Call for Nominations: The NSCAD Alumni Association is looking for new board members to start in September. This is an opportunity to get involved with NSCAD, support our alumni community, and collaborate with peers. Nominations are now open for new leadership roles: President and Secretary. You can nominate yourself or another alumnus. 

Deadline: Aug. 20, 11:59 p.m. (Atlantic). Nomination form here. 

AGM SAVE THE DATE
Sept. 17, 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. (Atlantic)

TIFF Selection: Congratulations to Bretten Hannam (BFA 2008), Jason Levangie (BFA 2004) and all our amazing alumni who worked on SK+TE’KMUJUE’KATIK (AT THE PLACE OF GHOSTS). The film has been selected to the Toronto International Film Festival's (TIFF) 2025 Platform Programme. Films in this programme are eligible for the Platform Award, which is selected by an international jury. The winning filmmaker will receive a $20,000 CAD cash prize which will be presented as part of the TIFF awards ceremony on the last day of the Festival on  Sept. 14. Read more.

Award: Congratulations to Jen Pilon (2006-2007) winner of the inaugural Jane LeBlanc Legacy Craft Award. The Fundy, New Brunswick based ceramic artist and educator was awarded $1,200 to purchase a kiln that will help her create and launch small-batch, intentionally crafted 6-piece dinner sets. Jen is also working on collaborating with a local wedding venue to pilot a reusable rental model for handmade dinnerware. Read more.

Fellowship: Joël Brodovsky-Adams (VAC 2021) was named a 2025 Artist Fellow at the prestigious Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York. He is in the midst of a six-month residency through MAD’s highly competitive Artist Studios program. 
The Artist Studios program is the only residency of its kind in New York City, offering museum visitors a rare opportunity to engage with artists as they work on site. Read more.

Artist in Residence: Congrats to Carrie Phillips Kieser (MFA 2022), the next artist in residence with the Landfall Trust in Brigus, Nfld. Carrie’s pieces explore the porous boundaries between self and environment, navigating the delicate ecosystems we inhabit with care, devotion, and contemplative precision. Read more.

Book: The original 'art brat' Mollie Cronin (BA 2015) is headed back to the Maritimes for a series talks during August to launch her debut book: 
Future Me is Fat. The book is published by Conundrum Press and is currently available for pre-order. Join Mollie on Aug. 6, 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. for a book launch event coinciding with Gallery Hop. Mollie will be on an Atlantic book tour in Aug. details. Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 703 Queen Street Fredericton, NB. Read more.

Biz News: Bear River Mercantile is celebrating it's first birthday. Created by Anna-Marie Larsen (BFA 1985), the shop features the work of Krista Grunsky (BFA 2018), Leslie Armstrong (BFA 1975/Former Faculty), and Tim Worthington (MFA 1977).  The store showcases what it's like to live in Atlantic Canada and the amazing handmade products created in this region. Read more

Alumni Profile: From experimental fashion to ‘smart textiles’ Pedro Loredo (MDes 2023) tests the boundaries of wearable design. For 
Pedro design has always been collaborative, human-centred, and open to all types of art and craft. Pedro really appreciated NSCAD’s unique, personal approach to design. “NSCAD encourages you to look at your creative practice from a personal perspective. In Latin America we were taught that you cannot be a parameter for what you design, but NSCAD encouraged me to design from my own lived experiences.  It’s called auto ethnography.” Read more.

In the News: Explore how one Nova Scotian artist started making tapestries out of lobster bands. Carley Mullally 
(BFA 2015) recently completed a residency at Creative Pictou County where they worked with marine refuse. Taking their inspiration from traditional Maritime textiles Carley makes tapestries that speak of waste, sustainability and place. Read more.

In the News: Adrienna Matzeg (BFA 2014) was recently featured on CBC. In her interview the Toronto-based textile artist talks about her found inspiration in Nova Scotia and her punch-needle embroidery series The Scenic Route that highlights summer road trips on the east coast. Watch here.

In the News: An article by Marilyn Smulders (BFA 2019) was recently published in Canadian Quilter magazine. From Rural Roots to Runways: A Made-in-Canada Quilting Revival features an interview with Suttles & Seawinds founder Vicki Lynn Bardon about the start of her Mahone Bay, NS company more than 50 years ago. Read more.

