We’re Hiring a Festival Intern Ice Follies 2025

Image: Aanmitaagzi, All My R(el)ations, 2023

Image: Dermot Wilson, The Ice Follies Experience, 2023

Image: Andrew Ackerman, Chris Kosloski, Quinn Pelletier, & NUFA Students, im•pulse, 2023

Vox Choir, 2025

VOX Choir is a welcoming, free-to-participate community choir that brings people together to share the joy of singing. Open to all ages and skill levels, VOX creates a fun and casual environment where anyone can join, no experience or commitment required. Facilitated by Lindsay Sullivan and Eric Treleaven, the choir gathers regularly to learn and perform three-part harmonies of pop and rock songs, culminating in performances shared online. 

Following their lively and engaging VOX on Ice performance at Ice Follies 2023, where they brought the community together to sing ‘Cold as Ice’ by Foreigner with touches of ‘Ice Ice Baby’ by Vanilla Ice, VOX Choir returns for Ice Follies 2025.

Artist Bio:

Eric Treleaven is a dedicated music educator with over a decade of experience, known for tailoring lessons to each student’s unique learning style. Emphasizing learning by ear, he helps students become well-rounded musicians while guiding them toward their individual performance goals. Beyond teaching, Eric is an accomplished freelance artist who has toured Canada supporting renowned musicians such as Toby Keith, Blue Rodeo, Teri Clarke, Allan Doyle, Tom Cochrane, and Jason McCoy. His recording credits include guitar and bass contributions to numerous albums, including the JUNO-nominated Floods and Fires by Craig Cardiff.

Lindsay Sullivan has been creatively exploring all things musical since she can remember. From musical theatre experience in her high school days, serenading her two pups at home, to academically studying voice (RCM) and piano, she cannot deny any one of her passions for the different joys each instrument creates. She has experience teaching ukulele lessons and workshops to students of all ages and has facilitated music-making workshops for both songwriting and rhythm. Lindsay was one of the winners of the 2016 Canadian Songwriter Challenge and thoroughly enjoys sharing her experiences with aspiring writers. Amidst her busy schedule she continues to lend her vocals for weddings, events and live bands throughout the city and is currently working on her Masters of Arts degree in Community Music through Wilfrid Laurier University. Lindsay holds a firm belief that music helps build communities and her philosophy is that anyone and everyone can participate in music making.

Social Links:

Vox Choir Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/compassmusicacademy
Vox Choir Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/voxchoir/

New Adventures in Sound Art, Ephemeral Resonance, 2025

For Ice Follies 2025, The Near North Mobile Media Lab in North Bay is partnering with New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA), led by sound artist Darren Copeland, to present a collection of audio compositions for Ice Follies 2025. Featuring works by Shaughn Martel, Lina Choi, Genevieve Kiessling, Kyle Vanderlaan, and Stephanie Dupuis, these pieces are created using ice sounds recorded on Lake Nipissing and Trout Lake and reflect the festival’s theme, Ozhaashikwaa (The Ice is Slippery). Blending natural soundscapes with additional texts and audio elements, the compositions explore the ephemeral and transient nature of ice. The works will be showcased at two special listening parties during the outdoor festival and made available online.

Artist Bio:

Darren Copeland, a sound artist since 1985, is the founding Artistic Director of New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA). His work spans multichannel spatialization for live performance, fixed media composition, soundscape, radio art, and sound installation. Copeland studied electroacoustic composition at Simon Fraser University and the University of Birmingham. His compositions, published on the empreintes DIGITALes label, often blend abstract and referential sound materials. He has created radio art works commissioned by public radio in Europe and North America, and sound installations exploring the relationship between sound and place. Copeland also writes about sound art and curates performances and installations for NAISA, continually developing new spatialization practices in the field.

