TONIGHT - NSCAD in Halifax: Start the year in true NSCAD style—good conversation, creative energy, and a chance to reconnect before the NSCAD Public Lecture Series with Hrag Vartanian at the Halifax Central Library (7 p.m.). Join us for a warm-up gathering Thursday, January 22, 5 p.m to 6:30 p.m.
Where: The Derby, 2037 Gottingen St, Halifax. Bring a friend and join the conversation. 

TONIGHT - Visiting Artist Talk: NSCAD will host Hrag Vartanian as part of its Visiting Artist Program. Vartanian is a critic, writer, curator, and lecturer whose work traces the intersections of art, politics, and diasporan consciousness. Co-founder and editor-in-chief of Hyperallergic (2009–), he has reshaped arts journalism by championing criticism and reporting beyond market-driven narratives. He will discuss his approach through projects that probe trauma, displacement, racialization, propaganda, and the social role of art. Vartanian will deliver his public lecture as part of the longstanding NSCAD Public Lecture Series on Thursday, January 22 at 7 p.m. at the Halifax Central Public Library, 5440 Spring Garden Rd., Halifax, NS. Read more.

ART WORK Talk: Please join us on Thursday, January 29, 2026, 1-2 p.m. (Atlantic) for a discussion about the impact and potential of human centred design with Seattle-based UX-designer Lesley Palfreyman (BDes 2002) and interdisciplinary designer John deWolf (BDes 1992). Both have extensive backgrounds in analyzing and deconstructing complex structures and designing understandable and accessible communication systems, for various audiences. Register here.

*Art Work: NSCAD Alumni Talks are supported by TD Insurance

NSCAD in New York - Interim president David B. Smith (BFA 1992) connected with some New York area alumni on January 15 at Factioned, the Brooklyn studio of Max Newroth (BFA 1992). Some other alumni who attended were Shaun Gough (BFA 1995), Rachel Beach (BFA 1998), Luke Murphy (BFA 1988), Lucy Pullen (BFA 1994), Maggie Boyd (BFA 2012), Adrianne Rubenstein (BFA 2006), and Hoover Chung (BFA 1995).  We'll be back!

Exhibition: A solo exhibition by Sojourner Truth Parsons (BFA 2008) is currently showing at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver. In this body of work, Sojourner turns to poetry, intimacy and gardening as acts of devotion. The show is called Louise, in honour of the late, Nobel Prize-winning American poet Louise Glück, whose emotionally complex lyric poetry became both companion and catalyst for Parsons during the creation of several of the artworks on display. The exhibition runs until February 28, 2026 at Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver, 555 Nelson St., Vancouver, BC. Read more.

Award: Alternative Film Festival has selected Barbara Lounder's (MFA 1984) 4-minute film 'May 30' as the Super Short Category Winner, in the Best Experimental North America. 'May 30' was beautifully shot and edited by filmmaker Kate Solar (BFA 2024), and features Alice Brittan as the solo performer, with amazing monologues contributed by Jacinte Armstrong and Misha Horacek. Read more.

Award: Congratulations to Melanie Barnett (MFA 2024) on winning the Alberta Craft Awards 2025 Linda Stanier & Family Memorial Award. Celebrating the life of Linda Stanier, this award honors an Alberta craftsperson for excellence in ceramics. Melanie is a full time, studio-based ceramic artist whose work involves mycology, agronomy and climate science. Melanie demonstrates how ceramics can be used as a method of visual storytelling and speculative world building. Read more.

Exhibition: Paintings by Luke Fair (MFA 2021) are featured in The Smog Holds as We Sleep and Wake an exhibition that emerged from visual research into the unfortunate impacts of one of Canada's worst environmental disasters, caused by the Sydney Steel Mill releasing toxic pollutants over 66 years. The paintings depict ghostly traces of people, architecture, machinery and ecology  through rubbing, erasing, and glazing techniques. There will be an artist talk on Saturday, Jan. 31, 1-2 p.m. The exhibition runs until February 14 at Katzman Art Projects, 5431 Doyle St #102, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: An exhibition of recent paintings by Sara MacCulloch (BFA 1992) called Sun Fog Rain is now on in New York. Sara is inspired by her travels to Nova Scotia’s South Shore and Minas Basin each summer. Through photos and watercolours on site, she documents shifts in light, weather, and the shape of the landscape from year to year, and in her studio makes oil paintings using this material, hoping to capture the feeling of being there. The exhibition runs until February 14 at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, 179 10th Avenue, New York. Read more.

