After joining the Prince William Art Society (PWAS), members have the option of having a page on the Artist Gallery on this website. Simply submit the annual fee first, and the PWAS Treasurer will let the PWAS Webmaster know once payment is received and the Webmaster will contact you. Please follow these directions:

1. Review the information provided by other artists within the Gallery pages.

2. Provide a few paragraphs for your Artist Bio (the webmaster is not a copy editor).

3. Provide the necessary Contact Info which can include your Phone and/or Email. 

4. If you have a Website, Social Media, Blog, Etsy, etc - provide the correct details. You can include if you accept Commissions or not- yes or no, the Medium(s) you work in, and what subjects you specialize in.

5. Attach your images files (.jpg) to the email and follow the formatting used, ensuring your links and text are correct. Include the artwork's Title, Medium and Size (example: The Big Brown Cow Oil 16x20), The Price is optional.

6. Submit the data as requested so that your page can be live as quickly as possible. The Webmaster will contact you when your page is live.

*About once or twice a year, the Webmaster may contact you for any updates to freshen up the data and/or images.

YOU can! Do you love the fine arts? Then you are welcome to join!

PWAS has artist members from all walks of life, experiences, ages, art backgrounds, established artists and beginners. Some join simply because they love the arts and want to be a part of making sure that Prince William County KNOWS that there is a vibrant art scene in the county!

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Others join PWAS to learn the ropes and gain experience (and confidence) in sharing their art with the world. The Prince William Art Society members understand that we all jump into art at many levels, at various ages and life experiences. It is for the love of being creative.

Essentially, a juried art show means that the art is selected to appear in the show. The hosts of the art show would want the best artwork out of the submitted entries to appear - for of course aesthetics and for sales. There could be a jurying panel or a single person making the decision.

From Webster's: a person who leads guided tours especially through a museum or art gallery. We have been receiving interest from the public about volunteering at Open Space Arts at Stonebridge and PWAS is very interested in working with individuals that love the arts like we do! More on this later.

See the Membership page for the annual fee to join. The Artist Gallery fee for this website is $25 for the year. There are periodic art fees to be a part of some art shows if PWAS incurs a cost. When art is sold, PWAS collects %15 of the sale.

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Another question that is asked is what does PWAS do with its collected fees? Although PWAS is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, it still has monthly and annual dues, expenses and fees that must be paid including but not limited to PWCAC dues, annual dues for the monthly meeting location at Tall Oaks Community Center, website costs, cleaning expenses at OSA, office and business supplies, taxes and much more.

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The Prince William Art Society also raises funds to support our Scholarship fund as well.

Open Space Arts (OSA) is a new art gallery at the Stonebridge shopping center - 15000 #140 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, Virginia. The management of the shopping center, JBG Smith, in conjunction with the Prince William County Arts Council (PWCAC) are sponsoring the use as an art space with the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) as the group managing the scheduling, art shows, sales, etc. All art shows at OSA are juried, with Calls for Art going out periodically to Prince William County artists and art groups. There is no fee to enter. All participants must be 18 or older unless that upcoming art show is specific to a student art group.

When is the Next Call for Art? Please see Upcoming Events

The art exhibits/shows at Open Space Arts (OSA) generally last about a month to 6 weeks. The gallery is currently open Wednesday - Saturday 12-7pm and Sunday 12-5pm. All types of fine art styles of are acceptable including abstracts.

• Original two-dimensional artwork to include paintings, drawings, photography, lithographs, screen prints, woodcuts, collages, etchings, and monotypes.

• Three-dimensional work such as sculpture and ceramics are welcomed, as well as handcrafted jewelry.

• Standard Prince William Art Society (PWAS) framing and display requirements apply. Improperly wired paintings or artworks will not be accepted.

• All unframed canvases must be gallery wrapped (or stapled on back) and the sides must be painted.

• Framed artwork on paper must be both matted and framed with a wire across back.

• All accepted entries will remain on exhibit until the exhibition closes

• All artwork (inventory) must be for sale. No NFS.

• Family-friendly subject matter is required.

• Reproductions on canvas or photographic copies of original two-dimensional artwork will not be accepted for display.

As stated above, occasional Calls for Art will be sent out to PWC artists and art groups. Of course there is not an artist database in the county, so you would need to get on our Artist Email List - either at Open Space Arts or on our contact form. So, if you are on our email list and are 18 or older and meet the requirements: live in PWC or are a member of a PWC art group, when the Call for Art goes out, you can submit your art. Read and follow the directions!

