A Dallas art fair built entirely around women artists is opening its doors again this week, with a guest curator from Houston selecting the lineup from an open call that drew 233 applications representing more than 1,500 works. Texas Vignette runs Oct. 1-3 at On The Levee, 1108 Quaker St. in the Dallas Design District, with the exhibition free and open to the public Oct. 2-3 after a pair of ticketed preview events.
An Open Call That Drew 233 Artists
This year's open call brought in 233 applications representing more than 1,500 works, according to Arts+Culture Texas. Serving as this year's guest curator is Alison de Lima Greene, the Isabel Brown Wilson Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Greene selected 60 artists for the fair, which will feature 100 works, per reporting from Dallas News.
The fair's mission, per its own website, is “to promote, support, and connect women in the arts in Texas,” and the 2026 edition features work by women artists from across the state, including collages and photography, according to Dallas News.
From a Museum Building in Fair Park to a Design District Fixture
Texas Vignette was launched in 2017. The fair began at the Women's Museum building in Fair Park before growing into its current form, according to the outlet. Texas Vignette's own site describes founder Jessica Ingle developing the fair in 2017 “to bridge this gap,” and the organization works with a different Texas woman juror or curator each year to select artists and shape the exhibition.
Women artists remain underrepresented in the art world.
A Gap the Numbers Still Bear Out
Those disparities show up in industry data cited elsewhere in coverage of the fair. Works by women artists accounted for an estimated 10% to 15% of total auction sales in recent years, according to Glasstire. More recently, the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2026 put female artist gallery representation at 45% across international markets, per Arts+Culture Texas.
The 2026 fair is in its eighth year. Its scale has shifted from year to year — the 2022 edition featured 140 works by 54 artists, the 2023 fair selected 89 artworks by 47 women artists from 216 applications, the 2024 edition drew 206 applicants from 62 Texas cities for 85 artworks by 36 artists, and the 2025 fair selected 55 women artists from across the state, according to Texas Vignette and Glasstire.
Every Dollar Goes to the Artist
As in past years, 100% of proceeds from each sale go directly to the artist rather than the organization, according to Dallas News. The 2026 program adds two new ticketed preview opportunities ahead of the free weekend: a Patron Welcome Dinner on Sept. 30 and a Preview Benefit on Oct. 1, with the latter held at On The Levee, per the same report.
The organization aims to move from an all-volunteer board to a professional staff. For now, the fair remains a snapshot of what a juried, submissions-driven showcase can surface when the entire pool is limited to women artists working across the state.