In the News: The Halifax Mural Festival brought the downtown to life with artists and public art from July 5 to 13. Participating artist included: Victoria Brumwell (BFA 2013), Maddie Alexander (MFA 2020), Ghettosocks - Darren Pyper (BFA 2006), Jason Skinner (BFA 2006), 
Craig Baltzer (BFA 2005), Hunter Fournier (2001 - 2004), Duane Jones (BDes Honours 2004) and David Andresen (2009 - 2014). Read more. 

Festival: Sappyfest 20’s annual music and art festival is coming soon! The festival showcases music, art, and conversations, and creates real and ongoing connections between artists and audience members. Participants include: Mollie Cronin (BA 2015), 
Andrew Maize (BFA 2011), Alan Syliboy (1975) and his band the Thundermakers, Colleen Coco Collins (BFA 2001), Marco D'Andrea (BFA 2005), and many more. Aug. 1- 3, Sackville, NB. Read more.

Biennale: The 2025 Bonavista Biennale String Games invites artists and visitors to consider what ties them to place. The event is curated by Dr. Heather Igloliorte (BFA 2003) 
working with Rose Bouthillier, Artistic Director; and Sue Balint, Executive Director. Many of the featured artists are from islands or remote locales, where isolation has fostered closely-knit communities, ingenuity, and interdependence. Aug 16 - Sept. 14, Bonavista, NL. Read more.

Exhibition: Food for Thought is the first solo exhibition of encaustic (hot wax painting) works by Natasha Martel (MFA 2022). After working in abstraction, Natasha is now exploring the world of food and meaning behind it. Until July 27. Arbor Gallery,103 High St, Vankleek Hill, ON. Read more.

Exhibition: we tend to care, Carrie Allison (BFA/BA 2014, MFA 2018). 
Works in the exhibition explore how the care we put into parks, gardens, and farms is connected to past systems of power and control, especially from colonial times. Even something simple like a lawn can reveal deeper problems in society. Artist talk and community bead night: July 29, 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Until Nov. 23. Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, 9839 103 Ave, Grande Prairie, AB. Read more.

Exhibition: July Opening, a solo exhibition of large-scale charcoal drawings by Curtis Botham (BFA 2017), explores Nova Scotia's dependence on resources, especially fishing, as well as the issues of labour and environment connected with the fishing industry. His goal is to avoid the traditional touristy images of coastal life. Runs until July 29. Tides Contemporary Arts Gallery, 401 D Main Street, Kentville, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: The Third Jewel
group show organized by Barbara Berry (former Faculty). Artists in the exhibition are united by their connection to Tibetan Buddhism, as it has been presented and taught in North America. Featuring: Leya Evelyn (Former Faculty), Odessa Spore BFA (1995), Steven Peters (VAC 2012), Ethan Neville (BFA 2001) and others, the works are diverse in media, form and intent, but are all influenced in some way by Buddhist thought, meditation and philosophy. Artist Talk/Closing: Aug. 3, 2 p.m. Hermes Gallery, 5682 North St., Halifax, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: NSCAD Ceramics presents Figments of the Imagination, curated by Rachel de Conde (BFA 2003 / Faculty). Each piece offers a glimpse into the artist’s world: intimate, imaginative, and technically compelling. Featuring: Kwame Owusu Brobbey (MFA 2025), Cameryn Mattie (BFA 2025), Marit Kershaw (BFA 2025), Goldie Vinella (BFA 2025), Samantha Holyk (BFA 2024), Becca Devenish (BFA 2024), Audrey O'Neil (BFA 2025), Olivia Fay (BFA 2023), Stef Hurley (VAC 2025), Annika Sinclair (current student), Gina Stick (current student), Sara Wonnacott (current student), Mykaela Shandro (BFA 2024) & 
Gracia Gómez Cantoya (MFA 2025). Reception: Aug. 6, 4:30 p.m., Closing: Aug. 12. Mary E. Black Gallery, 1061 Marginal Rd, Unit 104, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: Critically acclaimed Mi’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy (1975) presents a new exhibit that bridges decades of his career. From the Archives to the Easel will feature a curated selection of his earlier works alongside a new bold collection of paintings. The artist will be in attendance at the opening event on Aug. 7, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Runs until Aug 29. The Prow Gallery, 1479 Lower Water St Unit 185, Halifax, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: The wind within the trees, works by Jack Bishop (BFA 2007). Jack talks about the role driving plays in his work "Driving is a subject matter I seem to keep coming back to, maybe from a sense of nostalgia or romanticism, it’s like going to my happy place. I used to say I knew every stretch of ditch between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and so now I try to paint these scenes from memory. I still listen to cd’s in the car, driving through the landscape and searching for some sense of meaning." Runs until Aug 12. Katzman Art Projects, 5431 Doyle St.,#102, Halifax, NS Read more.

