Landlines, 2022

Curated by Nadine Arpin and Sonya Ballantyne

Co-presented by Trinity Square Video in partnership with Reel Asian International Film Festival and Digital Justice Lab; concept and production by José Andrés Mora

Featuring audio-works by Randy Dunsford, Carrie Lyon, Rachel Garrick, Moneca Sinclaire, Osani Balkaran

Connecting over great distances, Landlines brings together artists across northwestern Ontario and northern Manitoba in an audio exhibition that can be experienced anywhere, anytime via your phone. Deriving from a recognition that reliable Internet needed for daily communication is still not afforded to many northern communities across Canada, curators Nadine Arpin and Sonya Ballantyne consider the potentials for media art existing beyond our contemporary, Internet-grounded construct, towards the trusted, analogue infrastructures of telephone landlines. Utilizing the nostalgic and familiar sounds and navigational system of the telephone, the artworks have newly realized avenues for profound storytelling, created sound experiences, and poetry. Audiences can engage via telephone anywhere with cellular reception. Additionally, an access point for Landlines will be installed in the vitrine space at the WKP Kennedy Gallery.

Curatorial Statement by Nadine Arpine:

When the concept of using telephone landlines as a mechanism for creating art was brought to me, I was more than excited. Often when living in rural or isolated communities, one can feel creatively restrained by the lack of access to the equipment and support. The ability to create work with whatever means available is a provocative one, which I knew would pull artists out of their comfort zone and stretch their creative process. I engaged three Anishinaabe creatives who work predominantly in the visual arts, and presented them with the Landline concept. As a mentoring curator, it was important to me that these emerging artists not only explore the concept of an audio-work, but also challenge them to play with the mechanics of the phone tree itself resulting in three unique installation experiences. There is a sensibility about each piece, which has a distinctive voice and speaks from the individual artist’s experience. Randy Dunsford’s Self-Realization is a form of coming of age, spoken word, thought poetry; expressing the wisdom of a young Anishinnabe man who has found strength through appreciating the good in life and accepting that which he can not change. Carrie Lyon’s The Dream uses the keypad like a game toggle to encourage listeners to explore the teaching of the Medicine Wheel through a soundscape generated from her own dreams. Rachel Garrick’s A Possible Future uses a build-your-own-story approach to bring the caller into a fictional crisis, set in a northern First Nation community. Despite working independently, the resulting pieces all shared inherent Indigenous themes of gratitude and connection to both the land and the spirit world.

Curatorial Statement by Sonya Ballantyne:

Landlines came about because of how urban art exhibitions were. I grew up thinking that art was just for rich people. I wanted to make it accessible for everyone to attend this exhibition and I found that a lot of others felt the same way. Thus, Landlines was born.

I never considered what I did in my own work as “art”. Art was never an accessible thing to me and even now, it seems to be a young person’s game. However, with Landline, it was my intention to ensure we had age representation (both young and older) and genres that are not traditionally seen as “art” such as rap music.

This is my first time as a curator and I am honoured that it is for this exhibition. I want to thank osani and Moneca for contributing their work as well as the other artists under Nadine’s banner who joined us.

Artist Bios:

Nadine Arpin is a 2Spirit, Red River Michif filmmaker, media artist, living and producing work in Sioux Lookout, Northwestern Ontario. Nadine is interested in telling stories which blur the lines of legend, memory, and truth. Their work draws upon traditional Métis philosophy in a contemporary context to create hybrid cinematic and installation experiences.

Sonya Ballantyne is a Swampy Cree writer and filmmaker based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is originally from Misipawistik First Nation. Sonya’s work focuses on Indigenous women and girls in non-traditional genres such as science fiction and fantasy. She hopes to write a Superman comic one day.

Osani Balkaran aka The O.B is a Guyanese/Cree abstract rapper & music producer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He incorporates philosophies and aesthetics from both his cultures to shape and deliver a picture of day to day anxieties. His cinematic dreamlike performance paints a picture of imperfection and beauty using instrumentals and sound design. Furthermore, Osani has a vast array of training and work experience with arts based organizations such as Studio 393/Graffiti Gallery, Synonym Art Collective, Red Rising Magazine & Unity Charity. As a music instructor and youth ambassador, he hopes to bring continued investment and interest in the creative sector by connecting with the next generation of aspiring artists.

