INVC 10^th Anniversary Colloquium  

Call for Proposals      

The Indigenous Visual Culture program at OCAD University is celebrating our 10^th anniversary with a fall colloquium around the theme Visiting and Visitations. This colloquium will showcase the innovative research and artistic practices of the Indigenous Visual Culture community. The colloquium will take place on October 4th, 2023, from 9am to 6pm ET, at 100 McCaul St.   

Submissions close May 31, 2023, 11:59 pm ET 

Proposals are assessed by a committee. Successful applicants will be notified via email by July 1, 2023. Successful applicants will receive a $500 CAD presenter fee.  

If you have any questions, please reach out to Susan Blight sblight@ocadu.ca  

Categories under which proposals may be submitted:  

• Individual Paper 
• Panel or roundtable 
• Creative Works/Film Screening/Performance/Video Games and Digital 

  Guidelines for proposals:  

• Multi-authored and collaborative works are welcome 
• All authors must be current or former students (majors or minors) or faculty of the Indigenous Visual Culture Program at OCAD University 
• If it is a paper, it can be delivered in a 20-minute (or less) presentation. 

Please ensure your proposal includes the following:  

• The title (15 word limit) 
• Author’s name/Authors’ names 
• Email or the best way to contact you 
• Abstract (250 word limit) – what is your paper or session about? 
• The category under which you are submitting your proposal 

Email your proposal to sblight@ocadu.ca by May 31, 2023  

The Indigenous Visual Culture Program occurs on the homelands of the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabeg, and the Wendat. INVC sets our intentions to live within the laws of these host nations and to building meaningful relationships with the lands and waters.    

INVC 10^th Anniversary Colloquium  

Call for Proposals      

The Indigenous Visual Culture program at OCAD University is celebrating our 10^th anniversary with a fall colloquium around the theme Visiting and Visitations. This colloquium will showcase the innovative research and artistic practices of the Indigenous Visual Culture community. The colloquium will take place on October 4th, 2023, from 9am to 6pm EST at 100 McCaul St.   

Submissions close May 31, 2023, 11:59 pm ET  

Proposals are assessed by a committee. Successful applicants will be notified via email by July 1, 2023. Successful applicants will receive a $500 CAD presenter fee.  If you have any questions, please reach out to Susan Blight sblight@ocadu.ca  

Categories under which proposals may be submitted:  

• Individual Paper 
• Panel or roundtable 
• Creative Works/Film Screening/Performance/Video Games and Digital 

Guidelines for proposals:  

• Multi-authored and collaborative works are welcome 
• All authors must be current or former students (majors or minors) or faculty of the Indigenous Visual Culture Program at OCAD University 
• If it is a paper, it can be delivered in a 20-minute (or less) presentation. 

Please ensure your proposal includes the following:  

• The title (15 word limit) 
• Author’s name/Authors’ names 
• Email or the best way to contact you 
• Abstract (250 word limit) – what is your paper or session about? 
• The category under which you are submitting your proposal 

Email your proposal to sblight@ocadu.ca by May 31, 2023  

The Indigenous Visual Culture Program occurs on the homelands of the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabeg, and the Wendat. INVC sets our intentions to live within the laws of these host nations and to building meaningful relationships with the lands and waters.    

IGNITE GALLERY INVC 10^th Anniversary Exhibition

Call for Submissions  

The Indigenous Visual Culture program at OCAD University is celebrating our 10^th anniversary with an exhibition. This exhibition will showcase the talent and diverse practices of the Indigenous Visual Culture community, including current and former students and faculty. The exhibition runs from June 21 - August 14^th, 2023, at OCAD University’s Ignite Gallery located at 100 McCaul St.

Submissions close Wednesday, March 1^st, 2023, 11:59 pm ET.

Applications are assessed by a curatorial committee. Successful applicants will be notified via email by March 29^th, 2023. Successful applicants will receive a $500 CAD artist fee.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Susan Blight sblight@ocadu.ca

Please include all the following in a single PDF file titled with your name, (example GarfieldArbuckle.pdf) and email to:  ignitegallery@ocadu.ca  

1. Contact name 

2. Phone number 

3. Email

4. Program/year if applicable  

5. Artist statement or any information that contextualizes the work

6. A selection of images (maximum 10 images per application or 5 minutes of time-based media, not exceeding 30 MB). Include links in the PDF for time-based media.  

