Studio H Canada International Artist Residencies

Experimental film, analog photography, textiles and installation

Residency Dates: November 8 – December 5, 2026

Studio H Canada welcomes Winnipeg-based artist Madelyn Gowler for a residency from November 8 to December 5, 2026. Working across experimental film, textiles, photography and installation, Madelyn brings a material-led approach to image-making. During their time in Metchosin, they plan to explore the meeting of prairie memories and coastal surroundings, experimenting with plant-based impressions on 16mm film and weaving moving-image material with fabric and yarn.

Artist Statement

I am a Winnipeg-based, queer artist working across film, photography, textiles, and installation. My practice explores memory, nostalgia, and the physical nature of images through hands-on, process-driven methods. Often working with found and repurposed materials, I am interested in how images and objects change over time through use, handling, and transformation.

During the Studio H Residency I will create a tapestry with film and fabric, inspired by a blend of my home in the prairies with the contrasting terrains of the west coast. I will make phytograms on 16mm film, using rainwater, vitamin c powder, washing soda, and plants. I will use the surrounding fallen debris; sticks, leaves, dirt, and rocks to create impressions on the film. I will then bring yarn and ripped up fabric that reminds me of textiles found in my grandma’s house to then weave a tapestry with the moving image film.

Through weaving, layering, and reworking materials, I will create work that sits between care and disruption. Drawing on the familiarity of domestic materials and personal associations, I want to evoke feelings of comfort alongside subtle disorientation. Opening space for reflection on memory, materiality, and the ways images are experienced beyond their original form.

Gallery

About the Artist

Madelyn Gowler is a queer, film-based artist focusing on materiality and experimental processes of image making. They are currently residing in Treaty 1 territory and received their BFA from the University of Manitoba. They mainly work with textiles, installation, super 8 &16mm film, and analog photography. Their practice focuses on meditative processes of deconstruction, repurposing, and film as subject.

Their films have been screened internationally at ‘Engauge Experimental Film Festival’ in Seattle WA (2023), and ‘Experiments in Cinema v18.4’ in Albuquerque, NM (2023). As well as locally at Ace art (2023), and Dave Barber Cinematheque (2023).

Their work was exhibited at Ace Art Inc. (2025) in “Poetics of Light: Experiments in Photography”, MAWA (2025) in “Seamless Transitions”, the University of Manitoba Collections Gallery (2023) in “Indeterminate Limits” and Graffiti Art Gallery (2022) in “Off the Sofa”.

Gowler has also been selected for a residency at the Riding Mountain Artist Residency through Manitoba Arts Council and Parks Canada, and the Fish Factory – Creative Center of Stöðvarfjörður.

Learn more about Madelyn on their website.

Follow them on Instagram: @ma_elyn

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Artists of all media and disciplines are welcome to apply to Studio H Canada International Art Residency – please check out the link here to apply.

Check out previous posts about artists here.