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Ontario College of Art & Design
Category: Education Specialty Schools Art Schools Art Schools [Edit]
100 McCaul StToronto, ON M5T 1W1
Neighbourhood: Downtown Core
(416) 977-6000
6 reviews for Ontario College of Art & Design
6 reviews in English
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Review from Paul L.
11/14/2008 7 photos
I have no idea about the quality of the education provided within the walls of this art institution. However, if Will Alsop's brilliant design for this gravity-defying skybound rectangle on pencils inspires its students as much as it moves folks like me who pass by, then OCAD is probably turning out geniuses.
With Frank Gehry's fantastic new design for the Art Gallery of Ontario just steps away, these blocks are the epicenter of great architecture in Toronto. -
Review from Hilary S.
9/14/2011
I don't go to OCAD so I can't comment on the actual education. I'm going to copy everyone else and just talk about this campus/building, because it's quite the sight.
From the outside it looks like a horribly-coloured kaleidoscopic eyesore. Black and white top, perched precariously on multicoloured...I don't know, but they definitely look inadequate for the weight they are holding.
Either way it's a cool place to infiltrate, while dressed as hipsters. Make sure you have bags under your eyes, a spiral bound notebook, and some stubble (if you are a guy). My friend and I successfully infiltrated this building to discover the following awesome features:
1) outside the building are bike racks. Souped up fixies galore. I spent a full ten minutes drooling.
2) The doors leading in are tinted orange. You pass through an orange tinted room before really entering the building. The effect is psychedelic, even without drugs.
3) Taking the elevator up to the top floor (because it wouldn't take us anywhere else...weird...), you will arrive in the black and white box thing. Wandering around, we found lots of cool art and designs on the wall. We found classrooms with ergonomically designed chairs. We found hip modern furniture. We found window enclaves painted neon colours. I wish we had found a bouncy castle.
4) The study halls have extension cords hanging from the ceiling in self-retracting coils. Need to plug in your laptop? Just reach up, pull, and plug. Awesome!
5) We found a course evaluation form. It was designed and laid out impeccably. I'd actually read my syllabuses if they were so clean and efficient.
Looking out the window, you'll notice how high up you are, and how not visibly supported you are. Either cool, or terribly frightening. Or both.
Behind OCAD there is a park and a shallow fountain-pool thing that is fun to wade through. I bet that's where all the ocad students get their raves on.Listed in: FAVSIES, Specialty, Biking fetish
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Review from Desmond W.
7/20/2009
I'm going to art school next year, I live in Toronto and I did NOT apply to OCAD. Why? A few reasons...
My father works in the printing industry and works very closely with design professionals. He has hired many students who graduated from OCAD but his impression of them as employees and creative workers was never positive. Some have degrees in graphic design but barely know how to use professional design tools like Adobe Illustrator.
My experience with OCAD is largely based on the National Portfolio Review Day that is hosted at the school annually. I have attended two of these events with disappointing impressions of the school. National Portfolio Day should be renamed "Line up for hours to be reviewed by an unknown art school or line up for a day to NOT be reviewed by Parsons and maybe OCAD day". Seriously, I could have made another portfolio during all the waiting.
The inside of the building is nice; especially the lobby. Some areas are not very well-lit. Some of the drawings in the stairwell are finger painted by pre-schoolers... I think. Facilities are not very impressive but should be ok. Surrounding area is Downtown Toronto which means surrounded by amazing art, amazing culture and amazing food. Very near the Art Gallery of Ontario which is a must-see.
With all this in mind, many different opinions from friends and research, I decided not to waste my time applying to this college. -
Review from Erin H.
Toronto, ON
8/26/2008 1 photo
Now I am not an overly critical person, save for the gross generalizations I might make about contemporary art, artsy types, or just plain types in general. Okay I am critical. But I will allow for some room in the narrow space I give to the arts scene when it comes to some of the tremendous architecture in this city.
Tremendous might not be the perfect word to describe the OCAD building (located in downtown Toronto), it would be more apt for me to call it insane. Even the wacky fine arts students, peddling around on unicycles with purple hair, balloon skirts and polka dot sneakers cannot top their schoolhouse which looks like a giant, windowed shoebox sitting atop four long - and I mean REALLY long - coloured pencils.
Even if you do not own a flat, black, leather portfolio case, even if you prefer PC to Mac, even if Barney Rubble is a name far less foreign to you than Matthew Barney, OCAD is a quick sight, well worth checking out. -
Review from Jade H.
4/20/2010
That main building was quite a sight to see and they allowed us to go up to the top and peer out the windows.
On the top level, there are a few showcases with art and designs that I thought were very nice but, I'm no artist. I can only appreciate things as I see them. The students seem very artsy fartsy and they had good things to show in the hallways.
The world needs art. It makes our living space so much more liveable. Art and design is even in the very can of cola that I'm drinking right now. -
Review from Micaela L.
1/26/2010
How can one NOT love a building that resembles a checkered rectangular prism held up by a fistful of multicoloured pencils? Brilliant. It's one of my favorite structures in North America.