My name is Randy Dunsford, I like to write, listen to music, I love to talk, I’m an open book, I like to make music, I have creative ideas.

Rachel Garrick is a band member of Lac Seul First Nation and resides in Hudson, a small community in Northwestern Ontario. She co-wrote and produced the film, “Jane and the Wolf” in 2015.  She wrote and directed the film, “The Gift” in 2021.  Rachel continues to write and create art in her home.

Boozhoo! My name is Carrie Lyon. I am an Oji-Cree media artist from Sioux Lookout, Ontario. I enjoy landscape photography, poetry and painting. Art for me has always been an expression of my spirituality and capturing the duality of nature.

Moneca Sinclaire is Omaškêkowak (Swampy Cree) originally from Northern Manitoba; she is an independent scholar, and multimedia visual artist whose works bring people into a layered world of self-determining creativity. As an independent scholar Moneca has presented and lectured at many conferences/Universities across Canada using Omaškêkowak intellectual practices.

trinitysquarevideo.com/landlines

Isabelle Michaud, Albert, 2023

Presented by Near North Mobile Media Lab

In a thin ice pocket, that broke due to a warmer than usual day, lived a single bacterium named Albert. There was no reason for Albert to stay in this shattered ice pocket, and also, Albert didn’t know why he was there in the first place– It seemed like somehow, it was the wrong place to be. Albert began his voyage for a more comfortable place to live. On the way, he met strange forms that had two long appendages on the bottom and two shorter tendrils on the top with a smaller nodule at the very top. They towered over Albert and blocked the sunlight from him as they scrunched and thumped on the thin ice of the lake. They seemed menacing and somehow he felt like they didn’t like him. Albert had a strength within him though that could not be crushed. So, he wiggled and wiggled and shook and jumped and skipped until he finally moved further away from the crowd of giant blobs and found a quiet little snow mound to make his home. He built his home in his mind, imagined it, all cozy and quiet by the light of the moon and by the dried reeds on the shores. The wind blew at night, howling, but that didn’t scare Albert. His love for his home grew and grew such that he started to glow. This inner light grew out of adversity and for this, Albert was stronger than ever.

Dans une fine poche de glace, qui s’est brisée à cause d’une journée plus chaude que d’habitude, vivait une unique bactérie nommée Albert. Il n’y avait aucune raison pour qu’Albert reste dans cette poche de glace brisée, et aussi, Albert ne savait pas pourquoi il était là en premier lieu– Il semblait que d’une manière ou d’une autre, ce n’était pas le bon endroit où vivre. Albert a donc commencé son voyage pour un endroit plus confortable où vivre. En chemin, il a rencontré des formes étranges qui avaient deux longues branches en bas et deux tiges plus courtes en haut avec un nodule plus petit tout en haut. Ils dominaient Albert et lui bloquaient la lumière du soleil alors qu’ils marchaient fort et frappaient la glace du lac. Ils semblaient menaçants et d’une manière ou d’une autre, Albert avait l’impression que ces géantes formes ne l’aimaient pas. Albert avait en lui une force qui ne pouvait être écrasée. Alors, il se tortilla et se tortilla et secoua et sauta et sauta jusqu’à ce qu’il s’éloigne finalement de la foule des sombres géants et trouve un petit monticule de neige tranquille pour faire sa maison. Il a construit sa maison dans son esprit, l’a imaginée, toute douillette et tranquille à la lumière de la lune et par les roseaux séchés sur les rives. Le vent soufflait la nuit, hurlant, mais cela n’effrayait pas Albert. Son amour pour sa maison a grandi et grandi à tel point qu’il a commencé à briller. Cette lumière intérieure est née de l’adversité et pour cela, Albert était plus fort que jamais.

Artist Bio:

Isabelle Michaud is the Sault Ste. Marie Museum’s inaugural artist in residence! A Francophone artist with an interest in local French history and museum aesthetics, Michaud received her BFA from Algoma University. She has exhibited and curated across Ontario, with recent solo shows at Between Pheasants Contemporary and Blind River Timber Village Museum.  Isabelle has received several artist grants from the Ontario Arts Council for personal and collaborative projects.

