Barry Ace (born 1958) is a

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

sculptor, installation artist, photographer, multimedia artist, and curator from

Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...

, who lives in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. He is

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ) are an Indigenous North American people who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, now in jurisdictions of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Their territory long prec ...

, an

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...

people, and belongs to the M'Chigeeng First Nation. Ace's work includes mixed media-paintings, and mixed media textile and sculptural work that combines traditional Anishinaabe textiles and beadwork with found electrical components. Ace has a strong interest in combining Indigenous and global technologies, aesthetics, and techniques in his artwork.

Early life

Barry Ace was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He is a band member of M'Chigeeng First Nation, Manitoulin Island. Ace's surname is pronounced "Es" and translates to the Ojibwe word for "clam," also relating to the word for "small clam" spelled "esiins" or "esens." Ace's heritage links him to Chief Assance (alternatively spelled Aisance, Aissance, and Essens) of the Nigig (Otter) clan, the otter being an important messenger figure in Anishinaabe history. Ace was first introduced to techniques that he would later employ in his artistic practice at the age of seven or eight when he helped his great-aunt Annie Owl-McGregor to make Anishinaabe splint-ash baskets. He also found inspiration from the beadwork, quillwork, and basketry made by his grandmother Mary McGregor-Ace.

Education

Barry Ace initially studied to be an electrician at

Cambrian College Cambrian College, established in 1967, is a List of Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology, college of applied arts and technology in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, partnered with private Hanson College of Business, Health and Techno ...

but switched to graphic arts. Ace's background knowledge in electricity did however later play a role in his artwork in his mixed media works that include electrical components. Ace has lectured at the

University of Sudbury The University of Sudbury () is a bilingual and tri-cultural university in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It provides undergraduate programming in both French and English in Religious Studies, Philosophy, Indigenous Studies, and in French in Journali ...

in the Indigenous Studies Program, and at

Laurentian University Laurentian University (), officially Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Laurentian offers a variety of undergr ...

, and

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

in Canadian Studies. In 2015 he taught a workshop at the Ottawa Art Gallery where participants made a collective mixed media map of the

city of Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of the Ottawa–Gatinea ...

. He also led a workshop for children from an Ojibwe immersion school in the fall of 2016 where the artwork produced by the children was later displayed at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation. Ace is participating in the Nigig Visiting Artist Residency put on by the Indigenous Visual Culture Program at

OCAD University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public university, public art school, art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park (neighbourh ...

in the winter of 2018.

Themes

Much of Barry Ace's work uses found materials like

capacitor In electrical engineering, a capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. The capacitor was originally known as the condenser, a term st ...

resistor A resistor is a passive two-terminal electronic component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow, adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active e ...

s, and

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corre ...

s, and traditional

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

-style floral beadwork to comment on "cultural endurance undeterred by centuries of colonial oppression and rapid social change." In all of his creations, the artist emphasizes the importance of asserting one's identity and culture and taking ownership of Indigenous imagery and representation. Ace's work explores the relationship between historical techniques and traditions and contemporary materials and subject matter. By referencing the history of Anishinaabe textile art in works that use contemporary mass-produced materials, among other themes Ace investigates the dialogue between Indigenous and European cultures, much like fellow artists Rosalie Favell and Jeff Thomas do. One example of this is the history of the use of glass beads from European traders in Indigenous beadwork that Ace references in his textile pieces. Some of Ace's work explores the particular aesthetic of technology and popular culture in Indigenous art, something that fellow artist Rosalie Favell also incorporates in her work. In 2010, Ace performed ''A Reparative'' ''Act'', a performance of four solo dances in the traditional Woodland style in Paris referencing the nineteenth-century dance performances of Chief Maungwadaus in Britain and Continental Europe. Ace's performance and essay was part of Robert Houle's ''Paris/Ojibwa'' research project which opened at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris.

Selected exhibitions

Barry Ace was featured in ''Emergence from the Shadows: First Peoples Photographic Perspectives'' (1996) held at the

Canadian Museum of History The Canadian Museum of History () is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of Canada, as well as support related res ...

and curated by Jeff Thomas. The exhibition involved six contemporary Indigenous photographers addressing representations of Indigenous culture through their engagement with and display of their work alongside historical photographs from the museum, including portraiture. The artists that Ace exhibited with were Mary Anne Barkhouse,

Rosalie Favell Rosalie Favell (born 1958) is a Métis (Cree/British) artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba currently based in Ottawa, Ontario, working with photography and digital collage techniques. Favell creates self-portraits, sometimes featuring her own image a ...

