Barry Ace

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    Nest (2018). Mixed medium sculpture of vitrified clay, slip paint, bronze screen, copper, metal and resistors.
    Barry Ace
    $2,500.00
    Nest (2018). Mixed medium sculpture of vitrified clay, slip paint, bronze screen, copper, metal and resistors.

    Barry Ace

    $2,500.00
    /

    Nest (2018). Mixed medium sculpture of vitrified clay, slip paint, bronze screen, copper, metal and resistors.

    17 (l) x 9 (h) x 21 (d) cm

    Ace mentored with master Anishinaabe potter David Migwans in his home community of M’Chigeeng First Nation in preparation for his 2020 solo exhibition at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation.

    The premise for Ace’s residency was to examine the work of a specific Anishinaabe artist represented in the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation’s art collection and then to work with them to study process and learn technique in the creation of new works that incorporate an intervention of Ace’s electronic component work. As a maker himself, Ace has always been impressed with the masterworks of artist David Migwans. Working both at David’s outdoor home studio and at the newly installed pottery studios at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, Ace worked intensively with David Migwans to create several new innovative pots.

    Transforming functional pottery in to abstracted sculptural forms, Ace vitrified several of these pots. Vitrification is the formation of glass that is accomplished through the literal melting of crystalline silicate compounds into the amorphous, noncrystalline atomic structure associated with glass. As the formed clay works are heated in the kiln, the clay turns into progressively larger amounts of glass. Vitrification in an outdoor kiln is very difficult, due to the shifting levels of temperature from firing the kiln with wood, and this heightens the probability of the material shattering under the intense heat.

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    Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022)Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022), mixed media neckpiece.
    Barry Ace
    $1,500.00
    Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022)Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022), mixed media neckpiece.
    Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022), mixed media neckpiece.
    Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022), mixed media neckpiece.
    Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022)Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022), mixed media neckpiece.
    Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022), mixed media neckpiece.
    Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022), mixed media neckpiece.

    Barry Ace

    $1,500.00
    /

    Thunderbird in the Digital Age - Two Concepts of Power (2022), mixed media neckpiece.

    Velvet, glass beads, metal, capacitors, resistors, light-emitting diode, circuit board, horse hair, synthetic hair, paper, porcupine quill, rope, deer hide, thread.

    17 x 7 in / 43.18 x 17.78 cm 

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    Migration Scroll, 2018 based on the Anishinaabe birch bark scrolls, but upcycled to a digital technological tableaux. Mixed media, 8 × 20 × 5 in
    Barry Ace
    $2,500.00
    Migration Scroll, 2018 based on the Anishinaabe birch bark scrolls, but upcycled to a digital technological tableaux. Mixed media, 8 × 20 × 5 in

    Barry Ace

    $2,500.00
    /

     Migration Scroll, 2018 based on the Anishinaabe birch bark scrolls, but upcycled to a digital technological tableaux.  Mixed media, 8 × 20 × 5 in

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    Thunderbird Medicine Bling (2023)
    Barry Ace
    $1,500.00
    Thunderbird Medicine Bling (2023)

    Barry Ace

    $1,500.00
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    Thunderbird Medicine Bling (2023), mixed media. With a tie at the back, the length of this neckpiece is adjustable.

    Glass beads, rope, porcupine quills, resistors, light emitting diodes, velvet, plastic, rhinestones, horse hair, synthetic hair, deer hide, white heart trade beads.

    46 x 18 cm.

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    Barry Ace
    from $2,000.00
    Barry Ace
    Barry Ace
    Barry Ace
    Barry Ace

    Barry Ace

    $2,000.00
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    Kitchi Zibi Omàmìwininì Anishinàbe

    Digital print on rag paper

    This photograph was taken by Ace in 2013 of the controversial Hamilton MacCarthy sculpture of the Indigenous scout that was relocated to Major's Hill Park from its original location as part of the Champlain Monument situated on Nepean Point directly behind the National Gallery of Canada. In the background is Iluliaq (Iceberg) by Greenlandic artist Inuk Silis Høegh looming in the background, and it is artfully framed by Ottawa's Central Art Garage. 

    21 × 34 in
    Editions 1, 2 of 2

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    Spirit Berry Bling (2022), mixed media. With a tie at the back, the length of this neckpiece is adjustable.
    Barry Ace
    $1,500.00
    Spirit Berry Bling (2022), mixed media. With a tie at the back, the length of this neckpiece is adjustable.

    Barry Ace

    $1,500.00
    /

    Spirit Berry Bling (2022), mixed media. With a tie at the back, the length of this neckpiece is adjustable.

