The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation Ina Gilbert Visual Arts Award

Haley Meyer finished a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting with a minor in printmaking at OCADU in May 2025.  Now the young emerging artist faces the challenge of juggling creating art with working. “The largest challenge is having people take me seriously,” she said. “At 25, it can be hard to talk to gallery owners and to those with connections.   There is a stigma around emerging artists as if we’re lacking the skills or maturity.”

Another challenge is money.  “I’m trying to devote as much time as I can to my practice and balancing that with work.”  Meyer considers herself fortunate to work at Skyblue Studio, an after-school art program in Toronto’s east end Leslieville neighbourhood.

Meyer grew up in Kitchener, Ontario and moved to Toronto in 2019 to attend TMU.  Then the pandemic hit and she moved home.  When she returned in 2021, she switched to OCADU. “At TMU, I was in arts and contemporary studies,” she said.  “That program had too much theory, and not enough studio art courses.  I didn’t see myself having a future with that degree, so I started from scratch at OCADU.”

Asked about artists she admires, Meyer named Laura Findlay and Alex Bierk.  “I admire the technical talent mixed with conceptual spirit behind their work. They are painters’ painters.”

Shifting from being a student to a working artist is a process.  One aspect is learning how to submit work to galleries and to price work. “I was lucky enough to have Scott Everingham as a professor at OCADU,” she said. “He went outside the curriculum to teach us things including how to take good photos of your work for galleries.  He said he teaches so he has enough money to live along with his artistic practice.  I got a little taste of it while in school.  It’s been a learning process. I’ve only been out of school six months.  I had shied away from documenting my expenses or learning how taxes work but now I have to do these things.”

Although Meyer’s mother did art in high school, she didn’t pursue it.  “I’m the only practicing artist in my family.  In ten years, I would like to be represented by a gallery in Ontario, Canada or the United States, living in the countryside with a studio in a separate building.  Community is also important for me – teaching once a week or something like that.”

And what does being named the Ina Gilbert Award mean to Meyer?  “It was really incredible. I’ve never won a monetary award out of the blue. I wanted to win an award, but I didn’t expect it. It felt good to be validated for something I’ve put so much effort and time into it.  Especially for a postsecondary school project. It’s the first real encouragement and validation that I’ve got. I know I have to keep pushing after each rejection.  Getting this award felt really great.”