After amalgamation in 2001, artworks from the Region of Ottawa–Carleton and 11 municipalities were brought together as one art collection. Today, the City of Ottawa Art Collection is comprised of more than 3,500 artworks created by over 900 artists including Shahla Bahrami, Jennifer Dickson, Lorraine Gilbert, Adrian Göllner, Yousuf Karsh, Farouk Kaspaules, Meryl McMaster, Nadia Myre, Cynthia O’Brien, and Annie Pootoogook.
The City of Ottawa collects artworks that demonstrate creativity and innovation. New artworks are added to the collection by purchase, donation and commission based on a peer assessment committee’s recommendation. Public art commissions accompany major capital projects such as Ottawa on the Move and Confederation Line. By presenting art in public spaces, the City of Ottawa Art Collection enriches communities, supports local artists and forms a visual art history of the Ottawa area.
Artwork from this collection is presented at over 170 public sites across Ottawa! Library branches, community centres, parks, playgrounds, employment centres, transit stations and City Hall display artwork for residents. Search your Collection!
Check back regularly. New items will be added to the faceted search tool.
Images (left to right): locomOtion, Erratic Field, The Spirit of OC Transpo, Morphology
Metamorphosis: 2022 Additions to the City of Ottawa Art Collection (installation view at City Hall Art Gallery), photo: City of Ottawa
This competition is now closed.
Ottawa is built on un-ceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory. The peoples of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation have lived on this territory for millennia. Their culture and presence have nurtured and continue to nurture this land. The City of Ottawa honours the peoples and land of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation. The City of Ottawa honours all First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and their valuable past and present contributions to this land.
The City of Ottawa Public Art Program invites professional artists, and their representatives, to offer existing artworks for purchase. Applications are reviewed by a peer assessment committee and artworks recommended for purchase will become part of the City of Ottawa Art Collection. Artworks from this diverse collection are presented in over 170 public sites across Ottawa. Direct Purchase is a competitive program for participants to offer artwork for purchase to the City of Ottawa.
Before submitting your application, please review the Eligibility section below.
Professional artists must have completed specialized training in their artistic field or be recognized by their peers as a professional artist.
Participants must either be the author of the artwork or must represent the author of the artwork.
Artists must live, or have lived, within a 150 km radius of Ottawa or the artwork must have a local connection (please indicate this in the Artist Statement or Artistic Résumé).
Artists must be committed to their artistic practice.
Artists must have created a body of work outside of basic training.
Artists who identify as Anishinabe Algonquin.
The City of Ottawa supports cultural activity that is inclusive of Ottawa's equity-deserving communities, including people from diverse ancestries, abilities, ages, countries of origin, cultures, genders, incomes, languages, races and sexual identities. The City of Ottawa recognizes the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation as Ottawa’s Indigenous Host Nation. The City of Ottawa is committed to supporting cultural activities that respond to the Calls to Action put forward in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report. Applications from members of the Anishinabe Algonquin Host Nation, First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists and curators are welcome and encouraged. The City of Ottawa recognizes both official languages as having the same rights, status and privileges.
Applications are assessed by a Peer Assessment Committee according to:
The Public Art Program will send you a confirmation email when your application has been received and processed. If you do not receive an email from the Public Art Program within two weeks after your submission, please contact us for confirmation.
All participants will be notified by email of the results of the first stage of the 2023 Direct Purchase by August 2023.
Results are final. Due to the volume of applications received, artistic feedback will not be provided.
If your application is not successful, you are encouraged to try again!
The peer assessment committee is comprised of new members for each competition. If your artwork was not recommended for purchase understand that your submission may have been supported but the Direct Purchase’s limited budget cannot fund all applicants, regardless of their merit.
The artist shall retain the copyright of the artworks. Moral rights also remain with the artist. The City of Ottawa will seek copyright permission to reproduce images of the artwork for non-commercial purposes.
