The Riding Mountain Artists’ Residency gives Manitoban artists time to focus on their work in the beautiful natural setting of Riding Mountain National Park.
The next artist-in-residence for 2025 is Madelyn Gowler. Ahead of their time in the historic Deep Bay Cabin, Madelyn answered a few of our questions about their work and how they’ll be spending their residency.
MAC: Tell us a little about yourself as an artist and your practice.
Madelyn: My work is an experimental abstract collage of collected and scavenged materials on the emulsion of film. I’ve seemed to have filled a bin full of a variety of film with different textures, text, and colours which I either will cut up to layer over each other or weave with fabric. I enjoy the tactility that film offers, allowing a hands-on process to unfold.
Lately I’ve been exploring the relationship between film and nature to not only alter the outcome of images but to lessen my environmental impact. I’ve started experimenting using plants to develop black and white film and also placing plants that have been soaked in this eco-developer onto the film (which is a process called phytography). I use things I grew myself in my garden like marigolds, mint, impatiens, and chives.
Tell us about your project — what will you be working on in the Deep Bay Cabin?
During this residency I will be creating phytograms on black and white 16mm film, using natural materials from Riding Mountain to create an experimental moving-image film. Phytograms are created by soaking plants in a solution of Vitamin C, washing soda, and water, then placing the plants onto the unprocessed film and leaving them to expose outside. I will also try an eco-fix, which is a salt solution you let the film sit in for a couple days to make the image permanent. The result of a phytogram is an abstracted stamp of the object, miraculously being able to capture the delicate veins of a leaf.
I will also take distorted audio clips of the environment like tourists walking the dirt path down to the splashing water at deep bay, twigs snapping, or loons ominous calls. I’ll record these in an alternative way, like burying the recorder in dirt, wrapping it in a plastic bag, or sticking it in a pocket. Then I’ll layer the audio clips to further abstract them to match the aesthetic of the visuals of the land I’ll be capturing as well.
What is your relationship with the park, and what are you most looking forward to exploring?
I’ve grown up going to Riding Mountain every summer since I was a kid, running around with my cousins doing scavenger hunts, going for midnight swims to fool ourselves into thinking the water is warm, shooting a whole choreographed music video, and taking art classes at Wasagaming Community Arts. I’ve also volunteered at WCA for kids’ arts classes when I was a teenager, then taught a cyanotype workshop in 2023. There’s also a piano in front of Dance Land I painted back in Highschool that you can enjoy hearing a variety of lovely music or drum-like beats from kids haha!
Being in Riding Mountain always puts me in a constant state of nostalgia, always feeling like my time there is precious and fleeting. So I’m looking forward to spending dedicated time and space digging into making work in and about the place I grew up in.
How do you hope the park will influence or inspire your project or practice?
I want to capture the ambience of the park, fully immersing myself in both the lively and peaceful parts of it. I will be collaborating with the environment to create images on film, letting the elements transform the end result. I’m aiming to incorporate sand, fallen leaves, wild flowers, sticks, and dirt. I’ll be mindful to not disturb or harm the space I’m working within. The weather will be a large factor to the process as I will be relying on sunlight to expose the film, but it would be interesting to see how a cloudy or rainy day would affect the film.
Anything else you’d like to share with readers and the Riding Mountain National Park community?
After creating this moving-image film during this residency I will most likely then weave it into one of my film and fabric tapestries, playing with the privatisation of memories. By showing this film in a less accessible way and covering over every other “frame” it will act as a censorship of experiences. Visually I want it to act like a pile of leaves covering each other, shells buried in sand, or water warping the view of fish and rocks at the bottom of the lake.
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 January 15, 2026 for a residency in the summer of 2026.
