Our annual publication is dedicated to the natural world and the people who pay attention to it. Each issue gathers around a theme, and is open to anyone willing to look carefully enough. It is print-only, because we believe in permanence and craft. The publication is also a living record of this moment, this landscape, and this particular quality of attention that the world requires of us if we are going to attempt to understand it.
Every issue explores a new prompt. The first issue is a salute to trees. Rex painted trees alongside every bird because he understood that one life is the condition of another. Nothing exists without what feeds it, shelters it, and shares its air. We are asking the same question. The oldest living things on earth have been standing very still, paying close attention, for almost five thousand years. That is something worth trying and studying. What does a tree hold? How does it survive? What grows in its canopy and what struggles in its understory? What belongs in a landscape and what invades it? What do we harvest and what do we leave standing? What does old growth remember, and what is a sapling still becoming?
We are open to work in any medium and from any discipline. Writing, art, photography, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, field notes, scientific research, historical inquiry, architectural thinking, or anything that sits between or beyond those categories. We are especially interested in work that refuses easy classification. The field sketch alongside the essay, the research paper that reads like a love letter, the photograph that asks a question the caption cannot answer.
Work must be complete at the time of submission.
For written work, there is no strict word count. Send us what the subject requires. A poem, a field note, or a 5,000 word essay. We are interested in work that is as long as it needs to be and no longer.
For visual work, all images must be submitted at a minimum of 300 DPI.
We want to hear from students. Whether it’s explored through a school project, a semester of field research, or a year of close observation turned into something tangible. This is a place for that work. Schools and educators who want to build this into a curriculum or program are encouraged to contact us directly. We want to be a part of that conversation and would love to find ways to work together.
Submissions are welcome from every continent, every discipline, and every kind of maker. There is no age limit and no credential required. The work stands on its own. That is the only measure that matters.
The annual is our conversation with Rex across time. It is a way of wandering through the histories, landscapes, and living world that shaped his work. Rex painted 500 watercolors, decided he could do better, and threw them into the furnace. He painted a second set, realized they weren’t up to standard either, and threw those into the fire too. When he finally completed the 862 watercolors, he searched until he found a printer who understood that the printing mattered as much as the paintings, and then proceeded to hand-color 86,200 prints. His entire process demanded failure, revision, and the knowledge that only comes from making something with your hands.
Rex did not accept careless work, and neither do we. We’re not asking you to set fire to your work twice, but the work should only come from your hands, your eyes, and your time. These are very wonderful things to have, so you should use them! Work that is generated by artificial intelligence would offend Rex and thus will not be considered. If Rex could paint every bird of North America and maintain his patience and discipline all the way through, we suspect you can make something pretty great too.
The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2026. Send your work to hello@rexbrasher.org.
We are looking forward to seeing what you find when you really look.