Another Field Trip

OAG continues its exciting partnership with FIELD TRIP by sharing the virtual art tutorial we developed for (Re)Mapping Place, Barry Ace’s contribution to our Contemporary Indigenous Artists in the Classroom Project. 

Watch!

Field Trip: Art Across Canada is a new online platform to deliver arts experiences with some of Canada’s most celebrated artists in a national partnership with leading arts organizations. From children’s programs to artist talks and workshops, these activities are designed to advance the work of our nation’s organizations through digital platforms for different age groups, on a range of subjects, that engage communities and support artists, particularly during the challenges presented during a pandemic.

The OAG’s Contemporary Indigenous Arts in the Classroom project aims to provide elementary and high school–level teachers with curriculum-linked lesson plans designed by contemporary Indigenous artists. Ottawa-based artists Jaime Koebel (Métis, Cree) and Barry Ace (Anishinaabe) each developed an art lesson for elementary and high school level students respectively. The goal is to build students’ cultural competence and respect for diverse Indigenous peoples, while encouraging critical thinking about colonialism in Canada.

Barry Ace’s high school lesson, (re)Mapping Place, delves into the politics of map-making. Students learn about the role of maps in the colonial erasure of Indigenous peoples from Canada’s history. By deconstructing the map of where they live, and re-creating it using symbols from their own cultural heritage and lived experiences, students learn the importance of continually questioning and challenging the established authority of historical knowledge.

About the artist:

Barry Ace is a practicing visual artist and currently lives in Ottawa, Canada. He is a debendaagzijig (citizen) 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.

Additional resources including lesson plans, video introductions and a downloadable pdf version of the Contemporary Indigenous Arts in the Classroom publication can be found on the OAG website through the link below.
https://oaggao.ca/contemporary-indigenous-arts-classroom

We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. The Contemporary Indigenous Arts in the Classroom project was also made possible by a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation.