Upcoming Exhibition
The Ontario Society of Artists (OSA) welcomes established artists living in Ontario to apply to participate in our 146th Annual Open Juried Exhibition of Fine Arts.
The selected art works will be on display at the John B. Aird Gallery from March 26, 2019 to April 26, 2019. The Gallery is located at 900 Bay Street (at Wellesley), Macdonald Block, Toronto, ON M7A 1C2.
A Public Opening Reception and presentation of awards will be held on Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 6 pm. All are welcome to attend.
The submission deadline is January 15, 2019.
Please review the full terms of entry.
To apply, please visit our submission page.
We are excited to introduce you to our three Jurors: Odon Wagner, David Liss, and Diana Bennett.
Odon Wagner – Owner of Odon Wagner Galleries, Toronto
Born in Hungary, Odon Wagner’s passion for fine art was nurtured as a student in the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna where he graduated an Akademischer Konservator (Professional Conservator) after four years of training. His education led to work in the conservation departments of well regarded institutions such as the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Vienna Prehistoric Institute, and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. In 1969, Odon established The Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto’s premier gallery for historic art, specializing in 18th and 19th Century European paintings, as well as in work by Modern Masters. The gallery, which has also shown international contemporary work for over twenty years, has recently expanded; Odon Wagner Contemporary, on Davenport Road, spreads over 5000 square feet with two floors of exhibition space to showcase their collection of fine Canadian and International contemporary artists.
David Liss – Curator of Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto
Coming from Montreal in 2000, David Liss saw an opportunity to bring a contemporary art museum to Canada’s largest city. As Director and Curator, he transformed the MOCCA (Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art ) into a juggernaut of the Toronto Art Scene. Liss engineered a move from North York to Toronto’s vibrant Queen West arts community in 2005. Today, David Liss, Curator Advisor of the Museum of Contemporary Art, has now seen his dream come true with the newly renovated dynamic space that is the permanent home of MOCA. At 55,000 square feet spread over five floors, the new facility is five times the size of its former Queen West location. Liss’s vision and the open mandate at the MOCCA, which he crafted, has cemented Toronto, and Canada’s status as a cultural centerpieces in the contemporary art world.
Diana Bennett – Artist, Designer, Story Teller, OSA member and past President
Diana Bennett, with a U of T Masters degree in Art History is also a former teacher and arts administrator who has worked to establish the role of the arts in Ontario throughout her long and distinguished career. A former senior executive with TVOntario and the Zoo, she has sat on a number of Boards including the University of Toronto Art Museum, the Toronto Arts Council/Foundation, Canada Publishing, the Toronto Stock Exchange, and in 2017 was president of the Ontario Society of Artists.
Diana works in both two dimensional and three dimensional works using fabric, thread, wire, glass, mirror, seeds, shellac flakes, stones, bones, photo transfer and resin. Her series and installations are autobiographical. She has been exhibiting over five decades with solo exhibitions in Ontario and Quebec at galleries such as Gallery O (Olga Korper), Baas, Albert White, Kerozene, Engine and Walnut Contemporary, and has works in private and public collections in Canada and the US.
Recent Exhibitions
OSA Members’ Exhibition of Selected Works — PaperMill Gallery, Toronto — October 3rd to October 28, 2018. Eighty-six member artists participated. Juror: Darrin Martins. Chair: Steve Wilson.
OSA 145th Annual Juried Exhibition – April 10 to May 4, 2018, at the John B. Aird Gallery. This was a stunning show of 48 contemporary works of art selected by esteemed Jurors Richard Rhodes, William Huffman, and Janet Hendershot OSA SCA. (Co-Chairs: Jacquie Green, Marilena Isacescu Carlea)
OSA New Members’ Exhibition – December 12, 2017 – January 8, 2018 – Opening Reception is December 14th 6-8pm – An exhibition of work done by New Members of the OSA elected in 2015 and 2016 – John B. Aird Gallery (Co-Chairs: Lisa Murzin, Frances Patella and Dominique Prevost)
OSA Members’ Exhibition of Selected Works – Carrier Gallery – November 2017 (Co-Chairs: Tony Vander Voet & Susan McCrae). The call for entry can be found here.
MOSAIC – Ontario Society of Artists 145th Anniversary Exhibition – Aurora Cultural Centre, May 11 – August 5, 2017
OSA Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition – July 14-16, 2017, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto
