Masters of Wildlife Art 2026, International Juried Art Exhibition
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Congratulations to all the artists of Masters of Wildlife Art 2026!
Thank you to every artist artist who submitted! Along asking for the most skillful artwork to be submitted, we asked for artwork with an eye on animal- or eco-activism. The descriptions of so many submissions were filled with care about the precarious situations of animal species. Jurying this group of submissions was intellectually stimulating as well as visually stunning.
It is the goal of Wild Heart Gallery to support and promote animal and wildlife artwork in a wide range of genres and styles. Artwork for this exhibition was selected by jury based on theme, originality, skill, and quality of work. Jurors were Sarah Soward, and Sharon Eisley.
Awards: Best of Show, Overall Runner Up, Artivism Award, Overall Honorable Mentions, and Finalists. There is also an art section of Selected Works.
Click on an image below to enlarge it.
BEST OF SHOW
Silver Lining, by Holly Kavonic 24 x 20 inches, Oil
From the artist, "River otters resting by the water."
The attention to detail in this piece goes beyond brush strokes and directionality of fur. It embraces mood, light, and companionship. It's not the best weather and maybe not the best day for these otters, but they have each other.
Kavonic took care to make it look like the otters were nestling into each other as they look off the side of the painting. The shadows meld and play gently, the fur is complressed and slightly displaced, and that one pinky claw is stretched for balance. These are all thoughtful and artful touches that take this portrait of two otters into another realm of art.
OVERALL RUNNER UP
Before the Glide, by Annik Janssens 24 x 16 inches, Pastel on Pastelmat
From the artist, "I saw this caiman during my trip to the Brazilian Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world. Often overlooked and little appreciated for its appearance, the caiman rarely inspires sympathy. Yet it is an essential link in this ecosystem. Present in the millions, it is an indispensable source of food for the jaguar, a species that is now threatened. By choosing to highlight it, I want to draw attention to a discreet form of life, sometimes deemed undesirable, without which the balance of the living world could not exist."
The artist created a believable three-dimensional quality to the realism in this piece that brings a sense tangibility. That depth is then masterfully parried by the crisp treatments of edges so that there is no denying that this is a piece of artwork. The strong sense of style to this pastel work only makes it better. It adds personality to an animal that seems to already brimming with it.
ARTIVISM AWARD
Elegance in Ruin, by Sushma Yadav 48 x 72 inches, Acrylic on stretched canvas
From the artist, "A tiger lies in ruins, its body partially obscured by the debris. The focus remains on the striking beauty of its stripes, which ripple across its fur with vivid precision. The desolate surroundings amplify the elegance of the tiger, emphasising the tragic loss of its strength."
This painting has multiple layers of dualism that all work together: orange vs. black, shining metallic vs. matte paint, light vs. dark, abstract vs realism, and life vs. death. It's easy to regard this piece as the loss of one tiger as well as the loss of all tigers. The visual shift between the realism of the striped fur into larger and increasingly formless abstract shapes leads the viewer into contemplating the journey from reality (and life) into the abstraction of death. This is a beautiful example of art telling story through technique and form.
OVERALL HONORABLE MENTIONS
Congratulations to our Overall Honorable Mention winners, Crystal Clarke, Terry Miller, Ute Bartels, Valentina Abadia Henao, Allen Douglas, Dunja Tessarek, Jm Brodrick, Shawna Hinkel, and Peggy Albers.
FINALISTS
Congratulations to our award Finalists, Kristin Schaffer Long, Helen Turkdogan, Annik Janssens, Douglas Hiser, Angela Parr, Natasha Lazareva, Nichole Kluth, Nico Ramos, Nicky Shelton, Bianca Blum, Ute Bartels, Stefano Zagaglia, Martli Heyns, Stanislava Varbanova, Greg Oakley, Susan Munderich, and Douglas Aja.
SELECTED WORKS
This section is for works that are selected for the virtual exhibition here on wildheartgallery.com but are not awarded.
Congratulations to our Selected Works artists, Penny Livingston, Joanne Bryant, Angela Parr, Nancy Pirtle-Connelly, Erica Metzel, Jm Brodrick, Fatos Yalazan, Linda Gray, and Chris Malysiak.
SEE MORE ENTRIES
The entries that made it to the final round of judging are also available to view on our art submission partner site: ArtCall.org
These additional images will be available to view through approximately January 2026. After that date, ArtCall automatically archives the pages.
Award Distribution HOWL, the Art of Dogs 2026
Best of Show ($350 cash award)
Overall Runner Up ($150 cash award)
Artivism Award ($50)
Overall Honorable Mentions
Finalists
Best in Show receives $450 cash award and promotion on the following: Art Week, Wild Heart Gallery’s (WHG's) growing social media and other online media channels, WHG's eNewsletter, and WHG's home page (for duration of the exhibition).
Overall Runner Up receives $150 cash award and promotion on Wild Heart Gallery’s (WHG's) growing social media/other online media channels and WHG's eNewsletter and inclusion in a virtual group exhibition that lasts at least one month.
Artivism Award receives $50 cash award and promotion on Wild Heart Gallery’s (WHG's) growing social media/other online media channels and WHG's eNewsletter and inclusion in a virtual group exhibition that lasts at least one month.
Finalists receive promotion on Wild Heart Gallery’s (WHG's) growing social media/other online media channels and WHG's eNewsletter and inclusion in a virtual group exhibition that lasts at least one month. All award recipients also receive an award certificate, emailed as a PDF to the email address used for the submission process.
Selected Works are not awarded entries, but they are included in virtual group exhibition that lasts at least one month. There is no set number of Selected Works.
This art exhibition was juried by Sarah Soward, and Sharon Eisley
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