Open House 2024

The Ottawa School of Art’s ByWard Market and Orleans campuses are thrilled to be hosting Open Houses on Sunday, September 8, from 11am-3pm. The OSA Byward Market Campus (located at 35 George Street,) and our Orleans Campus (located in the Shenkman Arts Centre at 245 Centrum Blvd.) invite you to discover the two unique campuses that make up Ottawa’s longest running Independent Art School!

“Welcome to the Ottawa School of Art’s Open Houses! Come and explore, create, and have fun. We are very happy to show you around our school, as we celebrate our 145th anniversary!” - Andrew Fay, Executive Director, Ottawa School of Art.

The OSA Open House will be a full day of Free Live Art Demos and hands-on activities with our skilled local instructors. Tour our specialized studios, get to know the OSA campuses and explore all that we offer to the community. Participate in life-model drawing, darkroom photo printing, ceramics, mixed media, wax sculpture, printmaking and learn to draw cartoons! At our Orleans Campus we’ll also be joining The Shenkman Arts Centre for their 15thAnniversary celebration, being held the same day.

Our ByWard Market and Orléans Campuses are presenting their respective annual “Instructor’s Exhibition” in conjunction with the Open House. The 2024 Instructor’s Exhibition showcases the wonderful diversity, skill and talent of the artists who teach at the ByWard Market and Orléans campuses. The vernissage for the ByWard Market Instructors Exhibition takes place on Thursday, September 5th from 5pm – 8pm, and the vernissage for Orléans takes place on September 8th from 1pm – 3pm.

OSA’s 3rd Campus Emerges this Fall: Introducing the First Annual Online Open House!

Visitors to this year’s annual Open House at the OSA’s downtown campus will be invited to experience live stream offerings from a selection of exciting new courses taught by artists from places such as: Vienna, Marseille, Den Hague, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Vancouver & Montreal. Ottawa’s own David Kearn will do a quick demo and talk about how great on-line is as a participative, supportive, flexible learning environment.

You can attend in person or online, and if you miss this event, a recording will be available on OSA’s YouTube channel. Course registration is open now - visit registration.artottawa.ca and choose CAMPUS: ONLINE and DATE: FALL.

We will have more information as the event approaches.

The Ottawa School of Art (OSA) is Ottawa’s longest running Independent Art School. As a major charitable visual arts institution in the Ottawa-Gatineau/Eastern Ontario region, the OSA offers courses at two campuses, and online. All courses are taught by successful practicing visual artists, and are enriched with specialized and equipped studio facilities. The professional galleries at the ByWard and Orleans campuses host solo and group exhibitions by local, national, and international artists that are selected through a peer reviewed jury process, as well as institution-based exhibitions. The OSA also runs an outreach program with 15 community partners offering free art classes in local communities, as well as artist talks and workshops led by visiting artists and artists-in-residence. 

To learn more about the Ottawa School of Art and view our available courses visit www.artottawa.ca