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April 30, 2026
# GradEx 111: Toronto’s largest free art and design exhibition returns May 6 to 10
The show features works by more than 800 emerging art designers.
Photo above: people touring exhibits during GradEx 110.
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One of Toronto’s favourite events, [OCAD University’s 111th annual graduate exhibition,](https://www.ocadu.ca/gradex111) returns from May 6 to 10 at 100 and 115 McCaul St., showcasing works by more than 800 emerging artists, designers and digital media makers.
GradEx 111, the city’s largest free art and design exhibition, opens on Wednesday, May 6 at 6 p.m. with a celebration and party in OCAD U’s Butterfield Park. Hullmark and BGO are the exhibition’s presenting sponsors.
More than 40,000 visitors are expected to attend this year’s show, which features works by graduating students in every undergraduate program. GradEx 111 is also the best place to buy affordable art and design from emerging artists and designers. Original art can be purchased or commissioned at student pop-up shops and at an alumni marketplace featuring original artwork and handmade goods.
“GradEx is one of the clearest ways to see what OCAD University contributes to Ontario and Canada: graduates who bring creative confidence, artistic judgment, technical fluency and design-thinking skills to a world that increasingly needs people who can imagine, make, adapt and solve complex problems,” says OCAD University President and Vice-Chancellor Ana Serrano. “It is also one of Toronto’s great spring traditions, a joyful celebration where the public can experience the energy and imagination of the next generation of artists and designers."
Among the hundreds of artists and designers showing their work at GradEx 111 are:
- Industrial designer **Alex Chang** who has created a prototype for an e-bike with AI sensing technologies that helps guide cyclists through car and pedestrian traffic.
- Visual artist **Sabrina Holmes**, a reservist in the Royal Canadian Navy, who paints landscapes from her time at sea. Her work explores the environment and emotional ties that military members experience being away from home for extended periods of time.
- Sculpture/Installation artist **Matt Trinh**, who started his career as a welder in Calgary, has created a man-made kinetic sculpture beachscape to make us think about what it truly means to coexist harmoniously with nature.
- Nigerian multidisciplinary artist and designer **Chimemelie Okafor** whose oil painting practice uses layered colour and pattern to create visually compelling works, inspired by the material traditions of West African textiles.
- Industrial designer **Kai Principe Rapa** who has designed a wearable tech interface to help people with Parkinson’s monitor their symptoms with a more informed and supportive experience, empowering them to feel more in control of their condition.
- Game designers **Kayli Chow, Giuliana Costa** and **Cole Kassirer** who created, *Beam It Up, Blorp!*, a video game where players are an alien piloting an UFO who go on quests, beam up creatures, solve physics-based puzzles and explore different worlds.
**GRADEX 111 HOURS – 100 and 115 McCaul St.**
- **Wednesday, May 6:** 6 to 11 p.m.
- **Thursday, May 7 and Friday May 8:** 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- **Saturday, May 9** and **Sunday, May 10**: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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[### Partial x OCAD University Artist Showcase Fall 2026 Call for Artists
Partial and the RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers are excited to announce the return of our partnership which provides an exceptional career opportunity for OCAD U student artists and recent alumni. Selected artists will be given complimentary 2 year Pro Accounts ($240 value) on Partial and permanent inclusion as featured artists within the OCAD University Artist Showcase on Partial to display their works, and administrate artwork sales and rentals.
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[### 2027 Sankofa Square Black History Month Digital Exhibition Call for Artists
Sankofa Square and the RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers are excited to announce the return of the annual Black History Month Digital Exhibition Career Launcher providing an exhibition opportunity for artists from the OCAD U community to exhibit their work on the square’s digital screens. Selected artists will receive a fee of $500 for their artworks to be displayed across five (5) digital screens for the duration of Black History Month in February 2027.
December 6, 2026
](/news/2027-sankofa-square-black-history-month-digital-exhibition-call-artists)
[### 2026-27 Call for Funding Proposals for Student Groups that Support Creative Entrepreneurship on Campus
The RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers (CEAD) invites OCAD University student groups with a mandate to support entrepreneurship on campus to apply for funding for student-led initiatives that strengthen and expand the creative entrepreneurship ecosystem at OCAD U. This funding is intended to help student groups create opportunities for entrepreneurship skills development, community building, and revenue-generating activities for students and recent alumni, while reducing barriers to participation for equity-seeking individuals.
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