Visual artist Barry Ace joins OCAD University for Nigig residency

Portrait of artist Barry Ace
Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Indigenous Visual Culture 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 practicing 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.

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 Nigig Visiting Artist Residency supports the dynamism of Indigenous contemporary art and design practices and is a tremendous educational opportunity for the artist and students.

Faculty interested in scheduling a classroom visit with Barry Ace may email the Nigig Visiting Artist Residency coordinator Vanessa Dion Fletcher – vdionfletcher@ocadu.ca after January 3, 2018.

The public is invited to the Artist’s talk at the Welcome Buffalo Stew Luncheon:

Wednesday, January 10, 2018    
INVC Student Centre 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
113 McCaul St. (Village by the Grange), Level 4, Room 410

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: Emergence from the Shadows – First Peoples Photographic Perspectives, Canadian Museum of Civilization (1996: Ottawa); Urban Myths: Aboriginal Artists in the City. Karsh-Masson Gallery (2000: Ottawa); The Dress Show, Leonard and Ellen Bina Art Gallery (2003: Montréal); Super Phat Nish, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (2006: Brandon); Playing Tricks, American Indian Community House Gallery (2006: New York); m∂ntu’c – little spirits, little powers”, Nordamerika Native Museum (2010: Zurich); Changing Hands 3 – Art Without Reservations, Museum of Art and Design (2012-2014: New York); Mnemonic Manifestations, Latcham Gallery, (2015: Stouffville); 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 (2017: Toronto); Anishinaabeg: Art & Power, Royal Ontario Museum (2017: Toronto); Insurgence / Resurgence, Winnipeg Art Gallery (2017: Winnipeg); raise a flag: Works from the Indigenous Art Collection (2000-2015) (2017 Toronto), 2017 Canadian Biennial, National Gallery of Canada (2017: Ottawa).

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).

He is the recipient of the KM Hunter Visual Artist Award for 2015.

 

 

 

Poster: 
Three beaded cloth and screen installations hanging in a gallery wall

Exhibition - Joi Arcand, Works In Progress 

Pair of silver earrings hanging from a metallic sculpture of a mounted deer head
Tuesday, November 7, 2017 - 12:00am to Friday, November 10, 2017 - 11:30pm

Indigenous Visual Culture’s Nigig Visiting Artist Resident Joi Arcand will present new work made during her residency. These works in progress build on Arcand's previous inquiries, using vinyl, posters, and jewelry inserting Cree language into our lives. The Nigig Visiting Artist Residency provides an opportunity for an Indigenous artist to visit OCAD University to focus on a short-term project and explore in a collaborative environment, issues impacting their work.

Joi T. Arcand is a photo-based artist and a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation currently based in Ottawa, Ontario. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 2005. In 2006, along with Felicia Gay, she co-founded the Red Shift Gallery, a contemporary Indigenous art gallery in Saskatoon. In 2012, she founded kimiwan 'zine, a quarterly Indigenous arts publication. http://www.joitarcand.com

Arcand’s work has recently been exhibited at the Contemporary Native Art Biennial – Art Mur (Montreal), Kenderdine Art Gallery (Saskatoon), aka artist-run (Saskatoon), Access Gallery (Vancouver) and internationally in the United States, London UK, and Bilbao, Spain. She curated the recent exhibition Language of Puncture at Gallery 101 (Ottawa).

The Nigig Visiting Artist Residency, hosted by the Indigenous Visual Culture Program at OCAD University, is a program that provides an opportunity for an Indigenous artist to visit OCAD 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 will engage and interact with students and faculty in the capacity of mentorship, critique, lecture and a public workshop and/or demonstration. This residency supports the dynamism located in Indigenous contemporary art and design practices and is a tremendous educational opportunity for the artist and students.

The Nigig Artist In Residence Program is supported through the Ministry of Advance Education and Skills Development Targeted Initiative Fund.

 

Venue & Address: 
Ada Slaight Gallery OCAD University 2nd Floor, 100 McCaul St.
Email: 
vdionfletcher@ocadu.ca
Cost: 
Free

Rebecca Belmore: March 5, 1819

Rebecca Belmore
Friday, October 10, 2008 - 4:00am to Sunday, January 4, 2009 - 5:00am

This new media commission by OCAD alumna Rebecca Belmore considers the moments when Demasduit, a young Beothuk woman, was captured by colonists at Red Indian Lake, and her husband Nonosabasut was killed trying to save her. Extending her investigations of contemporary and historical aboriginal identity, Belmore personalizes historical record, highlighting the inseparability of past experiences from the present. The acclaimed Canadian artist explores the interplay of myth, history, and fiction in the new video work that centers upon this key narrative in the history of the Beothuk and accounts of the extinction of the indigenous population in the province. The installation features selected collection holdings of The Rooms and the original miniature portrait of Demasduit on ivory by Lady Henrietta Hamilton (ca. 1780-1857), on loan to The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery by Library and Archives Canada.