7. If applicable: An image list, with dimensions and materials.  
 
Label all image files with a number and your name. Ensure that the numbers for the first nine images begin with a zero (for example: 01GarfieldArbuckle.jpg, 02GarfieldArbuckle.jpg …10GarfieldArbuckle.jpg). This will ensure that they are presented in the correct order.  

Ignite Gallery is committed to exhibition equity, we encourage applications from members of equity-seeking communities including women, racialized and Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions.  

The Indigenous Visual Culture Program occurs on the homelands of the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabeg, and the Wendat. INVC sets our intentions to live within the laws of these host nations and to building meaningful relationships with the lands and waters.

IGNITE GALLERY INVC 10^th Anniversary Exhibition

Call for Submissions 
 

The Indigenous Visual Culture program at OCAD University is celebrating our 10^th anniversary with an exhibition. This exhibition will showcase the talent and diverse practices of the Indigenous Visual Culture community, including current and former students and faculty. The exhibition runs from June 21 - August 14^th, 2023, at OCAD University’s Ignite Gallery located at 100 McCaul St.

Submissions close Friday, March 31^st, 2023, 11:59 pm ET.

Applications are assessed by a curatorial committee. Successful applicants will be notified via email by March 29^th, 2023. Successful applicants will receive a $500 CAD artist fee.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Susan Blight sblight@ocadu.ca

Please include all the following in a single PDF file titled with your name, (example GarfieldArbuckle.pdf) and email to:  ignitegallery@ocadu.ca  

1. Contact name 

2. Phone number 

3. Email

4. Program/year if applicable  

5. Artist statement or any information that contextualizes the work

6. A selection of images (maximum 10 images per application or 5 minutes of time-based media, not exceeding 30 MB). Include links in the PDF for time-based media.  

7. If applicable: An image list, with dimensions and materials.  
 
Label all image files with a number and your name. Ensure that the numbers for the first nine images begin with a zero (for example: 01GarfieldArbuckle.jpg, 02GarfieldArbuckle.jpg …10GarfieldArbuckle.jpg). This will ensure that they are presented in the correct order.  

Ignite Gallery is committed to exhibition equity, we encourage applications from members of equity-seeking communities including women, racialized and Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions.  

The Indigenous Visual Culture Program occurs on the homelands of the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabeg, and the Wendat. INVC sets our intentions to live within the laws of these host nations and to building meaningful relationships with the lands and waters.

Indigenous technologies are at the centre of this summer’s Nigig Residency

The Nigig Residency, hosted by the Indigenous Visual Culture (INVC) program at OCAD University has returned in person! This summer, the initiative features a range of workshop instructors rather than spotlighting one specific artist as in years previous. 

Video and performance artist Vanessa Dion Fletcher, textile artist and OCAD U alum Justine Woods and traditional drummer Steve Teekens are offering hands on learning opportunities to the community as part of this year’s residency programming. Many of the sessions so far have been held outside amidst the gorgeous backdrop of the new Jordan Bennett mural which stretches across the south wall of 100 McCaul St. and was revealed last month. 

Fletcher is a Lenape and Potawatomi neurodiverse artist who employs porcupine quills, Wampum belts and menstrual blood in her practice to reveal the complexities of what defines a body physically and culturally. She is coordinating this year’s roster of workshops, which are available to students, non-students and faculty from July 6 to August 22. Fletcher is also the instructor of INVC 1001: Materials & Methods, which is the for-credit course that OCAD U students are taking concurrently with the Nigig Residency. 

Since the summer residency began Fletcher has led a series of beading sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays from 12 to 3 p.m. Participants have been provided with a beading kit that, with support from Fletcher, will result in a unique pair of earrings for each workshop attendee. 

