Hunter Guise Artist

SUSAN HUNTER GUISE

My painting practice is rooted in discipline, intuition, and a desire to give form to what lies beneath the surface of conscious thought. Long grounded in landscape and influenced by Zen aesthetics, my work has increasingly moved toward abstraction. My background as a classical violinist, along with my study of shodo and Zen, has shaped the way I paint, especially through repetition, gesture, and attentive presence. The studio is a place of exploration for me, where instinct, memory, and subconscious response can emerge.

While my recent focus has shifted more fully toward abstraction, my work continues to be informed by landscape, atmosphere, and the experience of place. I am drawn to old, weathered, and distressed surfaces, and to the histories and transformations they suggest. Through layering, obscuring, and revealing, each painting gradually moves beyond its point of origin. In my structural abstractions, architectural forms evoke time, change, and the traces left by lived experience. My current work is shaped by questions of structure, restraint, and decision-making. In my expressive abstractions, I explore immediacy, gesture, and emotional resonance, often allowing impressions of exterior or interior landscape to remain as an underlying presence rather than a fixed description.

Landscape, Japanese aesthetics, and contemplative practice remain enduring influences in my work. The quiet stillness cultivated through Zen meditation and the discipline of shodo continue to inform both my process and the atmosphere of the paintings. As I continue working on larger surfaces and deepening my engagement with abstraction, I want to create work that invites contemplation. Through layered surfaces, subtle shifts in colour, and a sense of quiet intensity, the paintings ask viewers to slow down, look closely, and bring their own associations to the experience. Rather than pointing to a single fixed meaning, the work opens a space for reflection, where questions can remain unresolved.

I have refined my artistic skills through formal training, including classes and online workshops with artists such as John David Anderson, Mark Hope, Rebecca de Mendonça, Nina Squire, the late Dave Beckett, Shawn Dell Joyce, and ARC Living Master Gabriela Gonzalez Delloso. My work continues to be inspired by artists including Lawren Harris, the late Camille Przewodek, Haidee-Jo Summers, and Albert Handell.

I am an Art Facilitator and Gallery Owner: visit my gallery at www.hunterguisegallery.com. I also build artist websites in my online business Artist Websites - have a look!

Have a look at my work --> Virtual Gallery Tour

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EXHIBITIONS:

Aug 1 - 3 2026- BAC Art Walk at Kempenfest - I was a Featured Artist

August 2026 - Barrie Art Club and Gallery group exhibition

May - Sept 2026 - Georgian Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic group exhibition (2 works)

June 2026 - Double Doors Gallery, Anten Mills, Ontario (group exhibition - 2 abstract works)

May 2026 - Alzheimer Society Walk at Springwater Park, Simcoe County

April 2026 - Ward 4 Spring Celebration at Sunnidale Park, Barrie

Mar - Apr 2026 Propeller Art Gallery (Toronto) Abstract Group Exhibition (2 works, one online, one in gallery)

Mar - Apr 2026 City Hall Main Floor Gallery, Barrie, Ontario (group exhibition - 3 pastel works)

Mar 2026 - Barrie Art Club and Gallery group exhibition

Feb 2026 - Barrie Art Club and Gallery group exhibition

Dec 2025 - Jan 2026 12 x 12" group exhibition, Barrie Art Club and Gallery (3 abstract works)

Dec 2025 – Honourable Mention, Teravarna International Juried Abstract Competition (2 works)

Dec 2025 - April 2026 - Georgian Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic group Exhibition (2 works)

Dec 2025 - Holiday Artisans' Market, Barrie Art Club

Oct 2025 - Artisans' Market, Barrie Art Club

Sept 2025 - Oma's Ride Alzheimer Society of Simcoe County fundraiser at Quayle's Brewery, Coldwater, Ontario (plein air demonstration)

July 2025 - Simcoe County Museum at Anten Mills, Ontario, Canada (Barrie Art Club plein air group show)

