By Edwin Smith
When people hear Canadian art, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver immediately come to mind. This is hardly surprising given their size and rich array of galleries, studios, and fine arts organizations that provide a thriving ecosystem for artists in these cities to flourish.
However, Ottawa is no shrinking violet when it comes to artistic expression in Canada. The capital boasts a thriving and diverse art community of artists that reflects its unique character and heritage. The capital is home to the Department of Canadian Heritage (CH), which supports the arts and artists across Canada through various initiatives, including funding programs, grants, and cultural policies.
These efforts aim to promote cultural diversity, artistic expression, and public engagement. CH does this through agencies like the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, and the Cultural Strategy Fund, which provide financial support for artists, cultural organizations, and infrastructure projects. Additionally, Canadian Heritage works to develop and implement policies that promote the growth and sustainability of the arts sector, ensuring that Canadians have access to diverse cultural experiences and opportunities
On its own, Ottawa is home to countless galleries and other organizations, along with several public spaces, all dedicated to showcasing a myriad of artworks made by Canadians. These places vary from small, local exhibits to facilities that house nationally appraised works of art.
Most know of the National Gallery of Canada (NGC), which displays hundreds of historical paintings, and houses an extensive collection of Canadian and international art spanning centuries.
The Ottawa Art Gallery is another well-known organization. Unlike the NGC, they’re reserved for artists within the city; however, people and groups who donate art are exempt from this rule. Artists who work with them include Heer Mandaliya, Kelly Rendek, Sarah Tompkins, and Mairi Brascoupé. Also, the most recent donor is the Ontario Heritage Foundation.
Aside from these two main galleries, there are also dozens of smaller, local ones, from Maria Connell Art Gallery in the east to Koyman Galleries in the west. Collectively, these smaller ones make up the bulk of art shown within Ottawa.
The Snow Goose, who works exclusively with Inuit and First Nations artists, is one of these. Like most galleries, they have paintings, prints, and drawings; however, the mediums used go far beyond this. Pieces shown and sold here include ivory and wood sculptures, jewellery, and even handmade shoes, called moccasins.
Justin Rivard, Dylan Thomas, and Idris Moss Davies are some of the many artists who work with them.
Madahoki Farm, like The Snow Goose, is an organization that showcases and sells Indigenous Canadian art, including paintings, prints, dreamcatchers, and jewellery. They do this through vendors, who sell to visitors during events. Artists here include Rhonda Snow, Caroline Lackey, and Donald Chretien.
Galerie Jean-Claude Bergeron is another group-specific gallery, but unlike the previous two, they focus instead on French and bilingual artists. Though their physical location is small compared to others in Ottawa, they still display a variety of works in person and on their website. They exhibit and sell from Canadian artists such as Marcel Barbeau, Pierre Huot, and Lisa Tognon; and international artists such as Zao Wou-Ki, Mario Avati, and Joan Miró.
Enriched Bread Artists is an organization that works out of what used to be a bread factory. Their building is much bigger than most of the galleries in Ottawa, allowing for both exhibition spaces and studios for their artists. Two weekends per year, during their open studio event, they also allow people to see how the artists work. Artists here include Colette Gréco-Riddle, Sarah Anderson, and Daniel Sharp.
Some of the other Ottawa galleries include the SAW Gallery, L.A. Pai Gallery, Galerie St-Laurent + Hill, Cube Gallery, Wallack’s Gallery, Orange Art Gallery, and Sivarulrasa. Due to their limited space, most can only show work from a few artists. Despite this, one can still find a well-rounded selection of art, with pieces varying from realism to abstract and traditional to modern. Some of the many artists who work through these organizations include Patricia Barrowman, Miguel-Angel Berlanga, Terry Brynaert, Hoffer Peter, Gerald Trottier, Lisa Baldwin, Andre Bieler, Barry Smylie, Jian Zhang, John F. Marok, Erick Walker, and Cathy Ross.
Although these galleries require extensive reviewing before one can join them as an artist, they aren’t nearly as restrictive as the NGC. Because of this, visitors can see more than just the top one percent. Both established artists and those new to the field are represented in these locations, creating a diverse collection of works that reflects all experience levels within the art world.
Beyond privately owned galleries, there are a few other places where art is displayed in Ottawa.
Some of the Ottawa Public Library’s locations participate in a program where artists can display their work throughout the building, including designated study spaces and atriums. Depending on the location and what has been agreed upon between the library and the creator, artworks may stay up for anywhere between a month to decades. Currently, the locations involved are Alta Vista, Greenboro, Main, Munster, Nepean Centrepoint, Osgoode, and Richmount.
Beyond just libraries, there are a few other city-owned spaces for art. City Hall, for example, has a section of their building called the Karsh-Masson Gallery, made for exhibitions. However, they only allow a few artists per year, and don’t show as much variety as other places.
The Atrium Art Gallery is another, but like City Hall, it is very limited in the number of artists able to display their work here.
Outside all these exhibits and galleries, there is one more organization working towards cementing art in Ottawa’s culture; Art Lending of Ottawa. They are a non-profit corporation run by artists that, as the name implies, lets people rent paintings. They lease out their artists’ work to businesses, further expanding the reach of art in the city.
The arts have and continue to thrive within the many communities of Ottawa. It uses everything from the nationally recognized NGC to local galleries, public art, and even libraries to find its way to every citizen. And regardless of where one lives, art is never far.