Last week, 2021 OCAD U Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design graduate Justine Woods led a moccasin fabrication workshop, which guided participants through the process of drafting a pattern. Woods is a garment designer who integrates Indigenous fashion technologies into her beaded and leather works. 

Steve Teekens will lead participants through a hands on rattle making workshop this week. Rattles are culturally and spiritually important to many Indigenous nations. In addition to rattle fabrication Teekens will offer attendees the teachings that accompany them. 

Nigig (ᓂᑭᒃ᙮) means otter in Ojibwe. Though the significance of the animal varies across Anishinaabe communities it frequently symbolizes the role of a messenger or mediator. For Delaney Chair of the INVC program Susan Blight the residency is about connecting and re-connecting through making, cultural expression, sharing and carrying Indigenous ways of knowing and being into the future. 

“The residency program offers a space to bring together students in INVC with community members who do not attend OCAD U to learn and make. We hope to create a space for collaborative learning about Indigenous technologies,” Assistant Professor Blight notes.  
 
Since 2015, the Nigig Visiting Artist Residency has supported the dynamism located in Indigenous contemporary art and design practices and is a tremendous educational opportunity for artist facilitators and students. The residency is designed to empower Indigenous students to tell their own stories and gain technical skills they can employ to mentor, create and build vibrant, successful careers. 

The initiative is made possible through grant funding from the Inspirit Foundation, a Canadian non-profit organization founded in 2012 that promotes inclusion and pluralism through media and art and supports young leaders.
 
More about the Indigenous Visual Culture program at OCAD University 
INVC honours the creative traditions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit art and design practices. The program combines practice-specific and interdisciplinary studio-based learning and courses in the visual, cultural, social and political history of Indigenous peoples. 

Image: OCAD University's 2022 Medal Winners pictured on stage at the Celebrate Excellence reception on May 11. 
 

Celebrating OCAD University’s 2022 Medal Winners

On the evening of May 11, President and Vice-Chancellor Ana Serrano announced this year’s OCAD University Medal Winners at the Celebrate Excellence reception, a beautiful outdoor event that recognized 23 top graduating students, held in Butterfield Park. 

Annually, one graduating student from each of the University’s undergraduate and graduate programs is recognized with a medal, in honour of their creativity, innovation and technical mastery in their chosen discipline.  

“Tonight is very special – not only because we’re here together in person after two years – but because we’re going to recognize a group of exceptional students who have gone above and beyond expectations in completing their OCAD U degrees – and during a very challenging time,” President Serrano expressed. 

The reception also included a blessing by Elder Dr. Duke Redbird and speeches by medal winners, Emerald Repard-Denniston from the Drawing and Painting undergraduate program and Walter Yim from the Design for Health graduate program. 

“I have so much to be thankful for," remarked Repard-Denniston. "Here at OCAD U we have received a great education thanks to our talented and supportive faculty. We are prepared to move on and to take on whatever challenges and successes come next in our lives,” she continued. 

The bustling party also marked the launch of GradEx 107, OCAD U’s annual graduate exhibition, which showcases the works of over 600 emerging artists, designers and digital media makers across the University’s campus.  

The evening included live art making by three OCAD University undergraduate students, a musical performance by violinist Dr. Draw and his band, a DJ set by OCAD U student Paper Skies and a welcome from Mitch Gillin, Vice-President, Asset Development at Hullmark, representing presenting sponsors Hullmark and BentallGreenOak. 

All this activity took place amidst a crowd of OCAD U community members, many of whom were reconnecting in person for the first time in two years. More than 6,500 visitors attended the opening night festivities.  

The work of all medal recipients are on view during GradEx, May 11 to 15.  

Meet the 2022 OCAD U Medal Winners 

Undergraduate Programs

Advertising 
Maria Naqvi’s South Asian-Canadian background allows her to bridge gaps and think critically when solving issues that address minority communities. Naqvi thrives on challenges and always tries to implement new strategies for communicating stories that go against the status quo. Naqvi believes the future of advertising relies on new perspectives, diversity and inclusion and is excited to be part of it! 

