by Michelle Greysen

Created on: February 05, 2010

The Canadian contemporary art scene is vibrant and alive with opportunities for artists in all mediums. The National Gallery of Canada opened in 1880 in the capital of Ottawa and after many moves over the past century it sits in its regal location viewed from Parliament Hill. One of the oldest national cultural institutions,  in 2000 it was deemed one of the top 500 buildings produced in the last millennium. The gallery holds among other prestigious works, a strong collection of contemporary Canadian art and organizes traveling exhibits across Canada and worldwide.

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is a not-for-profit agency in the City of Toronto to exhibit, research, collect and promote innovative art by Canadian  artist and provide a forum for emerging artists considered ground-breaking or influential in their works. The current exhibitions include the works of Will Gorlitz, a Professor in the Studio Art Program at the University of Guelph, his work has been shown both nationally and internationally. His paints and installations from modest to enormous commanding scale are said to examine “ … the purpose of representation, presentation and interpretation in the world of images and image-making.”

The Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art is working to broaden public awareness of the leading professional artists shaping the Canadian art scene. The Centre is tackling a huge project by creating a data base currently holding over 50,000 images and counting of works of Canadian artists and designers, writers and curators country wide.

One of the most prestigious awards for Canadian artist is the The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are one of Canada's foremost distinctions for excellence in the arts. Recent winners of established artists included Kenojuak Ashevak a print maker and sculptor from Nunavut, Serge Giguere a documentary film maker from Quebec, Michel Goulet a sculptor from Quebec, Alex Janvier a painter from Alberta, Tanya Mars an interdisciplinary artist from Ontario and Eric Metcalfe also an interdisciplinary artist from Vancouver, Chantal Gilbert a jeweler from Quebec.

A national directory of Canadian Artist, art galleries, associations and art resources are gathered online at the Canadian Artists, Art Galleries & resources site, Artist In Canada, where on can search artists by style and location. Art in Canada is very diverse and has many dedicated forms such as Aboriginal forms to carvers, ceramics, digital, film, glass, mixed media, photographers, print makers, textiles and so much more.

For up and coming students of art Canada offers a prestigious selection of Art Colleges and Institutions along with many associations to help in selecting the right fit. Once such group is CARFAC Ontario founded in the 1960’s as a Canadian Artists’ Representation offering support for issues facing visual artist such as legal and economic issues by developing policies, publications and services to assist the artists and the industry as a whole to better support and promote Canadian Artists. The group offers a complete list of links to the many respected  Art Schools in Canada on their CARFAC website. 

Learn more about this author, Michelle Greysen.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.