Sierra Barber

My paintings reflect and balance the layered experiences of my identity. Using Haudenosaunee imagery, my work creates a space for me to explore my relationship to stories, both known and unknown. It reclaims and connects me to the stories that are a part of me and that I belong to. I use a combination of oil painting and beadwork in my paintings to create a language that interprets my inner world.

Beading connects me to my culture. I use beadwork and oil painting together in a piece to create a dynamic image that lives within two material languages. The glass beads intersect with the colonial medium of oil painting, continuously translating the image and creating a dialogue between the materials. I use both vintage and new seed beads to create my beadwork. The vintage beads bring their own stories to the painting that include surpassing bans of cultural expression.

Sierra Barber (she/her) is an Upper Mohawk/ mixed artist from Norfolk County, ON, currently living in Tiohtiá:ke/ Montreal, QC. She graduated from OCAD University with a BFA in 2015, majoring in Sculpture and Installation with a minor in the Indigenous Visual Culture Program.  Her work has been shown in the annual Indigenous Art juried exhibition at the Woodland Cultural Centre, The Artist Project - Contemporary Art Fair, and has been featured in Create Magazine. Her work is represented at the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s Art Sales & Services.

Instagram @sierrabarberart

Sierra Barber. 'sky berry' 2022. new + vintage glass seed beads, oil on canvas. 12x16 inches.

Sierra Barber. ‘Connected’ 2022. vintage seed beads + oil on canvas. 12x16 inches.