Criticism & Curatorial Practice 
Fabiyino Germain-Bajowa is a Nigerian-Canadian writer, curator and interdisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Her writing engages Afro-diasporic archives of thought and memory, passed down through oral history, food and acts of care. Her art practice and research centre Afro-diasporic experience to build an understanding of the ways archives of physical and immaterial knowledge are constructed in the Black community through the lenses of care theory, Afro-futurism, and archival studies. Her practice emphasizes community building and support, and her work is often based on her lived experiences as a Black queer woman.  
 
Cross-Disciplinary Art 
Parastoo Mahmoudi is a Canadian-Iranian visual artist currently living in Toronto. She studied human anatomy and portraits by drawing and sculpting life models and experimenting with different mediums and techniques. Mahmoudi's work is in collections worldwide, including in Tehran, Dubai and Toronto. Currently, she is working on immersive installations, performances, drawings and paintings to explore the relationship between her life experiences and how she became who she is. 
 
Digital Futures 
Sam Kingston is a designer exploring the relationship between humans and code, building robots that attempt to interpret and imitate thoughtful human interaction. His specialty involves identifying the subtleties in our built environments that are often overlooked during everyday interactions. He uses various 3D printing technologies to build mechanisms that interact with and automate objects which have been designed with people, not robots, as their intended user. 

Drawing & Painting 
Emerald Repard-Denniston is a queer Chinese-Canadian contemporary artist. She is committed to anti-colonial, anti-capitalist politics and activist work. Based in Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam/Vancouver and Tkaronto/Toronto, her practice focuses on the diasporic-Canadian experience through drawing, painting and digital media.  

Environmental Design 
Timothy Soribello is a designer who believes that rethinking the already built environment can unlock powerful possibilities in designing solutions. Soribello's thesis criticizes post-industrial ruins as culprits to the devastation of our environment. Rethinking these ruins, he used the abandoned Hearn Generating Station to magnify his argument's credibility. 
 
Graphic Design 
Maham Momin is a graphic designer and creative from Tkaronto/Toronto, with a specialization in expressive design. She's particularly interested in editorial and publication design that is speculative, critical and experimental. 

Illustration  
Toko Hosoya creates narrative-based images and objects. Originally hailing from Japan, her practice is currently based in Toronto, Canada. 

Indigenous Visual Culture 
Bert Whitecrow is a Two Spirited, multidisciplinary artist from Seine River First Nation. Their work explores methods of storytelling, through preserving and practicing ancestral knowledge. Indigenous futurisms, the belief of the inherent queerness in nature and their relationship to place are points of exploration throughout Whitecrow’s practice. 
 
Industrial Design  
Max Fine is a Toronto-based industrial designer student who is interested in the connection between sustainable technology and human behaviour. 

Integrated Media 
Marcella Driver-Moliner is a Toronto-based bilingual new media artist who hails from the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Driver-Moliner's practice is the joy of investigating the process of creating different visual languages and aesthetics to decipher unclear emotions such as loneliness, belonging, grief, self-depreciation and isolation.

Material Art & Design  
Aleena Derohanian is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersection of alien and UFO folklore, pop culture and the sublime. Her style can be identified through her use of bright colours, organic forms and an amalgam of materials. With a background in jewellery and silversmithing, Derohanian expertly incorporates semi-precious metals and stones into her mixed media sculptures. Currently she is exploring lamp and lighting fixture design with her unique aesthetic. 

Photography 
Tizzi Tan was born in Yunnan, China. Her works are mostly lens-based, but are not confined to any specific medium. She focuses on the subtle perceptions of human activities and explores the meanings of existence under current social conditions.  

Printmaking & Publications 
Laur Flom is a multidisciplinary artist working mainly in printmaking and book arts. Based in Tkaronto/Toronto, their practice is largely conceptual, exploring themes surrounding identity, queerness and trans masculinity. 

Sculpture/Installation 
Evgenia Mikhaylova is an interdisciplinary artist working in installation, video, sound, drawing and performance. Her work examines the complexities of perception, communication systems, language and epistemology through interdisciplinary research-based practice that investigates parallels between the ways we experience the world through our senses and the ways we interpret the knowledge we acquire. 

