Ottawa-Gatineau Art

Ottawa-Gatineau Art consists of a long and diverse history of artistic production and art institutions dating back thousands of years to early Anishinābe (Algonquin) art. Mediums and modes of artistic expression have varied widely in the region including the artwork of the Anishinābe First Peoples using birchbark, beadwork, textiles, and sculpture, and artists of different backgrounds depicting the landscape in drawing and painting materials, as well as photography, figurative work, and more contemporary explorations of new techniques such as performance, installation, video, and sound art. The Ottawa-Gatineau region has drawn artists and members of the arts community through trade, industry, patronage, education, and employment in the cultural sector and the government. In addition to artists and members of the artistic community from the region or residing there for some time, there have also been many prominent artists and art professionals to pass through including members of the Group of Seven, conceptual photographers, abstract painters, and more.

Abstraction

Although the seeds of abstraction can be seen in earlier Canadian art, it took hold in the Ottawa-Gatineau region in the early 1950s with the arrival of key artists to the region such as Victor Tolgesy, Duncan de Kergommeaux, Gerald Trottier, James Boyd, and Art Price. Working at the National Film Board (NFB), Art Price and fellow employee Alma Duncan created abstract works at this time, with Price creating public art and Duncan exploring abstraction in drawings and paintings through industrial subject matter. Arriving from Montreal in 1958, Brodie Shearer began teaching at the Municipal Art Centre (MAC) with experience in abstract painting and sculpture. Commercial galleries exhibiting contemporary work began to appear in the region in the 1960s, as abstraction moved from deconstructed representational forms to pure geometric form. These commercial galleries offered artists a place to exhibit and sell their work, and a place to convene. The 1960s brought other artists such as Pat Durr from America and Jerry Grey from the West Coast, both working in abstract painting. In addition to exploring abstraction through painting, artists in the area such as Kenneth Lochhead also explored form and colour using fabric and other media.

Certain Ottawa-born artists returned to the city in the 1970s such as Leslie Reid and Kenneth Lochhead who were drawn by teaching positions at the new Visual Arts Department at the University of Ottawa, and Richard Gorman who continued to work in abstraction. Abstraction in the region shifted around the 1980s with artists such as Blair Sharpe, Suzanne Rivard-Lemoyne, and Mattiusi Iyaituk introducing new explorations in painting, and ceramicists Paula Murray and Jim Thomson introducing concepts in a three-dimensional medium.

In more recent years, abstraction in the region has returned to painting with artists such as Dil Hildebrand, Melanie Authier, Martin Golland, and Jennifer Lefort.

Birchbark

The Anishinābe (Algonquin) people have inhabited the Ottawa-Gatineau region for several millennia and have expressed their stories in a variety of media including weaving, embroidery, carving, and ceramics. However, much of the artwork created before the twentieth century is difficult to attribute. Birchbark, a lightweight, durable, and pliable material that can be shaped and sewn into containers and canoes and made waterproof by sealing seams with spruce gum, has been used for many purposes for centuries by the Anishinābeg. Anishinābe women have been decorating birchbark containers with geometric designs that reference Anishinābe spirituality long before colonial contact. Designs by Indigenous artists in the area in the nineteenth century expanded to include plant, animal, and human imagery as a result of trade of items with floral and representational designs from Europeans settlers. Designs are created by carving into the moistened exterior of birchbark and scraping parts of the darker surface to create contrast with the lighter bark underneath.

Canoes

The wìgwàs chīmān or birchbark canoe, developed by early Anishinābeg (Algonquin), is a light and waterproof vessel that is ideal for the Ottawa-Gatineau region as white birch trees and waterways are abundant. An integral part of Indigenous culture in the region, and playing an important role during the Beaver Wars, the wìgwàs chīmān was later used as a symbol of Canadian identity by European settlers, evident in Canadian art such as paintings by Frances Anne Hopkins. Although the tradition of making the wìgwàs chīmān continues to be passed down through generations of Anishinābe canoe makers, the materials are often cheaper and the construction methods have evolved. Some of the most prominent canoe makers of the twentieth century include David Makakons, Vincent Mikans, Carlie Smith, William Commanda, James Jerome, Jocko Carle, Basil Smith, Patrick Maranda, John Ratt, and Daniel Sarazin. Many women have also been involved in this tradition, although they are not often included in the storytelling. Workshops offered by canoe maker Daniel Smith (Pinook) of Kitigan Zibi, as well an example of a replica wìgwàs chīmān at the Canadian Museum of History by Matthew Bernard of Pikwakanagan in 1957 offer knowledge about the tradition to the public.

An example of contemporary use of the wìgwàs chīmān tradition is Kanyen’kehaka artist and curator Greg Hill’s Cereal Box Canoe (2000) which he made of mass-produced cereal boxes. Hill portaged the canoe from the Ottawa Art Gallery to the Ottawa River, passing through the Rideau Centre, and then paddling the canoe to Victoria Island, commenting on the importance of maintaining a connection to the landscape amidst consumer culture in order to maintain the wìgwàs chīmān tradition.

Collectors

The Ottawa-Gatineau region has a long history of collectors, often expanding institutional collections through donation. Early collectors include Lord and Lady Dufferin and Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne who began collecting art following confederation in 1867. The lumber baron Allan Gilmour founded the Art Association of Ottawa in 1883, as well as collecting 146 works of art within his lifetime. Another local art collector was H.S. Southam, publisher of the Ottawa Citizen, who collected works from the Group of Seven, Ernest Fosbery, and Henri Masson. Local artists such as Franklin Brownell and Henry Harold Vickers also appeared in the collections of James W. Woods and H.A. Bate.

Edward Sapir and Frank Speck collected Indigenous objects from Kitigan Zibi among other areas, for the Geological Survey of Canada, which was part of a widespread early twentieth-century movement of collection of Indigenous objects for museums. The Canadian Museum of History acquired 475 objects including birchbark containers from Ottawa ethnomusicologist Juliette Gauthier during the same period.

Mid to late twentieth-century collectors from the Ottawa-Gatineau region include Ian Lindsay and R.D. Bell who collected Inuit art. Collectors of Canadian art during this period include Miriam and Hudson Sargeant, Mr. and Mrs. Loeb, as well as the Firestones. The Firestone Collection of Canadian Art is a public collection of over 1600 works of Canadian art which has helped to establish the Ottawa art scene. Twenty-first-century collectors John Cook, Glen Bloom, and Glenn and Barbara McInnes continue to support national and local artists being represented in the region. In a similar style, collector Joe Friday collects local, national, and international art. Collections such as these promote the careers of local artists within local, national, and international contexts.

Conceptual

Conceptual art in the Ottawa-Gatineau region started in the 1960s appearing in many forms, yet always drawing attention to the role of ideas in artistic production. Local artists Duncan de Kergommeaux and Jerry Grey were among the first in the region to introduce the concept of art as idea through their minimalist approaches. Gunter Nolte’s experiments with materiality and form in the 1970s also contributed to the conceptual art movement in the region. Taking a philosophical approach to painting, Jinny Yu continues conceptual practice, addressing socio-political concerns through her activation of spaces. The figurative work of Carol Wainio takes a storytelling approach to socio-political issues, exploring the aesthetic of reproduced images and more traditional artistic production. The multidisciplinary and interactive conceptual works of Max Dean and those of Germaine Koh both use everyday objects to examine the relationship between artworks, artists, and viewers, and have significantly contributed to conceptual art in the region. Many other Ottawa-Gatineau artists engage in conceptual practice in their work such as Andrew Wright, Josée Dubeau, Adrian Göllner, Miguel-Angel Berlanga, and Megan L. Smith, questioning the relationship between artist, artwork, and viewer through explorations of space and perception.

Film

The National Film Board, which was located in Ottawa from 1939 until 1956, launched experimental film in the region and nation-wide, including the influential work of animators Norman McLaren and Evelyn Lambart [55]. Crawley Films and Dunclaren Productions (the work of artist Alma Duncan and her partner Audrey McLaren) continued film production in the Ottawa-Gatineau region after the NFB departed. Film programs at Algonquin College and Carleton University were introduced in the 1970s, developing the careers of several filmmakers in the area. Filmmakers such as Frank Cole, Harriet Pacaud, Rob Thompson, and Peter Wintonick from the film production program at Algonquin College, and Lee Demarbre, Bridget Farr (now Redmond), Dan Gainsford, Patrice James, Dino Koutras, Chris Mullington, Christopher Rohde, Phil Rose, and Penny McCann from Carleton University’s Film Studies program were among this group. Likewise, media artists such as Rhonda Abrams, Luc Desjardins, Sharon Katz, Eva Manley, Lesley Marshall, Dan Sokolowski, and Gisèle Trudel studied and made use of equipment at the University of Ottawa.

Around the same period in 1973, SAW Gallery was formed, attracting video artists and later incorporating SAW Video in 1981 with the addition of 3/4-inch video equipment under the direction of Clive Roberston. In 1986, DAÏMÔN was founded in Gatineau, and a few years later in 1992 the foundation of the Independent Filmmakers Cooperative of Ottawa (IFCO) encouraged experimental film in the region. Prominent themes in media art in the Ottawa-Gatineau region include explorations of landscape, performance pieces, and the body. Animation has also had a rich history in the Ottawa-Gatineau region with animators such as Alma Duncan, Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart, Dan Sokolowski, Phil Osborne, and Mosha Folger. The Canadian Film Insitute (CFI) has also supported experimental film in Ottawa.

Groups

Artists in Ottawa formed their own group in 1921, initially called the Studio Club with painters Graham Norwell, Frank Hennessey, and Arthur E. Elias, later including Florence Helena McGillivray, Paul Alfred, Harold Beament, Yoshida Sekido, and David Milne when they had their first exhibition as The Ottawa Group at Hart House in Toronto in 1924. Les Confrères artistes le Caveau, founded by Father Gaudreault and including painters Wilfrid John Flood, Georges Chavignaud, and Henri Masson, was founded in 1932 as a corporation to support the arts. Les Confrères artistes le Caveau offered exhibition and studio space as well as teaching opportunities to regional artists, including Jean Dallaire. A short-lived yet influential group called the Guild Studio of Liturgical Art was formed by artists Gerald Trottier, Frank Penn, Theo Lubbers, and Victor Tolgesy in 1955 in response to the lack of support for visual artists at the time. Other Ottawa groups such as Ottawa Urban Arts, which supports mural artists, have continued the efforts of these earlier groups.

A slightly less formal group in the region is the group, including Duncan de Kergommeaux and David Torontow, lasting from 1963-67 responsible for the Blue Barn Gallery. A popular social hub in the 1960s, the gallery exhibited the works of local artists Victor Tolgesy, Georges de Niverville, Gerald Trottier, Norman Takeuchi, and James Boyd, and national artists Takao Tanabe and Toni Onley. The 1970s brought another social space for artists called Café Le Hibou, which also included an exhibition space called Sussex Annex Works, later to become SAW Gallery. A more scholarly space for lectures and discussions on art is Research in Art (RIA), founded by Petra Halkes. In terms of groups dedicated to providing studio space to local artists, Enriched Bread Artists (EBA), housed in an old bread factory building and founded in the 1990s by Laura Margita, remains the largest cooperative studio group in the region providing studio space to over twenty artists at a time. Artists such as Alexandre Castonguay, Frank Shebageget, Cindy Stelmackowich, Bozica Radjenovic, Rachel Kalpana James, Natasha Mazurka, Tavi Weisz, Svetlana Swiminer, Amy Thompson, Danny Hussey have been involved in EBA. Similar shared studio spaces in the region include The Rectory Art House, La Fab Arts Centre, Blink Gallery, the Crichton Street Gallery, and the Farrellton Artists’ Space.

Founded in 2012 in an effort to promote the work of local Indigenous artists, the Ottawa Ontario 7 (OO7), is a group of Indigenous artists including Barry Ace, Rosalie Favell, Ron Noganosh, Frank Shebageget, Michael Belmore, Ariel Smith, and Leo Yerxa, along with “special agent” guest artists. Likewise, the Ottawa Black Arts Kollective founded in 2011, including Komi Olaf, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, and Kalkidan Assefa, promotes the work of artists of colour in Ottawa.

Hybridity

Hybridity has shaped artistic practice in the Ottawa-Gatineau region for thousands of years, items exchanged or created as a result of trade along the Kichi Sibi (Ottawa River) being an early example of this. Trade for copper items mined from the Lake Superior area 7000 years ago, trade of stone quarried in the Archaic and Woodland Periods with white quartzite objects from central Quebec, and other examples reveal the extent of the networks established in the region before colonial contact. Exchange of silver objects and glass beads from European colonialists during the fur trade became common practice, sometimes introducing spirituality and culture through designs. Using reclaimed electronic pieces in place of beads, the work of Anishinaabe (Odawa) artist Barry Ace is an example of the continued practice of beadwork in Indigenous art in the region. Cape Dorset artist Annie Pootoogook expressed the hybridity of her northern lifestyle in her pencil crayon drawings which continue to be exhibited in Ottawa galleries. Similarly, Mattiusi Iyaituk of Ivujivik, Quebec takes inspiration from both traditional Inuit art and western abstraction in his sculptures that he’s showcased regionally. Immigrants relocating to the Ottawa-Gatineau region have introduced a wide variety of art engaging in hybridity, including artist Farouk Kaspaules from Iraq who incorporates Christian, Chaldean/Sumerian, and Islamic/Arab imagery into his work. Howie Tsui is another artist in the region who navigates his shifting hybrid identity, referencing Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai’s drawings.

Indigenous identity and the effects of colonialism

Indigenous artists in the Ottawa-Gatineau region have created a multitude of works addressing the history of colonialism and their own indigenous identity using a variety of media and approaches within contemporary art practices. One such artist is Meryl McMaster whose 2015 photograph Colonial Drift depicts the artist with her face painted white and a beehive sculpture on top of her head, addressing freedom and a changing identity after colonial contact. Using the concept of water to represent connectivity in his 2016 electronic and textile work Nayaano-nibiimaang Gichigamiin: The Great Lakes, Ottawa-based artist Barry Ace created five blankets representing the five lakes using traditional Anishinābe floral motifs to produce an act of reclamation. Addressing the issue of silencing indigenous histories, regional artist Ron Noganosh created the installation Anon Among Us (1999), which acknowledges the thousands of overlooked alcohol-related deaths in the Indigenous community. In a similar effort to raise awareness and give voice to silenced Indigenous peoples, Caroline Monnet and Daniel Watchorn used film to call attention to the poor treatment of those in the Canadian Residential School system in The Black Case/La mallette noire (2014).

International

Being the Nation’s Capital, Ottawa fits into the international arts scene in a unique way due to national and international support such as embassies, national museums, the Canada Council, Canadian Heritage, and Parliament ministries. The most prominent institution representing the national arts community is the National Gallery of Canada, located in downtown Ottawa. The Canada Council for the Arts draws international artists to the region through their Visiting Foreign Artists Program, often involving embassies. The national and sometimes international interest in programs in the arts in Ottawa are contrasted with the regional arts community including artist-run centres such as SAW Gallery, AXENÉO7, Gallery 101, DAÏMÔN, and SAW Video. Support for the arts in the Ottawa-Gatineau region has also come from local universities such as the University of Ottawa, offering art history and fine arts programs, as well as Carleton University, offering art history, interdisciplinary cultural mediations, and curatorial studies programs, and the Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG). Recently developed master’s programs in Museology and Studio Arts, and Galerie UQO at the École Multidisciplinaire de l’image at the Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO) has also contributed to the region’s engagement in local, national, and international arts. Similarly, the Ottawa Art Gallery, a municipal gallery in the city, has presented exhibitions, programs, and events, and attracted scholarly attention that engage in the arts community on local, national, and international levels. Ottawa-Gatineau-based artists such as Jinny Yu, Andrew Wright, Melanie Authier, Jim Logan, Jennifer Lefort, Natasha Mazurka, Cheryl Pagurek, Paula Murray, Qavavau Manumie, and Tim Pitsiulak have also extended the local art scene by exhibiting their work internationally.

Interprovincial

Art and art institutions in the Ottawa-Gatineau region have been important tools for connecting Ontario and Quebec culture, extending the opportunities available to artists bordering these two provinces. There has been lots of movement between the provinces. Ottawa artists have painted urban scenes in Hull and traveled through the Gatineau Hills for its picturesque scenery. Artists from Quebec have been drawn by the bilingual University of Ottawa and other institutions in the city like the National Gallery of Canada. Institutions such as the Université du Québec en Outaouais, La Filature contemporary art research centre (founded in 2002), L’Imagier d’Aylmer (founded in 1975 by Pierre and Yvette Debain), Galerie Montcalm (the first municipal gallery in Quebec, founded in 1980), and artist-run centres AXENÉO7 (founded in 1983), and DAÏMÔN (founded in 1986) are key spaces for artists on the Gatineau side. Prominent artists involved in the Outaouais art scene include Marie-Jeanne Musiol, Josée Dubeau, Jean-Yves Vigneau, Normand Rivest, Miguel-Angel Berlanga, Annie Thibault, Michèle Provost, and Caroline Monnet. A more recent performance space for artists in Gatineau is Le Temporaire, founded by performance artist Véronique Guitard. There is also a strong Franco-Ontarian presence on the Ottawa side. Recent spaces supporting them include Voix-Visuelle, directed by Shahla Bahrami, and Galerie Jean-Claude Bergeron.

Landscape

Representations of landscape have a long history in Ottawa-Gatineau art, appearing in a wide variety of media. Motifs of vegetation and animals inspired by the nature in the region have been used by Anishinābe (Algonquin) artists to decorate birchbark, deer hide, clay, and metal for centuries. European artists in the region such as Thomas Davies and Henry Pooley used a representational approach to depict the landscape in their watercolours at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. Some early nineteenth-century depictions of the landscape such as a lithograph called View of Horace-ville on the Ottawa River, Upper Canada by Mary-Anne Pinhey from around 1840 reflect the effects of European infrastructure on the Ottawa-Gatineau landscape. In the early twentieth century, artists such as Franklin Brownell, Tom Thomson, the members of the Group of Seven, Goodridge Roberts, Henri Masson, Maurice Haycock, and Freda Pemberton-Smith drew and painted landscapes that reimagined the existing landscape often without the presence of European infrastructure. Prints showing panoramic views of the growing city by Edwin Whitefield and Stent & Laver Architects as well as drawings and paintings by artists such as Franklin Brownell, Graham Norwell, David Milne, Ralph Burton, and Kathleen Moir Morris, mapped the city and its distinct areas.

Contemporary artists such as Leslie Reid, Eric Walker, and Meredith Snider take up the concept of mapping the region using new techniques, while Lorraine Gilbert, Jennifer Dickson, and Evergon use photography to represent the experience of the landscape. Other contemporary artists in the region whose practices address landscape and nature using various media including installation are Anna Williams, Penny McCann, Marika Smart, Gavin Lynch, Barry Ace, Michael Sproule, Cindy Stelmackowich, Marie-Jeanne Musiol, and Max Dean.

North

One of the largest urban Inuit populations exists in Ottawa, including artists drawn to the region for education, employment, or exhibition opportunities, some staying temporarily and others more permanently. Continuing education programs in Ottawa have been offered by the federal government to Inuit who were educated in the Arctic residential school system or missionary schools. Employment opportunities in Ottawa for Inuit include working for the Tungasuvvingat Inuit Community Centre, Pauktutit Inuit Women’s Centre, the Ottawa Inuit Children Centre, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Inuit Circumpolar Council of Canada, and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). The INAC has employed Inuit artists July Papatsie, Heather Campbell, and Barry Pottle in the Aboriginal Art Section, and Henry Kudluk with the Inuit Relations Secretariat. The Robertson Galleries was the first to display Inuit art in the region in the 1960s, later followed by other commercial galleries. Institutional support from the Canadian Museum of History, the National Gallery of Canada, the Ottawa Art Gallery, and Carleton University Art Gallery has drawn more Inuit artists to the city. Some influential Inuit artists who have participated in the Ottawa arts scene include Simon Tookoome who has exhibited work at the Winterlude Festival, sculptor Adam Alorut, Silas Kayakjuak who has taught interactive education programs and carving workshops in Ottawa, graphic artist and writer Alootook Ipellie, and Annie Pootoogook who has exhibited extensively at SAW Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada.

The non-profit Inuit Art Foundation (IAF), located in Ottawa in the 1990s and 2000s and publishing Inuit Art Quarterly in the 1980s, served Inuit artists across Canada with Marybelle Mitchell acting as director and editor of the magazine. Members of the Board of Directors have included Natar Ungalaaq of Igloolik and artist Mattiusi Iyaituk of Ivujivik, among many other Inuit artists. Workshops and professional development programs were offered by the IAF with the support of organizations such as the Ottawa School of Art and the Inuit Artists Shop. Taught by instructors such as Pitseolak Niviaqsi, Natar Ungalaq, Uriash Puqiqnak, and Davidee Akpalialuk, the courses were attended by artists such as Charlie Kogvik, Mattiusi Iyaituk, Oviloo Tunnillie, Eli Merkuratsuk, Theresa Sivanertok, Harry Semigak, Toonoo Sharky, Okpik Pitseolak, Nick Sikkuark, and Joseph Suqslak.

Performance

Performance artists have been practicing in the Ottawa-Gatineau region since the 1970s with the support of regional institutions like SAW Gallery and Café Le Hibou. Performance art allowed artists to challenge notions of gender and sexuality as well as the marginalization of women in art history, an example of which is the 1989 protest at the University of Ottawa led by Kareen Jackson where students of the University threw The Visual Arts: A History into a garbage bag. Prominent artists in the local performance art scene included Richard Charles Nigro and Mark Frutkin. Dennis Tourbin introduced a hybrid practice of performance art to the Ottawa-Gatineau art scene that included paintings with words, sound components, and readings of his own poetry, and referenced the transmission of language and images through television. A notable performance by Coast Salish artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun at Kitigan Zibi in 2003 involved the artist and the audience shooting copies of The Indian Act, which was the conclusion of his 1997 performance where he shot copies of the legislation in Great Britain where the document originated. In 2010, Ottawa-based artist Barry Ace performed A Reparative Act, a performance of four solo dances in the traditional Woodland style in Paris referencing the nineteenth-century dance performances of Chief Maungwadaus in Britain and Continental Europe.

