The Winterjourney art residency was held in at the Banff Centre for the Arts, in Banff AB from January 13 to February 21, 2014 and led by visiting artist Andreas Siqueland from Oslo. This residency permitted me to further my exploration of ice as a medium. I was happy to meet fellow artist Del Hiller who was also experimenting with making icicles and who graciously lent me some of his equipment to play with. It was also a time for me to try my hand at video, which i discovered i love as much a photography. It will be a while yet until i edit all my footage into something coherent but i feel i was set on a new path of discovery.

I created 2 ephemeral outdoor pieces in Banff. The first was a chandelier covered in icicles swinging from a tree and it referred to the glamorization of nature. Chandeliers have been a symbol of wealth and prosperity since the middle ages (even thought the first ones were made from wood and supported candles). They had their hay-day in the 80’s and 90’s reflecting the opulence and kitsch of the time.

In addition i immersed myself in winter films, which have made great impressions on me, most notably the frozen house in Doctor Zhivago and the murder scene in the Quebec film Kamouraska. The blood on the snow, the harshness of winter and the magical space of the frozen palace spoke to me about the beauty found in the extremes of nature, both forbidding and awe inspiring, depending on one’s point of view. Alas since my work follows the seasons, it all melted away with the spring sun but the ideas and images will lay dormant until the next snowfall.

This scene in Dr. Zhivago was actually created with white wax!

Light painting at night onto icicle covered chandelier. Banff Art Residency 2014

I also experimented with icicles on wearable pieces, which cumulated in a Dave Chihuly– esque sculpture of frozen garments. It was very ephemeral and only lasted a few days as the weather got warmer. I would like to play with this technique in the future and develop a narrative for the eerily beautiful images it conjures up

Medusa-like detail of icicles on a red dress. Like myths, both alluring and frightening.

Ice laden flower sculpture