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 Joyce Clouston. Ahead of her time in the historic Deep Bay Cabin, Joyce answered a few of our questions about her work and how she’ll be spending her residency.
MAC: Tell us a little about yourself as an artist and your practice.
Joyce: Stories and storytelling have intrigued me from earliest memories. Imaginative stories of animals and the natural world were my favorites.
Tell us about your project — what will you be working on in the Deep Bay Cabin?
I am planning to draft of three personal essays based on 1) my childhood experiences growing up on a family farm; 2) the journey of developing increasing confidence in the values of my rural childhood that includes both Métis and settler viewpoints in a mainstream urban society; and 3) affirming the importance of valuing one’s own experience through creative expression as a way of working towards healing in one’s personal life, and promoting ‘reconciliation’ in larger society as has been called for in the TRC final report (2015).
What is your relationship with the park, and what are you most looking forward to exploring?
I began exploring Riding Mountain in the 1980’s with my young children. This unique landscape where grasslands, deciduous and boreal forests meet, gave us many opportunities to relax while deepening understanding of our world through guided tours and presentations by park naturalists. The park continues to delight as I visit with grandchildren.
Visiting the bison enclosure, a picnic at Lake Audy, the boardwalk through the marsh as well as occasional hikes and presentations will be highlights.
How do you hope the park will influence or inspire your project or practice?
I’m looking forward to being immersed in the landscape reminiscent of my childhood farm about which I’m writing. The scents, the sounds of aspens, birdsong, and animal life continue to anchor, and inspire me.
Anything else you’d like to share with readers and the Riding Mountain National Park community?
I sometimes share “grandma’s mistakes” with my grandchildren that included pretending I was a wild cat and frightening my younger brother — because I was jealous of his new bicycle. The “wild cat” was a small lynx in search of a home, spotted at various times and places as he navigated his way between forests and marshes. Although our home was initially without electricity, or telephone, we awakened to an extraordinary chorus of birdsong on a farm-site enclosed by stands of oak and aspen, and so I felt privileged. As my siblings and I piled wood on crisp winter nights, we often paused to watch northern lights and excitedly point out falling stars.
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.
