Curator’s Choice Monthly Exhibition
Hunter Guise Gallery’s Curator’s Choice Monthly Exhibition is a rotating online showcase curated by our team to spotlight standout artists and artworks from our community. Each month, we select pieces that demonstrate strong vision, craftsmanship, and originality—highlighting work that feels timely, memorable, and impactful.
Featured artists receive prominent placement on the Curator’s Choice page and across Hunter Guise Gallery’s social media channels, helping collectors and visitors discover new voices and returning favourites. It’s our way of celebrating exceptional work while building momentum for artists through consistent, curated exposure month after month.
How it works:
Artists submit their work through an online platform where entries are reviewed by the Hunter Guise Gallery curator. Each month, the curator selects a group of standout pieces to be featured in the Curator’s Choice Monthly Exhibition, which is then presented as a dedicated online show at www.hunterguisegallery.com
Once the exhibition is live, selected artists are eligible for curator-awarded recognitions. Visitors can also take part by voting for the People’s Choice Award, making it a community-driven celebration alongside the curator’s selections. Monthly award winners will also have their work featured on our website online gallery.
Prize Structure:
1st, 2nd, 3rd place awards, two Honourable Mention awards, and a Best Canadian Entry award, as follows:
Prizes are sponsored by Hunter Guise Gallery. Prizes are non-transferable and not redeemable for cash unless specified. Curator’s Choice credits expire 6 months from the date issued.
First place:
$100 cash
Curator's Choice Spotlight (website & social media features)
$25 Northern Beauty Online Juried Exhibition entry credit (applies to the first entry fee, max 3 per artist per year)
$10 Curator’s Choice credit (applied to a future month)
Second place:
$50 cash
Second Place Spotlight (website & social media features)
$10 Curator's Choice credit (applied to a future month)
3rd place:
$25 cash
Third Place Spotlight (website + social media feature)
$5 Curator's Choice credit (applied to a future month)
Honourable Mentions:
Honourable Mentions Spotlight (website & social media group features)
Best Canadian Entry Award:
Curator's Choice Spotlight (website & social media features)
$25 cash award
for artists residing in Canada only
People's Choice Award:
3 artworks will be recognized each month in our People's Choice Awards.
Monthly Themes:
All themes are sub-themes of the annual Northern Beauty Online Juried Exhibition. Themes are creative prompts, not restrictions. Loose interpretations are welcome—if your painting fits Northern Beauty (northern light, land, water, weather, atmosphere), it belongs here.
April 2026 — Northern Skies
A celebration of sky-dominant work: aurora, twilight, moonlight, starfields, and high-latitude atmosphere. Focus on mood, scale, and that feeling of looking up into something vast.
Curator's Challenge (optional): Include at least 70% sky in the composition (or make the sky the clear subject).
May 2026 — Cabins, Light & Human Traces
Northern Beauty as lived experience—cabins and boathouses, docks and roads, lantern glow, frosted windows, weathered signs, and the small marks people leave in vast places. This theme welcomes everything from cozy interior scenes to distant structures tucked into wilderness, and from crisp architectural studies to moody, atmospheric “hint-of-shelter” paintings. Think warmth against cold, scale and solitude, and the quiet storytelling of light: a single window at dusk, smoke lifting into blue air, footprints crossing fresh snow, stacked firewood, a rope tied to a cleat. Loose interpretations are welcome—“human traces” can be subtle, implied, or symbolic, and wildlife can absolutely appear too.
Curator’s Challenge (optional): Include one clear “trace” that tells us someone was here (a lit window, footprints, smoke, a tied rope, a tool, a coat on a chair) and let it act as the emotional focal point.
June 2026 — Shorelines
The meeting place of land and water—beaches, coves, cliffs, harbors, marsh edges, riverbanks, and ice margins. This theme is about transitions: wet to dry, solid to fluid, calm to wind, near to far. Shorelines naturally create rhythm—tide marks, repeated shapes, banded color, and shifting reflections. Pieces can be sweeping and scenic or close and textural: pebbles at the edge, reeds in shallow water, foam patterns, driftwood, or the geometry of docks and rocks. Loose interpretations are welcome—any work that captures boundary, change, or “where things meet” fits beautifully.
