Barry Ace facts for kids

Barry Ace (born 1958) is a talented First Nations artist from Sudbury, Ontario. He creates amazing sculptures, art installations, photographs, and multimedia pieces. Barry Ace is also a curator, which means he helps organize art shows. He lives in Ottawa and is part of the Odawa people, who are a group of Anishinaabe people. His family belongs to the M'Chigeeng First Nation.

Barry Ace's art often mixes traditional Anishinaabe designs with modern technology. He uses things like beads and textiles alongside electrical parts. He loves to combine Indigenous and global ideas, styles, and methods in his artwork.

Early Life and Inspiration

Barry Ace was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He is a member of the M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island. His last name, "Ace," sounds like "Es" and means "clam" in the Ojibwe language. This connects him to Chief Assance, an important leader from the Nigig (Otter) clan. The otter is a special messenger in Anishinaabe stories.

When Barry was about seven or eight years old, he started learning art techniques. He helped his great-aunt Annie Owl-McGregor make traditional Anishinaabe baskets from splint-ash. He also found inspiration from the beautiful beadwork, quillwork, and basketry made by his grandmother, Mary McGregor-Ace.

Education and Teaching

Barry Ace first studied to become an electrician at Cambrian College. However, he later switched to graphic arts. His knowledge of electricity still helps him today, as he often uses electrical parts in his mixed media artworks.

Barry Ace has shared his knowledge by giving talks at different universities. He has taught about Indigenous Studies at the University of Sudbury. He also lectured in Canadian Studies at Laurentian University and Carleton University.

In 2015, he led a workshop at the Ottawa Art Gallery. Participants worked together to create a mixed media map of the city of Ottawa. In 2016, he taught a workshop for children from an Ojibwe immersion school. The children's artwork was later shown at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation. In 2018, he was a visiting artist at OCAD University.

Art Themes and Messages

Much of Barry Ace's art uses everyday items like capacitors, resistors, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). He combines these with traditional Great Lakes-style floral beadwork. His art shows how Indigenous cultures have stayed strong despite many challenges over hundreds of years.

In all his creations, Barry Ace highlights the importance of being proud of your identity and culture. He believes in taking ownership of Indigenous images and stories. His work explores how old traditions connect with new materials and modern topics. For example, he uses glass beads, which European traders brought long ago, in his textile pieces. This shows how Indigenous and European cultures have influenced each other.

In 2010, Barry Ace performed A Reparative Act in Paris. This was a series of four traditional Woodland style dances. It honored Chief Maungwadaus, who performed similar dances in Europe in the 1800s. Ace's performance was part of a research project called Paris/Ojibwa.

Exhibitions and Collections

Barry Ace's art has been shown in many important exhibitions. In 1996, he was part of Emergence from the Shadows: First Peoples Photographic Perspectives. This show at the Canadian Museum of History featured Indigenous photographers. They explored how Indigenous culture was shown in old and new photographs.

Some other notable exhibitions where his work has been featured include:

• In/Digitized – Indigenous Culture in a Digital World at SAW Gallery (2013)
• Native Fashion Now: North American Indian Style at the Peabody Essex Museum (2016)
• Canadian Biennial at the National Gallery of Canada (2017)
• Every.Now.Then: Reframing Nationhood at the Art Gallery of Ontario (2017)
• Insurgence/Resurgence at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (2018)
• Radical Stitch at the MacKenzie Art Gallery (2022)

His artwork is also part of many important collections. These include the National Gallery of Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Ottawa Art Gallery. His pieces are also collected by the Canada Council Art Bank and Global Affairs Canada.

Barry Ace has also curated several art shows himself. He was the Chief Curator for the Aboriginal Art Centre from 1994 to 2000. During this time, he organized many exhibitions, including Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Art, which traveled around the world.

Selected Artworks

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

Awards and Recognition

Barry Ace has received several awards for his amazing work. In 2015, he won the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for visual arts. In 2012, he won the Ontario Association of Art Galleries' Curatorial Writing Award. This was for his essay "A Reparative Act," which was in the catalogue for Robert Houle's Paris/Ojibwa exhibition. He also won an award in 1999 for an artist-in-residence program he helped start.

Important Groups and Collaborations

In 2006, Barry Ace helped start the Indigenous Curatorial Collective. This group connects Indigenous curators and artists across Canada. It helps build a strong Indigenous arts community and supports new art projects.

Barry Ace also co-founded the OO7 (Ottawa Ontario Seven) Collective. This group of Indigenous artists in Ottawa includes Ariel Smith, Rosalie Favell, Frank Shebageget, Leo Yerxa, Michael Belmore, and Ron Noganosh. The collective gives artists a place to experiment, share their work with the public, and get feedback.