Announcing the 2026 Bluff Park Art Show Judge: John Fields

The Bluff Park Art Association is proud to announce John Fields, Senior Director of the Abroms‑Engel Institute for the Visual Arts at UAB, as the judge for the 63rd Annual Bluff Park Art Show on Saturday, October 3, 2026.

Fields is a respected museum director, curator, educator, and practicing artist whose career spans more than two decades. An alumnus of the UAB Honors Program, he earned his B.A. in Studio Art from UAB and an M.F.A. in Painting and Video from the University of New Orleans. His artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and his early career included winning the ArtVoices Magazine Emerging Artist Exhibition Competition and completing an artist residency at the University of Innsbruck in Austria.

Over the years, Fields has produced seven solo exhibitions, received nominations for the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award and the Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting, and taught fine arts at the university level for more than a decade. His teaching experience includes drawing, design, computer graphics, and the B.F.A. capstone course, along with developing a seminar on contemporary performance art for the UAB Honors Program.

Fields’ curatorial work is equally distinguished. He began curating exhibitions in New Orleans before joining UAB, where he later served as Interim Director of the UAB Visual Arts Gallery. During that time, he produced 18 exhibitions, including Bob Adelman: The Children’s March and The Alabama Project, both of which went on to tour nationally. His exhibition Pete Schulte: A Letter Edged in Black was named one of the best exhibitions of 2013 by BURN AWAY.

Since becoming the first Curator of AEIVA in 2014, Fields has curated more than a dozen major exhibitions. Highlights include WARHOL: Fabricated, Yacoov Agam: Metamorphic, Beverly Fishman: Another Day in Paradise, David Sandlin: 76 Manifestations of American Destiny, and Jessica Angel: Facing the Hyperstructure.

His deep experience in contemporary art, his commitment to education, and his curatorial vision make him an exceptional choice for the 2026 Bluff Park Art Show. We are honored to welcome him to Bluff Park and look forward to the insight he will bring to this year’s jury process.