Lompoc, CA — March 31, 2026 — White Buffalo Land Trust (WBLT) is pleased to announce composer and sound artist Nathan Sherwood Liang as the next Artist-in-Residence at Jalama Canyon Ranch, the organization’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture located in Santa Barbara County.
During the six-week residency, from April 15 through May 26, 2026, Liang will live and work on the land, creating an original body of music inspired by the ecological rhythms, environmental data, and soundscapes of the ranch. The residency will culminate in a live outdoor concert at Jalama Canyon Ranch on Saturday, May 23, 2026.
Liang is a San Francisco–based composer whose work explores the intersection of technology, nature, and sound. Through research-driven composition and interdisciplinary collaborations with musicians, artists, scientists, and filmmakers, his music translates scientific concepts and natural systems into immersive sonic experiences. His recent works include Those Who Favor Fire (2025), Green, green (2025), and Species for Harp and Piano (2024).
At Jalama Canyon Ranch, Liang will explore the ecosystem as a living instrument. Drawing from field recordings and environmental data collected across the ranch—including birdsong, weather patterns, and the sounds of working landscapes—he will develop a playable digital instrument and compose a suite of musical works inspired by the ranch’s distinct ecological sites.
“Artists help us perceive the living world in new ways,” said Ana Smith, Director of Programs and Engagement at White Buffalo Land Trust. “Nathan’s work translates ecological relationships into sound, offering a powerful way to experience the rhythms of land stewardship, biodiversity, and regeneration.”
Throughout the residency, Liang will engage with the ranch’s ongoing agricultural, research, and restoration work, drawing inspiration from the living systems that shape the landscape. The culminating performance will feature Liang and collaborating musicians performing original works that integrate live instruments, electronic elements, and recordings gathered across the ranch. The event will be an intimate outdoor experience blending music, landscape, and storytelling in a shared celebration of art and ecology—offering audiences a rare chance to experience the landscape through sound.
“My intention with music is always to offer listeners a perspective on the world that cannot be accessed through words or images” says Liang, “whether it is hearing climate data normally inconceivable by human timescales, or listening to the hum of wind-blown grass through a contact microphone as if the stem grew straight from your eardrum. These things allow us to feel our environment and, hopefully, better understand our place in it. My goal with this residency is to tap into the resonances of Jalama Canyon Ranch, and to let the audience hear the land as it might hear itself.”
In addition to the live outdoor performance, Liang will participate in community engagement activities, including educational outreach with youth in Santa Barbara County, sharing his creative process and introducing students to the possibilities of storytelling through sound and music technology.
White Buffalo Land Trust established the Artist-in-Residence Program to expand how regenerative agriculture and living systems are understood and expressed in the public sphere. The program invites artists to immerse themselves in place, using the landscape as a catalyst for creative inquiry and storytelling.
Nathan’s culminating performance and community gathering will take place on Saturday, May 23rd, at Jalama Canyon Ranch in Lompoc, California. This outdoor event is ticketed and has limited capacity. Please email programs@whitebuffalolandtrust.org to learn more and to RSVP.