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The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) is Canada's largest university of art and design, with a specialization in creativity and innovation. Established in 1876 by the Ontario Society of Artists, the university was originally known as the Ontario School of Art, and was incorporated as the Ontario College of Art in 1912. The university was the first of its kind in Canada to be dedicated exclusively to the education of professional artists in fine and commercial art. In 1996, it was renamed the Ontario College of Art & Design. Today, OCAD is the third largest of the approximately 40 professional art and design universities in North America.
Throughout its distinguished history, OCAD has been shaped by many of Canada's leading figures in art and design. One of its earlier Principals, celebrated painter George A. Reid, designed its first purpose-built home on Grange Park, a beautiful Georgian building, which remains to this day part of the university campus. Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald, of the Group of Seven, were once Vice-Principal and Principal, respectively. Many other famous Canadian artists have taught or studied at OCAD, including Fred Hagan, Jock Macdonald, Michael Snow, Graham Coughtry, Gordon Rainer and more recently, Colette Whiten, Joanne Tod and Barbara Astman, and designers such as Clair Stewart, Carl Dair, Allan Fleming, Theo Dimson, Ken Rodmell and, more recently, Debbie Adams, Helen Kerr, and Scot Laughton. 
In 2002, OCAD received official status to confer the degrees of Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Design via the new Ontario College of Art & Design Act, passed by the Government of Ontario. Its university status has led to a number of significant changes such as a renewed curriculum, a new professorial structure for faculty, a research mandate, a new system of governance, and preliminary groundwork for future graduate programs.
The changes now make OCAD even more distinct in Ontario's educational sector. Students acquire critical thinking and writing skills, as they do in a liberal arts program at a traditional university. Unique to OCAD, however, this liberal studies education is integrated with a studio program that is more comprehensive than any other fine arts program in Canada. As well, the largest faculty of its kind in Canada is comprised of many leading art or design practitioners and scholars. The result of OCAD's educational experience is that students gain an in-depth knowledge of the history and theory of visual culture, as well as the analytical skills to execute powerful ideas within the studio context.
OCAD students also enjoy a one-of-a-kind learning environment that is dedicated exclusively to visual culture, and best understood as a creative "hothouse". Innovations and creative work are inspired by a vibrant community life, which will be even more dynamic as students begin to work in the university's renewed campus facility. The critically-acclaimed $42.5 million expansion and redevelopment, featuring the Sharp Centre for Design, will be a catalyst for creative risk-taking and new collaborations.
OCAD's reputation continues to be shaped by the high calibre of its graduates, who are recognized for their broad skills in creativity and innovation, and for their ability to change the world in ways large and small. It is OCAD's aspiration that they will become an increasingly-valued creative force in the future, enriching our country's culture, and adding value to the economy and everyday lives of Canadians. |
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