Social Links:

Website: http://www.isamichaud.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaud.isabelle/

Caroline Kajorinne Krievin and ElizaBeth Hill, Roof of Reprieve, 2023

What are we building, if it’s not to house future generations?

More akin to a tent than a home built with strong foundations and walls, this structure resonates somewhere in the middle, providing temporary relief from the elements. This structure may provide a roof as a reprieve from the elements, and in those moments the interior will offer a glimpse into further reflections through photographic art and soundscape design.  Everything in our environment emits a frequency of sound which are either audible or inaudible.  Hearing footsteps within the soundscape represent travelling through the seasons, and the banjo of spring thaw. Approaching the exterior, you’ll witness reflections of your surroundings. While inside the structure, you have a moment to appreciate the beauty of the cold.

The artists, as members of Mindful Makers Collective, would like to acknowledge their participation in this festival is possible due to the travel and exhibition assistance being offered by Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Artist Bio:

Caroline Kajorinne Krievin (HBFA) is a multidisciplinary artist and facilitative arts administrator who, since 2018, has been developing an arts collective known as “mindful makers.”  She is from Tarmola, a Finnish settler community located 25 km north of Thunder Bay | Animikii Wekwedong, in Northwest Ontario. In addition to heritage and preservation, Kajorinne explores themes of life cycles, the collapse of time and memory – how we are all comprised of the same elements and are vulnerable to the currents of change and new beginnings.

In 2019, Kajorinne travelled to Kristinestad | Kristiinankaupunki, Finland with collaborator Tuija Hansen to participate in the White Nights artist residency and two exhibitions. Together, they wove “Home to the River,” an artwork that combines tapestry with Finnish rug weaving techniques, while celebrating the place their grandfathers migrated from. To accompany the work, Kajorinne created “Water Soundscape,” projecting sounds harvested from the region.  Presently she is exploring the changing Finnish migrant soundscape and her dis/re/connection to the Finnish language through Minä puhun suomea | I speak Finnish, which combines craft-based practices of blacksmithing and embroidery with soundscaping and media arts. This (OAC funded) project pairs 1,000 year old metalsmith tooling techniques with new media as she learns to write python scripts that command a micro computer (Raspberry Pi) and motion sensors.

Social Media

• www.pikelakeforge.com
• www.mindfulmakers.org

ElizaBeth Hill is a singer-songwriter who has built her craft through years spent in Nashville’s toughest song writing circles, and with the help of elders and fluent speakers, taught herself to compose in the Mohawk language as well.

She is Mohawk from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Canada and the roots of her music have grown in traditional country, been schooled on the Nashville song writing scene and are steeped for a lifetime in her Iroquoian culture.  She has worked with many traditional and contemporary Indigenous artists and performers such as Oscar-Winning Composer Buffy Sainte Marie, Grammy Award Winner Bill Miller, and multiple award winner Sadie Buck. ElizaBeth was involved in coaching the very first “Aboriginal Dance Opera – Bones” in Canada created by Sadie Buck in 2001 at the Banff Centre for the Arts; and in 2007, produced “Where We Rest Our Feet”, a live performance presented at the Sanderson Centre for the Arts in Brantford, Ontario. Her passion for Peace through music has taken her to exploring Indigenous voices around the world, exchanging songs, ideas and the power of sound—of the voice to create beauty upon the Earth. An extremely powerful and dedicated performing artist, songwriter, composer, producer, writer, and visual artist.

A member of the Iroquois Arts Collective, ElizaBeth has been working with world-renowned visual artist and filmmaker Shelley Niro, bead artist Samuel Thomas and other members in historical research for the development of new work in music and film.  As a multi-disciplined artist ElizaBeth has presented works in soundscapes, visual art and photography.  She is published in non-fiction and is currently working on a series of short stories.

The Ice Follies Experience, an Ice Shanty curated by Dermot Wilson, 2023

The Ice Follies Experience is an “historical” installation in a vintage ice-fishing shack.

The Ice Follies Experience is unique on the planet; i.e., an interaction with nature AND with community in an unusual environment/site. These experiences have been happening in North Bay for almost twenty years now. Some of the children who visited in 2004 are now parents who still hold onto their own Ice Follies memories and stories.

Inside the 64 square-foot re-purposed ice shack, visitors will find low-resolution photocopied images of young and old visitors to the exhibition over the past nine incarnations. They will also hear a soundtrack featuring interviews with past Ice Follies artists talking about their own Ice Follies experiences.  