Personal information in your application is collected under the authority of the City Council approved Public Art Policy. Personal information will only be used for evaluating your application and administering the City of Ottawa Public Art Program. City of Ottawa employees and peer assessment committee members are required to treat both the content of applications and the deliberations of the committee as confidential. Committee members turn in their copies of materials for shredding and delete their computer files at the end of the peer assessment meeting.
Erica Chi
Erica.chi@ottawa.ca
613-244-4434
Sarah Patterson
sarahm.patterson@ottawa.ca
613-244-4384
For general information about the City of Ottawa Public Art Program or technical issues contact publicartprogram@ottawa.ca.
Accessible formats and communication supports are available upon request. If you are unable to view documents or require alternative file formats, please complete an Accessible Documents Request Form.
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How may we see ourselves reflected in the Canadian landscape throughout space and time?
Summer 2023 to Winter 2024
Birks buildings, 111 Sparks Street, Ottawa
Window spaces at Sparks and Metcalfe
This exhibition brings together five pieces from Don Kwan’s photo series Quiet Resistance, Reclaiming Space (2022 to present) by curator Ashley Carmichael. Each depicts an iconic Canadian landscape framed by a traditional Chinese lantern panel.
The images displayed on the three west windows feature landscapes from across Canada. The east windows include sites from around the artist’s studio and home in the Ottawa Valley. By reframing these locations, Kwan expresses solidarity with marginalized groups. He sheds light on the struggles faced by marginalized communities, particularly Chinese Canadians, and addresses the ongoing fight for recognition, equality, and a sense of belonging.
Don Kwan is a queer third-generation Chinese Canadian visual artist based in Ottawa. His artworks investigate Chinese Canadian diasporic experiences, especially as they concern identity, belonging, and place. He has exhibited his works across the nation. In 2022, he exhibited his works in the show Landscape, Loss, and Legacy at the Ottawa Art Gallery. During the same year, he was awarded the Peter Honeywell Mid-Career Artist Award by the Ottawa Arts Council.
Ashley Carmichael (b. 1996) is an Ottawa-based art historian and emerging curator of Filipinx, Finnish, and Scottish heritage. Her research and curatorial interests are constantly changing; she is currently examining human relationships and interactions with nature and the environment. She recently co-curated Where We Stand (2022) at the Carleton University Art Gallery, an exhibition that explores concepts of place-making, and how artists create and shape particular places for themselves.
Fall 2022 and Winter 2023
Bates and Birks buildings
Window spaces at Sparks and Metcalfe
101-111 Sparks Street, Ottawa
Artwork details (left to right):
Barry Ace, Shaman's Medicine Lodge, 2019, mixed media on paper, City of Ottawa Art Collection, 2020-0014, photo: David Barbour;
Shelby Lisk, Still Now Here We Are, 2018, hide, beads, string, courtesy of the artist;
Nadia Myre, Respite 03, 2017, digital print and Plexiglas, City of Ottawa Art Collection, 2020-0042
Beaded works are meticulously created using a variety of hand-stitching techniques, or with the use of tools such as looms. Every technique creates different patterns, ranging from geometric to floral. Different Indigenous groups have their distinct traditional patterns passed down through generations.
These artworks come together to showcase the beauty, intricacy, and diversity of Indigenous beadwork. Beading has many traditional purposes, such as ceremony, ornamentation, and communication; and these contemporary artworks were meticulously pieced together in order to address the pertinent issues of today.
This exhibition showcases enlarged artworks by Indigenous artists from the City of Ottawa Art Collection and an artist who recently exhibited at Karsh-Masson Gallery.
Biographies
Barry Ace is a debendaagzijig (citizen) of M’Chigeeng First Nation, Odawa Mnis (Manitoulin Island), Ontario, Canada. His work embraces the impact of the digital age and how it exponentially transforms and infuses Anishinaabeg culture with new technologies and new ways of communicating. His work bridges historical and contemporary knowledge, art, and power.
Shelby Lisk is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and photographer with roots in Kenhtè:ke (Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory) whose art practice is grounded in her connection to and place in the world as a Kanyen’kehá:ka woman.