    Glass beads, rope, thread, capacitors, resistors, diodes, light emitting diodes, horse hair, synthetic hair, velvet, paper, deer hide, porcupine quills

    46 x 18 cm

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    Francis Densmore and Maheengun (Little Wolf) (2020) mixed media on paper 23 x 9.5 cm, unframed.
    Barry Ace
    $450.00
    Francis Densmore and Maheengun (Little Wolf) (2020) mixed media on paper 23 x 9.5 cm, unframed.

    Barry Ace

    $450.00
    /

    Francis Densmore and Maheengun (Little Wolf) (2020) mixed media on paper 23 x 9.5 cm, unframed.

    Frances Theresa Densmore (1867 – 1957) was an American anthropologist and ethnographer who was known for her studies of Native american music and culture. 

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    Thunderbird artwork by Barry Ace
    Barry Ace
    from $1,200.00
    Thunderbird artwork by Barry Ace
    Barry Ace
    Barry Ace
    Thunderbird artwork by Barry Ace
    Barry Ace
    Barry Ace

    Barry Ace

    $2,200.00
    /

       

    The work is printed on archival Epson Canvas with a simulated birch bark background digitally added from a birchbark scan. The work references Anishinaabe birchbark scrolls that are etched iconography stitched together with spruce root.
    Bnesi (Thunderbird) and Mishibijw (Water Panther) (2020) digital output on archival canvas, glass beads, thread, hide, metal, wood. The photographs and taken on Manitoulin Island. The birch bark references Anishinaabe scrolls and the Thunderbird is a sacred bird symbolizing protection.
    The Mishibijiw (Water Panther) is a water being who controls water - the waves are visible on its back. 
    This work is available as a diptych or as individual works. 
    Diptych dimensions: 81 x 38 cm.

    As individual works:
    Bnesi (Thunderbird) (2020) digital output on archival canvas, glass beads, thread, hide, metal, wood. 41 x 19 cm 

    Mishibijw (Water Panther) (2020) digital output on archival canvas, glass beads, thread, hide, metal, wood. 41 x 19 cm 

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    Tekahionwake (Pauline E. Johnson) x 3 Views (2020) mixed media on paper 18 x 13 cm.
    Barry Ace
    $450.00
    Tekahionwake (Pauline E. Johnson) x 3 Views (2020) mixed media on paper 18 x 13 cm.

    Barry Ace

    $450.00
    /

    Tekahionwake (Pauline E. Johnson) 3 Views (2020) mixed media on paper 18 x 13 cm, unframed.

    Emily Pauline Johnson (1861–1913), also known by her Mohawk stage name Tekahionwake ("Double-Life") was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a poet, author, and performer. 

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    Nahgunegahbow (Standing Forward) (2020) mixed media on paper 23 x 9.5 cm, unframed.
    Barry Ace
    $450.00
    Nahgunegahbow (Standing Forward) (2020) mixed media on paper 23 x 9.5 cm, unframed.

    Barry Ace

    $450.00
    /

    Nahgunegahbow (Standing Forward) (2020) mixed media on paper, 23 x 9.5 cm, unframed.

    The Hudson’s Bay trade blankets carry with them a long narrative of colonization and trade history with the peoples of the Great Lakes, but also carry with them culture specific signs and semiotics as the blankets became assimilated into Anishinaabeg material culture. The trade blankets were at one time revered and were offered as highly valued gifts and were worn as regalia on important occasions and even fashioned into garments such as coats. When these blankets were decorated with a beaded blanket strip, for instance, they took on and even greater cultural and spiritual significance. An early photograph taken by Charles A. Zimmerman (circa 1872 and 1890) and sourced from the Smithsonian Institute of Nahgunegahbow or Mahjegahbo (Standing Forward or He Looks Well Standing Forward) wearing such a blanket and blanket strip is a fine example.

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    Barry Ace is a practicing visual artist and currently lives in Ottawa, Canada. He is a band member of M’Chigeeng First Nation, Odawa Mnis (Manitoulin Island), Ontario, Canada. His mixed media paintings and assemblage textile works explore various aspects of cultural continuity and the confluence of the historical and contemporary.

    Barry Ace's textile practice draws its inspiration from historical Anishinaabeg arts of the Great Lakes that incorporate floral and geometric beadwork motifs. Ace up-cycles reclaimed and salvaged electronic components and circuitry (capacitors and resistors) transforming the refuse of the technological age into complex floral motifs. In doing so, Ace references Anishinaabeg beadwork as a metaphor for cultural continuity, bridging the past with the present and the future, and as a demonstrable act of nationhood, resistance and modernity. His contemporary practice intentionally, yet respectfully, transcends and moves forward conventional Anishinaabeg cultural boundaries as a confluence between the historical and contemporary.

    PINNGUAQ FEATURES ACE’S WORK IN THEIR PRINT AND ONLINE MAGAZINE “ROOT AND STEM”

    The Ottawa Art Gallery Interview Barry Ace