ArtPrize Exhibit 2026
Come view Jennifer's ArtPrize piece, Through My Eyes, and vote for her to win a prize! You can also come inside NIA Centre to view Jennifer's larger exhibit, Healing Through My Pain.
The exhibit viewing schedule is listed below:
Exhibition Viewing Schedule
Closing Reception
NIA Centre is hosting a free Community Closing Reception as the Healing Through My Pain exhibit comes to a close. Guests are invited to experience the exhibit, connect with the artist and community, and reflect on the themes of healing, mental health and resilience explored throughout Maples’ work.
About Jennifer Maples
Artist Bio
As a Detroit based, visual artist and muralist, I express myself through art because it is my life purpose. My art is my superpower because it helps me say what words cannot. My journey as an artist blossomed into my form of therapy. As Ive continued to share my work, it has helped to heal others and challenge stigmas surrounding mental health.
Working primarily in acrylic and mixed media, I have developed a signature style I call Trap Fine Art, a fusion of fine art, bold colors, affirmational typography, and layered textures. In my pieces, I balance dark and vibrant tones to reflect the duality of mental health: struggle and strength.
As my career has evolved, I lean towards community- focused work and giving back, especially with engaging and uplifting the youth. I believe my art is a bridge between personal healing and collective awareness. By sharing my story, I hope to inspire others to see art as a pathway to connection and advocacy.
Follow Jennifer on Social Media!
Why We Chose Jennifer
NIA Centre is proud to announce Detroit-based visual artist Jennifer Maples as its featured artist for ArtPrize 2026 with her submission, Through My Eyes.
As board members considered artwork to host for ArtPrize, they were immediately drawn to Jennifer’s piece. “Jennifer’s work was visually striking and incredibly intricate,” said Robert Upton, Board Chair of NIA Centre. “Every board member saw something special in the work, and decided to select Jennifer unanimously.”
That selection laid the foundation for a broader exhibition, titled Healing Through My Pain. This exhibition includes Through My Eyes with additional pieces of Jennifer’s work. Maples’ work is deeply connected to her personal experiences and her commitment to creating conversations around mental health.
In her artist statement, she writes, “My art is my superpower because it helps me say what words cannot.” She also describes her artistic journey as having “blossomed into my form of therapy” and says her work has helped her “challenge stigmas surrounding mental health.”
VOTE ENTRY# 16977 FOR JENNIFER MAPLES' 2026 ARTPRIZE SUBMISSION, THROUGH MY EYES!
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO VOTE FOR AN ENTRY?
Voting is your way to help shape the competition! Every vote counts toward determining which entries move forward in the competition and, ultimately, which artists take home the prizes.
WHEN DOES PUBLIC VOTING BEGIN AND END IN 2026?
Friday, September 18th at 12:00pm (noon) until Friday, October 2nd, 2026 at 10:00PM.
HOW DO VISITORS VOTE FOR AN ENTRY?
Your first vote must be in the ArtPrize boundaries. (See ArtPrize boundary map below).
After that, you can vote from any location.
Voting is easy:
1. Find an entry you want to vote for by scanning the QR code on the artist label to get started.
2. Register or login on our voting webapp (If you registered an account last year, you can use that same account to login.)
3. Click 'Cast Your Vote'. on the entry page. You can vote once per day, per entry, for as many entries as you'd like!
4. Return every 24 hours to vote again and show your support!
You can also find entries to vote for by searching all artist entries on the voting webapp. Search by unique five digit vote code, entry name or artist name.
HOW MANY ENTRIES CAN I VOTE FOR?
Once registered, you can vote for as many entries as you like, but only once per entry per day. After a full 24 hours, you can vote for the same entries again.
VOTING WITHOUT A MOBILE DEVICE:
-Register at the ClubHouse or an Info Kiosk to receive a physical ballot.
-Use a printable ballot from our website to keep track of entries, bring the ballot to a Kiosk or the ClubHouse.
-After that, vote from anywhere on your device. You will need to know the email and password to login to the voting app.
2026 Official Voting Rules
FOR MORE HELP/INFORMATION ABOUT VOTING:
View our detailed voting support page, including a walk through video, here.
A NOTE ABOUT VOTING AND LOCATION:
As the voting rules state, the first vote for an entry (any entry) must be cast within the ArtPrize Boundaries. After that, voting is allowed from any location, for any entry. An individual user is able to to vote once per entry, per day.
Based upon feedback received from visitors, artists and other guests, we aim to make the voter experience as user-friendly as possible - meaning we strive to accommodate those with a wide-range of technological skills, ability and access. This is why we have chosen to remove the need for a user to set their location when voting. This is with the intent to avoid blocking people from voting if they have trouble enabling their location on their phone and are still within the ArtPrize boundaries.
Using backend geolocation checks, we are able to ensure vote validity and that users are following the voting rules. (Please note this data is anonymized, and does not allow continuous tracking of a user's location).
While technically people can cast their first vote outside of the ArtPrize boundaries, those votes ARE NOT COUNTED, as they are not compliant with the voting rules for ArtPrize. They will be filtered out of final vote counts. Only valid votes will be recognized.