Nadia Myre is a member of the Algonquin First Nation of Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. She brings to light the social and political struggles of Indigenous peoples. The works in the series Meditation (Respite) incorporate beadwork that make thematic connections with cosmic elements.
Winter and Spring 2022
Bates and Birks buildings
Window spaces at Sparks and Metcalfe
101-111 Sparks Street, Ottawa
Anchored in contemporary reality, Moments of Respite shares histories and insights into Inuit identity from East to West. The work by Brian Adams and Annie Pootoogook captures the community's continuance and the richness of their cultural practices.
ᓄᖅᑲᖓᓐᓇᐅᑎᓪᓗᒍ ᑕᑯᒃᓴᐅᑎᑕᐅᕙᖕᓂᐊᖅᑐ (Inuktitut)
(left to right) Brian Adams, Marie Rexford, Kaktovik, Alaska (detail), 2015, medium format film, courtesy of the artist
Annie Pootoogook, A Friend Visits (detail), 2008, lithograph on paper, City of Ottawa Art Collection, 2018-0001, photo: David Barbour
(left to right) Brian Adams, Sylvester Swan Jr., Kivalina, Alaska (detail), 2007, medium format film, courtesy of the artist
Annie Pootoogook, Composition (Jigging for Fish) (detail), 2006, coloured pencil and ink on paper, Collection of the Ottawa Art Gallery: purchased with the support of OAG Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2018, photo: Justin Wonnacott
Brian Adams (detail), photo: Ash Adams, courtesy of the artist
Brian Adams is an editorial and commercial photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska, who specializes in environmental portraiture. His documentation of Inuit life in Alaska and the circumpolar captures the positive energy of these communities. His work has been featured both nationally and internationally. His first book of photography, I AM ALASKAN, was published in 2013 by University of Alaska Press. His most recent book, I AM INUIT, was published in 2017 by Benteli Publishers. He received a fellowship grant from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and the Rasmuson Foundation in 2018.
Annie Pootoogook (detail), photo: Katherine Knight, courtesy of Site Media Inc.
Annie Pootoogook (1969-2016) was born in Kinngait, formerly known as Cape Dorset, Nunavut and moved to Ottawa as an adult. Moving away from the traditional practices of sculpture and printmaking, she created unique renderings of modern Inuit life through drawing. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally and was awarded the Sobey Art Award in 2006. In 2018, Annie Pootoogook: Cutting Ice was published, and an exhibition was organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection to commemorate the life and work of this remarkable artist.
Inuktitut translations provided by UUTTUVAK CONSULTING INCORPORTATED.
Offers of donation to the City of Ottawa Art Collection are closed for 2022. Please contact our office in 2023 for updates on donating: publicartprogram@ottawa.ca. Donation proposals are reviewed by a peer assessment committee based on artistic merit, regional importance, innovation, conservation and maintenance requirements. Preference is given to artwork by professional artists who live or have lived within a 150 km radius of Ottawa. Tax receipts are available.
Gain experience working in the cultural sector as part of an academic course. Students enrolled in post-secondary institutions may be eligible to participate in a work placement (internship, practicum). Please note that work placements are unpaid. Send a copy of your resume and contact information for your course coordinator to publicartprogram@ottawa.ca.
The City of Ottawa Art Collection features over 3,000 artworks created by more than 800 artists and artist teams. Artists are listed alphabetically by last name.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Originally established by Ottawa residents O.J. and Isobel Firestone in the early 1950s, the Firestone Collection of Canadian Art is a significant collection of works that spans the modern period (1900-1980). This collection contains approximately 1,600 works by influential Canadian artists, including A.Y. Jackson, Emily Carr, Jack Shadbolt, Paul-Émile Borduas, and Ghitta Caiserman.
In 1972, the Firestones donated their collection to the Ontario Heritage Foundation to ensure that it would always remain accessible to the public. In 1992, the Foundation transferred ownership of this collection to the City of Ottawa, to be cared for, displayed and managed by the Ottawa Art Gallery.
