Photo: Adam Kelly
The Riding Mountain Artists’ Residency provides professional Manitoba artists with time to focus on their work in the beautiful natural setting of Riding Mountain National Park.
The next artist-in-residence for 2023 is Brady Allard, a Winnipeg-based composer, audio installation artist, and musician. Ahead of his time in the historic Deep Bay Cabin, Brady answered a few of our questions about his work and how he’ll be spending his residency.
MAC: Tell us a little about yourself as an artist and your practice.
Brady Allard: I’m a Métis composer and audio installation artist from Winnipeg, Manitoba. With influences spanning electronic music, composition, and experimental sound design, I create immersive sonic environments that challenge music conventions.
Tell us about your project—what will you be working on in the Deep Bay Cabin?
My project centers on the creation of sound art, an exploration of new methods for sound manipulation using modular synthesis and algorithmic sound generation. A considerable amount of my time will be devoted to designing electronic sound instruments. Additionally, I will be collecting field recordings of the surrounding nature to integrate into my compositions connecting the electronic compositions to the natural world.
What is your relationship with the park, and what are you most looking forward to exploring?
I have visited a friend who lives in Onanole and performed in the park years ago with my former band. I once spent a day hiking around Moon Lake about 12 years ago. I’m very much looking forward to being in nature again
How do you hope the park will influence or inspire your project or practice?
As an artist who lives in Winnipeg, It’s been years that I’ve had the opportunity to be in nature. We may have city parks but true nature is hard to come by. I have felt a deep longing to reconnect with the environment that once surrounded me during my childhood in the country. I am eager to break my prolonged fast from the natural world and I know this will have a profound impact on my writing.
Anything else you’d like to share with readers and the Riding Mountain National Park community?
I’ve never studied programming until this year, but now the majority of my artwork involves it in some capacity.
The Riding Mountain Artists’ Residency is offered in partnership by the Manitoba Arts Council and Riding Mountain National Park.
Interested in the staying in the Deep Bay cabin? Find out how to apply to the Riding Mountain Artists Residency through the Learn – Residencies grant stream. Apply by November 1, 2022 for a residency in the summer of 2023.