Visual & Critical Studies 
Nadia Spaziani is a Toronto-based researcher and writer. Her area of study is Ancient Greek material culture, specializing in building on existing theories of the period with contemporary ideas of psychoanalysis and feminist theories. Spaziani’s practice is based in the mythology of the Greeks and how the characters shaped societal values. 
 

Graduate Programs  

Contemporary Art, Design & New Media Art 
Maya Burns is an emerging writer and researcher based in Toronto. Her work explores the critical and pedagogical potential of quotation and appropriation in contemporary art.  

Criticism & Curatorial Practice 
Kalina Nedelcheva is a multimedia artist-researcher, emerging curator and musician, based in Tkaronto/Toronto. She explores the ways in which human consciousness engages in the process of meaning-making and has an interest in writing and film as mediums for theoretical storytelling. 

Design for Health 
Walter Yim has been a practicing dentist in Toronto for more than 30 years. His most recent design work explores how we might innovate healthcare through the lens of compassion, by exploring patient-centred methodologies. 

Digital Futures 
Candide Uyanze is a multimedia, multidisciplinary and multi-hyphenate doer of things based in Tkaronto/Toronto and Anishinābe Akì territory. Her practice explores diasporic storytelling, immersive web experiences, open-source tools, accessible media production, African languages and speech recognition.  

Inclusive Design 
Josephine Guan is a Chinese-Canadian artist that has worked as an illustrator, graphic designer and arts instructor. Her thesis research focuses on using arts-based methods like drawing and writing with brain injury survivors. Throughout all of her work, she’s most interested in facilitating conversations and using multiple ways of communicating. 

Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, Media & Design 
Juka Almeida 

Strategic Foresight & Innovation 
Carly Benson explores new frontiers in disaster risk reduction through human-centered design and foresight 

Congratulations to our graduands!

When more than 700 OCAD University graduands cross the stage to accept their degree on June 17, it will be a cause for celebration says President and Vice-Chancellor Ana Serrano. 

“Our community is so excited to gather together in person to celebrate the tremendous achievements of our graduating students,” says Serrano. “These emerging artists, designers and digital media makers are poised to use their creativity, skills and knowledge to make transformative change in our communities – here and around the world.” 

Convocation returns as an in-person event at Roy Thomson Hall on Friday, June 17 with two ceremonies. The morning ceremony at 10:30 a.m. will confer degrees to graduands in the Faculty of Design while the afternoon ceremony at 3:30 p.m. will celebrate the graduands in the Faculty of Arts and Science, Faculty of Arts and School of Graduate Studies. 

“Convocation is the highlight of the academic year and represents a significant milestone in the lives of our graduates,” says Serrano. “It will be a delight to share the energy and space with our graduates as they embark on this new chapter in their professional lives.”  

Students who graduated in Fall 2021, Winter 2022 or are graduating in Spring 2022 will participate in this year’s Convocation, which will also be livestreamed. 
 

Convocation to feature installation of President and Chancellor 

The morning ceremony will feature two installation ceremonies, one for Serrano, and one for incoming Chancellor Jaime Watt. Serrano is the University’s first BIPOC President and Vice-Chancellor and joined the University on July 1, 2020 at the height of the pandemic. 

Watt, who becomes the University’s fifth Chancellor, served as Chair of the University’s Board of Governors for the past four years. Well-known for his service and leadership at OCAD U, Watt has made outstanding contributions to advancing human rights and equality issues, and for supporting the arts and culture sector. As Chancellor, Watt will preside over Convocation and confer degrees. 

“It is a tremendous honour to be selected to serve as OCAD University’s Chancellor, especially as we work to meet the challenges left to us by the pandemic,” says Watt. “I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to the University in this new and meaningful way.”  
 

Honorary doctorate recipients 

Convocation will also include the presentation of five honorary degrees to exceptional individuals who have made significant contributions to the fields of arts, design, culture, education and to the ideals of OCAD U. The recipients were nominated by the OCAD U community and will be announced in June 2022. 
 

