Burnaway is excited to announce the editorial themes that will guide the magazine’s 2026 features, long-form essays, and interviews. Submissions for all three themes are now closed.
Inspired and named after quilt patterns in the South and the Caribbean, the themes serve to provide a broader framework in which to talk across a spectrum of mediums and visual art practices within the region and in diaspora.
A pattern designed to recall the one-room school, Schoolhouse frames educational practices while stitching together new modes of artistic development. Addressing pedagogy and professionalism, the theme also includes expansive, experiential learning. Consider Black Mountain College, an experimental liberal arts program that brought interdisciplinary Bauhaus philosophy to the American South, or look to contemporary craft schools in Appalachia like Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Craft, and John C. Campbell Folk School. Collaborative practice is invoked by Schoolhouse, like alternative teaching structures, skill trading, and DIY production, as in Tania Bruguera’s Cátedra Arte de Conducta (Behavior Art School) in Havana, Cuba. Self-taught art is relevant, as it expands who gets to be called an artist when bias and gatekeeping are prevalent in educational spaces. Schoolhouse is ultimately about artistic lineage and the appraisal of art and education because school is more than a building: it is a mindset, a movement.
Storm Signal is an alert or sign indicating an approaching disturbance. A diamond, broken down into smaller half-square triangles, the composition captures the eye. It marks conflict and senses tension in the air, signifying a moment in flux, transition, or transformation. In contrast, Storm Signal can encourage unity, becoming a call to action or shelter. It is found in the Taíno folklore of the deity Guabancex or in Ronald Lockett’s assemblages exploring social tumult and unfulfilled promises. It is a beacon, like the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, North Carolina or Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) “Now” posters but also invokes Allison Janae Hamilton’s hazy Floridawater (2019) photographs. Whispered or encrypted, aural or visual, it materializes as a radio broadcast, rhythmic Morse code, and 3D-printed whistles mobilizing neighbors. Storm Signal is apocalyptic energy, but also a community ready to persist.
Named for its resemblance to the sharp teeth of a saw, Sawtooth Star is made of eight triangles that come together as a singular star. The pattern is an Indigenous symbol of honor and protection, as well as a marker for the Underground Railroad. Serving as armor, the star is a sacred promise; it represents looking up and moving forward. It invokes iridescence, sparkle, and metallic finishes, as well as the literal usage of stars. Sawtooth Star is celestial from the glimmer of the copper in Nari Ward’s Breathing Panels, to celebrating the immersive puzzle piece assemblage of Betye Saar to Radcliffe Bailey’s sculptures adorned with crushed green glass like Before Cisero (2016). It also speaks to travel and rapid creative or professional ascension: an art star in the making. Sparkling and sharp, the Sawtooth Star in the South and Caribbean is piercing light in all forms.
To read more about pitching to Burnaway, please review our pitch page. Pitches for the 2026 Editorial Themes are now closed, but we accept general pitches year-round.