Organized by The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery with the support of the Media Arts Commissioning Program of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Venue & Address: 
The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery 9 Bonaventure Avenue, St. John's, Newfoundland
Email: 
information@therooms.ca

KATZMAN CONTEMPORARY PRESENTS INDIAN ACTS: Truths in the Age of Reconciliation

Sonny Assu, Billy and the Chiefs: Potlatch House #1, #2, #3 (triptych), acrylic on elk-hide, wood, 12” diameter, 2013
Saturday, May 28, 2016 - 4:00am to Saturday, July 9, 2016 - 4:00am

Image: Sonny Assu, Billy and the Chiefs: Potlatch House #1, #2, #3 (triptych), acrylic on elk-hide, wood, 12” diameter, 2013

Curated by: Dr. Gerald McMaster
Artwork by: Sonny Assu, Nicholas Galanin, and Geronimo Inutiq (madeskimo) 

Curatorial Statement:
Three Indigenous Artists Making the Past Relevant in the Present Tense

“The federal legislation that dictated the lives of Indigenous peoples in Canada — and, to some extent, those in the United States — was, for all intents and purposes, a form of cultural annihilation. At the same time, the recent report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission makes it clear that Canadian society remained surprisingly oblivious when it came to the nihilistic authority enshrined in the Indian Act. Confoundingly, despite the fact that the Act was essentially an existential threat to Indigenous peoples, its tangential impact currently is being addressed in art. In this exhibition, three young artists — Sonny Assu, Nicholas Galanin, and Geronimo Inutiq (madeskimo) — explore a legacy that continues to reverberate among Indigenous peoples, both individually and collectively.” 

Venue & Address: 
KATZMAN CONTEMPORARY 86 Miller Street Toronto, Ontario, M6N 2Z9
Website: 
http://www.katzmancontemporary.com
Email: 
info@katzmancontemporary.com

Shaman Dream in Colour – Exhibition by Robert Houle

Saturday, April 23, 2016 - 4:00am to Saturday, May 14, 2016 - 4:00am

You are invited to meet painter, curator and writer Robert Houle, 2015 winner of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Houle is a member of the Saulteaux First Nation and taught at OCAD U for more than 15 years. His recent works include an installation in the AGO’s Walker Court entitled Seven Grandfathers.

Artist Reception: Saturday, April 23, 2 to 4 p.m.
Opening remarks by John Kearsey, Vice-President (External),
University of Manitoba

Exhibition runs April 23 to May 14, 2016

The exhibition's 24-page colour catalogue features an introduction by OCAD U associate professor David McIntosh.

Venue & Address: 
Kinsman Robinson Galleries 108 Cumberland St., Toronto
Website: 
http://www.kinsmanrobinson.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=33
Circular painting by artist Robert Houle

JULIE NAGAM RECEIVES SSHRC FUNDING FOR THE KANATA INDIGENOUS PERFORMANCE, NEW AND DIGITAL MEDIA ART PROJECT

Installation by Dr. Julie Nagam. Photo courtesy Dr. Julie Nagam.
Dr. Julie Nagam. Photo courtesy Dr. Julie Nagam.

Dr. Julie Nagam is an emerging artist, curator and Assistant Professor in OCAD U’s Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Indigenous Visual Culture program, and she is the recipient of a major Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development grant for The Kanata Indigenous Performance, New and Digital Media Art Project. It’s a landmark effort to map and identify Canadian Indigenous performance, digital and new media art that will culminate in an inclusive, interactive website archive for researchers and the Indigenous community. 

“I’m excited about the potential of the funding,” said Nagam. “This is a project that needed to happen. There’s a strong connection between Indigenous performance, digital and new media artwork, but until now there’s been a gap in both access and scholarship in these areas, especially in the Canadian context. The project will provide archive material for up-and-coming scholars, curators and artists with vital resources in the fields of performance, new and digital media.”

Nagam, together with her co-applicants, Dr. Carla Taunton, an Assistant Professor, Art History and Critical Studies at the NASCAD University, and Dr. Heather Igloliorte, Assistant Professor, Art History, Concordia University, are working together collaboratively and each bring regional specializations to the mapping process of the project. Nagam’s focus is on central Canada and the central north, while Igloliorte is covering the north and Taunton is working on emerging east coast aspects. 

The project team will research creative practices, aesthetics, performance and digital media, tracing Indigenous practices and methodologies throughout Canada. They’ll look at existing archives at V-tape, ImagineNATIVE, Obx Laboratory for Experimental Media, Isuma, Arnait Video and Unikaat, to name only a few. In addition to the website archive, the team will also work together on a special Indigenous performance and digital media themed edition of a peer-reviewed journal. The funding also creates opportunities to hire, support and mentor Indigenous graduate students here at OCAD U and other Canadian universities.

An important aspect of the website archive is the team will be developing interactive elements. Artists themselves will be invited to engage with it, add new content, help fill in gaps and get involved. “We want participation from the artists so they can add to the story and catch missing work,” said Nagam. “Web and new media work can so easily get lost, so the artists can help identify important pieces and add to their profiles.”

The grant will help fund project development for two years and is valued at $70,000, but as Nagam notes, this is only the beginning. “I would like to see a large-scale research project and a commitment to documenting this rich archive,” said Nagam. “It has so much potential. It will be great to expand the team, add to the website archive and build a large-scale exhibition and conference that would visualize and analyze this rich body of knowledge.”

About Julie Nagam

Dr. Julie Nagam’s research focus is on (re) mapping the colonial state through creative interventions within concepts of native space. She specializes in cultural geography, Indigenous critical theory, cultural and post-colonial theory, gender, activism and racial configurations within history, space and creative practices. Her site-specific research has taken her to Pangnirtung, Nunavut, rural and remote areas of Manitoba and Iceland, and she has conducted research on the Indigenous histories of Toronto for the Visible City Project + Archive.

Nagam is also an active mixed media artist working in drawing, photography, painting, sound, projections, digital media and curatorial projects. Some of her recent work includes “Where White Pines Lay Over the Water,” a sound and media installation shown here in Toronto and in Brazil, and “Singing Our Bones,” an interactive installation which was part of Landslide/Possible Futures in Markham ON, and Ecocentrix in London England.

Learn More

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Julie Nagam faculty biography