Health and safety protocols (updated May 24, 2022)

Wearing masks

• Guests and graduands are required to wear masks when inside Roy Thomson Hall unless they are eating and drinking.
• Graduands may remove their masks while crossing the stage during the ceremony (in support of photographs without masks).
• All guests and graduands are encouraged to wear masks outdoors if physical distancing is not possible.

Additional measures

• The OCAD University stage party will refrain from hand-shaking and remain physically distanced.
• Guests and graduands should not attend the ceremony if they are feeling ill.
• For graduands and guests unable to attend Convocation in person, or who may be immunocompromised, OCAD U is livestreaming the ceremony. Visit the Convocation Information Page on June 13, 2022 for more information.

Image: 生井 (living wells) (2022) by Tiffany Hon, 3D printed objects on view until July 30, 2022 at the TD Gallery at the Toronto Reference Library, as part of the exhibition Consulting with the Ether. 
 

Exhibition foregrounds Indigenous research methods

On Saturday, May 7 the exhibition, Consulting with the Ether opened at the Toronto Reference Library at 789 Yonge St. featuring works by OCAD University students enrolled in the fourth year Indigenous Visual Culture course, INVC 4904: Materials & Methods: Creation. 

Beadwork, rubbings, drawing, painting, installation and 3D printed vessels by undergraduate and graduate students April Anderson-Jaciw, Angelo Cavagnaro, Dehmin Cleland, Tiffany Hon, Alexis Nanibush Pamajewong, Laure Pinard, Roberta Pringle, Grace Point and Katie Pretti are on view, for free, at the TD Gallery at the library until July 30, 2022.  

“I am unbelievably proud of the students in INVC 4904. They have taken up this work, which is challenging and requires a lot of unlearning, with such generosity and brilliance and in such an ethical way,” notes Assistant Professor and Delaney Chair of the Indigenous Visual Culture program Susan Blight, who teaches the course.  

“I truly hope our OCAD U community makes the time to see the exhibition that they worked so hard on,” she continues. 

In the course that the exhibition is part of, students develop creative works with mentorship from faculty, their cohort and guest artists. Expanding on the practical, theoretical and technical skills gained in the Indigenous Visual Culture program at OCAD University, students are encouraged to work towards a physical articulation of their work in progress and contextualize it within a broader sphere of Indigenous creative practices. 

"This class encouraged me to reflect on myself and my identity as an Indigenous artist as I experimented with the creative process. I was able to receive a lot of feedback that helped inform my work and that I will definitely reinvest in my practice," notes Grace Point, who has three works in the exhibition.

"Professor Blight has helped develop my critical and creative thinking. I’m so lucky and appreciative of all of my amazing and strong Indigenous women professors who are helping to shape the artist I am becoming," she continues.

INVC 4904: Materials & Methods: Creation builds on INVC 4903: Materials & Methods: Research, which was offered in the fall and tasked students with searching through the Toronto Public Library's Special Collections to choose material to engage with. These materials ranged from rare books to maps to archival photographs. Employing Indigenous and decolonial research methods, the students worked towards presentations where they defined their own research methodology as well as what they learned from, not necessarily about, the material.  

The artworks in Consulting with the Ether have been created by students enrolled in the winter term, taking their research and making visual art in response to what they learned. The show contains both the objects the students created as well as the materials from the Special Collections that inspired them.  

Industrial Design student Tifanny Hon has three works in the exhibition including the digital projection descent, the paper work 刺 (thorn) and the 3D printed objects 生井 (living wells).  

Hon, whose parents immigrated from Hong Kong in the 1980s explains, “This collection of work draws on themes of negotiating body, identity, connection and the desire for control.”  

They continue, “I came into this course because of my complicated relationship with living on this land. I am grateful that through working with Professor Blight and my peers, I’ve been offered a place to learn how to live with good relations to people, places and things. This course was a chance for me to connect with my heritage and embrace diaspora.” 

In addition to Industrial Design, the students whose works are included in Consulting with the Ether are enrolled in undergraduate programs including Drawing and Painting, Indigenous Visual Culture, Industrial Design, and graduate programs including Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art History. 