Exhibition: Mutations is an exhibition of recent paintings by Shannon Finley (BFA 1999). Over several decades, Shannon has perfected a unique visual language of layered  luminous fields and cascading geometries. His compositions do not feel constructed, but cultivated; a self-propagating organism rather than a finalized object. Runs until Aug 15. Miles McEnery Gallery, 511 West 22nd St., New York, NY. Read more. 

Exhibition: The Presence of Trees is an exhibition of paintings, prints, and drawings spanning decades of observation and creation by Anna Syperek (BFA 1980) and Linda Johns. The exhibition ran at the Saint John Art Centre in Saint John, NB in May and June and will open in Tatamagouche Aug 1 at 7 p.m.  It runs until Aug 19. Fraser Northumberland Arts, 362 Main St., Tatamagouche, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: Step into the world of internationally acclaimed artist Joan Jonas (DFA 2025) in We Come From the Sea, a powerful and immersive multi-sensory exhibition featuring her installation Moving Off the Land II. The work invites visitors to experience the ocean as never before — not just as a place, but as a living, breathing part of themselves. Artist talk: Aug. 24, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. Inverness County Centre For The Arts, 16080 Nova Scotia Trunk 19, Inverness, NS. Read more. 

Exhibition:The Blue Building Summer Show features works by Tim Brennan (BFA 1995), Lucie Chan (MFA 2001), Sandra Brownlee (BFA 1971), Kayza DeGraff-Ford (BFA 2021), Ryan Josey (BFA/BA 2016), Mitchell Wiebe (MFA 1996), Michael Fernandes (Faculty) and more. Until Aug. 30. Blue Building Gallery, 2482 Maynard St., Halifax, NS. Read more.

Exhibition: In his exhibition Magpie in a Multiverse, Terry Graff (MFA 1981, MA 1991) uses found objects to create works of assemblage art that are expense free. This exhibition challenges notions of throw-away culture, turning scavenged recycled objects into reflections of nature and wildlife. The exhibition has three parts presented simultaneously at three different art galleries in New Brunswick. Magpie in a Multiverse (Part #1) July 4 – Aug. 30, Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre, St. Andrews. Magpie in a Multiverse (Part #2) July 11 – Aug. 2, Gallery on Queen, Fredericton. Magpie in a Multiverse (Part #3) 
July 17 – Sept. 5, Art-Artiste, Dieppe. Read more.

Departure: Interim President and Provost Jana Macalik bids farewell to NSCAD at the end of her term. “I’ve witnessed first-hand how staff, faculty, and students rally together when the path forward is unclear, and how leadership often emerges from every corner of the institution, not just the top,” Macalik wrote in a farewell message to staff and faculty. "I love this place, and I’ll miss it deeply.” CFO Leanne Dowe was appointed Interim President starting July 1. Read more. 

Gallery News: On average, most galleries and museums only show a quarter of their collection to the public at any given time. NSCAD’s permanent collection is almost entirely in storage – but now with the digitization of NSCAD’s historic Lithography Workshop, it is starting to be made available to the public for the first time. Read more.

In the News: Faced with tightening US immigration policies, more American students are applying to Canadian art schools. NSCAD was cited as an example in a recent 
ARTnews story, saying it has seen significantly more interest, applications, and acceptances this year. Read more.

Residency: NSCAD's  Sow to Sew Project, in partnership with the Flax Fibre to Fabric Project, will host the Sow to Sew Summer 2025 Artist Residency focused on flax and linen this June. The three artists selected for the residency are: Charlotte Little, Maggie Sigrid Wilde and Sonia Chow (BDes 1995, MFA 2022). The residency invites makers to investigate the material qualities of flax fibre and its by-products to promote sustainable textile production and circular making. Read more.