Design Round Table: The Changing Landscape of Design. Join us for a round table discussion with NSCAD alumni and students to explore how design has evolved from aesthetics to systems-thinking: sustainable innovation, human-centred methods, and design education in a tech-driven world. The session will be moderated by Jess Myra (BDes 2008), and will (virtually) feature special guest Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things and a pioneer of human-centred design. This session is open to NSCAD students, alumni, faculty, and staff, as well as design professionals. Wednesday, April 29, 6-8 p.m. at NSCAD's Bell Auditorium, 5163 Duke St., 4th floor, Halifax, N.S. Registration is required. Register here.

Installation: Artist-designer David Peters (BDes 1976) is hosting More Than Wishes, The NSCAD-HaliFAX Connection, an open call for receiving fax messages from the NSCAD community-at-large on the occasion of spring graduation 2026.  A fax machine has been situated in the NSCAD Library, and alumni are invited to send him a one-page message (drawing, diagram, advice, reflection) anytime between Tuesday, May 5 and Tuesday, May 12.  The fax number is: +1-902-404-4207.  A free one-page fax can be sent via apps like TurboFAX and #FAX.  The scrolls of faxes will be displayed in the Library, on NSCAD social media channels, and shared at graduation. David will often be onsite to receive your fax messages, and appreciates visitors.

MAYHEM events: Each spring, NSCAD’s campus, studios, and galleries come alive with MAYHEM—a season-long celebration of student work and achievement across Art, Craft, Media, and Design. Highlights of activities include:
Student Film Screening (Wednesday, April 22), Park Lane Cinema
Student Art Award and Celebration (Thursday, April 23), Anna Leonowens 
Student Fashion Showcase (Sunday, April 26), Alderney Landing (SOLD OUT)
NSCAD Design Week (April 27-30) 
NSCAD Design Shift Awards presented by Verecan (Thursday, April 30)
2026 Graduation Exhibition Closing Reception (Monday, May 11), Anna Leonowens. Check out the full schedule of events.

Award: The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) and the Sobey Art Foundation (SAF) recently revealed the 30 Canadian contemporary visual artists who have been longlisted for the 2026 Sobey Art Award, representing a diverse cross-section of talent from every corner of the country. Two NSCAD alumni were on the list - Kelly Lycan (BFA 1992) and Carrie Allison (BFA 2014, MFA 2018). Congratulations to these two talented artists!! Read more.

Award: Congratulations to Carrie Allison (BFA 2014, MFA 2018), who is one of five winners of the Rewilding Arts Prize, presented by The David Suzuki Foundation in partnership with Rewilding Magazine. The Rewilding Arts Prize honours artists in Canada whose work shines a light on rewilding — restoring and revitalizing our connections with nature, culture and community. Each winner will receive $2,000 prize and a feature story in Rewilding Magazine. Read more.

Award: Undine Foulds (BFA 2021) was selected as one of the finalists for the 2026 Winnifred Shantz Award for Ceramics, the only national award for emerging ceramic artists in Canada. This summer, the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery will feature the winner and finalists in its annual Emergence exhibition alongside the winner and finalists of the RBC Award for Glass. An opening reception presenting the 2026 awards will be held on Thursday, May 28, 2026, 6 – 8 p.m. at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, 25 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, ON. Read more. 

Exhibition: Ivan Murphy's (BDes 1992) exhibition ORIGINS encompasses two years of studio practice, from his residency in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland to the present day. Ivan's work is based on memory of place or experience. He rarely sketches on site or refers to photographs, but allows space to develop between immediate experience and studio work. This gap allows impressions to develop and personal, material, and formal priorities to emerge. The exhibition runs until April 25 at Katzman Art Projects, 5431 Doyle St #102, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: The Lunenburg School of the Arts is pleased to present Circle of Friends by Hangama Amiri (BFA 2012). The exhibition features a selection of works from Hangama’s recent exhibition COOPER COLE contemporary art gallery in Toronto. The textiles and drawings in the exhibit portray portraits of Hangama Amiri’s friends, colleagues, and professors within the New Haven and New York communities. Adopting this deeply personal approach, she found fascination in her sitters reclaiming their own mise en scène. Throughout the series, she sought to explore how each sitter wished to be perceived within the comfort of their homes, studios, workplaces, or public spaces. Artist remarks and opening reception: Saturday, April 25th, 2026, at 2 p.m. The exhibition runs April 25 to May 30 at the Lunenburg School of the Arts, 6 Prince St. Lunenburg, NS.  Read more.

Photo by Steven Hunter

Award: Mollie Cronin's (BA 2015) FUTURE ME IS FAT was selected for the short list for the 2026 Cartoonist Studio Prize from The Centre for Cartoon Studies. In a moving yet playful treatise on fatphobia, Cronin uses a time-travel dialogue with her past and future selves to interrogate destructive norms, diet culture, and internalized shame, and to vividly imagine a future of fat liberation in which bodies like her own can exist comfortably on their own terms. Congratulations Mollie. Read more.

