Purpose Statement

The promotion of visual Fine Art through the holding of exhibitions, art festivals for the sales of artists’ work, workshops, lectures, demonstrations and the like.

brushes in row Oshawa Art Association

About Us

The Oshawa Art Association is a not-for-profit organization established to bring together artists from Oshawa and the Region of Durham to promote. create and celebrate original art. Our members excel in a variety of mediums including acrylics, ink, oils, pastels, sculpture, watercolour, and mixed media.

OAA ART EVENTS

  • We provide opportunities for exposure of members’ artwork through our very successful Spring and Fall Art Festivals, showcasing work by OAA members at Camp Samac, Oshawa.

  • The Annual Juried Art Exhibition, held at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, is open to OAA members.

  • You won’t want to miss being a participant or spectator in our fun Paint Battles and Art Crawls.

OAA DEMOS AND WORKSHOPS

  • Our monthly club meetings (September to June) are a great opportunity to meet other artists and creatives right in your community. Eight meetings feature a guest speaker and a demonstration of an artistic technique, and two meetings are social, guests are welcome.

Community Events

  • We partner with the City of Oshawa’s community events, such as the Spring Peony Festival in the beautiful Oshawa Valley Botanical Gardens. In the fall, the CONVERGENCE Music and Art Festival in downtown Oshawa. This event keeps growing and we love being a part of it.


OAA History

In 1967, Canada's Centennial Year, Audrey MacLean and Maureen Remington founded the Oshawa Art Association (OAA, which is now incorporated). In April of the same year, Audrey became the President and Maureen the 1st Vice President.  Also elected to the executive that first year were: Janet Ferguson (2nd Vice), Iris Starr (Treasurer), Marg Gourley (Recording Secretary), and Pat Calder (Correspondence Secretary). They began with 43 active members, two inactive members and nine patron members. Audrey and Maureen believed the strength of the visual arts community would lie in the development of a strong pool of new artists. On April 1, 1968, the first Annual Meeting and first Annual Juried Show were held at the McLaughlin Public Library. By the end of the first year, the OAA had more than 150 members, had programmed half a dozen workshops, held its first juried exhibition and was well on its way to becoming the foremost advocate for artists in Oshawa. In 1981, the first Annual Camp Samac Show & Sale was held during the weekend of September 20th. Attended to by the hardworking committee members, this show evolved into a not-to-be-missed weekend for artists and art lovers alike. The Fall Art Festival is still an annual event that has grown to over 80 art club members participating yearly.