An informal yet influential space for performance art in the region was Fait Maison, a recurring event at the home of artist Thomas Grondin (and other locations), which ran every three months from 2005 to 2013. Artists exhibiting regularly at Fait Maison included Thomas Grondin, Hélène Lefebvre, Theo Pelmus, Cara Tierney, Stefan St-Laurent, Istvan Cantor, Clive Robertson, and members of Japan’s Gutai group. Jason St-Laurent, brother of Stefan St-Laurent, has also contributed to performance art in the city, his Camouflage series where he disguised himself in public art an example of local performance artists engaging in and activating art in the city.

Photography

Photography in the Ottawa-Gatineau region can be traced back as far as 1844 when American photographer Henry E. Insley travelled through the area, followed by Joseph Lockwood in 1856, the first resident photographer in the city. Photography was used for documentation in Ottawa such as the commissioned photographs of Samuel McLaughlin of Quebec, recording the construction of the Parliament buildings from 1859 to 1866. A notable early photographer in the region was William James Topley, who opened his own photography studio in 1875. Around the turn of the twentieth century, the Ottawa Camera Club offered knowledge and exhibition opportunities to amateur photographers in the city. From 1917 to 1941 the Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau promoted the country and its capital through film and photography, followed by the National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division until 1984. Ottawa photographer Yousuf Karsh and his brother Malak Karsh became well known through their work in the city. Yousuf Karsh gained his fame through his portraits of leaders such as Pierre Elliott Trudeau. The National Gallery of Canada’s Department of Photographs, established in 1967, and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, established in 1984 and previously the NFB’s Still Photography Division, were among the local institutions to support artistic photographers such as Jennifer Dickson.

Educational institutions such as the University of Ottawa and the School for Photographic Arts Ottawa (SPAO) have offered photography programs and a community for emerging photographers. Photographers Lynne Cohen, Michael Schreier, and Andrew Wright who have exhibited nationally and internationally, are among the many faculty members at the University of Ottawa who have contributed to the strength of the program and the photography scene in the city.

Jeff Thomas, an Onondaga photographer and curator, and his son, artist and DJ Bear Witness, have used photography to reclaim space taken up by a public monument of an Anishinābe figure kneeling in front of Samuel de Champlain, which was later relocated. In a similar effort to assert Indigenous presence in the region, Métis artist Rosalie Favell has used photography to create a series of portraits of Indigenous artists and writers. Artist-run centres like Gallery 101, SAW Gallery, and AXENÉO7 have offered local photographers spaces for more critical and experimental photography. Street photography has allowed local artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Justin Wonnacott, and Tony Fouhse to capture the informal and personal aspects of the city.

Portraiture

Being the nation’s capital, the history of portraiture in Ottawa has included many official portraits by painters such as John Colin Forbes, Ernest Fosbery, Robert Hyndman, Joyce Frances Devlin, and photographers such as William Topley, Yousuf Karsh, J. Alex Castonguay, and Tsin Van. There is also a history of more personal portraits including self-portraits, by painters such as Charles Moss, Joyce Frances Devlin, and Jean Dallaire. A more contemporary example of a self-portrait by a regional artist is Evergon’s 2009 photograph, Crossing the Equator, Going South, Pacific Rim #03, which departs from the formality and simplicity of early portraiture, while still referencing elements of the tradition. Using photographic references, another contemporary artist, Rosalie Favell, elevates the subject in Self-Portrait (2016) by using the traditional materials of oil paint and gold leaf. Taking a different approach, Lorraine Gilbert incorporates landscape in her photographic portrait series Tree Planter (1988-1994), which addresses environmental concerns. Indigenous artists Annie Pootoogook and Janet Kaponicin imbed portraits into narratives that express personal history and larger social issues.

Printmaking

Printmaking has a long history in the Ottawa-Gatineau region with an early example being lithographs produced as early as the 1830s depicting city views by artists such as Mary-Anne Pinhey and Edwin Whitefield. Early plans for the parliament buildings in the form of hand-coloured lithographs by Stent & Laver Architects from around 1859 anticipate later prints by artists such as Ernest Fosbery depicting the city and its surrounding landscape with the parliament buildings as highlight. Federal support of printmaking in Ottawa included commissions for designs for stamps, currency, and posters. In the 1960s, Blue R Hand Press, founded by Robert Rosewarne and Fran Jones, provided studio space for local printmakers. Around the same time, the Canadian Printmakers Showcase at Carleton University provided support to printmakers from 1969 to 1974 by regularly exhibiting their work. Printmakers Jennifer Dickson, Leslie Reid, and Fran Jones were significant artists in these exhibitions. Print Biennials, including one held locally at the National Gallery of Canada, also offered printmakers opportunities to exhibit their work and expand their networks.

