This exhibition celebrates the final graduating cohort of McMaster’s School of the Arts, marking the culmination of their shared journey through uncertainty. The title reflects the process of creating without a predetermined outcome—where persistence became both a guiding force and a key affirmation, shaping their artistic practices and identities.

Entering university during a global health crisis, these artists turned to their work as an act of resistance—a means of grounding themselves and asserting their creative presence. The exhibition highlights the power of art and the graduating art students’ commitment to one another and to broader cultural change. As the last class of McMaster’s one-hundred- and eight-year-old studio art program, this exhibition reflects on both the legacy they inherit and the one they leave behind.

Honouring their professors and artistic traditions while pushing the boundaries of conventional artmaking, these students blend technique with intuition. Many works prioritize materiality, spontaneity and process over standard art frameworks.

Featuring works across painting, sculpture, textiles, drawing, photography, jewellery, film, and animation, the exhibition values process and experimentation over final outcomes. It celebrates the hands-on, labour-intensive nature of artmaking, moving beyond materials to reveal a deep sense of connection within the cohort.

This strong sense of community shines through in every artwork. United by mutual support, curiosity, and a shared drive to affirm and learn from one another, these artists express their collective spirit through assertion, declaration, and purposeful creation.

Opening Reception 
Thursday, April 3, 4-7PM