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The following is from a conversation I had with Helga Jakobson just before the Assiniboine Park Conservatory closed this past spring. To see the artistic product of her research, thinking, and recording so far, check out her show, Sympoietic Sound, now at aceartinc. until December 7th.

FULL: What drew you to making work about the closing of the Conservatory?

Helga Jakobson: I started the project because I was so attracted to the layered narrative of the space. We’ve made a building for the plants, and they took over and crumbled it. It’s brought out all kinds of very complicated feelings. Until a week ago, the place was well respected, but then people started snapping the massive plantain fronds, coming in and stealing plants — bringing in garbage bags trying to take full plants, or just huddling things under their coats. It’s like watching how people behave when they’re grieving the loss of their family members, getting into arguments over who gets what. It’s been quite heartbreaking for the people who work here, because they know all of these plants and can see the damage.

Maybe you’ve seen Mangie C’s bright, metallic shapes glimmer off the ears of some fashionable Winnipeger, each piece its own tiny sculpture, organic and yet still. When Mangie makes jewelry, she thinks about fun. She says, “I think, ‘Could you wear this on a night out and feel really good about it?’”

I pull up to Mangie’s West End home in the middle of the day in the middle of March, and she’s ready for me with a smoothie. We chat at a table by the window in the dining room she’s split into her workspace. Both a little nervous at first, we ease into the interview with stories from trips we’ve taken, descriptions of our favourite things to eat for breakfast. By the time I’m getting set to leave, we’re giggling over the funny dolls she keeps on the dresser off her bedroom, and I’m going through her personal jewelry collection piece by piece. We’re fast friends.

The New Music Festival begins on January 27th, and on Sunday, January 28th, Winnipeg pianist Madeline Hildebrand will be taking the stage at the Centennial Concert Hall alongside international pianists Vicky Chow, Jenny Lin, Jonas Sen, and composer Philip Glass. The five will perform The Complete Piano Etudes, a set of twenty pieces composed by Glass. Each performer will take the stage twice to play a consecutive set of two etudes, and their performances will be preceded and followed by a panel discussion, alongside a showcase of new music installations in the lobbies during intermission.

A few weeks before the performance, I visit Madeline in the home she shares with her partner, Steve Ackerman, to talk more about her work with the Piano Etudes and the New Music Festival.

Winter can get a bit of a bad rap when it comes to trying to dress yourself. Winter in Winnipeg generally can get a bit of a bad rap. And I get it, I do, it’s hard to feel cute or like yourself when every outfit and inch of exposed flesh either has to be bundled under a huge coat or subjected to an icy blast the moment you set food out the door.

But, like most things in life, good can come bundled in with the bad. My friend Amos calls winter “a time for contemplation,” when meticulously putting on each protective layer can feel like a meditative act, and removing them, a catharsis. Elsa adds, “It’s very acceptable to retreat within yourself in the winter time.”

And Winnipeg winters can afford us such opportunities: to bundle under an extra layer of soft fabric, or assemble new outfits by throwing together pieces we wouldn't pair otherwise. It's cold out there; sometimes you have to get creative. And so, on a chilly Sunday early in December, I’ve gathered a small group of people together at Modern Supply Co. to talk about their sense of style and self expression, and how winter plays into that.