Hollow Water/Bisset/Pine Falls

I've just started working on a collaborative project with a bunch of artists in association with Prairie Fire Magazine. The project is a celebration of the Boreal Forest which will be primarily output as a concert presentation by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra with a music work composed by Sid Robinovitch, a long form poem by Katherine Bitney, photography by Mandy Malazdrewich and hopefully a soundscape by myself. If anything some of my sound recording will be included with the music composition.

Our first research effort was a winter road trip to Hollow Water, Bisset and Pine Falls Manitoba to immerse ourselves into the Boreal Forest and visit with the people there. We had two days of workshops and wilderness walks with aboriginal elder Garry Raven at Hollow Water, visited and met with some folks at the mining town of Bisset and gave a presentation at a high school in Pine Falls. The weather was bitterly cold with high wind chills down to -38 C or so for most of the week. We had to tend to the fire in the stove in our cabin every two hours. Winter boots were tested to their limits with some failing at one point after ten minutes outside. We all started out as virtual strangers and emerged as friends. So much more can be said. We have three more trips to go with this project.

Hollow Water












Garry Raven shows us how to find the herbal medicine Wekay(aboriginal name).





Bisset