2025 Acquisitions: Donations

Focused on the work of historical and contemporary artists who have contributed to the artistic life of the Ottawa-Gatineau region, our Permanent Collection is an essential part of the OAG’s activities. We are excited to look back and share a roundup of our 2025 donations, and the ways in which these works help to enrich our Collection. 

We’re excited to share that the OAG acquired several works through generous donations over the course of last year.  

In 2025, we were delighted to enrich our collection of photography with the addition of self-portraits by Cara Tierney and Chun Hua Catherine Dong, respectively; a series of works from The Barbershop Series by Dion Prints; two works by Rémi Thériault; and a selection of 19 works by Michael Schreier.   

We were also pleased to receive significant donations of works on paper. These included a selection of 16 works by Farouk Kaspaules; and two works by Tarralik Duffy. We were also thrilled to receive 13 works on paper, as well as a dynamic painting, by Norman Takeuchi. 

Our collection of painting was further enriched with a generous donation of a portrait by Joyce Frances Devlin, a large-scale work by Robert Houle, a rich work by Carol Wainio, three vibrant paintings by Jane Martin, and three canvases by Normee Ekoomiak, whose captivating work was featured the 2025 OAG exhibition Normee Ekoomiak. 

We were also thrilled to add to our holdings of sculpture and mixed-media works. Denis Rousseau’s sculpture Gorgone, which was recently showcased in the exhibition Art School Confidential: Celebrating 50 Years of the Department of Visual Arts, University of Ottawa, represents the first work by the artist to enter the collection. A unique stone sculpture by Normee Ekoomiak, and dynamic work from artist Wally Dion’s circuitboard quilts series also entered the collection, and we were pleased to add a beautiful stained-glass window depicting Joan of Arc from collector Bill Staubi, currently on view in the exhibition Grotto.  

A number of textile works were also added to the collection, including an installation by Greta Grip and Lee Jones, produced through their installation The Life of a Building at the OAG in 2021, three tapestries and an embroidered jacket by Normee Ekoomiak, and an additional stone in Carl Stewart’s textile installation Càrn, whose colours are derived from flags of nations that have criminalized homosexuality, also currently on view in Grotto. 

To conclude, we were also delighted to acquire three works by artist Jennifer Macklem that draw on inspiration from forms in nature, micro-organisms, biology, creative research and the importance of nature and ecology. This donation coincides with an upcoming installation of Macklem’s work in the OAG Lobbies this spring. 
 

The OAG would like to thank artists Greta Grip and Lee Jones, Farouk Kaspaules, Jennifer Macklem and Faezeh Maleki, Denis Rousseau, Carl Stewart, and Norman Takeuchi, as well as donors Warwick Ashley, Gibbs Appraisals Ltd., Glen A. Bloom and Deborah M. Duffy, Brian Foss, Lawson A.W. Hunter, Sandra Miller and Mara Miller (in loving memory of Zavie and Ida Miller), Normand Pepin, SAW, Mark Schaan, Bill Staubi, Jennifer Platz Rieger, and Ms. Beverly Rix for their generous donations.