Present Tense Artist Talks
Event date: February 7, 2026, 2:00 - 5:00 pm
PRESENT TENSE ARTIST TALKS are quarterly events hosted by Medium Photo that spotlight emerging voices in photography.
Each program begins with a public portfolio walk, where eight artists share a recent photographic project in an informal, conversational setting. From there, four photographers are selected to deliver 15-minute artist talks, offering deeper insight into their work and creative process.
During each talk, artists present a single body of work projected on screen, bringing their images to life through personal reflections on process, ideas, and stories. Each presentation concludes with an open Q&A, giving the audience a chance to connect directly with the artist.
Designed to be welcoming and engaging, Present Tense fosters meaningful dialogue between artists and community. Submissions are free for Medium members ($15 for non-members), and all events are free and open to the public.
Present Tense Artist Talks, February 7, 2026
Location: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Event Timeline
2:00 - 2:50 Open Portfolio Walk
3:00 - 4:30 Present Tense Artist Talks
4:30 - 5:00 Peer networking
Present Tense #8 Juror: Karen Hymer, Owner & Director, Light Art Space Gallery, Silver City, New Mexico
Each edition of Present Tense Artist Talks will have a different juror of note drawn from across North America, and each juror will select three presenters for the talks, and four additional artists for the portfolio walk. The fourth presenter at each Present Tense talk is a student selected by the faculty of a participating college.
About Karen
Karen Hymer was born in Tucson, Arizona. She earned her BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tufts University, Medford, and her MA and MFA in Fine Art Photography from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Karen actively exhibits her work both nationally and internationally. Her work is in several public collections, including the Center for Creative Photography and the Polaroid International Collection. Dark Spring Press released a book of her work in 2018.
Karen’s approach to image making explores the blending of photosensitive materials, digital media, and printmaking. She is fascinated with how the passage of time affects the human body and other natural elements in the world. In addition to working as a fine art photographer, Karen taught photography for over 25 years at Pima Community College, Tucson.
In 2018, Karen relocated to Silver City, NM, to open and operate Light Art Space in the historic downtown district. The space features galleries, wet darkrooms, a sculpture garden, and a printmaking/teaching studio. Karen teaches workshops and private sessions in Photopolymer Gravure and other alternative photographic processes. She lives on 28 acres of pinon-juniper forest with her standard poodle, Nigel, in an off-the-grid solar adobe home.
You can find Karen’s work on her website www.karenhymer.com and you can find out more about Light Art Space at the gallery’s website www.lightartspace.com and their Instagram account @lightartspace_karenhymer.
Submissions & File Formats - DEADLINE TO SUBMIT JANUARY 4, 2026
You are invited to submit 15–20 images from a single body of work. If selected, all of these files will be projected at Present Tense Artist Talks during your presentation. You will also be asked to bring printed versions of these images to the event for the public portfolio walk, in addition to the digital files used for projection. If your work extends beyond traditional prints, you are welcome to bring mixed media or three-dimensional pieces that represents the project.
File Requirements:
JPEG files only
Files must be 2000px in the long dimension, saved at 1MB or smaller
Images must be numbered in the sequence you want them seen, with title, media and year using this naming convention:
sequence #-title-media-year.jpg
example: 01-Seaweed-Cyanotype-2023
Incomplete submissions will not be considered.