Social Links:

NAISA Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/naisanorth/
NAISA Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/NAISASoundArt/
NAISA Website – https://naisa.ca/ 

Nico Glaude, Sign Language, 2025

For Ice Follies 2025, Nico Glaude presents a striking installation of towering 8-foot “monoliths,” each adorned with hand-painted signs. Inspired by nostalgic memories of arrow-shaped signs carved with family names on trees during his childhood summers, these monoliths symbolize the journey of falling, finding direction, and grounding oneself again. The installation invites viewers to reflect on personal growth, resilience, and the passage of time. Securely anchored with plywood and cinderblocks, Glaude’s sign-based sculptures stand as temporary beacons, guiding those who encounter them through a moment of contemplation and connection.

Artist Bio:

Nico Glaude is a Sudbury-based artist known for his public art and mural work. Introduced to graffiti in his teens, he became fascinated with creating art in public spaces. Since 2017, Nico has completed over 150 temporary installations throughout downtown Sudbury, designed to be discovered, salvaged, or allowed to fade with time. His work evokes nostalgia, inviting viewers to reflect on moments in their past while embracing the transient nature of his installations, much like the memories they evoke. Through his art, Nico aims to spark curiosity and create a lasting emotional connection with the public.

Social Links:

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nicoglaude/

Hyperboreal, Ice Shifts/Elevations, 2025

Join us on Trout Lake’s Olmstead Beach, February 15th & 16th, 2025 at 8PM.

Sound and light artists Dermot Wilson and Jason Brock, collectively known as Hyperboreal, will present an immersive audio-visual experience on the ice of Trout Lake for Ice Follies 2025. This hour-long performance will feature synchronized electronic compositions and video projections onto a misty field created by non-toxic smoke machines. Attendees can engage with the performance in two ways: wandering onto the ice with wireless headphones for a personalized experience or observing from the shoreline with audio provided by PA speakers. The project, Ice Shift/Elevations, is specially designed for Ice Follies and also marks the launch of Hyperboreal’s new album, Abyss to Precipice.

Drawing from ambient, minimalist, and experimental traditions, Hyperboreal combines video projection, spoken word, and intricate soundscapes to reflect on the interplay between humanity and the natural world. Their performance incorporates tools such as electronic wind instruments, a Chapman Stick, and analog effects to create a meditative and thought-provoking atmosphere. With a history of performances across Canada, Brazil, and Poland, Hyperboreal continues to push the boundaries of sound and light artistry, connecting audiences with profound reflections on place and environment.

Hyperboreal is the collaborative project of artists Dermot Wilson and Jason Brock, who blend ambient, experimental, and minimalist music with video projections to create immersive audio-visual experiences. For over nine years, Wilson and Brock have explored the relationship between humanity and nature through their performances, incorporating electronic wind instruments, a Chapman Stick, digital and analog effects, and spoken word. Their work evokes meditation and contemplation, drawing audiences into intricate soundscapes and visuals. With performances across Canada, Brazil, and Poland, Hyperboreal continues to push the boundaries of sound and light art, offering profound reflections on place, environment, and the human connection to both.

Artist Bio:

Dermot Wilson, an artist and curator originally from Dublin, Eire, has lived in northern Ontario for nearly two decades and was the inaugural curator of Ice Follies in 2004. Working across digital video, audio, installation, animation, and performance, his art reflects on community and environment. Dermot has showcased his multidisciplinary installations and spoken word performances in galleries, outdoor sites, and artist-run centres across Canada and internationally, including Europe and South America. A founding figure in several arts organizations, such as N2M2L and Paved Arts, Dermot is currently the Executive Director of the Nipissing Region Curatorial Collective and continues to develop media performances with Hyperboreal.

Jason Brock is a Chapman Stick player from North Bay, Ontario, known for his diverse musical performances. A graduate of Canadore College, Jason has attended five international Chapman Stick seminars and has been recognized by top Stick players, including Emmett Chapman. His debut CD, Medicine Stick, features 21 original compositions across multiple genres and has received positive feedback. With a career spanning weddings, concerts, and community events, Jason has earned recognition for his performances, including accolades at the First National Stick Festival.

