Friday, November 24, 2023 | 5pm – 9pm
Remarks at 7pm, followed by a musical performance by Rebecca Noelle
SPAO Centre, 77 Pamilla Street, Ottawa
Free Admission | RSVP on Facebook

Photo by Allison Morris

SPAO Open House

You’re invited to SPAO’s annual Open House party, a showcase of one of Canada’s foremost photographic arts centres! Enjoy an evening filled with photographic art and excitement, featuring an exhibition reception, print sale, SPAO Annual publication launch, and a live musical performance by Rebecca Noelle. It’s an event you won’t want to miss!

For further details, including access to the online Open House, please check out spao.ca/open-house.

Open House 2022 event photo by Eric Reid

Annual Publication Launch – Paradise

The SPAO Annual is a yearly testament to the dedication and achievements by and for our community, staff, donors, supporters, and volunteers, showcasing one cycle of our extensive annual programming. The 2022/2023 SPAO Annual titled ‘Paradise’ will be available for a special discounted rate for the night of Open House.

Open House Print Sale

SPAO’s annual print sale is just in time for the gift-giving season. These affordable fine-art prints are made by the students of SPAO’s College Diploma Program. All prints are priced under $85, and all profits go directly to the artists themselves.

Open House 2022 event photo by Eric Reid

Exhibition Reception – BENT

On view: November 11 – December 17, 2023

SPAO is pleased to present ‘BENT,’ an exhibition featuring the photo-based work of Naomi Kronen, Ann Piché, S. Maria Brandt, and Allison Morris.

Drawing from mathematics, feminism, and queer theory, these artists employ both academic and community-based approaches in their work, exploring themes of corporeality, spatiality, and all things bizarre and peculiar. Altogether, the works in this exhibition touch on the precarity of living in a body, and the ways in which technology, social stigma and the built environment influence the ways we bend and re-orient ourselves as we move through the world.

SPAO Exterior

About SPAO: Photographic Arts Centre

SPAO is one of Canada’s foremost photographic arts centres. It houses the only 2-year photographic arts college diploma program in Canada, a robust selection of recreational classes, a unique 6-month international artist residency as well as the only critical and independent gallery in the region dedicated to lens-based art.

SPAO prides itself on small class sizes, individualized hands-on learning, and rare access to a variety of techniques and photographic processes. SPAO draws on traditional, historic and alternative processes alongside and contemporary photographic technologies for both our two-year College Diploma Program and our Part-Time Studies stream.

The SPAO International Artist Residency offers photo-based artists the opportunity to advance their career at one of Canada’s foremost photographic art centres. During SPAO’s 6-month Artist Residency, individuals are afforded the time and environment needed to research, experiment, and produce a body of work as a professional artist. Upon completion, artists are offered the paid opportunity to exhibit in the SPAO Centre Gallery.

The SPAO Gallery is Ottawa region’s only independent and critical gallery space dedicated to photographic and video art. The gallery sees upwards of 4200 visitors annually including students, artists, alumni, Ottawa’s photographic and arts community, and members of the general public at large, including guided tours for specialty groups.

Follow SPAO:
Facebook @spaocentre
Instagram @spaocentre
Twitter @spaocentre

For more information, please contact us:
613 562 3824
info@spao.ca

Don’t miss our Open House on the evening of Friday, November 24 at the SPAO Centre! Admission is free for all attendees.