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Art galleries in Ottawa have an exciting lineup of exhibits this season. At the National Gallery of Canada, you’ll find groundbreaking textile art, works by Sobey Art Award finalists, and rarely seen drawings by masters like Gustav Klimt and Edvard Munch.
Across the city, spaces like the Ottawa Art Gallery and SAW Centre explore themes ranging from contemporary Indigenous art to housing insecurity, while smaller galleries offer immersive installations, local perspectives and historical retrospectives.
Here’s what’s on:
380 Sussex Dr., gallery.ca
The Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts 2024, to March 23, 2025. See the work of the eight Canadian artists named as laureates to the GG awards.
Home: A Space of Sharing and Strength, to Dec. 15. Recent acquisitions that explore the notion of home.
2024 Sobey Art Award Exhibition, to April 6, 2025. Works by the six artists from across Canada who are shortlisted for the 2024 Sobey Art Award.
Woven Histories: Textile and Modern Abstraction, to March 2, 2025. About 130 works elevate textile works from domestic drudgery to an influential art movement.
Gathered Leaves: Discoveries from the Drawings Vault, Dec. 13-April 13, 2025. A rare opportunity to view works by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Théodore Géricault, Gustav Klimt, Edvard Munch, Wassily Kandinsky and more.
Maman, a 10-metre-tall sculpture of a spider complete with a marble sac holding 20 eggs, was created by French artist Louise Bourgeois to pay tribute to the strength of all mothers. It stands outside the main entrance.
Janet Cardiff: Forty-Part Motet. This sound sculpture by Janet Cardiff is a reworking of a piece by 16th-century English composer Thomas Tallis that encompasses 40 separately recorded choir voices played through 40 speakers strategically positioned in a room that reconstructs the interior of the former Rideau Chapel.
Indigenous and Canadian Galleries: On display are a large number of works by the Group of Seven, as well as works by Indigenous artists from around the world, with a focus on Canadian and Inuit art, plus the Henry Birks Collection of Canadian Silver.
European, American and Asia Galleries: This is where you’ll find works by non-Canadian artists, dating back to the Renaissance, including about 400 pieces by Asian artists.
Contemporary Galleries: Don’t miss Barnett Newman’s Voice of Fire, the painting that ignited controversy when it was acquired in 1987, along with other paintings, sculptures and installations created since 1990 that illustrate modern art practices.
Photography: The gallery has been actively collecting photographs since 1967, building one of the world’s most comprehensive collections with a holding of more than 50,000 photographs and 146,000 negatives.
Prints and Drawings: More than 27,000 works on paper by Canadian, American and European artists are included in this collection, which also represents all the major schools of thought from the 15th century to the contemporary period.
50 Mackenzie King Bridge, oaggao.ca
Alternate entrance: 10 Daly Ave.
Art + Parcel, to Jan. 12, 2025: An annual holiday showcase of artsy gifts, all priced under $1,500, including Canadian-made ceramics, jewelry, homewares, kids crafts, art prints, books and more.
Stories My Father Couldn’t Tell Me, to March 16, 2025: Jeff Thomas, the Urban-Iroquois photographer, curator, activist and cultural theorist, shares a new series titled Dream Panels reflecting his experience on the land.
Bright Oriental Star: An immersive contemporary installation by South-Asian Canadian Rachel Kalpana James focusing on the 1929 visit to Canada by Rabindranath Tagore, a celebrated Indian poet and educator.
Through the Ground Glass: Reframing William James Topley, to Feb. 9, 2025. Six contemporary artists offer their response to the work of historical Ottawa photographer William James Topley.
Visions and Views: Landscape and Abstraction in the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, to Jan. 5, 2025: The latest exhibition inspired by the Firestone collection explores the influence of the abstract-art movement on Canadian artists who practised landscape art, including Henri Masson, Emily Carr and A.J. Casson.
67 Nicholas St., saw-centre.com
Give Me Shelter, to Jan. 25, 2025. A dozen Canadian and international artists and architects share their artistic responses to the issue of housing insecurity and homelessness.
