Cool Art in the Heart of Winter

Discover North Bay’s winter festival of contemporary and community engaged art on frozen Lake Nipissing.

By Holly Cunningham Holly Cunningham is an arts administrator, media arts curator and musician based in North Bay, Ontario.

April 12, 2023

Every two years, a strange phenomenon occurs in North Bay. Just off Marathon beach on Lake Nipissing, folks venture onto the frozen landscape, where atop the ice an arrangement of structures appears.

Ice Follies 2018 (Photo: Vanessa Tignanelli)

Ice Follies is a biennial festival of contemporary art on frozen Lake Nipissing, which sits at the heart of our communities and becomes an accessible site for a short period of time in winter. On a canvas as tranquil as it is volatile, the works are placed in direct harmony with light, water, wind, ice and snow.

Ice Follies 2018 (Photos: Vanessa Tignanelli)

In 2020, this event unique to North Bay opens on February 15, including sculptural, video, and performance-based installations and interactions. Artists exhibited from across Canada include Destiny Swiderski, Jon Sasaki, Emily Pelstring, Christine Negus, Aanmitaagzi, Megan Feheley, Jenna Dawn Maclellan, and more.

Ice Follies 2018 (Photos: Vanessa Tignanelli)

According to the official website, the theme this year is “mkomiiwi | be ice, turn to ice, be covered in ice, be icy: exploring that transformation from water to ice and from one realm to another. As we shift and adapt new worlds are opened and old pathways disappear. Our mode of travel changes. Ice heaves form from prevailing winds. Ice is pushed up against itself, the shore.”

Not-to-Miss Events

Opening Night 2020
Warm refreshments, artist activations, artist talks
February 15
5 pm
Marathon Beach (Memorial Drive, North Bay)

“Where Does Art Begin?: Mkomiiwi”
Performance by Aanmitaagzi
February 22
7 pm
Marathon Beach (Memorial Drive, North Bay)

Ice Follies runs February 15-29 at Marathon Beach off North Bay’s Waterfront.

Ice Follies 2018 (Photo: Shawn Moreton)

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About Holly Cunningham

Holly Cunningham is an arts administrator, media arts curator and musician based in North Bay, Ontario. Holly co-founded the North Bay Film Festival and has been chair of Ice Follies Biennial, a festival of contemporary and community arts on frozen Lake Nipissing. She has also been active in cultural discourses across the region and country, sitting as a board member of MANO (Media Arts Network of Ontario), IMAA (Independent Media Arts Alliance). Holly currently performs as the drummer in the band Peach Pact.