Natural landscapes make mark on “curator-in-training” student

August 13, 2026 · 0 Comments

York Region can be an “in-between” kind of place, according to Nina Stonojev.

A student at York University, Nina says York Region is urban, but not fully, has some pockets of rural life left in a largely suburban sub-urban landscape, but this status almost as a community in transition has created unique landscapes with beauty all their own.

That is the idea behind The Unfolding Year: A Celebration of Local Natural Landscapes, a new art show curated by Stonojev at Aurora’s Royal Rose Gallery, where she is the most recent art student to participate in the gallery’s Curator-in-Training program.

“Nina has been working with us for the past year and she will be starting her third year at York University (Bachelor of Arts – Art History) this September,” says Royal Rose Gallery owner Rosa Calabrese. “She has gained insight into the inner workings of an independent art gallery, built a professional network within the arts community, developed practical curatorial skills and so much more.

“We are so proud of how far Nina has come in her journey. From a shy, unsure student to a confident young woman, Nina has worked very hard seeking out new artists and bringing to life her vision of a stunning portrayal of local York Region Landscapes. It has been a pleasure for me to mentor her.”

One such artist Stonovej sought for the exhibition is her own father, a landscape painter in his own right, who helped instill a love for art – and landscapes – within his daughter.

“I was always raised to encourage art,” she says. “My dad is an artist who is in the show with a couple of paintings, and my mom has always been a creative soul, so to speak, so I was always encouraged – along with my brother – to embrace the arts.”

While she describes herself as “not exactly an artist myself,” her work at York University and at the Royal Rose Gallery has only sharpened her artistic eye.

“The thing about landscapes themselves that inspired me is everyone’s unique vision of something that’s objective,” she says. We all see a person’s portrait or a painting of a tree, but I’m really drawn to when artists have a unique vision, so when it’s something closer to an impressionist art style where they add some fun elements that you wouldn’t think, or unique art styles with thicker brushstrokes or a lot of teeny-tiny details.

“With this [exhibition] I wanted to show that because we kind of live in the suburbs, it’s kind of a weird in-between. It’s not super, super urban, but we’re not in the countryside exactly. It’s kind of like this weird liminal space in-between. I wanted to make sure that people were aware that in such a car-centric, urban landscape that we have, we can see that in our backyards or in the nearby trails, we have little pieces of pretty nature and I wanted to draw some appreciation for some of the stuff that’s nearby. We don’t have to travel to British Columbia or something – of course, that’s beautiful, but we also have beautiful nature here.”

The Unfolding Year: A Celebration of Local Natural Landscapes formally opened August 4 and was the subject of an opening reception held in the space, located on the west side of Yonge Street, just south of Wellington, on Saturday afternoon.

“I want people to look a little closer at what we have because when you drive to work, you’re not exactly looking around, you’re just kind of wanting to get the day over with,” she says. “When I drive from Bradford to the gallery, there are some really pretty farms nearby, some big fields, farmhouses, and I want people to see that, ‘Hey, we’ve got some of that!’”

As the exhibition closes this Saturday, August 15, Nina is looking back over her time as Curator-in-Training with pride, and encourages all students with an interest of art to put themselves forward for future opportunities at Royal Rose.

“I learned a whole lot about how to approach curating, and what to expect on the administrative and business sides of how to run a gallery and the communications aspect of finding artists,” she says. “I’m very glad that I’m going to be ready for future opportunities, placements and classes, because of all that I’ve learned at Rosa’s.

“Rosa is an amazing mentor. She’s very passionate about sharing the knowledge, and getting as many people into the art world as possible, and I think she would be honored if people came with interest in this position, and I would definitely recommend, because not only is it very educational, it’s also a lot of fun, and the gallery is such a welcoming energy that you would even want to go there just to hang out. I would encourage people to not be scared of reaching out. You never know what’s going to happen.”

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter