Sue Shuker, On the Vine (detail)
Hi, we are OMMA.
Ottawa Mixed Media Artists (OMMA) is a non-profit organization located in Ottawa, Canada, founded in September 2001. It emerged in response to a need for an Ottawa-based visual arts organization devoted solely to the burgeoning field of mixed media. Since then, the field has evolved and OMMA continues to encourage mixed media visual artists through meetings, exhibitions and workshops, and promote its artists through shows.
OMMA meets on the second Tuesday of September, November, January, March, and May. We take a break in July and August.
*Watch for information about what will be happening in our meetings, news of a summer picnic or other gatherings in our OMMA Happenings section, the landing page of this website.
A bit of history
In the beginning, back in 2001, Suzanne Warren Powell together with Elizabeth Bertoldi, Judee Hollander and Suzanne's motley crew of students sowed the seeds which grew into a group of over 200 members. Originally teaching watercolour, Suzanne moved on to teach mixed media art in various City locations. For many years Suzanne had wanted to create a group that wasn't bound by the same rules that governed many of the other societies, and by 2001 she had the artists and the backup to do it.
Our first show was at the Nepean Visual Arts Centre, and was an exhibition by Suzanne's students. There really wasn't much mixed media hanging on gallery walls in Ottawa back then and we wanted to change that. Suzanne then spoke to Britannia Gallery, who was willing to take a risk and show work by our new group. There were only 20 in attendance at the first meeting at Suzanne's studio, but it quickly grew to about 40. Thanks to willing volunteers we formed an executive to divide the work up, according to our skills.
At that time, OMMA approached Tessie Boretos from the City of Nepean and she couldn't have been more encouraging. We were given the opportunity to have our first OMMA Originals show outside, at the front of the Nepean Sportsplex, as well as a mailing address at the Creative Arts Centre and access to many contacts. This was a huge leap forward, which led to the development of a vision statement, a logo, a brochure and more members. After two successful and well-received Members’ Shows in early 2002 (Nepean Visual Arts Centre in January and Britannia Gallery in March) plus six general meetings, the inaugural meeting of the volunteer executive committee was held July 9, 2002. OMMA was then well on its way.
In our first ten years we held over 40 exhibitions and published a book. We learned a lot and continue to learn as new and varied challenges occurred. After a period of hanging work at the Dome facility on Greenbank and Hunt Club, we now have an exhibition space in the hallway at the Nepean Sportsplex, the D’OMMA Gallery, just past the Visual Arts Centre.
We’ve had very exciting, successful, creative years and are looking forward to the future. Every year, the members of our executive team work to keep us running smoothly while bringing in new interests. It's thanks to our volunteers and to the City of Ottawa that we are still continuing to grow.
With the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to adapt and use new technologies and meeting platforms. That’s when the OMMA Instagram Challenge began which invites us to create a new art piece bi-monthly which follows each new suggested theme.
We continue with new offerings for our current membership, whether that be workshops, exhibitions, artistic challenges, and more.