New Voices at OSA: A Fresh Wave of Members

This summer, ekphra turns its gaze toward one of Ontario's oldest artistic communities. The Ontario Society of Artists, Canada's longest continuing art society, founded in 1872, welcomes a new generation of members this year, and their work now hangs together for the first time at BASE 31 in Picton.

Each year, artists across the province submit their portfolios for peer review. This year, thirty artists were newly elected to the OSA. Of them, eighteen have brought work to this exhibition.

The OSA was founded in 1872 by a small group of artists meeting at the Toronto home of painter John Arthur Fraser. It is Canada's oldest continuously operating professional art society. Its founding objectives included fostering original art in the province, holding annual exhibitions, and building the foundations of art education in Ontario. OSA members played a role in the founding of the Art Gallery of Ontario and what is now OCAD University.

Today, the OSA has over 300 professional visual artists working across Ontario, in a range of media.

The exhibition brings together works by:

Holly Atkinson, Christina Chrysler, Cherie Daly, Jacque Descoteaux, Tim DeRose, Jung Hee Lee-Marles, Young Hee Sung, Rudolf Kurz, William Lottering, Cathy Lorraway, Ralph Mackenzie, James McKeag, Wendy Mitchell, Dennis Montford, Jason Pett, Sara Petroff, Rachel Pieters, and Nikola Wojewoda.

ekphra visited on July 26th, artwork drop-off day, ahead of the July 29th opening. The following day was installation day.

Hands steadying frames, measuring tapes stretched across bare walls, works still leaning where they'd soon be hung.

BASE 31(https://www.base31.ca) began its life in 1940 as a WWII air force training school, part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan that brought aircrews from Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to train on Ontario soil. In 2021, a community-driven revitalization brought the 70-acre grounds back to life as a cultural destination, with its historic hangars and barracks now home to galleries, concerts, and exhibitions.

From Toronto, it's about a two-hour drive east into Prince Edward County. More on the venue: base31.ca