Residency: Toronto-based mixed media artist Jess Riva Cooper (BFA 2004) has been selected as the Gardiner Museum's 2026 Artist in Residence. Cooper's artistic practice centres on clay as a material through which ecological  narratives, mythologies, and human-non-human entanglements can be expressed. During her residency, Cooper will engage with the Gardiner's collection through drawing, close looking and archival research. Read more.

Exhibition: Old and Weird is the New Normal. Ephemera and esoterica from the collection of Ben Skinner (BFA 2006) Featured in this exhibition are various sets of dog breed cards from the 1920s and 1930s each framed in their own unique way. Also on display will be Ben's collection of vintage postcards depicting swimming pools as well as his collection of letter Es. The exhibition runs until January 29 at Kasko Frame Works,560 Clark Dr. Vancouver, BC. Read more.

Exhibition: Industrial Intimacies is a retrospective of work by Cal Lane (BFA 2001). Cal's work plays with social and cultural judgements and the absurdities of what a society decides to value. She uses materials ranging from soil to sandpaper to tires, creating juxtapositions between opposites: utilitarian and aesthetic, industrial and domestic, masculine and feminine. The opening is Saturday, January 24, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The exhibition runs until April 19, 2026. Queen's Square Gallery, 1 N Square, Cambridge, ON. Read more.

Quilting course: Start up your sewing machine! Marilyn Smulders (BFA 2019) will lead this beginner-friendly quilt course that teaches participants to make a traditional block, the Log Cabin. When you think of the word “quilt,” this is the pattern that may come to mind. It’s been made by women for generations. Classes are Saturdays, January 31, 10 a.m. – Noon (Intro Class) & February 14, 21 & 28, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. (Work Sessions), Lunenburg School of the Arts, 6 Prince Street, Lunenburg, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: Hangama Amiri's (BFA 2012) works Bazaar (2020) and The Journalist (2021) will be part of a major exhibition Empire of Light: Visions and Voices of Afghanistan, opening on February 5 at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. The exhibition will be an historical journey through Afghanistan's rich visual cultures from pre-Islamic past to the present. The exhibition runs Feb. 5 to May 30, 2026. Museum of Islamic Art, Off Al Corniche St Doha, Qatar. Read more.

Residency: Martha Wilson (DFA 2013) has been selected as Emily Harvey Foundation artist in residence in Venice, Italy. The Foundation offers residencies in Venice, Italy, for innovative international artists, writers, musicians, videographers, dancers and other creative thinkers with projects in the Fluxus tradition, that blurs the lines between art and life with playful, experimental, and often humorous anti-art events, performances, and objects. Read more.

Exhibition: Best known for his sculptures of everyday objects rendered in unexpected textures or dimensions, NSCAD DFA (2005) Claes Oldenburg (1929–2022) once proclaimed, “I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself.” Claes Oldenburg: Drawn from Life focuses on the artist’s drawings from the 1960s in which he playfully reimagined the spaces—streets, stores, homes—and objects of daily life. The exhibition runs until April 2026 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY. Read more. 

Residency: Laurie Anderson (DFA 2024) recently completed a residency in Iceland, where she performed two shows at Steina Vasulka’s retrospective, in addition to her standalone Republic Of Love show at Harpa. Her contributions to the Steina exhibition included a sound installation called Lou Reed Drones at the Reykjavik Art Museum and a concert featuring violist Martha Mooke and multi-instrumentalist Eyvind Kang at the National Gallery of Iceland. Read more.

Exhibition: What a Sin will feature work by NSCAD assistant professor Leesa Hamilton and Ali Nickerson (BFA 2003) celebrating female resilience, camaraderie, and labour. Inspired by women who hustle, persevere, and lift each other up, her work invites reflection—and a little revelry—in honour of choice, strength, and the joy of being a bit mischievous. Opening reception is Friday, January 23, 6-9 p.m. The exhibition runs Jan. 24 - Mar. 29 at Saint Mary's Art Gallery, 923 Robie St, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Research project: NSCAD design professor Glen Hougan is leading a Brain Canada funded research project called In-Home Dementia-Centred DIY Adaptations and Innovations with Dalhousie University, and the Alzheimer’s Society of Nova Scotia. NSCAD alumni are invited to share their "home-grown" solutions, whether it’s a modified household object, a unique organization system, or a simple DIY fix that improves safety and comfort. To learn more or submit your ideas.