In these ways, the installation becomes an artifact of a truly northern event and “humanizes” the site-specific exhibition by reflecting upon the community that was attracted to and mystified by these installations.

Wilson is attempting to both recall and celebrate the experiences of getting our families and ourselves down to the ice in water-proof outer wear,  and then to relive that joyous trek out onto the ice of Lake Nipissing.   

The experience is coloured by the inherent adventure of our Follies circumnavigation and the “danger” of that icy plain, the feeling of being on a narrow, frozen ledge or in a “liminal”, and thereby mystical, and perhaps transformative, space. These intrepids then (visitors), venture out here to encounter contemporary site-specific sculptural artworks,  eco-performances, ice sculpture workshops, interactive installations, and other folks wandering from site to site, experiencing the art or simply standing quietly in the midst of this icy snow-covered vastness.

Artist Bio:

Social Links:

Website: https://www.variflux.tv/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wilsondermot/?hl=en

Lee Horner, Dead of Winter, 2023

Presented by Nipissing Region Curatorial Collective

More info coming soon…

Artist Bio:

More info coming soon…

Imogen Clendenning, Archive on Ice, 2023

Archive on Ice involves creating a digital mini archive of documentation from past Ice Follies events and a live microsite that is powered by a solar panel and hosted with a raspberry pie server. The server is housed in a protective art installation on the frozen ice of Lake Nipissing. Imogen hopes to create a reciprocal relationship with the lake and present the technology as a collaboration with the earth rather than an extraction of resources. They plan to document the process through photographs and field recordings.

Artist Bio:

Imogen Clendinning (she/her/they/them) is a settler video artist who currently resides as an uninvited guest in the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Attawandaron, and Wendat peoples, known in a colonial context, as London, Ontario. Clendinning hails from The North (Nipissing Region/North Bay, ON), where she developed her creative language and acted as a community builder and volunteer coordinator at The White Water Gallery. Most recently, Clendinning occupied the role of Programming Coordinator at Artcite Inc. (Waawiiyaatanong/Windsor, ON), where they focused on the cultivation of emerging artist practices through arts advocacy and contemporary programming. She is most proud of her work in establishing the Waawiiyaatanong BIPOC Artist-in-Residence program, for the development of works by emerging artists of colour in the Windsor-Essex region, which will celebrate its third year in 2022. In January of 2021, Clendinning curated the online exhibition End of Daze, featuring the works of Kiera Boult, Samantha Noseworthy and Rihkee Strapp. The exhibition centred around the use of Y2K aesthetics and nostalgia as a means of engaging in critical discussions about white supremacy, decolonization, race and feminism.​

In her artistic practice, Clendinning often considers how femininity is shaped by popular cinema, using VHS tapes to de-construct tropes and signifiers used in cult film. Her research uses sexploitation films and antiquated technologies to investigate how media images can shape identities and inform our individualized relationships to the lived world. Clendinning’s video-works incorporate themes such as sexuality, violence and the inherent anti-capitalism of degraded images. In 2019, Clendinning completed an MFA in Visual Arts from the University of Windsor. Clendinning has screened their found footage works through the White Water Gallery (North Bay, ON), Pleasuredome (Tkaronto) and the Forest City Film Festival (London, ON). Clendinning holds an MFA from the University of Windsor, an MA in Art History and Curatorial Study at Western University, and they are currently pursuing a PhD in Art and Visual Culture at Western University, with a focus on DIY digital archives and environmentally sustainable networks.

Social Links:

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/imogenclendinning
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imogenclendinning/?hl=en

Quinn Hopkins, Limited/Limitless, 2023

Presented by White Water Gallery

For Ice Follies 10th Anniversary Biennial, Quinn Hopkins is excited to be creating a part physical, part augmented reality (AR) activated installation titled “Limited/Limitless”. As part of the installation, physical artwork will be placed on the ice and used as a target for AR activation. Through a QR code, all viewers with cell phones will be able to access a virtual world hidden behind the lens of the viewers cell phone, revealing the hidden world under the ice and the delicate balance of the ecosystem that is vital to our way of life.

The title “Limited/Limitless” is a reference to the human-fish relations that we have had for time immemorial. 

