Research & Renewal Artist(s) Talk & Celebration

Join Guelph Arts Council for the Artist talk and celebration on July 14 at 6:30pm, the night includes refreshments, two artist talks and reconnection with this incredible community! The event will take place at 10C Shared Space (42 Carden St.) on the 4th Floor.

The Research and Renewal award was started in the fall of 2021 by GAC and funder, Jason Nadon. The award creates opportunities for local creatives to engage with archives, collections, and resources in developing story or research-based art projects.

Meet the Artists and get to know their projects:

Arboreal Opera by Alia Miroshnichenko

Alia Miroshnichenko is a Siberian-Canadian composer, operatic singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. Her proposal aims to “rediscover the connection between the Guelph community and its plant-based life by creating a series of musical compositions that would involve collaborative musical co-operation between human and non-human subjects like trees, mushrooms, and plants… using an electronic device with censors to read biometric data” and building her music compositions around the biodata.

Alia Miroshnichenko holds a PhD in Digital Media/Communication and Culture from York University, and an MA and BA from the University of Guelph. She plans to conduct her research at the Arboretum at U of G. “I chose the Arboretum because it is symbolic on many levels: it is a part of Guelph’s identity, but it also represents the Canadian identity mosaic: many plants and trees in the Arboretum were contributed and donated from across the world, and in that, they represent the local community.” The music composition will have an accompanying digital exhibition space where the community will be able to engage with the artwork.

Carved from Stone by Silas Chinsen and Lizzy Mikulich

Silas Chinsen is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist based in Guelph. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music in Classical Guitar and Voice Performance. Lizzy Mikulich is an emerging artist who works in digital drawing and animation. She is a recent graduate from the University of Guelph’s Studio Art program

Silas Chinsen and Lizzy Mikulich’s research proposal is called Carved From Stone. The proposal says it will “examine Guelph’s long history with limestone to use as the creative material for two pieces of music and animation. The work will use field recordings of local limestone and bodies of water, and the animation of historic photos and original drawings.

“The music and animation of the first piece will depict the melting of glaciers and the eroding of rock using audio samples as textural, percussive, and melodic instruments. Limestone provided Guelph with both the materials to build many of its older buildings in the downtown area, and an economic resource to the growing city,” the proposal says. The second piece will scan and animate old photos of historic buildings to use in conjunction with the audio.