The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (ACNMWA) announces Laura Terry, of West Fork, as the Artist Award recipient for 2026. The purpose of the award is to assist an accomplished woman artist to realize her vision and help to make her achievements more visible to the art community and the public.

“The 2026 Artist Award committee selected Laura Terry for the unique way she uses art to tell the story and history of small towns and rural landscapes in Northwest Arkansas,” said ACNMWA President Demara Titzer. “A full-time educator, Laura will use the Artist Award to focus on a project during the summer that will support this story telling through art.”

“This award will sustain me over the summer and allow me to focus on a project, started and tentatively titled ‘Atlas Arkansas,” Terry said. “In this work, I use historical photographs, maps, alongside my own drawings, paintings, and photographs to create what I am calling "paper quilts." The technique of piecing paper that I have been using incorporates historical photographs and maps to create another layer of imagery in the works.”

Terry holds a Master of Fine Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design from Auburn University. She is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Arkansas in addition to being a practicing artist. Her work has been featured in national juried exhibitions across the country and is held nationally in public and private collections.

Information about the ACNMWA Artist Award and a sample of Terry’s work is available here.

Founded in 1989, ACNMWA is a nonprofit volunteer organization that highlights the accomplishments of Arkansas women artists and shares the groundbreaking work of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C., with a statewide audience. For more information about the Arkansas Committee, go to acnmwa.org. For more information on NMWA, visit nmwa.org.