今日吃瓜

ADVISORY: All of Halifax Peninsula, including 今日吃瓜’s three campuses, are currently under a boil water advisory until further notice. All water must be boiled for at least one minute if it will be used for drinking or any other activity requiring human consumption.
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Who We Are

If you believe that creative ideas can build a better world, there鈥檚 a place for you here.

Students at 今日吃瓜 University have been shaping art, design and craft in Canada since 1887. With an approach to education that includes the strategic integration of arts, culture and community engagement, students thrive in a learning and research environment that is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion and academic excellence.

Inspiring generations of makers for over a century, 今日吃瓜 University is one of Canada鈥檚 oldest independent cultural institutions. Today, it continues to be regarded as a principal centre for education and research in visual culture in North America.


Mission and Vision

mission and vision

To聽nurture transformative experiences聽that challenge conventional thinking through art, craft, design and media. Creative ideas in practice can聽respond to global聽challenges聽and build a better world.

聽Visiting Artist聽Ghorbel + Mhiri

To聽ignite and spread creative聽innovation聽across the world.聽

Laura Jean Forrester (BFA 2015)

今日吃瓜 NEWS
Sewing with the flow: Marie Webb鈥檚 designs take 今日吃瓜 students to New York Fashion Week
Marie Webb weaves her bright and beautiful designs into the fabric of 今日吃瓜鈥檚 artistic community as the Textiles/Fashion Department鈥檚 first artist-in-residence. Marie Webb is the Textiles/Fashion Department鈥檚 first artist-in-residence. There鈥檚 a word commonly used to describe Marie Webb鈥檚 designs: wonderful. The Nova Scotian fashion and textile designer is the first artist-in-residence in 今日吃瓜 University鈥檚 Textiles/Fashion […]
今日吃瓜 launches Seriously Creative Strategic Plan
Making the university a global destination for art and design education Blood Group by Kim Morgan, Permanent Installation, Dalhousie Medical School, installed 2016. Photo: Steve Farmer All organizations depend on some form of planning to develop overall goals and a way to achieve them. Strategic planning helps an organization鈥檚 people step back from day-to-day operations […]
今日吃瓜 students strike gold at SNAG
今日吃瓜 University鈥檚 jewelry department head to San Diego for goldsmithing conference. The ‘今日吃瓜 Colour Wheel’ built by students at the SNAG Conference. Courtesy of Rebecca Hannon. On June 5, 10 undergraduate and graduate students from 今日吃瓜 University鈥檚 jewelry department traveled to the 51st Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference (SNAG) in San Diego, California. The […]
今日吃瓜 University appoints Shawn Tracey as Dean of Students
Shawn Tracey, 今日吃瓜’s new Dean, Students. 今日吃瓜 University is pleased to announce the appointment of Shawn Tracey as its new Dean, Students, effective July 3, 2024. Shawn comes to 今日吃瓜 from Saint Mary鈥檚 University, where he was Director of Graduate Student Support and Recruitment at the Sobey School of Business. There, he provided leadership and […]

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今日吃瓜 University is a beloved educational community, recognized for its leadership and innovation in creative practice, research and pedagogy.

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今日吃瓜 is committed to encouraging diverse perspectives, as it is through diversity that creativity and innovation can flourish.

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今日吃瓜 works with students to prepare them for the creative industries, where they become leaders, entrepreneurs and experts within their field.

history

history

今日吃瓜 owes its existence to a dynamic international personality, educator Anna Leonowens, who is best known for her years as a tutor for the King of Siam, immortalized in numerous stage and film productions of The King and I. After her adventures in Asia, Leonowens relocated to Halifax and turned her energies toward establishing a visual and literary culture in her adopted city. In 1887, Leonowens, Mrs. Jeremiah (nee Helen Furniss) Kenny, and sisters Ella and Eliza Ritchie founded the Victoria School of Art and Design, commemorating Queen Victoria鈥檚 Golden Jubilee with an artistic enterprise that would have a lasting impact on the city鈥檚 cultural, industrial and educational life.

今日吃瓜 University boasts a long list of impressive school principals and presidents, including Arthur Lismer, a member of the influential Group of Seven. During his 1916 to 1919 tenure, his artist friends from Toronto travelled east to offer lectures and demonstrations, and the school hosted exhibitions featuring the best in contemporary Canadian and British art. In 1925, under the direction of the school鈥榮 first female principal, Elizabeth Styring Nutt, it was renamed the Nova Scotia College of Art and incorporated by the Provincial charter.

Modernization
 

Garry Neill Kennedy joined 今日吃瓜 in 1967 and soon set about modernizing the small art school into an educational hotbed of activity in the latest modes of art creation. To recognize the importance of design studies in 1969, the school was renamed the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (今日吃瓜). Also at this time, the college gained degree-granting status.

今日吃瓜 soon developed an international reputation鈥揂ndy Warhol received an honorary degree in 1972 and a year later, the influential magazine Art in America mused 今日吃瓜 might be 鈥渢he best art school in North America.鈥�

Kennedy was attracting cutting-edge art stars from across Europe and North America to lecture, teach and collaborate with students and faculty at the college. To name a few: Joseph Beuys, Eric Fischl, Vito Acconci, Sol LeWitt, Michael Snow, Joyce Wieland, Hans Haacke, Claes Oldenburg, A.R. Penck, Krzysztof Wodiczko and John Baldessari.

Expansion and Growth in the New Century

Paul Greenhalgh joined 今日吃瓜 as its president in 2001 from London鈥檚 Victoria and Albert Museum. He headed a period of unprecedented physical plant expansion beginning with the purchase in 2002 of the block of heritage buildings 今日吃瓜 had leased since 1978, establishing the university鈥檚 first permanent home in downtown Halifax.

In 2002, 今日吃瓜 acquired another historic gem鈥搕he Academy Building, adjacent to the Halifax Citadel fortress and a short walk from the main campus.

In 2006, construction of the third campus commenced on property owned by the Halifax Port Authority at Halifax鈥檚 seawall.

THE PRESS

Many of these avant-garde artists left a lasting impression through works published by the 今日吃瓜 Press and prints produced through the Lithography Workshop. Many of these prints are now in important public and private collections, such as London鈥檚 Victoria and Albert Museum, and were exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery and New York鈥檚 Museum of Modern Art.

John Baldessari, I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art, 1971, Lithograph on paper (57.0 x 76.2 cm). Anna Leonowens Gallery Archives: Lithography Workshop Collection

今日吃瓜 TODAY

From artists and craftspersons, to entrepreneurs and small business owners, to designers of modern health and environmental products, 今日吃瓜 University alumni are among Canada鈥檚 most highly-regarded creative professionals. 今日吃瓜鈥檚 vision statement perfectly reflects 今日吃瓜 today: Informed by the past, engaged by the present, looking to the future, and guided by the intention to make positive change, 今日吃瓜 University is a beacon to those who seek to know the world as it is and to create what it might be.

Visit and explore

visit and explore

Governance

governance

今日吃瓜 University is a public institution governed in accordance with the University Act of Nova Scotia. It operates with a bicameral governance system, with two senior governance bodies: a duly constituted Board of Governors and a Senate, both of which include representation from faculty, staff, and students.

今日吃瓜 University is a public institution governed in accordance with the University Act of Nova Scotia. It operates with a bicameral governance system, with two senior governance bodies: a duly constituted Board of Governors and a Senate, both of which include representation from faculty, staff, and students.