GradEx 110 – Toronto’s largest free art and design exhibition returns May 7 to 11

May 2, 2025 (Toronto) – One of Toronto’s favourite events, OCAD University’s annual graduate exhibition, returns from May 7 to 11 at 100 McCaul St., showcasing work by more than 800 emerging artists, designers and digital media makers.

GradEX 110, the city’s largest free art and design exhibition, opens on Wednesday, May 7 at 6 p.m. with a celebration and party in OCAD U’s Butterfield Park.

The show features work by graduating students in every undergraduate program, with sales of artwork and a special exhibition of medal-winning student work in the Great Hall at 100 McCaul St. A supplemental online exhibition will also launch on May 7.

“A visit to GradEx110 will leave you inspired by the extraordinary skill, imagination and ingenuity of emerging artists and designers who are ready to make their mark in Canada’s creative industries, including advertising, manufacturing, gaming, product design, and sustainable technology,” says OCAD U President and Vice-Chancellor Ana Serrano.

“Visitors to GradEx will be supporting the next generation of creative and design-driven professionals and innovators who will help secure Canada's cultural and economic sovereignty,” she says.

GradEx is also the best place to buy affordable art and design from emerging Canadian artists and designers. Original art can be purchased or commissioned at several student sales areas and new this year – an alumni marketplace features original artwork and handmade goods.

Among the hundreds of artists, designers and digital media makers showing their work at GradEx 110 are:

• Tristan McTague, an Ojibway artist from Whitefish Rivers First Nations, who specializes in large-scale paintings on rabbit skin, that challenge stereotypes of Indigenous culture.
• Ukrainian immigrant and graphic designer Dima Lavrentiev, who is showcasing a series of short stop-motion animations depicting buildings — from museums and hospitals to universities — that Russia destroyed during the invasion of Ukraine. His work is a response to the recent attack on his hometown of Sumy, which damaged his grandparent’s home.
• Industrial designer Sunita Dulabh, who has designed an at-home stroke rehabilitation device to support patients’ recovery of hand and fingers fine motor skills. The leaf-shaped device features responsive finger pads that light up in randomized patterns, prompting users to perform specific pinching or pressing motions that help retrain the brain and muscles over time.
• Artist Luke Heimpel, who is working to revive interest in Canadian history with an interactive multimedia documentary installation, Ghosts of the Atlantic, that tells the story of the forgotten steamship SS Atlantic, which sank off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1873, resulting in the deaths of over 500 people.
• Environmental designer Reissa Lee-Chan, who designed an inexpensive and lightweight air-powered greenhouse that could be placed on rooftops of high rise and townhouse apartment buildings to provide fresh produce for low-income neighbourhoods.

GRADEX 110 HOURS – 100 McCaul St.

• Wednesday, May 7: Opening Night Celebration in Butterfield Park and the Auditorium (Room 190) featuring a bar, DJ and food truck. Open to the public 6 to 11 p.m.
• Thursday, May 8 and Friday May 9: Exhibition open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This year’s presenting sponsors are Hullmark and BentallGreenOak, along with opening night sponsors 13^th Street Winery and Collective Arts and media sponsor blogTO.