This OMMA show will explore a theme of alchemy, “a process that transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way”. Mixed media art fuses manufactured, repurposed and found materials, an enormous range of traditional and not-so-traditional art media and the unique expressive marks and techniques, the process, of the artist creator.

It is with this exploratory and experimental idea and rich history, OMMA challenges you to create some new art.

We don’t know yet. Here’s the thing…

The City of Ottawa has modified its expectations for groups applying to exhibit in their community galleries. Submissions require completed works that will actually be in the show and bios or CVs from the exhibiting artists.

As you may know, this requires groups like OMMA to revise the way we prepare for exhibitions. Having a date for a show can no longer be the starting point for us. We now need to put out a call to members, receive submissions and jury them without the certainty of a venue within which to exhibit them.

That is what is happening now.

With summer almost upon us, OMMA members are asked to paint, to create mixed media artworks on the theme of “The Art of Alchemy”. Be creative, stretch your boundaries, paint, paint, and paint some more.

The minimum size will be 12 inches x 12 inches. The maximum will be no bigger than 36 inches wide.

You may submit up to three (3) artworks.

No, one more thing. At the time of submission, in the fall of 2024, you will also be asked to send an artist profile. For more information about how to do that, please click HERE.

This text is directly from the City of Ottawa proposal, written by Julia Lockie in Jan. 2024.

“Merriam-Webster defines alchemy, in the modern sense, as “a process that changes or transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way”. A logical extension is to apply this meaning to mixed media art, one of the most mysterious and transformational art forms. Mixed media art greatly expands the possibilities and scope for creative expression.

Our proposed show, The Art of Alchemy, would feature 2-dimensional artworks of varying sizes and with varying degrees of surface relief. All works will be chosen for their excellence, use of diverse methods and materials and their effective expression of the chosen theme.

Artists are drawn to media and materials that speak to them and present new possibilities. They merge materials and techniques in their work to convey meaning, express opinions, make social statements or to reflect the world they experience today or in a distant memory. They may have an idea jelling in their brain, needing to be explored or a feeling in their heart needing to be released. No matter what inspires the mixed media artist, their process is alchemy.

With endless variations possible, chosen materials are built up on a substrate with layers of medium or paint. They are transformed. They may be obscured by subsequent layers with varying degrees of transparency and thickness. Marks are made with tools, unconventional, appropriated, or absurd. Textures create unique evidence of the artist’s process, the material choices, the tools and the work of artist’s hand and body. In the making, the artist includes aspects of self, feelings, energy on that day and thoughts and decisions while working. The imagination and creativity of the artist are imprinted on the mixture of media and techniques that become the artwork. It is alchemy.

We live in a world with a scary abundance of ‘stuff’, from an unfathomable range of material goods moving around a global marketplace to mountains of waste products, in recycling depots, landfills or more immediately, a ditch or dumpster near you. Picasso used chair caning and ticket stubs in his collage – artists today are inundated with cheap art supplies at every turn. And every bit, old or new, broken, worn, overt or disguised, is transformed into new and unique understandings and contexts, shaped by the choices of the artist and the experiences of the viewer. Without a doubt, it is alchemy.”

OMMA will send an official call for artworks in the late summer. There will be an entry form on the website as usual, a fee for entry and all the information you need.

At the OMMA Executive’s final planning meeting this spring, we will work out details for jurying the artworks submitted, dates and deadlines.

Finally, we will resubmit our strong proposal to the City of Ottawa for a community gallery exhibition space in 2025/26.

In addition, as a second excellent option to exhibit this work, we will submit a proposal to the Foyer Gallery for their Invitational Show in May 2025.

As it’s been six years since OMMA’s last juried show, here’s a link to OMMA’s Criteria for Exhibition.

Yes, there will! More details to follow.