake City and has been accepted into the Utah State juried show which begins in June in Provo with her piece entitled “Basket of Plenty.”

 Mary Gardiner will be exhibiting her abstract Science Series (watercolor, acrylic and oil paintings) at Boise Brewing 523 W Broad St, Boise in May, with an opening reception May 7, 5-7 pm. Mary would love to see you there.

 Shelly Johnson – Shelly is pleased to share that her painting, “Little Cedarwood Creek Falls”, was accepted into the Land That I Love Exhibition at Mark Arts in Wichita, Kansas. The exhibition opening reception is Friday, May 29 from 5 to 7 pm. The show closes Saturday, July 18.

Shelly Johnson’s painting, “Galena Overlook”, was accepted into the IWS 2026 Annual Juried Membership Exhibition. The exhibition will be held at the Riverside Hotel in Garden City, Idaho. The show will open Monday, May 4 and show at the Riverside to Sunday, June 28. The awards reception with juror JJ Jiang is Tuesday, June 2 from 6:30 to 8:15 pm.

Shelly Johnson is pleased to share that her painting, “Girl with Shoes”, has been accepted into Western Colorado Watercolor Society’s 36th Annual Rockies West National Exhibition. The Rockies West National Exhibition will be held from March 6 to April 3, 2026 at the Western Colorado Center for the Arts in Grand Junction, Colorado. Shelly’s painting, “Beau at Easter”, was accepted into the Western Federation of Watercolor Society’s 51st Annual Juried Show. WFWS51 will be hosted by the Colorado Watercolor Society. The exhibition opens May 9, 2026 and shows to June 27, 2026 at the Curtis Center for the Arts in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Gary McCall is a featured artist at Water’s Edge Riverside Hotel for the month of May.

Beth Trott will be the featured artist this May at Art Source Gallery with her watercolor exhibition Upon Closer Reflection, on view May 5–30. This series begins with careful observation of the natural world, using recognizable forms as a starting point before allowing color, movement, and pattern to gradually shift toward abstraction. An opening reception will be held Thursday, May 7 from 5–9 PM, and she would love to see you there. This year Beth has also been making a more intentional push to enter juried watercolor exhibitions, and is grateful to have work accepted into both Watercolor USA 2026 at the Spiva Center for the Arts and the Spokane Watercolor Society National Juried Exhibition.

Eastern Members:

Gloria Miller Allen and Linda Aman will have a two woman show at the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho. Opening is July 24, and it will run through late September.  They will debut their book. CLEVER ENDEVORS at their exhibit. The book will sell for 35.00. Sold through Amazon. The book is educational, has full color images of their work; with mini essays, poetry, inspiring words, personal stories,, and bits of humor.

View the 2026 IWS Juried Membership Exhibition, juried by nationally renowned artist, JJ Jiang. Click any image to enlarge it and view in the slide show. 

Partners, Sponsors, & Donors

IWS would like to thank our partners, sponsors, and donors for the 2026 Juried Membership Exhibition

Partners: Roots Family History; The Riverside Hotel and Water’s Edge Gallery

Sponsors: Blick Art Materials; Jerry’s Artarama; M Graham and Co.

Donors: Catalyst Arts Collaboration; Cheap Joes Art Stuff ; The Merri Artist; Idaho Art Gallery; QOR Artist Watercolor; Holbein; Studio 77; Princeton Art Brush Co.; Strathmore