Submissions for The Fronteer Open 2025 are now open. Fronteer Gallery's annual open exhibition offers the chance to win an exhibition to two prize winners. Sponsored by CuratorSpace.

The Fronteer Open 2025 will be held at Fronteer Gallery in Orchard Square, Sheffield in November. Artists from across the UK are invited to submit work on any subject which will be hung in a Salon style.

There are two prizes available, a Judge's Choice Prize, decided by a judging panel made up of Fronteer co-directors Michael Borkowsky and Sharon Borkowsky, and guest judge Ruth Heaton, who is the curator at SHAT Gallery, Skelmanthorpe, as well as an artist in her own right.

There is also a People's Choice Prize decided by public vote. Both artists will win an exhibition at Fronteer Gallery in 2027 and one year's Artists Level subscription to CuratorSpace.

Artists from across the UK are welcome to submit work in any medium, except audio or video works, and wall mounted work can be any size or shape, but should be no bigger than 70x70cm.

Sculptural work should fit on a 30x30cm plinth, and should not exceed 50cm height x 30cm x 30cm.

Artists are invited to submit 1 piece of work for the exhibition.

You may provide a short description of no more than 150 words, which will be displayed alongside the work.   

The exhibition will run from 11th - 29th November 2025.

There will be a Private View event on Saturday 8th November 4-6 pm.

There will also be a Prize Evening on Saturday, 29th November, from 4:30-5:30 pm, when the winners will be announced.

Please note that the gallery is located upstairs and does not have disabled access.

Artists from all backgrounds are invited to submit one piece of work each. It is free to apply with only successful artists paying a fee of £45.

In return for your fee, you will get a private view evening with free drinks, which you are welcome to bring friends and family along to, invigilation throughout, and promotion of the exhibition online through social media posts. The gallery will handle potential sales.

The submission deadline is 11th October 2025.

Successful artists will be contacted by 14th October 2025.

Successful artists are welcome to send their work by post. 

Work sent by post should reach us by 30th October 2025 at the latest.

Artists are also welcome to deliver work in person to the gallery during gallery opening hours between 14th - 30th October 2025. If you have any issues with these dates please contact us before applying and we will see what we can do.

Successful artists should pay their £45 fee by 30th October 2025.

Work can be offered for sale during the exhibition, and there is a commission charge of 10%.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

HOW TO SUBMIT 

Wall Mounted work

Artists are invited to submit one piece of work each. Work can be any size or shape but should be no bigger than 70x70 cm. Please give us the completed size of your work including any frames or mounts.

All work should be ready to hang and can be framed or unframed, with suitable hanging attachments in place. You may submit up to 3 images of your piece of work.

One image to show the whole piece and a further two images to show details if required.

Please note, although there is an upper limit size restriction, we only have a limited capacity to accept larger works, and smaller works are much more likely to be successful.

Sculpture and 3-D

3-D and sculptural work that does not hang on the wall should be no bigger than 50cm Height x 30cm width x 30cm depth. All work should arrive ready to display.

RETURNING WORK

Work can be collected from the gallery after the prize evening ends on 29th November between 5.30-6pm.

You are also welcome to collect during gallery opening hours between 10th - 20th December 2025. After this we are closed for Christmas and then some renovation work at the gallery.

If you would like your work returning to you by post please be aware that we charge a fee which includes a £4
handling fee and the cost of postage.

We use Tracked 48 (no signature required) postage. Larger parcels can be returned through Parcelforce and will be sent Express 48. Couriers cannot collect your work from the gallery and we do not print postage labels. 

Because of the increased amount of post being sent in December, we will not start to return postage until January. If you need your work back urgently after the exhibition please let us know before you apply and we will do what we can to help.

All work must be complete at the time of submission. Any work which varies from the original piece or size submitted may be rejected. If you wish to submit any form of print, it will be your responsibility to print it off and prepare it for exhibition before delivering it to us.

Thank you and good luck!

The Fronteer Team

THE PRIZES T’S & C’S

There term Fronteer Gallery used here refers to the Fronteer Gallery owner.

It is possible that an artist could win both the Judge's Choice Prize and The People's Choice Prize, making just one winner.

Artists win a 2 week exhibition slot at Fronteer Gallery, sharing the space between the two prize winners if applicable, on a date decided by Fronteer Gallery. The exhibition dates are not negotiable and the gallery is not open to the public every day during those 2 weeks.

Gallery staff will help with hanging and taking down the exhibition, invigilate throughout, handle sales if required. 

Fronteer Gallery take 10% commission on any sales they handle. Work does not have to be for sale.

Dates for the delivery of work and collection of work should mutually arranged with the gallery.

Fronteer Gallery do not accept any responsibility for work during delivery, hanging or during the exhibition.

It is the artist's responsibility to get work to us and to collect their work.

Work must be collected in person on a date mutually agreed with Fronteer Gallery.

Uncollected work will be disposed of if it is still at the gallery 2 months after the exhibition ended.

Fronteer Gallery dose not have insurance covering artist's work, and artists should arrange their own insurance if they wish to do so.

Fronteer Gallery reserve the right to cancel the winners exhibition for one or both of the winners.

Fronteer Gallery can refuse to exhibit any work they consider as unsuitable or dangerous. We will not feature audio or video works.

The CuratorSpace Artists Level Membership is claimed by contacting CuratorSpace directly after the prizes have been awarded. This prize must be claimed within 1 month of the winners being announced.

CuratorSpace sponsor the prize, but not the winner's exhibition.

Fronteer Gallery and our sponsors do not endorse any views held by the winning artists.

 ABOUT FRONTEER 

Fronteer are a husband and wife artist led initiative who create exhibition opportunities for artists. In 2020 we opened our gallery, moving in 2022 to our current location in Orchard Square, Sheffield city centre. The gallery has 2 exhibition spaces.

We receive hundreds of visitors during an exhibition and would typically expect over 600 visitors during The Fronteer Open exhibition. Our private view events attract up to 100+ visitors. 

We have 2 Instagram accounts to share images of artists' work and news about the gallery. @fronteer_art has over 4000 followers and @fronteer gallery has 5000 followers. Instagram is our main social media platform but we also share posts on Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

The Fronteer Open has been running since 2018.