Social Links:

Dermot Wilson Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wilsondermot/
Dermot Wilson Website – www.varifux.tv
Jason Brock Website – http://www.jsunbrock.com/
Jason Brock Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jason.brock.3532 

Frozen Frames: An Ice Follies Retrospective Photo Documentation by Liz Lott

Presented in Partnership with WKP Kennedy Gallery

Frozen Frames, An Ice Follies Retrospective Photo Documentation by Liz Lott” celebrates two decades of capturing the dynamic interplay of art, photography, and northern Ontario’s frozen landscapes. From the inaugural Ice Follies in 2004 to its 11th biennial, this retrospective honours the innovative installations and performances that transformed Lake Nipissing into a canvas of creativity. Showcasing one photograph for every participating artist since the event’s inception, this exhibition reflects Lott’s heartfelt dedication to documenting the magic of Ice Follies and its impact on our community and beyond.

Artist Statement:

Thank you for attending “Frozen Frames, An Ice Follies Retrospective
Photo Documentation by Liz Lott”

This celebratory exhibition represents my gratitude, love and appreciation for this dynamic, innovative and unique local art event. With the inspiring combination of art, photography and the surrounding local land and lakescapes, documenting Ice Follies over the past 20 years has been an exciting passion and a true and important honour. 

From the inaugural year, the 2004 Ice Follies art catalogue introduction reads;
“The purpose of the Ice Follies project is to research, develop, produce and document a site- specific group exhibition of three-dimensional “architectural” works by Canadian contemporary artists on the surface of a vast frozen lake.”

I’d like to acknowledge the original founder of the “exhibition of ice-fishing hut inspired works – artist and curator, Dermot Wilson. New to the city in 2004 and his position as director at the Kennedy Gallery he was immediately impressed with the beautiful vastness of Lake Nipissing – so much so that he’d already resolved to somehow showcase contemporary art on it’s surface. It wasn’t long after that the name “Ice Follies” came to him one night and “bounced him out of bed” with excitement.

Back in 2004, at the genesis of Ice Follies, I was a budding photographer when this exciting new site specific biennial was about to carve it’s very first tracks on to the frozen surface Lake Nipissing. By extreme luck, with all of my savings and to launch my career, I had just purchased a medium format Hasselblad camera that had belonged to the infamous local documentation photographer, William Forder. Documenting Ice Follies was offered to me and i was to be my first exciting photo project. Documentation work was my core focus an foundation as a photographer. My first film camera purchase was made solely to document and archive my paintings. To have this exciting opportunity to capture so many passions combined meant I was fervently buzzing about, towing my yellow sled of camera gear, and capturing images as much as possible.

From the event’s initial onset, with both invited and juried artists at the helm, it’s been a wonderful and highly successful cumulation of site specific art that celebrates our distinct northern Ontario winter, quirky ice fishing culture and our frozen lake/land-scapes Wha makes it especially unique is the endless play of the dynamic open air, winter elements – light, weather, temperature, time, all creating a powerful play of incredible chance synchronicities, surrounding and gracing the works and their excited spectators. To capture all of this, I would photograph the installations multiple times a day, literally around the clock. Shooting solo at 2am, at -35 degrees Celsius with a tripod, numb fingers and the lake ice popping an “whomping” loudly around me was not an unusual occurrence for me.

Every Ice Follies’ participating artist – installation or performance – since 2004 has one photo in this exhibition. It was difficult to narrow it down, but I chose the most complimentary a dynamic image for each piece. Documenting and depicting each artist or collective’s creation and hard work is a responsibility that took seriously and whole heartedly and I hope this is conveyed through these images.

My “Ode to Ice” installation is just that. As a multidisciplined artist who also works in clay, I wanted to create a piece dedicated to what fostered the idea of Ice Follies. I also wanted it to be interactive to allow exhibition visitors to play, hear (tapped together the pieces sound like ice) and build their own ice follies pieces with the most basic of materials. The clay shards were individually shaped and decorated to mimic the range of light, surface and sky conditions mirrored on Lake Nipissing’s frozen surface.

