Art + Design Education Leaders
We're known for providing unique and flexible programs taught by professionals who have shaped art, craft, design, media and heritage studies in Canada. No other college offers students this breadth of creative programming.
Learn at campuses in Haliburton and Peterborough that provide a one-of-a kind, hands-on studio experience. Our certificate, diploma and post-graduate programs will help you build a solid portfolio to take you to the next step - whether that's continuing education, embarking on a career, or starting your own practice.
Featured Program
Build Your Foundation, Then Ignite Your Creativity
Earn a Visual and Creative Arts diploma in just three semesters with foundation courses and hands-on studio experience!
Apply Now-
Visual and Creative Arts
Train like an artist and build a powerful foundation in visual art. No matter your medium, this diploma helps you grow your skills and perspective with hands-on studio learning.
Visual and Creative Arts -
Summer Course Registration Open!
Weeklong and single day workshops to build your skills.
March Break Creative Adventure Starts Soon! -
Create, learn, and live where inspiration surrounds you.
We’re happy to share that for the first time ever, HSAD students can enjoy the convenience of on-campus housing. Learn more about your future accommodations in Haliburton.
Coming this Fall 2025. Learn more.
Art Certificates
Diploma Programs
Continuing Education
Centre for Making
Haliburton Accommodations
Diploma Program
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Meet our Faculty
Helen McCusker
Helen McCusker is a graduate of the Sheridan College Illustration Program and has been a practicing artist for more than 40 years. A member of the Etobicoke Art Group, she has work in private collections, and exhibits in solo, juried and group exhibitions. For over 20 years, Helen has taught art classes throughout the GTA, specializing in drawing, figure drawing and painting, portraiture, and paper sculpture. Helen's teaching is based on a solid understanding of drawing and design principles and personal attention to each student. She is enthusiastic about helping students discover their potential and encouraging artistic exploration. For More Information: @helen mccusker | eaglewoodstudios.blogspot.ca
Jessica Steinhauser
Instructor for:
Jessica Steinhauser is a Master potter on the wheel and continues to share her talents to students at the Haliburton School of Art + Design. Jessica's passion for the Kachelofen (wood-burning ceramic stoves) has had her travelling to clients worldwide installing over forty custom designs for the past ten years. She has won a major award at the Masonry Heater Association of North America's annual design/build contest for 8 consecutive years. Recent honours include: solo exhibition at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery (2014); Women of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award (2016); winner of the 40th Anniversary Ontario Crafts Council Award (2016). Jessica is a graduate of the State school for Art and Design and the State School for Ceramics in Germany and resides in Guelph, Ontario. http://www.facebook.com/KachelofenArt
Susan Watson Ellis
Susan Watson Ellis followed graduation from the University of Toronto with an apprenticeship to a German Goldsmith. In 1981, she opened Paradigm Designs, creating handcrafted jewellery that sold across Canada. Her work won recognition in 2000 as part of the Craft Ontario's "Looking Forward" exhibition, which was curated by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England and represented contemporary Canadian craft. She was also chosen to be part of their "Craft in the Making II" exhibition in 2003, their juried exhibition "Ontario Craft '07", and to be one of eight jewellers chosen to be part of their "8 X 10 Jewellery" exhibition series in 2012. Her work is part of the permanent contemporary Canadian silver collection at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre in Guelph, Ontario and is available from her studio in Haliburton, at the Toronto One of a Kind Shows, the Craft Ontario Shop, and online. For More Information: @paradigmjewellery | paradigmjewellery.com
Ken Murray
Ken Murray is a novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist. In 2015, Globe and Mail called Ken's novel, Eulogy, a "powerful, poignant debut." In 2017, Ken's adaptation of his short story The Exception was performed at the Roy Bonisteel Studio in the Old Church Theatre. His work has appeared in Prairie Fire, Globe and Mail, Mendacity Review, Brooklyn Rail, Ottawa Citizen, Canadian Business, and Maclean's. Since 2009, he has taught creative writing at the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies and has taught at Haliburton School of Art & Design since 2014. While earning his MFA at The New School in New York City, Ken also trained as a teaching artist with Community Word Project and taught with the organization Poets House. For More Information: kenmurray.ca
