Criticism & Curatorial Practices (BFA/MFA), Contemporary Art, Design & New Media Art Histories
This RBC Speed Networking event is tailor towards Criticism and Curatorial Practices, and Contemporary Art, Design & New Media Art Histories, however, current students from any program are welcome to attend! Please complete the registration information below to RSVP and save your spot; we’re looking forward to seeing you!
What is the RBC Speed Networking Program?
Have you ever wished you could have ten minutes for advice and conversation with an established alumni from your program? The RBC Speed Networking Program aims to connect current students with alumni from their program to gain valuable information on how to kickstart their careers. Sessions will be held throughout the fall and winter term. Information on upcoming sessions can be found on the OCAD U Speed NetworkingInstagram page.
This RBC Speed Networking event is tailor towards Life Studies, Indigenous Visual Culture, and Inclusive Design, however, current students from any program are welcome to attend! Please complete the registration information below to RSVP and save your spot; we’re looking forward to seeing you!
What is the RBC Speed Networking Program?
Have you ever wished you could have ten minutes for advice and conversation with an established alumni from your program? The RBC Speed Networking Program aims to connect current students with alumni from their program to gain valuable information on how to kickstart their careers. Sessions will be held throughout the fall and winter term. Information on upcoming sessions can be found on the OCAD U Speed Networking Instagram page.
This RBC Speed Networking event is tailor towards Material Art & Design, Design for Health, and Integrated Media, however, current students from any program are welcome to attend! Please complete the registration information below to RSVP and save your spot; we’re looking forward to seeing you!
What is the RBC Speed Networking Program?
Have you ever wished you could have ten minutes for advice and conversation with an established alumni from your program? The RBC Speed Networking Program aims to connect current students with alumni from their program to gain valuable information on how to kickstart their careers. Sessions will be held throughout the fall and winter term. Information on upcoming sessions can be found on the OCAD U Speed Networking Instagram page, @ocadualumni.
The exhibition features several OCAD University community members who, in addition to being faculty, are artists and parents. The works in the exhibition reflect their experiences raising children, teaching and maintaining a studio practice amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Art Amy Swartz as well as Associate Professors in the Faculty of Art JJ Lee and Natalie Waldburger are featured in the show. Each week, beginning on August 8, the works of an individual artist will be foregrounded.
The show was curated during artist and OCAD U alumna, Rachel Grad’s remote residency with the Museum of Motherhood (MoM) and includes weekly blog posts interviewing the featured artists to explore their work and parent experiences.
At different times the women in the exhibition have involved their children in art making while also carving out, an autonomous practice as well. They have also engaged in collaboration with other parent artists. By capturing aspects of their own worlds, while quarantining at home with children and partners, these mothers have been able to express themselves during difficult circumstances.
Glioblastoma 1. And for the red one: Glioblastoma 2
Artist Bio
Natalie Majaba Waldburger’s current art practice is open-disciplinary and seeks to understand the complexities of respectful collaboration and participatory work in the context of anti-colonial research. In recent years, institutional critique has become the focus for collaborative art practices as a co-founding member of The Drawing Board. As an Associate Professor at OCAD U, Natalie has served as Chair for a number of programs in the faculty of Art including the inaugural Ada Slaight Chair of Contemporary Painting and Print Media and, most recently, Interim Chair of Sculpture/Installation and Life Studies and Grievance Chair for OCADFA. The Life Studies area was the focus of Natalie’s appointment at OCAD U. Life Studies is a specialization positioned in the Faculty of Art that brings together the arts, sciences, and humanities to cultivate interdisciplinary studio art practices. These pedagogical approaches speak to Natalie’s own art research practice positioned at the intersection of sustainability, social justice, and ecologically-respectful art practices. Artist Interview
Curator
Pandemic Parenting Online Exhibit Curator Rachael Grad, is a mom of three and former lawyer who has studied and worked in the US, France, Italy, Hong Kong, and Toronto. Grad left practicing law to study painting full-time at the New York Studio School and New York University (NYU) before transferring to OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Trained as an observational painter, Grad has focused on colourful painting that blurs the distinction between abstract, figurative, and representational styles. Read the intro blog about Rachael Grad’s Residency here
The exhibition features several OCAD University community members who, in addition to being faculty, are artists and parents. The works in the exhibition reflect their experiences raising children, teaching and maintaining a studio practice amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Art Amy Swartz as well as Associate Professors in the Faculty of Art JJ Lee and Natalie Waldburger are featured in the show.
Students! Have you ever wished you could have ten minutes for advice and conversation with an established alumni from your program?
OCAD U Alumni Relations’ RBC Speed Networking Program connects you with alumni online to gain valuable information on how to kickstart your career. Explore not only within their major, but similar ones as well!
Together, the two internationally exhibited artists offered their time and talent to adorn a large wall at the organization's new location on Toronto's Church St. in advance of their reopening on October 26, 2021.
"We are so grateful that two of Canada's most respected contemporary artists are collaborating and volunteering to create a mural in our new studio. This is a truly beautiful gift that will endure. It is such a lovely way to celebrate our reopening and to welcome our members back to work," says Inspiration Studio’s director, Gudrun Olafsdottir.
Inspirations Studio is a ceramics workspace and storefront that supports low-income women who have been impacted by poverty, homelessness, trauma and displacement.
“It's been my honour and pleasure to serve Inspirations Studio. I would like this to be just the beginning of my involvement with this wonderful enterprise. We must follow the studio's example and consider how we can be of service to others, especially those who need a helping hand,” says Perera of the project, who has been shortlisted for the 2021 Sobey Art Prize.