In the media – both online and in print, Ice Follies and reached far beyond our city. My documentation images and artist essays about Ice Follies have been published in Audubon Magazine and also notable North American art publications such as Espace, Artichoke, Sculpture magazines. Last year, along with Dermot Wilson’s daughter, Imogen Clendinning’s Ice Follies essay and my image of Dermot’s Ice Follies piece “Archive on Ice” was on the cover of Blackflash magazine, based out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Every two years, Ice Follies brings together not just talented artists but also a vast collective of dedicated artist organizations, funders, local businesses, volunteers, sponsors, and, gratefully, thousands of eager spectators and fans – both new and returning. My sincere thank you to everyone who has taken part over the years and helped to shape and develop Ice Follies into the amazing event that it is today. I’m so grateful to Jennifer and Kennedy Gallery staff for the opportunity to share this exciting milestone – the accomplishment of 10 Ice Follies events, coinciding with the event’s 11th biennial.

Artist Bio:

Liz Lott is a North Bay-based photographer, visual artist, jeweller, and children’s art instructor. Since 2004, she has been the official photographer for the Ice Follies Biennial, a site-specific art festival on Lake Nipissing, capturing its dynamic art installations in breathtaking photographs that have gained international attention. Liz’s photography is known for its intimate portraiture and environmental themes, blending painting and photography to explore humanity’s impact on nature. In addition to her photography career, Liz creates unique hand-painted porcelain jewellery and teaches art to children, further contributing to her community as the volunteer Children’s Art Education Co-ordinator at the W.K.P. Kennedy Gallery.

Social Links:

Liz Lott Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_lizlott_/
Liz Lott Photography Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizlottphotography/
Liz Lott Photography Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lizlottphotography/ 

Aanmitaagzi, All My R(el)ations, 2025

Aanmitaagzi’s multi-year project, All My R(el)ations, is an Indigenous multi-disciplinary dance project of gathering, reflecting and dreaming. The project researches, develops and creates art around the theme of relationality and resource capacity. All My R(el)ations looks at the past, present and future stories of scarcity and abundance and our relationship to each other during those times. When do we talk about “all my relations”? What do we need in our ceremonial bundles before big moments of change and transformation? We believe this specific topic and the resulting activities are culturally relevant and timely.

Timeline: year one and two include strategic collaborations, creation intensives and site-specific art events. Year one culminated in performances and installation works presented at Ice Follies 2023. Year three will culminate in large-scale installations and dance theatre productions, including at Ice Follies.

Aanmitaagzi is a professional Indigenous inter-arts company from Nipissing First Nation, Ontario, linked to provincial, national and international networks. Aanmitaagzi combines art making, education, professional development & social activism. We investigate and create contemporary arts in relationship to historic indigenous arts and worldview. Our activities incorporate the Indigenous legacy of intergenerational art-making which engages both artists and community. Aanmitaagzi provides educational, land based, and community focused arts activities by producing arts festivals, dance theatre productions, and projects which activate these historic practices in meaningful ways.

Studio Nude Beach, Beastie Bones, 2025

Large glowing arches form a ribcage that have given way to a vibrant enchanted decay. The site suggests folklore of a massive beast long forgotten – its evidence re-emerging from the waters below.

Aritst Statement:

BEASTIE BONES continues the work of Studio Nude Beach in creating vibrant alien spaces. Through lore of ancient creatures and dynamic decay the project invites an intermingling of fantasy and local ecologies, illustrating ideas of nature as ephemeral and interconnected. BEASTIE BONES beckons the weird and alien within ourselves – a magical ecological space.

Artist Bio:

Studio Nude Beach is a mixed bag of four artists based in North Bay, Ontario. Their work has become a recognizable part of the arts and festival scene in Northern Ontario, with repeat features at the UP HERE Urban Arts and Music Festival in Sudbury, River & Sky in Field, and the Kennedy Gallery in North Bay. Inspired by the shapes and structures of local plants, the alien garden worlds they create suggest a squishy comfort in the weird ecologies that emerge from within.

Social Links:

Studio Nude Beach Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studionudebeach/
Allison Roberts Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliswan.noel/
Hannah Smith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soft_rascal/
Éric Robillard Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaleidavisuals/ 
Ben Hermann Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bahermann/