“Our fish relatives are valued as food, spirit, medicine, and a source of livelihood for many Indigenous nations. This relationship has been this way since the beginning of the Nishinaabeg, the fish have given their lives for us to survive. In this installation, the Walleye (Pickerel) is reflected infinitely within an enclosed box creating the illusion that the fish population is an infinitely renewable resource; however, it is in a delicate balance that requires care and stewardship.” – Quinn Hopkins

Artist Bio:

Quinn Hopkins (b. 1998) is an artist inspired by innovative technologies – connecting new ideas with the land and his roots as an Anishinaabe person. He utilizes techniques such as 3D modeling, digital drawing, and creative coding as he collaborates with the computer to research, design and create his artworks. His interests are focused on developing new ways to visualize spirit and to reveal the many truths about humanity’s relationship with the land.  Hopkins has appeared on CBC The National and Breakfast Television, as well as featured in an article on CBC Indigenous. As a student at OCAD University, Hopkins is enthusiastic about his art’s ability to inspire action and connect people across the country.

Social Links:

Website: https://www.quinnhopkinsart.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noodinstudio/?hl=en
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/noodinstudio
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QuinnHopkinsOriginalArt/

Liz Lott, An Ice Follies 10th Year Retrospective – A Downtown Walking Tour, 2023

To commemorate Ice Follies’ 10th Anniversary (2004-2023), the event’s official documentation photographer will hold a celebratory exhibition, showcasing past biennial events and the amazing participating artists. Coinciding with the opening of Ice Follies 2023 on Friday, February 10th, nine (***) storefront windows in North Bay’s 100 Block West will chronologically highlight images from each year. A map with storefront locations will be available online or at each location.

Artist Bio:

Liz Lott is a full time professional photographer, visual artist, jeweller, children’s art instructor and a mother living in North Bay, Ontario. Liz has been the Official Ice Follies documentation photographer since its inception in 2004 and She is a member of the White Water Gallery’s board of directors and programming committee.

After studying fine art at Concordia University in 1996 Liz began painting full-time, exhibiting and selling her work throughout Ontario. Her paintings have been selected for several notable juried exhibitions including the Annual Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and the Annual Tom Thomson Juried Exhibition in Owen Sound.

With the birth of her son in 2000 she was inspired to explore photography as her primary medium. By the following year Liz began her wedding & portrait business, Snapdragon Photography. She is drawn to both portraiture and landscape images. Using manual cameras and natural light, her portrait images are intimate and candid.

In 2005 Liz exhibited her photography in North Bay’s first juried photography festival, Camera Frontera. In this new body of work she combined photography and painting to explore human impact on the environment with both hopeful and cynical visions. In January of 2006, works from this exhibit were part of a juried exchange show with White Water Gallery called Geophysique held at Propeller Gallery in Toronto.

Liz’s work has been featured in several publications. In 2004 and 2006 Liz was invited to be the official photographer of Ice Follies, a site specific art festival held on Lake Nipissing that gained international attention. Her photographs of the festival have been reproduced in art magazines in Canada and the United States as well as in a hardcover book and poster set published by the W.K.P Kennedy Gallery.

Social Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizlottphotography/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizlottphotography/

“A visit to the Underwater World of Gichi-nibiinsing-zaag’igan”
A short projection/installation by Dr T’uy’t’tanat Cease Wyss, 2023

Presented by Near North Mobile Media Lab

A short digital media loop that weaves both live action video of the water, in layers,[to present an effect of looking down into the lake water], and a digital witnessing of the different life that exists in Lake Nipissing. There will be animated versions of the water life, and the shoreline habitat, to create a visual and audio scape of the environment in and around Lake Nipissing. The effect is meant to give viewers a fantastical vision of what is going on under the water at any given time, and how the environment under water is its own world of wonder that humans are not necessarily a part of.

Artist Bio:

Cease Wyss is a media artist with close to 25 years experience in this field. She has produced various formats of media art, as well as being a mentor in her field for close to 15 years. She is also an ethno-botanist, traditionally trained in this field by Indigenous Elders. Her work involves site-specific and culturally focused teaching with storytelling as her means to sharing knowledge.

Social Links:

Website: https://tuyttanatceasewyss.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedarcopperwoman/?hl=en