Exhibitions to visit over the winter break

While OCAD University galleries will be closed from Friday, December 22, 2023 to Tuesday, January 2, 2024 inclusive, there are many places to see exhibitions with works from OCAD U staff, students, faculty and alums during the winter closure.

Check out the exhibitions below!

Photo credit: Shafiq Shamji
Light Up the Dark
Aga Khan Museum, 77 Wynford Dr.
Dec. 27 to 29, 2023

Watch the stunning exterior of the Aga Khan Museum come to life with mesmerizing light projections created by a group of OCAD U students and graduates: Isaac King, Vladimir Kanic, Marcella Driver-Moliner, Ghazal Vakilzadeh, Teodora Pencheva, Yiyun Zhang, Derya Ozparlak, Belinda Zhang, Tommy Truong and Peter Rahul.

Light Up the Dark returns to the Museum with animations inspired by masterpieces in the Museum Collections as well as the current temporary exhibition by British artist Shezad Dawood, Night in the Garden of Love Inspired by and Featuring Yusef Lateef.

Each animation is approximately two minutes long. The animations are underscored by tracks by Yusuf Lateef, whose music also inspired their creativity, resulting in a unique tapestry of varying executions by each artist.

Fresh Pop
Onsite Gallery, 199 Richmond St. W., exterior
Sept. 23 to Dec. 31, 2023

In partnership with the Inuit Art Foundation (IAF), Onsite Gallery presents Up Front: Inuit Public Art @ Onsite Gallery, a new series of commissioned digital murals by Inuit artists. Fresh Pop by multidisciplinary artist Tarralik Duffy is up from September to December, as part of her ongoing examination, which finds her spotlighting the prominence of everyday objects that have become customary to contemporary Inuit culture and iconic in the North.  

Dr. Rosalie Favell, "I awoke to find my spirit had returned", 2018. Oil on linen. Courtesy of the Artist via AGO.
Rosalie Favell: Portraits of Desire
Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), 317 Dundas St. W., Level 2, Gallery 230 and 231
June 23, 2023 to April 21, 2024

In 2022, distinguished Métis photographer Dr. Rosalie Favell received the Doctor of Fine Arts, Honoris Causa, from OCAD U. Dr. Favell’s career has spanned 40 years and has opened doors for generations of Indigenous artists.

Showcasing 22 photographs and three oil paintings, Portraits of Desire is Dr. Favell’s first solo exhibition at the AGO and is curated by Wanda Nanibush, the AGO’s Curator of Indigenous Art.

Working in series, Dr. Favell’s unique visual language blends family photos, print material, oil painting, elements of collage and pop culture. In mining her complex personal history, she has created space for new Indigenous identities, unbound by authenticity debates or stereotypes.

pi'tawita'iek: we go up river
OCAD U, 100 McCaul St.
Ongoing

A large-scale outdoor mural by Jordan Bennett, curated by Lisa Deanne Smith, Senior Curator, Manager OCAD U Galleries System, Onsite Gallery.

pi'tawita'iek: we go up river on the south wall of OCAD U’s main campus, adjacent to Butterfield Park, grounds the space in Indigenous material culture. This public artwork is rooted in Bennett’s relationships with Mi’kmaq porcupine quillwork. He brings forward and reimagines their graphic patterns, bright colours and inspiring stories. In visiting with these cultural objects, Bennett connects with their visual language and furthers this visual conversation through his contemporary influences and experience.

The Jordan Bennett mural received grant funding as part of ArtworxTO: Toronto's Year of Public Art 2021–2022, a year-long celebration of Toronto’s exceptional public art collection and the creative community behind it.

OTHER GALLERIES AND ACTIVITIES

OCAD U encourages everyone to enjoy galleries and activities across the city over the winter break. 

ROM for the holidays
Enjoy family-friendly programming including hands-on activities, live performances, interactive galleries and presentations, and special exhibitions from Dec. 26 to Jan. 7. And, take in the museum’s many exhibitions. 
AGO
The AGO will be open over the winter break with modified hours of operation. Visit the gallery’s current exhibitions, including KAWS: family, Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 1950s-Now and Tarralik Duffy: Let’s Go Quickstop. Duffy’s digital mural Fresh Pop is also listed above at Onsite Gallery. 
Gardiner Museum
Plan a visit to the Gardiner Museum, which brings together people of all ages and backgrounds through the shared values of creativity, wonder, and community that clay and ceramic traditions inspire. This museum has free admission after 4 p.m. on Wednesdays.
The Distillery Winter Village
The Distillery Winter Village is now open until Jan. 7. Tickets are required Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays after 4 p.m., and Dec 18 to 31 after 4 p.m., however, admission is otherwise free. Peruse food, beverage and retail vendors, enjoy performances and photo opportunities, and much more. 

Everything at MOCA right now
Phyllida Barlow's Eleven Columns, a rare opportunity to see a commissioned work by this significant British artist; Liz Magor's The Separation – a tour de force that is at once uncanny, hilarious and incredibly sad (actually a really good holiday show, for reasons that will be apparent when you see it); and The Dancing in the Light, a beautiful range of works from curator Kenneth Monague's Wedge Collection. Rush to these shows as they end Feb 4.