IAMD Grad Student Featured in Feminist Art Conference

Feminist Art Conference Poster
Tuesday, September 22, 2015 - 4:00am

Valerie Carew (MFA '16), a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Master's of Art, Design and Media, will have work featured in the Feminist Art Conference Multidisciplinary Art Exhibition, which opens Sept. 24 in the Great Hall at 100 McCaul.

As part of the exhibition, Valerie will be part of a panel on Sept. 26 from 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., discussing “Motherhood: Roles, Expectations and Identity,” and will also be presenting her "Body Coiling" performance the same day at 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., followed by a moderator-led Q & A with the audience.

The exhibition runs until Sept. 27, with an accompanying conference from Sept. 23-27, 2015.

About the Artist:
www.valeriecarew.com

Feminism Art Conference:
http://factoronto.org/

Anonymia

Thursday, October 18, 2012 - 4:00am to Saturday, November 10, 2012 - 5:00am

Anonymia features five emerging photographers with an interest in anonymity. Jaime Alvarez, Rebecca Cairns, David Boyson Cooper, Brendan George Ko and Anthony Gerace all experiment with the figure and the traditionsof portraiture, but also with the effect on our experience of these themes when the subject’s identity is obscured or removed.

Opening Reception: October 18 (6-8 PM)

Image credit: Ablution (2011), by Brendan George Ko

Curated by Matt Moreland

Venue & Address: 
Student Gallery
Photo of woman emerging from water

Another Dark Day Passes

Wednesday, February 5, 2014 - 5:00am to Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 5:00am

'Another Dark Day Passes’ is an exploration of psychedelic landscapes and alternative realities. This show invites viewers to experience the gallery as a portal to an altered psychological state. The works presented oscillate between material reality and dream-like illusion. The holographic and iridescent aesthetic that runs through the show is meant to communicate optimism by transforming the gallery into an ethereal environment. Conversely, dissonant elements have been incorporated with the intent of disarming the viewer to release meditative energy and open up the imagination. It is a psychological mirage, where confusion and darkness give way to possibility and hope.

Curated by Diana Lynn VanderMeulen and Julia Dickens

Featuring work by: Robin Clason, Sarah D'Angelo, Julia Dickens, Melissa Fisher, Inez Genereux, Eunice Luk, Felix Kalmenson, Nicholas Robins, Mark Sommerfeld, Diana Lynn VanderMeulen, Vince Vining

Venue & Address: 
Student Gallery
Another Dark Day Passes Poster with event info

Lexus Design Challenge

Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - 5:00am

Hamidreza Aghashahi (Environmental Design student) and Victor Mancini (Industrial Design Student) were selected a one of the finalists, winning an award of $1,000. for the Lexus National Design School Challenge. Their winning design Diamond Motion is on Display outside of the Design Office, Room 500, 100 McCaul until December 5th.

Student digital paintings on display at one of Canada’s busiest intersections

Image of artist Cat Bluemke with her painting "The New Patronage"
Monday, August 17, 2015 - 4:00am

Nine OCAD University students are exhibiting their bold digital paintings at the corner of Yonge and Dundas streets. The unique outdoor gallery is situated on hoarding around the H&M store under renovation, allowing thousands of tourists and commuters to see the works.

The project is the result of a partnership between H&M and the Faculty of Art at OCAD U.

The juried exhibition demonstrates the versatility of Digital Painting, one of OCAD U’s fastest growing specialities.

The artists are:

  • Arshia Salesi
  • Avery Kua
  • Cat Bluemke
  • Ghazaleh Baniahmad
  • Monica Moraru and Danielle Roche
  • Niya Vaillancourt
  • Samet Choudhury
  • Trudy Erin Elmore

The paintings convey themes of immigration, identity, rules and rebellion. The exhibition continues through December.    

 

 

 

 

Concert-goers party with Block Heads at WayHome festival

Block Head figure with fish tail
Blue Block Head character
Person taking photo of installation
Man hugging green blockhead
Yellow-haired Block Head
Block Heads installation
Friday, July 31, 2015 - 4:00am

A whimsical, experiential and interactive installation by five OCAD University students and alumni provided hugs, photo-ops and more than a few laughs to the 35,000 concert-goers at the inaugural WayHome Art & Music festival on July 24 to 26.

The installation, called The Block Heads, consisted of nine quirky characters some three metres tall with floppy arms, hair, fur and scales. Faculty of Design students and alumni, Ashley Mauerhofer, Kristin Ryan, Maeve Wallace, Sarah Eldershaw and Zeynep Sen, won first place in a joint Faculty of Design and Faculty of Art competition for their concept, receiving a prize of $5,000 and a budget of $18,000 to build the installation.