In terms of education offered in the region, Manuel Manzorro taught etching at the University of Ottawa starting in the 1960s, and in the 1970s, Leslie Reid and James Boyd started print studios at Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa, adding lithography and screen-printing to the program The accessibility of prints in comparison to other mediums made them popular at commercial galleries such as Le Galerie Rodrigue Le May, Gallery Graphics, and Wallack’s Art Edition in the 1970s. Innovative printmakers in the region include Simon Brascoupé who used birchbark to create stencils in his smoothly coloured prints, Pat Durr, whose large scale prints had to be made in the United States, Farouk Kaspaules, who uses layering in his prints which express issues of identity, and Guillermo Trejo, who creates political and abstract modernist prints intended to reach a broad audience. The printmaking community, supported by various institutions in the region, provides a collaborative and motivating environment for both established and emerging printmakers.

Public art

An early example of public art in the Ottawa-Gatineau region is C.W. Jeffery’s First Nations People Paying Homage to Spirit of the Chaudière, which was among other murals inside the Château Laurier depicting the Ottawa River, and which was later removed. Public art at universities included Gerald Trottier’s mosaic The Pilgrimage of Man (1962) at Carleton, and James Boyd’s Les Yeux (1973) at the University of Ottawa. Around the same period, local artist Art Price’s Birds of Welcome (1959) were installed at Gander Airport in Newfoundland. Artworks from Expo 67 were installed in the city after the event such as Sorel Etrog’s Flight, Victor Tolgesy’s Explorer II, Louis Archambault’s People, and Elza Mayhew’s Meditation Piece. Shortly after, works such as Jodi Bonet’s salon doors and Micheline Beauchemin’s curtain adorned the new National Arts Centre. A program promoting abstract public art in federal buildings called the Public Works and Government Services Commission Fine Art Programme ran from 1964 to 1978 and encouraged provincial percent for art programs. Public art created through the support of this program included works by Gathie Falk, Robert Murray, Henry Wanton Jones, and Joyce Wieland. The City of Ottawa’s Public Art Program was founded in 1985 and arranged commissions of public art as well as managing the city’s art collection and allocating spaces in the city for those works. Artworks installed under this program at the police station were by Jerry Grey and A & B associés (René-Pierre Allain and Miguel-Angel Berlanga). The Art in Transit program of 1988 and the TransArt Program of 1989 installed artwork at transit stations and buses. Art in Transit distributed artwork from the Canada Council Art Bank Collection, and TransArt, led by Dennis Tourbin, temporarily displayed photography on buses.

Other public art projects in the city have included corporate commissions of works by artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Bruce Garner, Catherine Widgery, and The Latest Artists. The city also has many monuments in public spaces such as the National War Memorial (1932) and The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (2000), as well as works surrounding Parliament, and along the National Capital Commission (NCC) Ceremonial Route. Public art in the city that reflects or engages in the history of Anishinābe (Algonquin) people includes the Anishinābe scout that appeared at the bottom of the Samuel de Champlain monument made in 1915 that was later relocated to Major’s Hill Park, as well as Birch Bark Basket (2016) by Simon Brascroupé representing history before colonial contact across the river at Place Abinan.

Temporary public art in the region has included Poll (1999) by Germaine Koh, ice sculptures installed during Winterlude, large-scale plant sculptures by Mosaïcultures Internationales of Montreal at Jacques Cartier Park, and installations for Nuit Blanche Ottawa + Gatineau. Another prominent form of temporary public art in the city is graffiti, with the outdoor festival House of PainT, which supports graffiti artists, breakdancers, and DJs, being a key organization.

Queer art

The Ottawa-Gatineau region has a history of artwork addressing Queerness and Queer issues, as well as work by Queer artists. One such work is Carl Stewart’s textile piece Nice Shoes [...] (1996) that reflected on the [...] of Alain Brosseau, a homophobic crime that had a major impact on the community. Another artwork created in response to and in honour of Alain Brosseau is Queer Anishinaabe (Odawa) artist Barry Ace’s Bandolier for Alain Brosseau (2017) that includes documentation and a re-enactment of the tragedy on a digital tablet set in a bandolier bag. Another prominent artist in the community is Rosalie Favell, a Métis artist creating self-portraits that reference the tradition of feminist and queer self-portraiture. Brothers Jason St-Laurent and Stefan St-Laurent are two more artists who have contributed to the local LGBTQ arts community through their art, curation, and social engagement.

Science

Art has been an important vehicle for exploring the scientific world, allowing artists and viewers alike to navigate the relationship between humans, nature, and technology. An early example of an exhibition looking at Ottawa’s environment through a critical lens was Tim Dallett’s 1995 Driving the Ceremonial Landscape at Gallery 101. Two works that address sound in the local landscape are Jesse Stewart’s 2013 Bridge and Donna Legault’s Subtle Territory of the same year. An artwork that addresses the relationship between humans and nature while engaging in the museum space is Juan Geuer’s 1980 Al Asnaam: the People Participating Seismometer installation in the basement of the heritage building of Arts Court. Geuer’s work projected laser beams in response to the seismic activity produced by the viewer’s footsteps. Another work making use of the viewer’s engagement with technology is Catherine Richards’s Shroud Chrysalis I of 2000 that displays a copper shroud that creates electromotive force (EMF) around the participant. Delving into biology and lab technology, artist Annie Thibault paints the interactions between cells and extreme conditions in Deviance et survivance of 2015, and using a similar theme, artist Cindy Stelmackowich layers materials in bell jars in Algae Specimens of 2016 to evoke anatomical cross-sections. The work of local artist Cheryl Pagurek interprets data, including news, local video footage, and weather maps in works such as Albanian refugees leave Kosovo of 2000.