Mathieu Grodet
Mathieu Grodet is a glassblower, flame worker and illustrator born in Orleans, France. Current work brings the past of glass together with themes of the present, using traditional techniques with a modern twist. Ideas around contradiction, power, duality and the absurdity of life are explored as he marries and reconstructs form, function and design with a unique style to provoke discussion. Recent workshops, lectures and classes delivered have included cities in China, Japan, Turkey, France, Canada and the US. His work is in private collections across Europe and North America and can be seen at the Corning Museum of Glass, the Art Institute of Chicago, and various galleries in Canada. For More Information: @mathieu_grodet_glass | mathieugrodetglass.com
Lisa Barry
Instructor for:
Lisa Barry is a graduate of Sheridan College's Ceramics Program and has also achieved a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design. Lisa has a broad range of experience with various pottery techniques as well as kiln firing processes. An artist of note, she has exhibited nationally and continues to develop herself as an artist through workshops and learning opportunities. Lisa brings a passion and energy to her teaching that ensures a lively and creative atmosphere for her students. For More Information: @homesteadpottery | homesteadpottery.ca
Rosemary Vander Breggen
Rosemary Vander Breggen is an Honours graduate of Studio Process Advancement at Fleming College and was the first Reclaim Resident Artist at HSAD in 2015. She spent seven years at Dundas Valley School of Art in Advanced Studio in Fine Art and also attended Sheridan College School of Design. Rosemary exhibits widely and is a published artist with work in international, corporate and private collections. She works primarily in the mediums of collage and paint, to which she has recently added sculpture and photography. For More Information: @rosemarysart
Melanie Matthews
Melanie Matthews followed her painting and drawing studies at Dawson College with the achievement of a BFA with distinction in Studio Art from Concordia University. She shares her time between her prolific personal art practice and an ever-expanding teaching schedule. Melanie is Golden Artist Colors Working Artist for Ontario and has been the Working Artist for Quebec since 2002. She is invited to lecture, offer workshops, and teach classes for many venues and art organizations, including the Visual Arts Centre, Dawson College, Concordia University, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Canadian Society of Artists. She instructs on a broad spectrum of topics, including methods and materials of acrylic painting, acrylic encaustic techniques, monoprinting, bigger is better (large scale image-making), painting on Plexi, essential acrylics, mixed media, digital mixed media, contemporary water media, creative colour mixing, image transfer, and more. For More Information: melaniematthews.ca
Margaret Ferraro
Margaret Ferraro work has been described as Tom Thomson on amphetamines. She takes that as a compliment. Margaret is an artist and teacher, specializing in pastel, life drawing and plein air painting workshops. The two disciplines of life drawing and pastel combine what she loves, drawing and the spontaneous use of colour. Working en plein air, she is at home in the woods and in nature. For thirty years she has been teaching workshops. For decades she had a studio in Ottawa but in 2017 moved north of Toronto to the Georgian Bay region. She published her first book in 2009, A Time to Dance. And in 2017, she was named Master pastellist-EM by the Pastel Artist of Canada. Her work has been shown in many National and International Art Exhibitions, including the Pastel Society of America (National Arts Club, NYC), The Pastel Artists of Canada (Toronto, Etobicoke, Vancouver and many other locations), and the Pastel Society of Eastern Canada, which exhibits out of Montreal. She has also exhibited in commercial galleries, including her own studio gallery. For More Information: margaretferraro.com
Kirei Samuel
Kirei Samuel's fascination with glass started purely by accident 25 years ago, when a friend gave her some scrap glass. For many years she travelled the Ontario art and craft show circuit and then, in 2009 she opened her studio/gallery which houses her one-of-a-kind pieces in jewellery, plates, bowls and artwork. In 2019 Kirei designed 550 pendants for the Women's Half Marathon in Wellington, ON. She also designed and built the bases for the pewter sculptures for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Toronto's annual theatre, dance and opera. She is happy to continue the Dora Award bases commission in 2023. Kirei has been a member of the PEC Studio Tour for the last 14 years.