Indigenous Visual Culture (INVC) at OCAD U welcomes Barry Ace as the Winter 2018 Nigig Visiting Artist-in-Residence. He will be on campus from January 9 to February 6, 2018.
Barry Ace is a visual artist who currently lives in Ottawa. He is a band member of M’Chigeeng First Nation, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. 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 interdisciplinary practice demonstrates the depth and rigour of Indigenous visual culture that our program undertakes,” says Ryan Rice, Delaney Chair, Indigenous Visual Culture. “Barry is an exemplary role model and offers a unique opportunity for our students to be mentored during the residency.”
The Nigig Visiting Artist Residency, hosted by the Indigenous Visual Culture Program at OCAD U, provides an opportunity for an Indigenous artist to visit the university for a three-to-four week period to focus on a short-term project and explore – in a collaborative environment – issues impacting their work. The visiting artist engages and interacts with students and faculty in the capacity of mentorship, critique, lecture and a public workshop/demonstration.
The Residency supports the dynamism of Indigenous contemporary art and design practices and is a tremendous educational opportunity for the artist, students and faculty.
The Nigig Visiting Artist Residency Program is supported through the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development Targeted Initiative Fund.
About the Artist:
As a practicing visual artist, Barry Ace’s work has been included in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including recent exhibitions: Native Fashion Now: North American Native Style (2016 – 2017, Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts and various US venues), Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood, Art Gallery of Toronto (Toronto, 2017); Anishinaabeg: Art & Power, Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, 2017); Insurgence / Resurgence, Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, 2017); raise a flag: Works from the Indigenous Art Collection (2000 – 2015), Onsite Gallery (Toronto, 2017), 2017 Canadian Biennial, National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, 2017).
His work can be found in numerous public and private collections in Canada and abroad, including the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton (Ottawa); Woodland Cultural Centre (Brantford); Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto); Ottawa Art Gallery (Ottawa); The Canada Council Art Bank, (Ottawa); Nordamerika Native Museum (Zurich, Switzerland); City of Ottawa (Ottawa); Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development Canada (Gatineau); National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa); Global Affairs Canada (Ottawa).
Ace is the recipient of the KM Hunter Visual Artist Award for 2015.
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For interviews or to confirm attendance at the Artist’s Talk, please contact:
Christine Crosbie, Manager, Communications & Media
OCAD University
416-977-6000 x4890
Cell: 647-473-7778
ccrosbie@ocadu.ca
