Career Launcher News
Celebrating the achievements and successes of our Career Launcher artists, designers and partners.
Announcing the recipients of the Gallery 44 Residency Career Launcher
We're excited to announce Ernesto Cabral de Luna as the recipient and Zain Bhanapatel as the runner-up for the 2024 Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography Residency Career Launcher.
Partial’s Continuous Support of Emerging OCAD U Talent
OCAD U’s partnership with Partial Gallery commenced in October 2018 as a destination for art collectors and patrons of the university to collect art by OCAD U students and alumni. Today, with over 100 artists and 1200 works of art on Partial’s OCAD U Showcase, this curated list features a range of fresh voices and innovative styles from both students and recent graduates.
Artist Project 2024 Career Launcher Recipients Announced
We're excited to announce Andria Keen and Ghislan Sutherland-Timm as the recipients of the Artist Project 2024 Career Launcher. Andria will be presenting an interactive installation and Ghislan will be exhibiting in one of the fair's booths for the 2024 fair. The 2024 Artist Project fair will take place from April 11-14, 2024.
Sequence Career Launcher Team Announced
We're excited to announce Aman Deshmukh, Kimathi Bwomono, Nathan Henry, Titiksha Rout, and Vincent Akinbode as the recipients of the SEQUENCE Call for Video Producer, Photographer and Graphic Designer Career Launcher!
These five designers and artists will join the Sequence team on their projects in 2024.
Announcing Sar Wagman asthe Recipient of the Interaccess Studio Assistant Career Launcher!
OCAD University’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers and InterAccess are excited to announce Sar Wagman as the recipient of the InterAccess Studio Assistant Career Launcher. Sar is a Toronto-based artist and community arts worker who works in cross-disciplinary media and is driven by a passion for art, sustainability, and inclusion. Sar holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University in Life Studies where Sar focused on nature, anatomy, technology, biology, ecology and sustainability.
2024 Black History Month Digital Exhibition at Yonge-Dundas Square
We're excited to announce Abby Adjekum, Dose Omoruna, Pixel Heller and Uzoma Ekpunobi as the recipients of the Black History Month Digital Exhibition Career Launcher!
Their work will premiere at Yonge-Dundas Square for February 2024.
Tribute as part of DesignTO Extended
'Tribute’ is a large-scale textile installation by Omar Tarek Zayed and Linjuan Dai that investigates Toronto’s lost river networks. This work seeks to re-contextualize the city’s landscape as we know it, by paying homage to the once vibrant freshwater network that flowed and carved through the city. ‘Tribute’ proposes an imagined landscape via abstract interventions that centre these historical rivers. The project on view at Stantec WIndow Gallery has been extended to March 18, 2024.
Announcing Krupa Patel as the Curator for the Clark Centre for the Arts Career Launcher
We're excited to announce Krupa Patel as the recipient of the Clark Centre for the Arts, Call for Curators/Cultural Producers.
Krupa's curatorial project will premiere at the Clark Centre for the Arts in June 2024 with artists Angelica Candido, Judith Grace Vijayasenan, Par Nair, and Prachi Dhase.
Announcing our 2024 Cboe Artists
We're excited to announce Brooklin Stormie, Emily Elise, Madeline Yee, Shinae Kim and Tiffany Chin as the recipients of the 2023 Cboe Commissioning Program Career Launcher! In winter 2023, the RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers renewed our partnership Cboe Canada to bring on five new artists for the Cboe Commissioning Program.
Announcing Omar Tarek Zayed and Lin Juan Dai as the recipients of the DesignTO Exhibition at Stantec Window Gallery Career Launcher
November 17, 2023
Omar and Lin's project, Tribute, will be on display for the 2024 DesignTO Festival. Tribute is a large-scale textile installation that investigates Toronto’s lost river networks. Informed by data collected from the Lost Rivers Toronto organization and ArcGIS data, we are rethinking how cartography is made and represented, employing batik as a technical means of subverting the way in which land is understood and documented.
Three Artists on the Screens of Yonge-Dundas Square Reflect on the Theme of Storytelling
We're excited to announce Alexis Nanibush-Pamajewong, Kikki Guerard, and Quinn Hopkins as the recipients of the 2023 Yonge-Dundas Square Indigenous Student Centre Digital Exhibition Call for Artists. Their works will be displayed on the digital screens at Yonge & Dundas Square for the duration of November 2023.
Announcing Amir Nevis as the 2023 LIFT Designer in Residence
September 25, 2023
Amir Nevis is a graphic design student currently pursuing his bachelor's at OCAD University. He was on the path to become a programmer when he shifted to graphic design as his goals for contributing to art and culture were not getting fulfilled in CS. Intrigued by systems and language Amir is making strides to predicate his practice on the intersection of code, design and interactivity.
Announcing Lia Aiello as the Recipient of the Contemporary Textile Studio Co-op Residency Career Launcher
August 15, 2023
Lia Aiello is a Toronto based textile designer. Her practice focuses on weaving, natural dye and surface design. Playfully interpreting sociological concepts, she designs textiles with the same bizarre profoundness as the dreams you have in the morning between your first and second alarms.