Exhibition: David Zwirner Gallery will present an exhibition of Gerhard Richter’s celebrated photorealist landscape paintings from the 1960s to the 2000s, which are displayed alongside a considered selection of works from his series of Abstrakte Bilder (Abstract Paintings, 1976–2017). Gerhard Richter: Landschaften is curated by David Zwirner and David Leiber, a partner at the gallery, in close collaboration with the artist. The exhibition features loans from significant private and museum collections, including paintings that were recently on view in the artist’s acclaimed retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, in 2025–2026, as well as works lent from Richter’s personal collection.The exhibition runs May 7 to July 10 at David Zwirner's 537 West 20th Street location in New York. Read more.

Gerhard Richter. © Werner Bartsch

Award: piyyut, a long form poem by NSCAD faculty Sol Nagler, with illustrations by Angela Henderson (MFA 2016) and published by Jayme Spinks (MDes 2015), was recently selected as the winner in the poetry book category at the prestigious Alcuin Society Book Design Awards. piyyut will tour across Canada with a collection of the other winners from other genres. A set of the winning books are sent to Stiftung Buchkunst in Germany who organizes the exhibition of these books at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Leipzig Book Fair and where they are Canada’s entries in the international design competition held in Leipzig. Read more.

Exhibition: Work by jeweller Sarah Sears (BFA 2012) and visual artist Meghan MacDonald (BFA 2012) is featured as part of The Harbourview Motel, an exhibition running May 8 to July 12. Opening reception will happen on Friday, May 8 from 6-9 p.m. at Saint Mary's Art Gallery, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Book launch: Michael Eddy (BFA 2005) is about to launch his debut novel Koh-i-Noor, to be published in May 2026 by Book*Hug Press (Toronto). Written with great humour and self-awareness, Koh-i-Noor is a satirical coming-of-age tale about a well-intentioned youth determined to change the world. There are several book launches scheduled in May. Toronto: Tuesday, May 12, 7 p.m. at Critical Distance Centre for Curators, Suite 122, 401 Richmond Street West, Toronto, ON. Michael will be joined by Rotterdam-based artist, writer and researcher David Maroto to discuss novels and artist novels. 
Montreal: Wednesday, May 20 at 6:30 p.m. at 2026 at Galerie Nicolas Robert, 4653 Boulevard St-Laurent, Montréal, QC. Eddy will be joined by Montreal-based filmmaker and writer Lorraine Price to discuss storytelling and personal histories. A launch in Halifax will be confirmed. Read more.

Exhibition: Wiebke Schroeder's (VAC 2017, BFA 2020, MFA 2023) next solo exhibition, RECALCITRANCE, presents a body of work exploring the environmental afterlives of plastic waste collected from Nova Scotia’s shorelines. Through lens-based, post-photographic, and sculptural approaches, the work transforms discarded plastics into speculative forms and uncanny, vital entities — ghostly technofossils. The exhibition opening is Thursday, April 30, 5-7 p.m. There will be an artist talk on Saturday, May 9 at noon. The exhibition runs until May 24 at The Craig Gallery, 2 Ochterloney St., Dartmouth, NS. Read more.

Donation: Well-known artist Jim Dine recently donated 55 etchings to the printmaking department at NSCAD. Rather than hiding in an archive, this in-kind gift (worth $71,000 USD) from the Jim Dine Trust is intended to be used in classrooms as a teaching resource. The collection was officially received at NSCAD before a classroom of printmaking students on a video call with the artist himself. “This collection will be an invaluable instructional tool for printmaking students, says Mark Bovey, Chair of Fine Art and Printmaking Professor. Read more.

Award: NSCAD University is thrilled to announce the nine finalists for the 2026 Student Art Award. The Student Art Award recognizes the exceptional works made by NSCAD students across nine disciplines. The winning artist receives a $5,000 purchase prize, funded by TD Insurance, with their artwork added to a special section of NSCAD’s Permanent Collection. The remaining finalists will receive $1,000 each, thanks to support from generous donors. The nominees are:

• Ceramics - Liam Miron
• Drawing - Myles West
• Film - Wanjiru Njoroge
• Jewelry - Kai Shen
• Painting - Petra Bouwers
• Photo - Tovah Williams
• Printmaking - Mary-Sue Scratch
• Sculpture - Bianca McDonald
• Textiles - Abby Spooner

The Student Art Award nominees will show their work at the Anna Leonowens Gallery from April 21 – 25. The award winner will be named on Thursday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m. in a celebration at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, 1891 Granville Mall, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Contest: Graduating student Ezra Saad is the winner of the first ever NSCAD Alumni Ring Design Challenge. Last week, voting opened for the three final designs, and students had the chance to select their favourite ring design. Ezra’s design came out on top! As the contest winner, Ezra will receive a free sterling silver Make Your Mark alumni ring featuring their design. Their winning piece will be showcased at the Convocation Ceremony on Tuesday, May 12, and will also be available for purchase. Graduating students and alumni can order their alumni ring through the Art Supply Store.

