Key Facts

• Application Fee: $45.00
• Method of Payment: by Credit Card by clicking the red "2026 New Membership Application Fee" at the bottom of this page.
• Notification Method: Accepted applicants will be notified by December 20, 2025 by email and invited to join the OSA. 
• Annual Membership Fees for Successful Applicants:  $150.00 due May 1, 2026
• Our successful candidates will be able to start participating in January 2026 in all of our projects developed by the Ontario Society of Artists.

• The decision of the New Members Selection Committee and the OSA membership is final.

We will not issue a refund for application payments. Please do not pay until you are certain you wish to apply for membership.

Criteria

• Originality
• Artist Statement
• Artistry in composition and design
• Excellence and Skill in the chosen medium(s)
• Consistency in subject matter, style and medium
• Level of Achievement
• Professionalism, including the presentation of the application itself.
  
• Willingness to be actively involved in our committees, administration and other functions that enhance our Society.

All applicants are expected to be able to navigate basic digital processes including creating and uploading correctly sized photographs of their work and properly labelling and submitting work according to the instructions.

Entry Instructions

The application form has 3 parts.

Part One: Contact Information

Part Two: Extended Biography

Prepare ONE WORD or PDF DOCUMENT with the following information in order:

WORD or PDF DOCUMENT with the following information in order:

1. Your standard C.V. including educational and relevant work and volunteer background.
2. A professional Artist Statement. 
   
3. A complete list of all exhibitions, trade shows or other places, websites or publications your work has appeared in over the last five years.  The list should be written in order by year, starting with the current year, and then going back by each year.  
4. A statement indicating all professional representation.
5. A complete list of online sales platforms selling your work, if any.  Please include links.
6. Willingness to donate volunteer hours to the OSA, which could be, helping to run events, working behind the scenes, or many other tasks.  This is a Society which relies on the work of volunteers. How can you contribute?
7. A list of the 10 artworks you will be submitting with the following details in this exact format:  Title, Medium, Size (the unframed dimensions of your work, height by width, and in inches) and Year Completed.  

Part Three: Upload and Describe Your Artwork Images

In this section, we would like you to upload images of 10 sample artworks.  Please place them in order of importance to your portfolio.

Before you upload the images, you must resize and retitle them as follows:

• All images must be saved in jpg format
• All image files must be less than 4MB in size.
• In terms of resolution, images should be no larger than 2000 pixels on the longest side.
• All image files should be labelled as follows:

SequenceNumber_LastName_Title_Medium_ Dimensions_YearCompleted.jpg

For example:

01_MyLastName_Sunset_OilOnCanvas_45x36_2020.jpg

02_MyLastName_AfterCoffee_OilOnBoard_40x30_2019.jpg

Important Note: After you choose your artwork image, you will see a small preview of it.  Above the preview is a small Delete button and an Upload button.  Please click Upload for each image you choose.

Once you have paid the $45 application fee, you will receive an email confirming your payment which will include a link to the application.

We will not issue a refund for application payments, so please do not pay until you are certain you wish to apply for membership.