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If you have any questions or submission issues, please contact Pennny Shaw at shawonesent at gmail.com.

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Please see the following PWAS Blog Posts for help:

Here Come the Judge, the Art Show Judge and Jury

What is a Jot Form? What is a Call for Art?

What is a Juried Art Show?

Workshops and/or classes are under development and we hope to have more information available soon. There is space available in the back of the space to accommodate small groups. 

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Typically for the monthly PWAS meetings which are open to the public, programs may be included which could be an art guest or a Member artist displaying their techniques and more. These programs are very interesting!

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The main things for desk duties at OSA are:

1. Greet all visitors and tell them what the show is. Be ready to talk about the art on display and to answer any questions.

2. Ensure a running count of visitors is kept and recorded in the book at the end of the shift. .

3. Be prepared to tell the visitors of the upcoming shows to garner future interest.

4. See what artist(s) catches the viewers interests. Be friendly.

5. Make sure the glass cases and doors are smudge free, and that the counters are kept neat and clean.

6. Know how to properly make a sale, or at least help the person making the sale by wrapping a painting to protect it. (Bubble wrap should always have the bubbles facing away from the canvas  face.

7. Check the Volunteer Calendar White Board (take a picture) and paper schedule board.

8. No early withdrawals will be permitted unless artwork is SOLD by OSA.

9. Thank the visitors for stopping in.

A good question, and the answers are numerous. Let's tackle a few of them.

1. PWAS as a group benefits from all sales, as PWAS collects 15%.

2. In the few months that we have been at the OSA gallery, we have had a few opportunities specific to PWAS as a group including "mini calls for art" to fill in spaces and participation in street festival(s) in front of the gallery.

3. Being a part of a committee and volunteering that helps out at the gallery and social media certainly helps artists and their resumes to get their name out there.

4. Participating in the artist receptions is another chance to meet PWC and business officials as well - networking.

5. Volunteering at the gallery is actually good practice in getting yourself out there and learning to not only talking about OSA, PWAS, PWC and PWCAC, but about your own art and about yourself as an artist. It is plain good practice and people like to learn about the artist which may lead toward a sale.

6. Being a part of any active art group gives the artist a lot of opportunities for growth, access to art opportunities that may have been cost prohibitive as an individual, and the chance to actually give back in so many ways. And being a part of an art group can help build confidence in the artist for their own growth and willingness to have their artwork shown in public which is a real fear for many artists just starting out.

Another good question, and one that can be directed differently.

PWAS itself does not necessarily promote an individual. PWAS is a group of artists and promotes all of the visual arts in many ways. It is up to the artist how much they want to participate in the opportunities that PWAS presents for them. That can include: 

• Joining various committees and helping out 

• Joining in at the various art events that PWAS offers

• Volunteering at Open Space Arts

• Submitting to OSA Call for Art requests

• Have an artist page on the PWAS website ($25 annual fee)

• Helping out on Social Media whether in the Social Committee or not - promoting PWAS events by sharing, commenting, liking, retweeting, etc. not only helps the group, but the individual.

• Certainly attending meetings and knowing what is going on goes a long way toward learning where you can fit in and help out too. Making life long friendships with other artists is a learning experience as well.

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With that being said, the Prince William Art Society blog "Artistry Spin" is all about what is going on with not only PWAS news, events, and the group, but the all of the members too. Again, it depends on how much you pitch in and add. When the Blogmaster asks for various data requests, opinions, pictures, your news, your awards, your events and more - adding your name to the mix is all toward your benefit. If you are a decent writer, you could certainly help with articles too with your name and links in the byline.

The Prince William Art Society's Member Area is under construction at this time. With that being said, ONLY PWAS members with active accounts can access after Admin's approval. An invite will be sent to members when the time is right.

Likewise, the Prince William Art Society's Board of Director's Member Area is under construction at this time. 

Amazon Smile is a way for while you are shopping on Amazon, you can select various non-profit charities, churches, organizations and art groups, a percentage will be automatically donated to the non-profit of your choice. You can now donate to the Prince William Art Society! You are still shopping on Amazon, but through a specific link, and they do all the work. Give it a try at

Amazon Smile