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'Dawn Chorus, Evensong (Bow River Valley)' by Lou Sheppard

'Dawn Chorus, Evensong Bow River Valley (score)' by Lou Sheppard

Lou Sheppard, 'Dawn Chorus, Evensong Bow River Valley (score)', 2024. Digital drawing. Commissioned by Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Walter Phillips Gallery is thrilled to present Dawn Chorus, Evensong (Bow River Valley), a newly commissioned audio-based work with accompanying visual scores by Canadian artist Lou Sheppard to be exhibited this summer in Banff Centre’s Shaw Amphitheatre. This seven-channel audio installation is a continuation of a previous body of work commissioned for the 2019 edition of the Toronto Biennial of Art. Informed by the concept of the biophony, or sounds made by organisms within a given ecosystem, Dawn Chorus, Evensong (Bow River Valley) seeks to amplify and respond to the chorus of creatures audible on Sacred Buffalo Guardian Mountain at dawn and at dusk, times of increased activity in the forest. The installation will be activated twice daily for one hour at 8 AM and 8 PM as well as subtly sounding intermittently throughout the day. The activation of the work also takes place at what might be understood as queer times of day, when visibility is lessened and ramifications of normative conceptions of gender perhaps less pervasive. Dawn Chorus, Evensong (Bow River Valley) is suggestive of the power of collective sounding as present within a biophony, where the pitches of a creature’s calls can allow them to be heard or concealed. The work’s location in the man-made structure of the Shaw Amphitheatre as well as within the natural acoustic bowl created by the mountains makes use of these overlapping architectures for listening, amplification and transmission.

Dawn Chorus Evensong (Bow River Valley) is made possible through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Government of Canada, and Government of Alberta.

Vocalists: Pamela Hart, Stewart Legere, Lou Sheppard and Stephanie Yee. The artist would like to thank Pamela Hart for her assistance and conversations about the project; Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and staff Mimmo Maiolo, Tyler Jordan, Megan Feniak, Karen Howard and Jacqueline Bell. 

 

Biography

Lou Sheppard

Lou Sheppard works in interdisciplinary audio, performance and installation-based practices. He has performed and exhibited across Canada, notably at The Art Gallery of York University; The Confederation Centre for the Arts, Charlottetown; and at Plug-In ICA, Winnipeg; as part of the first Toronto Biennial; as well as internationally at Kumu Kunstimuuseum, Estonia; in the Antarctic Biennial, and at Titanik Gallery, Finland. Lou has participated in numerous residencies, including the International Studio Curatorial Program, Brooklyn; La Cité des Arts, Paris; and as participant and faculty at Banff Centre. He has been longlisted for the Sobey Art Award in 2018, 2020 and 2021, and was the winner of the Hnatyshyn Foundation Emerging Atlantic Artist Residency in 2017. Lou is a settler on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq in Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia.