The OAG is celebrating a birthday and everyone is invited!

The Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) is celebrating five years in its new digs; to toast the date, some big things are in the works! Three exhibitions will be unveiled to mark the April 13, 2023 anniversary of the city’s coolest cultural hub. There will also be some updated additions you won’t have to rush over to see, as they will be part of the gallery’s wonderful permanent collection. The new displays will showcase the variety of support the gallery offers artists in this region and beyond.

Look forward to enjoying Shapes in Between | Norman Takeuchi, A Retrospective of the life and work of the famous Japanese-Canadian painter whose art reflects Canada and Japan and the complexities of searching for the comfortable medium between them while reflecting upon things he suffered including the indignity of being interred by the Canadian government during the Second World War.

ABOVE: Meeting Place by Norman Takeuchi, Acrylic on canvas, 76.2 x 91.4 cm, 2005.

Takeuchi produced artwork for Expo 67 in Montreal and Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. His incredible career from 1961 to 2022 will be profiled, including some of his lesser-known graphic artwork alongside his better-known paintings, prints, and drawings. Curated by Catherine Sinclair, Sachiko Okuda, and Bryce Kanbara, the exhibit reveals the talented use of his collage-like aesthetic and his continued artistic rigour and talent while exploring and the artist’s acceptance of his heritage.

Artist Nichola Feldman-Kiss’s audio-visual exhibit after Africa will be added to the OGA's permanent collection. Feldman-Kiss is a child of Jamaican immigrants and a tri-national citizen who worked with the Canadian Armed Forces during the complex UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan, in 2011. Their three-channel audio-visual spectacle uses artworks as poetic portals into the experiences of everyday contemporary folks who bear the brunt of colonial world order and the chaos of famine, political turmoil, and famine on fertile grounds. 

ABOVE: Outake from Nichola Feldman-Kiss's after Africa.

Additionally, uOttawa will have a presence with artworks from the 2022 University of Ottawa Master of Fine Arts graduates. The OAG invites the public to celebrate the students’ works on the completion of their two-year MA program.

Members of the general public are invited to reserve a spot to take part in the vernissage of these exciting new exhibits on April 13, 2023 at the Ottawa Art Gallery from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

When you go, make sure to raise a toast to the 5th anniversary of the OAG, a jewel of a museum that has been working hard for 35 years to enhance the culture of our city, with free entrance to ensure accessibility for all. 

For more information and a link to RVSP, click here.