Social commentary through folk art

Certain artists in the Ottawa-Gatineau region have used folk art, starting in the 1970s, as a tool for social commentary. Artists Alex Wyse and Victor Tolgesy were key figures working with this aesthetic at the time, inspiring others to follow shortly afterwards. Using absurdist humour in sculptural works such as Wyse’s Rutherford Sculpture Museum (2012) or Tolgesy’s McClintock’s Dream (1978), they commented on the political climate of the Nation’s Capital. Other artists to use this folk-art aesthetic in Ottawa include Mark Marsters, Eric Walker, Tim desClouds, Russell Yuristy, and Ron Noganosh. Folk art has also been developed in other parts of Canada (prairie and maritime folk art for example) and internationally in a variety of media.

Support and art education

Art education in the Ottawa-Gatineau region began with private art lessons in the 1830s, and was followed by the establishment of schools such as the Mechanics’ Institute in 1847, the University of Ottawa in 1848, and the Institut canadien-français in 1852. An early organization supporting artists was the Art Association of Canada, who met in Ottawa in 1879, and later developed into the Canadian Academy of Arts in 1880. The same year, the Fine Arts Association of Ottawa and its school (later to become the Ottawa School of Art) were formed, offering support to local artists rather than national. In addition to government initiatives like stamp design and public art commissions, organizations such as the Royal Canadian Academy, the Ontario Society of Artists, the Women’s Historical Society of Ottawa (1889), the Ottawa branch of the Women’s Art Association of Canada (1898), and the Ottawa Art Association (1921) supported artists through regular exhibitions, lectures and classes.

In terms of academic art education, Carleton University has been offering an art history program since 1943, Algonquin College has been offering art programs since 1971, and the University of Ottawa has been offering visual art and art history programs since around the same time, and added a Master of Fine Arts program in 2007. Prominent artists who have completed or taught the University of Ottawa art programs include Evergon, Edmund Alleyn, Gunter Nolte, Kenneth Lochhead, Leslie Reid, Jinny Yu, and Andrew Wright.

Survey exhibition

In the late 1960s, as a result of the lack of support for local artists in Ottawa-Gatineau, a group of prominent artists in the region organized a large juried survey exhibition of over 300 paintings, photographs, craft pieces, and sculptures by 156 artists. The well-attended exhibition took place from May 15^th to June 28^th 1975 in the Hall of Commerce Building at Lansdowne Park and was accompanied by over 130 events and a catalogue. Chaired by Victor Tolgesy, the exhibition was also supported by artists Gerald Trottier, Jerry Grey, Hilde Schreier, James Boyd, Pat Durr, Evergon, and Michael Schreier The exhibition was also supported by commercial gallerists John K.B. Robertson, Jean-Claude Bergeron, Claire Wallack, and Barbara Ensor, and collectors O.J. and Isobel Firestone, and Mr. G.H. Southam. This exhibition provided representation for local artists often left out of bigger institutions like the National Gallery of Canada, and was a major step in the movement to open a municipal gallery to continue to represent these artists.

Textile and fibre art

The Ottawa-Gatineau region has its own history of textile production, with traditions like cross stitching appearing in objects in the late nineteenth century. Moving away from strictly utilitarian textiles to incorporate concepts, contemporary textile artists in the region such as Deborah Margo explore notions like memory and experience through the tactility of found textiles or as in the case of her Here Meets There/Making Colour (2017), textiles hand-coloured with plant dyes from her own garden. Taking up similar themes of memory and place, local artist Hilde Schreier used tapestry to make her 1987 From Sea to Sea piece. Another local contemporary textile artist is Michèle Provost who uses embroidery in works like Artist Statement (2005) to express political issues such as the effects of capitalism on the art world. An organization that supports local textile artists by giving them a platform to display their work together with international artists is La Triennale Internationale des Arts Textiles en Outaouais, started in 2010.

Touch and accessibility

Artwork and programs that address issues of interaction and accessibility in the Ottawa-Gatineau region have been important ways of making the arts community more inclusive. Artist Hilde Schreier taught a course at the Municipal Arts Centre in 1973 for the visually impaired, as well as a “touch” tour at the National Gallery of Canada. In 2009, the National Gallery hosted a landmark conference on accessibility called “Connection, Collections, Communities—Making Museums and Galleries in Canada Inclusive and Accessible.” A more recent effort to make art more accessible and interactive in the region is Eric Walker’s Comment j’mai rendu icitte à Ottawa/How I Came to Ottawa commissioned by the Ottawa Art Gallery in 2017. Walker’s work was made to be touched by viewers, and through its tactile images of transportation specific to the Ottawa-Gatineau region it expresses themes of place and connection.

Urban scenes

Artists have depicted urban scenes of the Ottawa-Gatineau region since around the mid-nineteenth century, documenting the area’s growth in the process. Some early examples of these urban scenes include Edwin Whitefield’s 1855 lithographs of Upper and Lower Town Ottawa, Stent & Laver architectural firm’s 1859 lithographs of the industrial core of Hull and Ottawa, Ernest Fosbery’s 1914 etching of the parliament buildings, and Henri Fabien’s 1916 painting of the parliament buildings on fire. The growth of certain neighbourhoods and areas within the region have been portrayed in different mediums, with the commercial hub of the Byward Market appearing the works of artists such as Paul Alfred, Franklin Brownell, and Malak Karsh, and the industrial hub of Chaudière Falls depicted by artists like David Milne. In the mid-twentieth century, Ottawa grew as neighbourhoods on the perimeters were included in the city’s limits, and certain neighbourhoods at the centre of town portrayed by artists such as Gerald Trottier, Ralph Burton, Franklin Brownell, Florence Helena McGillivray, and Gordon Stranks saw working-class homes destroyed in the shifting city plan.

