Barry Ace Moccasins at the National Gallery of Canada
It’s a challenge to get a good shot of these.
Barry Ace creates gorgeous work right in middle of a series of sweet spots: traditional and modern, craft and fine art, beautiful object and powerful idea.
The pieces I have fallen in love with over the last few years incorporate electronics—in some cases screens, in most cases electronic components (resistors, capacitors, diodes) as modern day beads using the traditional visual vocabulary of beading.
These moccasins, featured in the The National Gallery of Canada exhibition ÀBADAKONE: CONTINUOUS FIRE (running till April 5, 2020) are a perfect example.
Here’s what the description says:
Nigik Makizinan [the gallery has an admirable policy of putting the title first in the language of the artist, in this case Anishinaabe]
Otter Moccasins 2014
Shoes, otter pelt, velvet, electronic components, synthetic porcupine bristles, deer hide, synthetic felt, copper beads, brass bells
Ace’s richly embellished “trail dusters”—a customary southern Plains Indigenous moccasin technology used to erase the wearer’s footprints as they walked—evoke contemporary concerns about the traces of our “digital footprints.” Featuring Anishinaabe floral patterns that incorporate beads and electronic components with natural and synthetic materials, this work seamlessly combines traditional cultural practices Ace learned in childhood with references to more recent digital technology.
Close up of “beads”—capacitors, resistors, and LEDs along with copper beads.
Elegant and sculptural. These photos were taken at the opening (best attended opening reception in gallery history I believe). If you can, try to get some alone time with these.
