NSCAD University is delighted to announce two honorary distinctions for 2026: Gerhard Richter, one of the most influential artists of the post war period, will receive the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts (honoris causa); and Andrew Scott, visual artist and founding member of the Canadian band Sloan, will be named a Life Fellow of NSCAD University.
“These honorees speak to NSCAD’s role as a critically important artistic nexus where distinguished creative voices intersect. The essential role NSCAD plays as a testing ground and creative incubator for visual culture in Canada, and around the world, is undeniable,” says Interim President David B. Smith (BFA 1992).
GERHARD RICHTER, DFA (HONORIS CAUSA)
Gerhard Richter’s impact on contemporary art is profound. Over a career spanning more than six decades, Richter has expanded the possibilities of painting through a singular exploration of image, abstraction, perception, and the nature of representation itself. His work has shaped—and reshaped—the visual language of the postwar and contemporary eras.
Richter’s connection to NSCAD is deeply felt. In the summer of 1978, he served as a Visiting Professor at the university, engaging in the rigorous, experimental environment that shaped generations of artists and led him to a pivot in his own artistic enterprise. A major retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (which closed on March 2) included many works he produced while at NSCAD.
“We are thrilled to have this opportunity to recognize Richter’s extraordinary contribution to global culture,” says Smith. “It’s a great honor to recognize an artist whose work has had such a monumental impact on generations of makers and thinkers. Gerhard Richter’s connection to NSCAD (rooted in his time here as a visiting professor) reminds us that we have long been part of the international conversation that defines and shapes contemporary art.”
Richter will receive his degree in absentia.
Richter was nominated by New York-based artist and curator Steven Holmes (MFA 1994), who will speak about Richter at Convocation. He remembers walking into New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2002 to see Richter’s major exhibition curated by Robert Storr (NSCAD DFA 2019).
“I was electrified. The presence of NSCAD was in that show… Richter’s rigor —armed by beauty—stands apart. Not so much with defiance, as with a whispered confidence. Part of what overwhelmed me was not only the beauty of the exhibition, but the realization that my own work at NSCAD—a period during which beauty was held suspect—was validated here. Richter’s fearless beauty was just as rigorous as the cold analysis of culture that dominated post-modernism when I was at NSCAD. Richter’s is a beauty with the social wrapped inside. It was not dogmatic. It didn’t have to be.”
ANDREW SCOTT, NSCAD LIFE FELLOW
Andrew Scott is a celebrated visual artist and musician, whose advocacy for, and commitment to NSCAD cannot be overstated. Scott studied at NSCAD between 1987 and 1991, leaving before graduation to pursue a musical career as a founding member of the influential band Sloan.
Throughout his decades as visual artist and musician, Scott has remained a generous ambassador for NSCAD—advocating for the university, championing its artists, and contributing to its creative community.
President Smith says, “NSCAD is delighted to name Andrew Scott as a Life Fellow of NSCAD. Andrew’s creative life spanning visual art, music, and cultural advocacy, embodies the curiosity, independence, and restless experimentation that define our community. His commitment to NSCAD over many years has been a gift to the university and to our students.”
Scott was nominated by Professor Emeritus Thierry Delva (BFA 1985, MFA 1993).
NSCAD’s graduation ceremony takes place at the Light House Arts Centre at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 12, 2026.