Set in the farmlands of Ontario’s Oro-Medonte township, WayHome featured 72 bands and musicians, including Neil Young, St. Vincent, Future Islands and Alt-J, alongside 15 visual artists.

Organizers say the festival will return in 2016 from July 22 to 24.

 

OCAD University student a finalist in 2015 Canadian Art Foundation Writing Prize

Image of Benjamin Hunter
Monday, July 20, 2015 - 4:00am

Congratulations to Photography student Benjamin Hunter for being chosen as one of two runners-up in the 2015 Canadian Art Foundation Writing Prize. Rarely won by undergraduates, this prestigious award comes with a $1,000 prize and recognition in Canadian Art. The text Hunter submitted to the competition was originally written as an essay for the course Photographic Practices: Theory and Criticism.

Lesley Johnstone, a curator at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and a juror for the competition, says that Hunter “has developed a distinct voice and his approach to art writing manifests a desire to tackle important ethical and moral issues while not losing site of the aesthetic and experiential qualities of art production.”

Hunter was raised in Scotland and has spent time working in Uganda as an educator and filmmaker. Prior to enrolling at OCAD University, Hunter completed a BA in photography at Edinburgh Napier University. His current scholarly interest is in lens-based art and its capacity to generate social change.

Illustration students win big at international 3x3 Student Show No. 12

Illustration by Long Hui Wang
Thursday, June 25, 2015 - 4:00am

Six OCAD U students have won the honour of being published in the 3x3 Illustration Annual No 12. 3x3, The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration, is the first publication devoted entirely to the art of illustration. Published in the United States and distributed worldwide, its goal is to share what’s shaping international illustration.

Congratulations go to the following students whose work was displayed in the 3x3 Student Show:

  • Long Hui Wang (4th year) – Silver Medal/Multiple Merit winner
  • Hong Chen (2nd year) – Silver Medal/Multiple Merit winner
  • Lynden Joudrey (4th year) – Multiple Merit
  • Kaitlin Richardson (4th year) – Merit/Honourable Mention
  • Cornelia Li & Paige Clark (4th year) – Merit
  • Marley Allen-Ash & Heidi Berton (4th year) – Honourable Mention
  • Milena Bassen (3rd year) – Honourable Mention

All medal, merit and distinguished merit winners will appear in 3x3’s annual edition in print and online. Honourable mentions will be displayed online.

Drawing & Painting student honoured for "artistic alchemy"

Spiritual Warrior by Isaac Narciso Weber
Thursday, June 18, 2015 - 5:00pm

A work entitled Spiritual Warrior – by Drawing & Painting student “Nodinamaad” Isaac Narciso Weber – was recently declared the Art Winner in the 2015 Aboriginal Arts & Stories competition. Sponsored by Historica Canada, this is the largest and most recognized competition for art and creative writing by Aboriginal youth in Canada. The award was presented to Isaac on June 9, 2015, at a ceremony held at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Isaac says Spiritual Warrior was the result of a “contemporary artistic alchemical process.” Reflecting on his practice, he notes that, “as an aspiring visual artist, I use the tools available within my environment like my ancestors did, from carving petroglyphs to graffiti on a train or wall.”

A member of the Turtle Clan Nation, whose traditional territories are called the Henvy Inlet First Nations (near French River, Ontario), as an OCAD University student Isaac has focused much of his work on narrative strategies and the “decolonization of picture making.” In this process, he has found significant support and inspiration from his professors Bonnie Devine and Julie Nagam.

Beyond completing his formal studies, Isaac’s longer-term goal is “to create a platform in Toronto for indigenous people to have longer-running arts exhibitions, creative workshops and seminars surrounding imagine-making and indigenous visual culture.”

OCAD University students triumph at Digifest 2015

Photo of Areen S. Khan
Photo of James Rollo
Friday, May 8, 2015 - 7:45pm

Two OCAD University students took home awards at the Best of the Best Student Showcase held at Digifest 2015.

Areen S. Khan won the Mobile App Development Award for her project “Hatter: Empowering Buskers through a Social App.” Currently completing her master’s degree as part of OCAD U’s Digital Futures program, in which she is focusing on the impact of a cashless society on busking, Areen’s Hatter app would enable patrons to support buskers without the bother of fishing for change.

James Rollo emerged victorious in the Visual and Interactive Art category. A fourth-year student in the Integrated Media program – as well as a new media, installation and performance artist – James’s project “I Can’t See What You’re Doing” is an interactive installation that challenges notions of presence in the physical and virtual realms.

Both Areen and James were also among the 20 winners of the 2015 OCAD University Medal, the university’s highest award. They also both exhibited their projects to great acclaim at the recent 100th-anniversary Graduate Exhibition. 

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