A contemporary example of artwork depicting the Ottawa urban landscape is Marlene Creates’s photographic series of city limit signs called Looking at the City of Ottawa from Ten Paces Outside the Municipal Boundaries, Ottawa Pre-Amalgamation 2000 done during the transition to the 2001 amalgamation. Other contemporary photographers exploring political or conceptual themes through urban scenes of the Ottawa-Gatineau region are Tony Fouhse, Justin Wonnacot, and Jeff Thomas.

War

Artists in the Ottawa-Gatineau region have taken up the subject of war in many mediums through commissions and personal projects, and in more contemporary works, it’s often approached critically or conceptually. Artists affiliated with Ottawa that took part in the Canadian War Art Program formed in 1943 included Tom Wood, Charles Anthony Law, Harold Beament, and Robert Hyndman. Additionally, artists such as Pegi Nicol MacLeod and Elizabeth Harrison painted war themed works during this period from their perspective in Canada. Ottawa-based artist Robert Hyndman was later also commissioned to do paintings for the Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program founded in 1968. Local artists such as Eric Walker, Leslie Reid, Karen Bailey, and nichola feldman-kiss participated in the 2001 Canadian Forces Artists program. Local artist Maura Doyle’s Gone of 2017 is an example of a contemporary approach to the subject of war memorials, making use of the concept and aesthetic of maps to show the locations of memorials in the city that have been removed.

Further reading

• Allodi, Mary. Printmaking in Canada: The Earliest Views and Portraits. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1980.
• Bond, Courtney C.J., City on the Ottawa: a detailed historical guide to Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Ottawa: National Capital Commission, 1971.
• ———, comp. An Ottawa chronology, 1900–1949. Ottawa: privately published, 1984.
• ———, comp. An Ottawa chronology, 1950–1983. Ottawa: privately published, 1984.
• ——— and Robert U. Mahaffy. Where rivers meet: an illustrated history of Ottawa. Burlington, Ont.: Windsor Publications, 1984.
• ——— and Philip Pocock. Statues and monuments in Ottawa and Hull. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1963 .
• Burant, Jim. “Of Childhood, Cameras and a Canoe.” The Literary Review of Canada 6 (1997).
• ———. History of Art and Artists in Ottawa and Surroundings, 1790-1970: Part I, 1790-1879. Ottawa: Ottawa Art Gallery, 1993 .
• ———. History of Art and Artists of Ottawa and Surroundings, 1790-1970: Part II, 1880-1945. Ottawa: The Ottawa Art Gallery, 1994.
• ———, ed. History of Art and Artists of Ottawa and Surroundings, 1790-1970: Part III, 1946-1970. Ottawa: The Ottawa Art Gallery, 1995.
• Canadian Museum of History. “Archaeological Sites in the Ottawa Valley.” Accessed Dec 20, 2017. [1]
• Clément, Daniel, ed. The Algonquins. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1996.
• Dewar, Marion, Chantal Hebert, John Ramlochand, Melissa Rombout, and John Ralston Saul. Ottawa: On Display. Ottawa: Ottawa Art Gallery, 2000.
• Dewdney, Selwyn. Indian Rock Paintings of the Great Lakes. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962.
• Falvey, Emily. Evidence: The Ottawa City Project. Ottawa: Ottawa Art Gallery, 2008.
• Fischer, Doug, ed. Our times: a pictorial memoir of Ottawa’s Past. Ottawa: Ottawa Citizen, 2000.
• Fredrickson, N. Jaye. The Covenant Chain: Indian Ceremonial and Trade Silver. Ottawa: National Museum of Man, 1980.
• Gaffield, Chad. A History of the Outaouais. PUL Diffusion, 1997.
• Gidmark, David. The Algonquin Birchbark Canoe. Aylesbury, Bucks., U.K: Shire Publication Ltd., 1988.
• ——— and Denis Alsford. Building a birchbark canoe: the Algonquin wâbanäki tcîmân. Buffalo, N.Y. and Willowdale, Ont.: Firefly Books, 2002.
• Hanewich, Kim. “History of the Algonquins Omamiwinini: the Invisible People.” PDF. [2] Pikwàkanagàn Golden Lake, ON: Omàmiwininì Pimàdjwowin The Algonquin Way Cultural Centre, 2009.
• Hessel, Peter. The Algonkin Tribe: The Algonkins of the Ottawa Valley: An Historical Outline. Arnprior, Ont.: Kichesippi Books, 1987.
• Joan Holmes & Associates. Algonquins of Golden Lake Claim. vol. 1. Ottawa: Communications Branch, Dept. of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, 1993 .
• Kalman, Harold and John Roaf. Exploring Ottawa: An Architectural Guide to the Nation’s Capital. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983 .
• Kennedy, Clyde C. The Upper Ottawa Valley. Pembroke, Ont.: Renfrew County Council, 1970.
• Maitland, Leslie. Historical Sketches of Ottawa. Peterborough, Ont: Broadview Press, 1990.
• Morrison, James. Algonquin History of the Ottawa River Watershed. Rev. ed. Ottawa: Sicani Research and Advisory Services, 2005.
• Pilon, Jean-Luc. La préhistoire de l’Outaouais/Ottawa Valley Prehistory. Ottawa: Société d’histoire de l’Outaouais, 1999.
• Smith, Charles H. and Ian Dyck, eds. William E. Logan’s 1845 Survey of the Upper Ottawa Valley. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2007.
• Taylor, John. Ottawa, an Illustrated History. Toronto: Lorimer, 1986.
• Wight, Darlene Coward, Ian Lindsay, Frederica Woodrow Knight and Sheila Butler. The First Passionate Collector: The Ian Lindsay Collection of Inuit Art. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1991.