Our Canada – August-September 2019

PUSHING

BOUNDARIES

Bridging the historical and the

contemporary in Anishinaabe art

by Barry Ace, Ottawa

KANATA

Above: Barry,
in the 1980s,
with his great-
aunt Annie Owl
McGregor (left)
and his cousin,
Linda Jordan.
“Puddles” is
the pooch in
the middle.

F

om nrly age, I have been fasci-

nated with the beauty and the aes-

thetics of the Anishinaabe cultural

arts of the Great Lakes of Canada,

in particular, porcupine quillwork, bead-

work, splint-ash and birch-bark basketry,

clay pottery and traditional dance. My vis-

ual art practice draws its inspiration from

my Anishinaabeg (Odawa) culture and

heritage and from my apprenticeship with

strong Anishinaabe women in my family

and community who were basket-makers

and bead-workers, like my great-aunt

Annie Owl McGregor. I am a band member

of M’Chigeeng First Nation, Manitoulin

Island (Odawa Mnis), Ont., a vibrant com-

munity situated on the largest freshwater

island in the world. Manitoulin Island is

the homeland of the Anishinaabe (Odawa,

Ojibwe and Potawatomi) residing in the six

communities of M’Chigeeng, Sheguiandah,

Aundeck Omni Kaning, Wiikwemkoong

and Zhiibaahaasing, which are situated

alongside many settler communities, the

largest being Little Current.

Coming from a culturally rich communi-

ty, my art training was not garnered from

Western fine art educational institutions,

but instead directly from talented and in-

novative community-based women who

taught me to be a maker—to make beau-

tiful objects with my hands. Beginning

with splint-ash basketry and later moving

onto beadwork, I focused my attention on

working with these small glass beads, or,

as they are called in Anishinaabemowin,

manidoominens (little spirit or spirit-en-

ergy berries). As I honed and refined my

beadwork technique, I began to create

more intricate and complex floral motifs

for dance regalia with an understanding

that the floral motifs represented medi-

cine flowers comprising animate healing

PUSHING

BOUNDARIES

Bridging

Above: Barry,

F

rom an early

nated with

24 Our Canada AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019