The exhibition is presented with support from Nicole Dawkins, Gallery and Exhibits Curator at Toronto Public Library and Glen Lowry, Executive Director and Advisor to the Provost at OCAD University. 

Are you an Indigenous artist and...‬ A Student or alumni of OCAD U? An Indigenous community member? Considering attending or applying? Looking to get feedback on your work or ideas? Would you like to connect and visit with other Indigenous artists in a virtual space?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to one or more of the above questions, you are invited to join us for: Wáhlu Noondaaptóone: I Talked From Far Away

Formerly, the Open Critique program, the objective of this program is to provide Indigenous students, alumni and community members with the opportunity for dialogue and relationship building with other Indigenous artists, including OCAD U faculty, alumni and special guests. Participants are encouraged to share their ideas, current works, or join to visit with other Indigenous artists in a virtual space. This program allows folks seeking feedback from other Indigenous artists the opportunity to share projects and processes related to coursework as well as their professional practice. See upcoming sessions below!

This program is open to: Indigenous OCAD U (students, faculty, staff and alumni) and Indigenous community members. 

Thursday April 21 3-5PM with Natia Lemay

Natia Lemay is a queer interdisciplinary artist and curator of Black and Mi'kmaq descent. As a graduate of OCAD University and a Yale MFA Candidate,  Natia is currently exploring the act of meaning-making rooted in history and biography. By exploring the impact colonization, erasure, and white supremacy has on the BIPOC identity: through the manipulation of material, she looks to investigate how identity extends beyond its own subjectivity and draws throughlines between past and present.

Click here to register for Wáhlu Noondaaptóone: I Talked From Far Away with Natia Lemay on Thursday April 21 from 3-5PM!

Tuesday April 5

Let's Talk About Renewal 11:30AM-12:30PM

Indigenous OCAD U students, faculty, staff and Indigenous community members are invited to join this group discussion on Zoom with both Visiting Elders Liz Osawamick and Catherine Tammaro! Click here to register!

Individual Sessions 12:30-3:30PM

Indigenous OCAD U students, faculty and staff can meet with Liz or Catherine virtually for up to an hour, between 12:30-3:30pm. To schedule a virtual session, please contact rkennedy@ocadu.ca. Sessions are held on Zoom. 

Braiding Relationships: Empowering Conversations 3:30-4:30PM

All are welcome to join this open discussion with Liz and Catherine on Zoom! Click here to register!

Elizabeth (Liz) Osawamick is an Anishinaabe Midewiwin-kwe community leader, Water Walker/activist, jingle dress dancer, devoted parent and professional teacher. She is President of Anishnaabemowin Teg, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, teaching and developing Anishnaabe language and cultural pride. A leader of the Kawartha area Water Walks under the guidance of Elders Dr Shirley I Williams and the late Nookomis Josephine Mandamin, Liz has dedicated her life to her people, her language, the lands, and the waters.

Catherine Tammaro (Taǫmęˀšreˀ • date:žátǫ ⁿgyaˀwiš hatiyerunǫˀ, Wyandot FaithKeeper: People of the Little Turtle (Clan)  Keepers of the Heavens, Carriers of the Fire ) was born in Toronto and raised in Toronto and the US. She has a 50-year history of multidisciplinary art making. Her multi-media works have been exhibited in traditional and alternative gallery spaces and her written works and musical compositions have been published in various blogs and installations. She is a seated Little/Spotted Turtle Clan FaithKeeper, and a citizen of the Wyandot of Anderdon Nation/Wendat Confederacy. Catherine is Akin Studio’s premiere Indigenous Elder Artist in Residence, is the Elder for the Toronto Indigenous Business Association and an Elder for Ojibiikaan; the Visiting Elder at OCADU, Elder in Residence at Evergreen Brickworks, and one of two at Taiaiako:n Historical Preservation Society. She  also served on the Council at the Children's Peace Theatre for two years. She is the Program Manager for the Indigenous Arts Program at the the Toronto Arts Council and is working with many agencies and on may projects city wide and beyond, to advise and facilitate art making/teaching workshops, as well as maintaining her own art practise regarding spiritual and ever changing realities as they pertain to our connection to the sacred multiverse.