Announcing RashvenaKhosa as the Recipient of the Slate Asset Management 2023 Career Launcher
August 9, 2023
We're excited to announce Rashvena Khosa and Young-Mi Won as the recipients of the Slate Asset Management 2023 Career Launcher. Rashvena’s works are now displayed in the lobby of 2 St. Clair West in the Yonge St. + St. Clair Avenue West community. Youngmi's work will be installed later in 2024.
Congratulations to Yuhan Zheng and Avalon Mott on a new Career Launcher venture with Critical Distance Centre for Curators
August 9, 2023
We're excited to announce Yuhan Zheng and Avalon Mott as the recipient of the 2023 Critical Distance Centre for Curators Public Art Billboard and Exhibition Essay Career Launcher! Yuhan Zheng's work "Round and Full" is now on view at 180 Shaw Street and a commissioned essay by Avalon Mott is available to read on criticaldistance.ca .
Announcing Yuxi Ji as the recipient of the 2023 Parks Canada, Visual Creative Content Specialist Career Launcher
August 2, 2023
Yuxi will split her time between the office and the park: processing images in the Rouge National Urban Park photo library, shooting imagery with drones and cameras, doing design tasks for the Park’s Communications department, organizing and archiving images and supporting the creation of staff resources.
OCAD U Artists Win Awards at the 62nd Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
July 25, 2023
This year, the 62nd Toronto Outdoor Art Fair took place on July 7 - 9 at Nathan Phillips Square. As Canada’s leading contemporary outdoor and online art fair, TOAF gathered around 400+ artists from across Canada. Amongst these artists, many OCAD U artists were not only featured but also recipients of awards.
Summerburst: A New Mural at the Foot of Yonge Street
June 22, 2023
Waterfront Toronto and the Waterfront Business Improvement Area commissioned a new temporary mural as part of a Career Launcher opportunity. The mural is called Summerburst, by Toronto-based artist Wandy Cheng, and will be on display through the fall.
Summerburst Mural Unveiled
July 25, 2023
As the recipient of the 2023 Waterfront Toronto Mural Career Launcher, Wandy created a piece titled “Summerburst” which is now on display at the foot of Yonge Street and can be found at Smorgasburg Toronto.
Announcing Mia Lemia as the Recipient of the Arts Etobicoke Career Launcher
June 19, 2023
"My name is Mehnaz Lamia (Mia) and I am an international student from Bangladesh. I am a recent graduate of the Creative Writing program at OCAD University and have an avid passion for poetry and storytelling...."
Announcing Damon Couto-Hill and Veerta Kumar as the Recipients of the Akin Career Launcher
June 19, 2023
Damon and Veerta will each be awarded $2,000 in credits to go towards a studio space at Akin’s shared workspaces in 2023-2024. In addition to the $2,000 studio credit, each artist will receive $450 credit for use at Remote Gallery at Richmond and Portland.
Announcing Betty Shao as the Recipient of the Secret Planet, Studio Assistant Career Launcher
June 19, 2023
Betty Shao is a Chinese-Canadian illustrator based in Toronto, Ontario. She mainly focuses on digital media but also enjoys screen printing and reading comics. Her work usually consists of narrative-driven food illustrations that have a feeling of nostalgia as she strives to become a comic artist.
Announcing Yuhan Zheng as the Recipient of the 2023 Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography Residency
June 19, 2023
Yuhan Zheng is a lens-based artist living in Toronto. Yuhan’s work is grounded in her daily experiences and her approach mainly involves performance and self-portrait. She is interested in investigating the ambiguity of the boundary between the virtual and the real. Through practice, she seeks to reveal the intricacies of navigating identities and finding a sense of belonging in a diverse, constantly changing world.
Announcing Tir Tabandeh as the Recipient of the 2023 Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) Residency Career Launcher
June 19, 2023
Tir Tabandeh is an Iranian storyboard artist and animation producer who creates magical stories inspired by Southwest Asian culture and folklore. Recently graduating from OCAD in Experimental Animation, their future goals are to create inclusive and exciting children's shows in studios like Titmouse.
Announcing River Kenji Fujimoto as the Recipient of the 2023 Open Studio Contemporary Printmaking Studio Residency Career Launcher
June 19, 2023
River Kenji Fujimoto is a Japanese-Sicilian, yonsei, emerging multidisciplinary artist and printmaker. Their work combs through the complexities of being mixed race, queer, trans, disabled and a descendant ofJapanese Canadian internment camp survivors. Their practice primarily uses relief printmaking techniques and text to explore their relationship as being part of a diaspora and their positionality as a settler for many generations.
Announcing Arshdeep Kang as the Recipient of the 2023 Art Metropole Programs, Publications and Shop Assistant Career Launcher
June 19, 2023
"Interested in syncretic design practices, I find ways to combine the design thinking I’ve learned from school with the visual language from my South Asian culture. As I have learned and practiced “less is more” in the minimalistic design scene, I also like exploring the “more with less”concept derived from my culture, getting the most output possible within imposed restrictions. "
Announcing the 2023 401 Richmond Illustration Studio Artists
June 5, 2023
We're excited to announce Ivy Chen, Daria Joyce, Hyunsun Park, and Gabrielle Schwartz as the recipients of the 401 Richmond Illustration Studio Career Launcher.
Meet the Winners of the Format Career Launcher Prize
May 23, 2023
Meet the inaugural winners of the Format Career Launcher Prize and hear about their visions for life after graduation in this profile from Format.