Jun 2025 - Popup show at Muskoka Discovery Centre, Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada

Jun - Sept 2025 - Solo Exhibition at Matthews House Hospice, Alliston, Ontario, Canada

May 2025 - Accepted into Pastel Artists Canada's Juried Open Exhibition with "Fort Coulonge Forest Walk"

May 2025 - City Hall Rotunda in Barrie, Ontario, Canada (Barrie Art Club group show)

Apr 2025 - "Flowers and Showers" members exhibition at the Barrie Art Club, Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Mar 2025 - "Night" members exhibition at the Barrie Art Club, Barrie, Ontario, Canada - received 2nd place for "The Silent Vessel"

Mar - Jun 2025 - Solo Exhibition "From Field to Canvas" at Museum on the Boyne, Alliston, Ontario, Canada

Feb 2025 - Featured Artist at the Barrie Art Club - exhibiting "Poems in Pastel" and "From Field to Canvas", Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Feb 2025 - "Doors and Windows" members exhibition at the Barrie Art Club, Barrie, Ontario, Canada - received 3rd place for "Parliament St Storefront"

Nov 2024 - 75th Anniversary of the Barrie Art Club - juried group show, Double Door Studio and Gallery, Anten Mills, Ontario, Canada

Oct 2024 - Jan 2025 - Solo Exhibition "From Field to Canvas" at Adjala-Tosorontio Municipal Centre, Alliston, Ontario, Canada

Oct 2024 - Plein Air group show as Guest Artist at Barrie Art Club, Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Sept 2024 - Oma's Ride Alzheimer Society of Simcoe County fundraiser at Quayle's Brewery, Coldwater, Ontario (plein air demonstration)

Sept 2024 - Arts on Main: The South Simcoe Arts Council, Alliston, Ontario, Canada (juried show)

Aug 2024 - Kempenfest (Barrie Art Club)

July 2024 - Double Doors Gallery group show, Anten Mills, Ontario, Canada

May 2024 - Barrie Art Club "H2O" group show, Barrie, Ontario, Canada

Feb 2024 - Barrie Art Club "Dwellings" group show, Barrie, Ontario, Canada

July 2023 - City Hall First Floor Gallery, Barrie, Ontario, Canada (juried show)

Mar - Jun 2023 - Simcoe County Museum, Anten Mills, Ontario, Canada (Barrie Art Club plein air group show)

May 2022 - City Hall Rotunda in Barrie, Ontario, Canada (Barrie Art Club group show)

Nov 2018 - In Situ: The Creative Hub, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (CGOS group show)

Sep 2018 - Arts on Main: The South Simcoe Arts Council, Alliston, Ontario, Canada (juried show)

AWARDS:

Honourable Mention - Teravarna International Juried Abstract Competition (2 works) - December 2025

2nd place - Barrie Art Club group exhibition "Night" March 2025 - the winning painting: "The Silent Vessel"

3rd place - Barrie Art Club group exhibition "Doors and Windows"Feb 2025- the winning painting: "Parliament St Storefront"

ONLINE ART CONFERENCES (Streamline Publishing):

Acrylic Live 2025, 2026

1st Annual Business Art Mastery Day 2025

1st Annual Digital Painting Live 2025

Gouache Live 2025, 2026

Plein Air Convention (online) 2022 (co-moderator), 2023 (co-moderator), 2026 (co-moderator)

Plein Air Live 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

Pastel Live 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

Realism Live 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026

Watercolor Live 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

MEMBERSHIPS:

Barrie Art Club

Pastel Society of Canada

International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS)

Chroma Online Atelier

Dreamline Artists Facebook group (admin)

Dreamline Artists Book Club (former moderator/admin)

How To Pastel Facebook group (former moderator)

ARTICLES

Featured in Outdoor Painter April 2022

Featured in Unison Color Dec 2021

I live in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.

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