, Greg Hill, Shelley Niro and Greg Staats. Some notable exhibitions that Ace has been included in have been the ''In/Digitized – Indigenous Culture in a Digital World (007 with Special Agent Robert Houle)'' at SAW Gallery (2013), ''Native Fashion Now: North American Indian Style'' at the

Peabody Essex Museum The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and th ...

(2016), ''Canadian Biennial'' at the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

(2017), ''Memory Landscape'' at Museu Nogueira da Silva, Universidade do Minho (2016), ''Every.Now.Then: Reframing Nationhood'' at the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...

(2017), ''Always Vessels'' at

Art Gallery (2017), ''It's Complicated'' with ''007'' at Central Art Garage (2017), ''raise a flag: works from the Indigenous Art Collection (200–2015)'' at

(2017), ''Insurgence/Resurgence'' at the

Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...

(2018), and ''Radical Stitch'' at the

MacKenzie Art Gallery The MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG; ) is an art museum located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The museum occupies the multipurpose T. C. Douglas Building, situated at the edge of the Wascana Centre. The building holds eight galleries totaling to of ...

(2022). Barry Ace's artwork has been exhibited at galleries such as the National Gallery of Canada, including Abadakone in 2019, the Ottawa Art Gallery, Karsh-Masson Gallery, the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Winnipeg Art Gallery, the

Royal Ontario Museum The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...

, and the Canadian Museum of History. Ace's work has been collected by the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

Art Bank, Woodland Cultural Centre, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ottawa Art Gallery, Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development Canada, the National Gallery of Canada, Nordamerika Native Museum, the

City of Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of the Ottawa–Gatinea ...

, and

Global Affairs Canada Global Affairs Canada (GAC; ; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department of the Government of Canada that ...

. Ace has curated several shows himself, including ''A Celebration: The Art of Canada's First Peoples'' (Rideau Hall, Ottawa, 1996–1997), ''Perpetual Bundle'' (Hull, 1996), and ''inter/SECTION'' (Hull, 1998). He served as Chief Curator for the Aboriginal Art Centre, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada from 1994 to 2000. Ace organized numerous exhibitions, including ''Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Art'' (1997), which toured internationally.

Selected works

* ''2006 Reaction'' – footwear * ''2010 A Reparative Act'' – performance * ''2013 Healing Dance 1'' – painting * ''2013 Urban Bustle'' – mixed media * ''2014 Nigik Makizinan – Otter Moccasins'' * ''2016 Bandolier for M'Chigeeng'' – mixed media * ''2016 Nayaano-nibiimaang Gichigamiin: The Five Great Lakes'' – mixed media * ''2017 Bandolier for Alain Brosseau'' – mixed media

Awards

In 2015, Barry Ace won the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for visual arts. Ace won the Ontario Association of Art Galleries' Curatorial Writing Award in 2012 for his essay "A Reparative Act," which was written for Robert Houle's ''Paris/Ojibwa'' exhibition catalogue. He also won the Deputy Minister's Outstanding Achievement Award with his team in 1999 for the artist-in-residence and exhibition program that they launched at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

Organizations and groups

With Ryan Rice, Ron Noganosh, and Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskew in 2006, Barry Ace co-founded the non-profit Indigenous Curatorial Collective (formerly the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective). Connecting Indigenous curators and cultural producers across Canada, the ACC has played an important role in gathering a strong Indigenous arts community and supporting curatorial and writing projects that share the many voices that make up that community. Barry Ace also co-founded the OO7 (Ottawa Ontario Seven) Collective, a group of Indigenous artists that includes Ariel Smith,

, Frank Shebageget, Leo Yerxa, Michael Belmore, Ron Noganosh, and invited "special agents." The group provides an alternative and experimental space for Ottawa-based Indigenous artists at different stages in their careers, and supports them by providing opportunities for self-curation, public engagement, and critique.

References

External links

Artist's official website

Barry Ace
Kinsman Robinson Galleries {{DEFAULTSORT:Ace, Barry 1958 births Canadian art curators Canadian multimedia artists First Nations installation artists First Nations sculptors First Nations photographers Living people Odawa people Artists from Greater Sudbury M'Chigeeng First Nation people