Book: What Seas Sing Through Our Bones: Passages through Canada, the United States and Mexico is a new book of poetry by NSCAD faculty member, Karin Cope.
What Seas Sing Through Our Bones is a journey poem and a queer love story that unfolds during a time of war, censorship and extreme border control. Karin's book is available online, at independent bookstores, and in the NSCAD library. Read more.

Call for Nominations: NSCAD University invites nominations for Honorary Degrees and Life Fellowships to be awarded in 2027. Honorary degrees are reserved for individuals whose exceptional achievement and sustained excellence have made a significant and lasting contribution to the art and design world, culture, or society at large. Life Fellowships recognize those whose long‑standing dedication and service have had a meaningful impact on NSCAD University. Nominations for 2027 consideration must be submitted by May 15, 2026. All nominations received by the deadline will be reviewed by the Honorary Degree Committee as part of its annual deliberations. Nominate someone.

Exhibition: A new body of work by NSCAD Assistant Professor of Photography Patryk Stasieczek is being exhibited at Wil Aballe in Vancouver, BC. The exhibition, for that gob casts the image, is part of Capture Photography Festival's Selected Exhibition Program and runs until May 23 at Wil Aballe, 1375 Railspur Alley, Vancouver, BC. Read more.

Photo documentation by Micheal Love, courtesy of Wil Aballe.

Expression of interest: Nocturne is requesting Expressions of Interest for a 2028 Festival Curator. Curator(s) will develop a vision/theme for the festival and will curate the Anchor Project program. Nocturne’s Anchor Project program consists of site-specific installations and performance art activations at sites across Halifax and Dartmouth. The selected applicant(s) will receive a curatorial fee of $10,000 CAD for development of the theme, selection of artists, and administration of the curator-selected Anchor Project program. Learn more.

Call for proposals: Norwegian Crafts is now welcoming editorial proposals for The Vessel 12 STUDIO. Guest editors are invited to apply for the twelfth issue of The Vessel, with the theme ‘STUDIO’. The issue is the final issue in a series of three: ‘HOME’, ‘GARDEN’ and ‘STUDIO’, published in 2025 and 2026, featuring different guest editors and contributors. Deadline for proposals is April 30. Read more.

Call for submissions: The Carnegie Gallery presents exhibitions of fine art and craft from regional and national artists and craftspersons. Submissions for solo or group exhibitions are juried annually by the peer-review Exhibition Selection Committee, which consists of current Carnegie Gallery Artists and Members of the Board. We are looking for exhibitions of contemporary fine art and craft which meet a high level of conception, design and execution. Submissions will be accepted from April 1 to May 31st annually through the online Submission for Exhibitions Form (accessible only during this time). Read more.

Exhibition: If These Trees Could Talk, a public art exhibition by NSCAD University students is currently on view in Point Pleasant Park, Halifax. This year’s Point Pleasant Park Project features a compelling series of site-responsive installations and performances that invite visitors to explore the relationship between art, nature, and public space. Engaging directly with the landscape and history of the park, student artists respond to this year’s theme: the many ways in which nature and the environment communicate images and narratives back to us. Runs until May 14. Read more. 

Saltscapes Expo: NSCAD graduating students and some recent alumni will be showing and selling their work in ceramics, jewellery, painting, printmaking and photography at Saltscapes Spring Expo, Friday, April 24 until Sunday April 26. Thanks to Saltscapes for generously donating tables to give our students and recent graduates this professional development opportunity. The Saltscapes Expo takes place at the Halifax Exhibition Centre, 200 Prospect Rd., Goodwood, NS.Learn more.

New courses: NSCAD Extended Studies has introduced new courses for spring 2026. Courses include:
-Handbuilding: Tulipieres and Flower Bricks
-Handmade Home
-Introductory Digital Illustration
-Landscape Photography
-Nature Studies in Gouache
-The Clothed Figure Online
-Urban Landscape Painting
-Watercolour Painting: Poison & Petals: Dark Botanicals Online
To learn more and register.

Merch Madness: NSCAD branded merch is 30% off (excluding the Make Your Mark Alumni Ring) until May 17, 2026 to celebrate our amazing graduates! The discount is available in store and online. Check out the merch.

The new Head, Heart, and Hand Fund -- Powered by NSCAD Alumni: As NSCAD alumni, we know the value of what our university community gave us — spaces to create, mentors who inspired us, and experiences that shaped our lives. Now, we have a chance to give back in a way that ensures those opportunities remain vibrant for future students. We've created an alumni fund dedicated to supporting what makes NSCAD exceptional—studio access, creative spaces, mentorship, and experiences that aren’t covered by the operating budget.  Supporting this new philanthropic initiative is a simple but powerful way to make an even bigger impact. Donate here.