Curator’s Challenge (optional): Show a clear “edge” (where two environments meet) and make it the compositional spine.
July 2026 — Rocks & Rugged Land
Craters, ridges, boulders, mountains, and raw geology—work that honors solidity, structure, and time. This month leans into the physical: weight, gravity, fracture, strata, and the way northern light reveals form across rugged surfaces. Go monumental (peaks, escarpments, shield rock) or intimate (lichen on stone, gravel bars, tide-worn edges). Abstract and semi-abstract approaches fit perfectly when they communicate mass, pattern, and age. Loose interpretations are welcome—if it feels ancient, grounded, and enduring, it belongs here.
Curator’s Challenge (optional): Make texture the star (close detail, strong surface lighting, or a tactile paint/mark approach).
August 2026 — Paths & Trails
A theme of journey—literal trails, roads, tracks, corridors, river paths, portages, and implied routes through a scene. This month is composition-forward: leading lines, perspective, layering, and pacing. A “path” might be a shoreline curve, a break in trees, light on water, a snowmobile track, a ridge line, or a chain of islands pulling the eye forward. Great entries feel like an invitation: come closer, keep going, what’s around the bend? Loose interpretations are welcome—any piece that suggests movement, direction, or discovery fits.
Curator’s Challenge (optional): Use a leading line that guides the viewer to a focal point (a destination, figure, or light).
September 2026 — Annual Northern Beauty Juried Online Exhibition
A showcase of standout work across the year—your strongest piece, your boldest risk, or the work that best represents your voice. This month is about excellence and range: technical command, confident design, and a clear point of view. Artists are encouraged to submit work that feels intentional and memorable—whether quiet and restrained or dramatic and high-impact. If your painting fits Northern Beauty (northern light, land, water, weather, atmosphere), it belongs here.
Curator’s Challenge (optional): Submit a piece that reflects a personal milestone—first time trying a technique, larger scale, new subject, or a meaningful narrative.
October 2026 — Fall Splendour
Autumn’s richness—colour shifts, harvest tones, misty mornings, leaf-litter textures, and golden light. This theme isn’t only “pretty trees.” It’s also contrast: crisp air against warm sun, vivid colour against grey weather, abundance before winter, and the drama of change. Consider forest interiors, town edges, fields and orchards, fog over water, late-day shadows, migrating birds, and the quiet geometry of bare branches. Loose interpretations are welcome—celebrate the season in any way that feels true to your northern experience.
Curator’s Challenge (optional): Limit your palette to 3–5 dominant colours to keep it cohesive and intentional.
November 2026 — Storm & Weather
Weather as story: wind, fog, snow, heat shimmer, rain, lightning, approaching fronts. In the North, atmosphere changes everything—edges soften, values compress, and light becomes a moving character rather than a static spotlight. This theme welcomes drama and subtlety: the hush before snowfall, sideways rain, sea spray, fog swallowing distance, or cloud shadows racing across land. Paint the feeling, not just the forecast. Loose interpretations are welcome—if weather is shaping the mood, it belongs here.
Curator’s Challenge (optional): Create a sense of motion (visible drift, diagonal energy, dynamic clouds, spray, or shifting light).
December 2026 — Traditions
Seasonal rituals, cultural heritage, family moments, community gatherings, winter crafts, and quiet ceremonial objects. Traditions can be loud or tender: a feast table, skating, baking, a handmade ornament, a candlelit window, a quilt, a tool passed down, or a solitary ritual like chopping wood or making tea. This month is about warmth, meaning, and memory—big or small. Loose interpretations are welcome—any piece that carries a sense of ritual, belonging, or seasonal story fits.
Curator’s Challenge (optional): Include one meaningful symbol (an object, gesture, or motif) that hints at a tradition without needing explanation.
About Us:
We are an online fine art gallery dedicated to showcasing exceptional contemporary work and building meaningful exposure for Canadian artists. After running the very successful Northern Beauty Juried Online Exhibition in September 2025, we’re continuing to expand opportunities that increase artists’ visibility online—connecting their work with collectors and art lovers through curated exhibitions, thoughtful promotion, and a professional digital platform.