Zasaan, to April 6, 2026. The Ottawa-based Indigenous artist and curator Barry Ace created this outdoor sculpture to mark SAW’s 50th anniversary in 2023. Illuminated internally, Zasaan, which is the Anishinaabemowin word for nest, features four thunderbirds protecting a nest and is created from electronic components and circuit boards.
110 Laurier Ave. W., ottawa.ca
City Hall Art Gallery presents Signs of the Time by Egils Rozenbergs. The Latvian textile artist weaves the ribbons of old cassettes and video tapes into highly decorative tapestries.
Karsh-Masson Gallery presents Landslip by Kingston-based artist Nicholas Crombach, who uses found objects and unexpected materials in sculptural installations that reflect the current geological era.
St. Patrick’s Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr., cuag.ca
Jane Martin: The Ties That Bind, to Dec. 14. The first retrospective of the Canadian artist’s work divides her 50-year career into three periods.
A Dream of Return, to Dec. 14. Five diverse artists offer their broadly defined creative responses to the theme of “return.”
Practice as Ritual / Ritual as Practice, to Dec. 14. See work by 10 Black women artists who participated in a 1989 nationally touring exhibition that addressed the exclusion of Black women artists from the visual landscape of Canada.
35 George St., artottawa.ca
Braveheart (Un Cœur brave), to Nov. 17. Works by Metis artist Rosalie Favell, a leading figure in contemporary Indigenous art and photography.
Shenkman Arts Centre, artottawa.ca
This too, shall pass, to Dec. 15. A series of graphite drawings by Mayuko Ono Gray that juxtapose Japanese calligraphic forms with the people, animals, and still-life forms of the artist’s daily life.
77 Pamilla St., spao.ca
Material Futures, to Dec. 15. Photo-based portraiture by four artists who use the human form to explore body politics.
280 Catherine St., g101.ca
Do weeds still grow in Heaven?, to Dec. 14. New textile sculptures and installations by Lan “Florence” Yee.
305 Bank St. wallackgalleries.com
One of Canada’s oldest commercial galleries founded in 1936 by Samuel Wallack, it remains in the Wallack family, continuing to represent contemporary artists working in a wide range of media.
465 Sussex Dr., gordonharrisongallery.com
A boutique gallery of original contemporary Canadian landscapes by artist Gordon Harrison and other guest artists.
293 Dalhousie St., galeriestlaurentplushill.com
A well-established contemporary art gallery, founded in 1977, with a focus on painting, photography, and sculpture.
150 St. Patrick St., galeriejeanclaudebergeron.ca
Founded in 1992 in an historic Victorian home in the ByWard Market by Bergeron, a professional engraver with expertise in original prints.
807 Bank St., jayakrishnanart.com
This light-filled, second-floor space showcases colour-saturated paintings of Jaya Krishnan, a self-taught artist born in Malaysia and a Glebe resident for decades.
13 Murray St., lapaigallery.com
A contemporary Canadian mixed-medium art gallery directed by Lisa A. Pai since 2000, with a sister gallery specializing in jewellery at 497 Sussex Dr.
858 Bank Street, Suite 101., demontigneycontemporary.com
The former Studio Sixty Six was taken over this year by Brendan A. de Montigny and relaunched with the same passion for cutting-edge contemporary art.
422 1/2 Preston St., santinigallery.com
A contemporary art gallery showcasing original, regional artwork, as well as artisan-made home decor and jewelry, curated by owner Lauryn Santini.
2207 Carling Ave., salondesbananes.com
This new addition to the art scene is an avant-garde art exhibition space established by Rich Loen, one of Ottawa’s original tech entrepreneurs. It’s dedicated to immersive and experiential art exhibits, including Loen’s work and that of other artists. Open for events only.
1090 Bank St., wallspacegallery.ca
Emerging and established Canadian artists working in traditional and new media are represented at this contemporary art gallery in Old Ottawa South.
1771 St. Laurent Blvd., koymangalleries.com
The collection at Canada’s largest commercial art gallery consists of more than 5,000 works by some of the country’s top painters and photographers.
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