Fine Arts

Art History and Visual Studies:

Our mission is to help art history and fine arts students, as well as students from other disciplines, develop critical and interdisciplinary frameworks to question how the fields of art and visual and material culture relate to disparate social contexts that shape our lives. How do the arts of the past help us understand our future? How are contemporary artists shaped by the cultural treasures inherited from the past? Why are visual art and material culture central to issues of social development and personal advancement in many different cultures around the world? How can we prepare for the experience of interacting with another culture through travel and tourism? These and other questions form the basis of our ongoing discovery of the often-unexpected diversity of human voices in art history and visual studies.

Studio Art:

In our program, we encourage independent inquiry and discovery among our students and actively support diversity, uniqueness of voice, and pursuit of intellectual and aesthetic excellence. Our goal is to prepare, encourage and inspire critically engaged and visually literate practitioners of visual art who will go on to contribute to the field and beyond and act as culturally engaged and socially responsible citizens. Studies in new media, innovative visual strategies of performance, video art, and site-specific installations complement our existing strengths in sculpture, painting, drawing, and printmaking in which students develop key foundational skills.

Film Studies:

Film has the capacity to absorb our attention in a vivid and emotional way. Through our courses in film studies we examine an art form that has evolved tools and techniques that have attained the artfulness and social impact of any other form of art. We will explore the critical linkage between aesthetics and content, teasing out the issues of realism, of presentation vs representation, and the explicit and implicit issues of ideology, historicity, ethnicity, and gender. Our goal is to help students acquire a range of tools to help them think about the impact of films in their own lives and the lives of others.

​Fine and Performing Arts Facilities

Monastery Hall

• Painting studio
• Printmaking studio
• Drawing studio
• Lecture space
• Digital Media studio
• 4th year BFA studio space
• kitchen, lounge, and supplies storage rooms

Jane Street studio

• sculpting studio
• flexible performing arts studio

Student Resources

• FAVA General Information
  - General Studio Information Package for the Fine Arts program
• BFA Portfolio Submissions
  - Nipissing BFA Portfolio Assessment Guidelines

Community Resources

• WKP Kennedy Gallery
  - North Bay's public art gallery
• White Water Gallery
  - North Bay's artist-run-centre
• Aanmitaagzi and Big Medicine Studio
• Alex Dufrense Gallery
• Callander Bay Heritage Museum
• Creative Industries North
• Discovery North Bay
• The FARM
• Ice Follies
• K. Bros Maroosis Art Center
• King’s Framing and Art Supplies
• Michelle’s Frame Maker & Gallery
• Nipissing Regional Curatorial Collective

Scholarships, awards, and bursaries for students in the Fine Arts program

North Bay Art Student Collective (NBASC)

North Bay Art Student Collective (or NBASC) is comprised of some students studying art at school as well as people who just enjoy it.

It is a group that is meant to help each other with either school work/studying or for personal projects. We will aim to help with the coming up with ideas and concepts, assisting with the process of creating and developing the work, and showing/critiquing the finished product all for the sake of creating works of art.

Grant Writing Workshop

Fine Arts students had the opportunity to visit Creative Industries in downtown North Bay and to learn about grant writing thanks to Nipissing University's Experiential Learning Program for Arts & Science. Jaymie Lathem, Director of Creative Industries, provided students with a comprehensive workshop on grant writing. Students learned what is involved in writing successful grant applications, how to avoid potential pitfalls, and they were introduced to the various granting organizations who fund arts and culture in Ontario, and more broadly in Canada. This experiential learning opportunity provided students with a practical knowledge base and experience with grant writing that will be directly applicable to their future careers working in arts and culture.

Student Exhibitions

Fine Arts students have a variety of opportunities to exhibit their work throughout their degree, and as alumni. The annual Student Juried Exhibition is presented offsite at a professional gallery in downtown North Bay. The Student Art Collective (Art Club) presents inclusive, non-juried shows to showcase the work of its members. Additional exhibitions have included a touring show of work by student printmakers from four BFA programs in Ontario and New York, conference exhibitions, paintings acquired by the North Bay Regional Health Centre, and alumni shows presented on campus.

Student Exhibition 2022 Student Exhibition 2021

FAVA 2507 Art Abroad 2019

This past June a group of students were fortunate enough to partake in an intensive ten-day course in Carrara Italy carving marble at Studio Corsanini with guest artists Stephen Shaheen and Fred X Brownstein. Students had the choice of either carving a traditional Italian mortar or a building cornice.

Visiting Artist Talks

Presented throughout the year, Visiting Artist Talks are open to students, staff, and community members to attend. Past Visiting Artists have included Duane Linklater, Olexander Wlasenko, Natalie Waldburger, Aylan Couchie, Michael Antkowiak, Ted Fullerton, and Reinhard Reitzenstein.

In the Fine Arts program, you will develop a broad skill set that will help you succeed in a wide variety of careers. Whether you plan to begin professional practice, work as a curator in an art gallery, or go on to further your education in a professional program or graduate school, you will be well prepared.

• BFA Portfolio Submissions
  - Nipissing BFA Portfolio Assessment Guidelines

Akimbo and Art Rubicon are online resources for arts and art professionals. They are both an excellent source to find calls for submissions for applying for exhibitions, residency opportunities, and job listings for graduates and students.

• Akimbo
  - Canada's online source for visual art information
• Art Rubicon
  - Visual arts magazine

Career and Academic Options

• Graduate Studies
• Professional School (Education, Law, MBA)
• Careers as a professional artist, and in curatorial practice, museum management, communications, advertising, design, illustration, art direction, and entrepreneurial careers in the creative sector.