Exhibition: The Mary E. Black Gallery is presenting Staged Space, a contemporary ceramic installation by Neil Forrest (professor emeritus), Julian Covey (BFA 2020), and Krista Grunsky (BFA 2018).There will be an artist talk and light lunch on Wednesday, February 4. The exhibition runs until February 22, 2026 at the Mary E. Black Gallery, 1061 Marginal Rd., Halifax. Read more.

Exhibition: NSCAD alumni are among the artists represented as part of Pre-Shrunk 2026, Argyle Fine Art's annual exhibition featuring hundreds of original, small-scale works from artists across Canada, including paintings, sculptures, and mixed media. All paintings measure 4 by 5 inches and are available for $175 each. The opening is Friday, January 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. The exhibition runs until February 25 at Argyle Fine Art, 1559 Barrington St., Halifax, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: Nova Scotia artist and NSCAD faculty Jeremy Vaughan presents a new collection of work for The Prow Gallery. Ocean Island River Forest is a memorable exhibition exploring the vast landscapes of Nova Scotia, from its rugged coasts to inland rivers and forests, many based on Vaughan’s love of exploring, camping, and kayaking in Kejimkujik National Park. The exhibition opens Thursday, January 22, 5-8 p.m. and runs until February 13. The Prow Gallery, 1479 Lower Water Street, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: The Anna Leonowens Gallery Systems will be showcasing art by MFA candidates in upcoming weeks. Bianca McDonald's graduation exhibition BURNOUT navigates the complexities of the artist's own positionality, calling into question the forces that define rural experience - hyper-masculinity, extractive practices, land-based knowledge, and the culturally embedded narratives of resilience, machismo, and grit. Through sculpture, installation, and performance, McDonald explores desire, grief, violence, fragility, and the shifting intersections of queerness and rurality, examining how the self is shaped by history and place. The exhibition runs January 24 to February 7 at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, 1891 Granville Street, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Call for nominations: The Sobey Art Award 2026 call for nominations is now open. Canada's most established contemporary visual arts prize will recognize 30 Canadian artists from regions spanning the country. The year again, the total prize fund amounts to $465,000. Nominations will be accepted until Saturday, February 14, 2026 at 8 p.m. EST. Nomination form is accessible here.

Call for entries: The Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba and Graffiti Art Programming are excited to invite interested artists to create artwork to be installed on the childhood cancer and blood disorders ward of Children’s Hospital. The goal is to transform 15 inpatient rooms and adjacent spaces on the childhood cancer and blood disorders ward of Children's Hospital into vibrant, healing environments that spark comfort, joy and imagination. Selected artists will receive an honorarium of $3,000. Deadline for applications is Monday, February 2, 4 p.m. CST. (Images: Artist Kal Barteski)  Read more. 

Call for Submissions:  Harbourfront Centre invites artists to submit a design proposal for the creation of a bold, large-scale mural for Toronto’s iconic waterfront. Inspired by the theme A City in Celebration, the mural should showcase Toronto’s vibrant diversity while capturing a spirit of joy and play. The winning mural will be unveiled next summer as World Cup 2026 arrives in the city. Deadline: Friday, March 20, 2026, 11:59pm EST. Read more.

Call for submissions: You're invited to be a part of VANS’ 50th Anniversary logo!  Better Drea.ms Design Studio is designing a logo to capture 50 years of Visual Arts Nova Scotia. Here is Better Drea.ms’ concept brief: “Using 50 unique interpretations of the ‘0’ in ’50’ becomes a living showcase of the talent within the VANS community. Each hand-rendered form reflects a different style, medium, or craft, turning the logo into a gallery”. You can paint, draw, sketch, scribble and/or doodle your design. Below is a template that you can use for your ideas and print out as your submission. Deadline is January 31, 2026. Read more.

Head, Heart, and Hand Alumni Fund: 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. The new Head, Heart, and Hand Fund: Powered by NSCAD Alumni supports 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.