From our Point of View: Encounters with Artists

*Banner image: Artist Interview with Rajni Perera, January 202

OCAD U’s Faculty of Art is pleased to announce an opportunity for up to 12 students to participate in From Our Point of View: Encounters with Artists, a year-long visiting artist project running until Spring 2026. The student participants in From Our Point of View: Encounters with Artists, will work together to host 3 established senior Canadian artists across the year.

The participants, working as a team under the mentorship of Governor General’s Award-winning artist Max Dean, will be assigned the task of researching the guest artists and their work: resulting in public events where the student participants present the guest artist's work and interview them in front of an audience. It is a rethinking of the conventional artist talk in a structure that centres student inquiry. It is a celebration of these senior artists, and a way to build connections across generations.

Participants will have the opportunity to develop their research & presentation skills, explore collaborative approaches and have the chance to work closely with the visiting artists.

This extracurricular project will involve group meetings, individual research, and 3 in-person events scheduled at intervals between October 2025 and April 2026. The in-person

meetings and events will be scheduled on Wednesdays between 4pm and 8pm. (specific guests are TBC), so having availability during this time will be necessary to participate.

This opportunity is open to current senior level OCAD U undergrad students (3rd and 4th year level). We are seeking up to 12 participants. Upon completion of the project, participants will each receive $800.00.

Qualifications

• Be inquisitive, curious, hard-working
• Be both self-directed and willing to work as a group member
• Be interested in generating insightful and probing lines of inquiry, articulating ideas
• Be interested in expanding their research and collaboration skills
• Be committed to pursuing a career in the arts
• Expect to make themselves available for around 36 hours of in-person work during the project’s run (October to March), as well as additional asynchronous independent work (both individual and small group)
• Be available for weekly scheduled meetings and the public presentations on Wednesdays between 4pm-8pm (with some accommodation of participants’ class schedules), generally the meetings will be 1-2 hours, and the public events will require 2 hours
• Confidence speaking in public is an asset but not necessary.
• Shortlisted candidates might be contacted for an interview and/or additional information.

Max Dean, on the project:

"The participating students will host the invited artists at OCADU. An interview format will allow the participants to ask questions which they feel are relevant and of the moment.

We’re looking for inquisitive individuals who can articulate or write about ideas and thoughts for a small group of fellow participants and are prepared to act in a variety of capacities on the project. We’re looking for students who have some research skills or a willingness to learn how do to research. The participants will be able to attend weekly meetings, to discuss approaches to researching the guest, and complete research on assigned topics. The tasks of researching, crafting questions and public presentation will be shared across the group.

The interview will be a public event. It will begin with a short introduction that is researched, written and presented by the participants. This is then followed by a 90-minute interview with questions developed by the participants. The focus being to enable the students to ask questions they feel are important and relevant to their generation. The interview will be followed by a Q&A from the audience."

Applications are due Thursday, September 25, noon ESA

Please complete the application form at the following link:  https://forms.office.com/r/L7M69LkpnP

*This program is supported through the generous support of Lady Elizabeth (Pixie) Mudge Massey Shaw.

QUESTIONS?

Email: Derek Sullivan, Associate Professor, Tenured,
Faculty of Art
dsullivan@ocadu.ca