The permanent painting features pottery from around the globe and across history in a cheerful palette of lilac, maroon, deep blue and teal. The mural’s ceramic vessels are depicted sitting on a large dining table, holding verdant plants and are flanked by two sets of hands extending into the scene from beyond the frame.
If you look closely, you can see a reproduction of a vase by OCAD U graduate, Julie Moon, who is known for her whimsical botanical ceramic sculptures.
Starting out in a converted church on Toronto’s Queen Street West, Inspirations Studio has supported the creative pursuits of women from a diversity of backgrounds for over 27 years. The space offers a safe and supportive environment for its members to create ceramic works in.
"I believe in art as a tool of justice, empowerment and healing. The benefit of making and experiencing art should be accessible to all people in all walks of life," says Boyle, who, like Perera, is a member of the steering committee at Inspirations Studio. Boyle represented Canada at the 2013 Venice Biennale and received an honorary doctorate from OCAD U in 2021.
Since its founding in 1994, Inspirations Studio has grown into a means through which women can gain stability, express themselves, connect with community and transition towards more sustainable economic circumstances.
At the studio, pottery is not only an art form but a channel through which the organization's members can gain financial independence. You can support Inspirations Studio and its members by purchasing ceramic works available in their retail store and online shop.
The pair painted a mural to mark the reopening of Inspirations Studio, a Toronto-based ceramics space that supports low-income women.
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The Urban Indigenous Education Centre (UIEC) invites First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists to learn about the Toronto District School Board’s Educational Partnerships Program!
Indigenous OCAD U students, alumni and community members can apply to join a list of partners that provide Indigenous educational programming, workshops, seminars, presentations, performances, or educational services during instructional time in TDSB schools. Partners are frequently invited to secondary classrooms to support teachers offering courses from the Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies Curriculum. Partners are paid for their workshops and programming and determine their own rates. Partners often use CARFAC rates to determine their fees and rates can include materials costs
From 2-3:30PM on October 25th Indigenous OCAD U students, alumni and community members are invited to join the UIEC, along with OCAD U’s Indigenous Student Centre and the RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers to learn about this great opportunity for creatives who are interested in teaching, mentorship and growing experience in classrooms!
Lee Sheppard (Instructional Leader, Indigenous Education: Urban Indigenous Education Centre) lee.sheppard@tdsb.on.ca -For questions about the Educational Partnerships Program
Reagan Kennedy (Student Success Coordinator – Indigenous Student Centre) rkennedy@ocadu.ca -For application support and questions about Indigenous student services at OCAD U
Shellie Zhang (Special Projects Coordinator – CEAD) szhang@ocadu.ca -For questions about the Career Launcher
Thursday September 9 1 to 3 p.m. ET
Platform: Zoom
The Indigenous Student Centre invites Indigenous students and graduates, along with their families, friends, and community to join us for the Indigenous Student Welcome and Celebration of Graduates!
The event will begin with opening words from the Indigenous community at OCAD U as we celebrate Indigenous graduates and welcome new students with guest singer Harvey Dreaver!
Coffee Chats is a series of virtual casual gatherings with the CEAD team with industry guests. Hosted virtually in small intimate groups, these gatherings will provide a space for group conversations with practitioners who are interested in supporting OCAD U students and grads to offer mentorship, and share their professional insights and journey, while collectively creating an online community.
Born in Venezuela, growing up in Kuwait, and then immigrating to Canada in 2013, Will Selviz is an Afro-Caribbean multidisciplinary designer, who specializes in immersive media technologies such as 3D animation, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 360 video. After graduating from OCAD University’s Digital Futures program, he founded RENDRD Media whose past clients include Nike, Prada, Bell Media, and Universal Music. RENDRD Media's larger mission is to provide employment opportunities and educate BIPOC youth in creative industries where people of colour are still underrepresented.
Will is open to talking about: learning how to learn: becoming a multi-disciplinary creative / design generalist, graduating and starting a business into the pandemic, the future of freelancing and creative entrepreneurship, the future of sustainable footwear design and innovation (with Sanmeet Chahil), the immigrant experience: the importance of representation in the creative industry.
Interested in joining our next Coffee Chat?RSVP here.
Ten Thousand Coffees is an online mentoring and networking platform that’s used by emerging talent and professionals around the globe.
Coffee Chats is a series of virtual casual gatherings with the CEAD team with industry guests. Hosted virtually in small intimate groups, these gatherings will provide a space for group conversations with practitioners who are interested in supporting OCAD U students and grads to offer mentorship, and share their professional insights and journey, while collectively creating an online community.
Kevin Katigbak is the Director of Strategy at Gensler Toronto, an Urban Farmer and Ceramic artist.
Curiosity, his driving force since childhood, Kevin always had more questions than answers. The obsession with “why” started early and never really dissipated.
Kevin is the Director of Strategy and lead facilitator for Gensler Toronto with 15+ years of experience in design strategy including workplace, brand, experience, real estate, re-positioning, foresight, change engagement and ethnography. Kevin advises clients on creating spaces and experiences that mirror their brand identities and support the communities they foster.
Beyond this he plays a key role in Gensler’s Diversity and Inclusion efforts supporting the development and sustainment of a more inclusive world both internally and externally through the power of design. He speaks nationally and is currently focused on the “future of us”, how a pandemic can transform the way we work live and play.
Kevin is open to talking about: Design and experience strategy, problem seeking, storytelling, inclusive design, change engagement, starting out in your career, the art of not caring and the importance of being nice.
Interested in joining our next Coffee Chat? Sign up here on Ten Thousand Coffees, and use the office hour feature to RSVP. Ten Thousand Coffees is an online mentoring and networking platform that’s used by emerging talent and professionals around the globe.
