Pipelines - Painting by M.L.Holton

'Pipelines' by M.LHolton, 2016, Acrylic on Board

We are in a profound 'transitional' period that will, (if we last that long), be the hallmark of our generation. Were we able to wean ourselves off our dependence on fossil fuels? Did we rise up against the powerful global businesses, banks and puppet governments that promote & subsidize them? OR, did we succumb? Were we overwhelmed? Were we, in the end, sent into war to fight for their legally protected stock-market vested interests? - ?!? - Did we ALLOW these on-going Rapers of the Earth to continue with their thoughtless defilement of our collective HOME?  

Did we STAND UP - finally - for MOTHER EARTH?

This painting came from a very powerful and vivid dream. Today, I stand in unison with the indigenous people of the planet, the 'canaries in the coal mine', who have - for decades - warned us of our off-kilter and unhealthy relationship with the Creators'  life-sustaining planet. 

EVERY Act we make TODAY determines our collective FUTURE - as just one species of many.

EVERY DAY we can choose to consciously live in harmony with the planet - or not.

... EVERY DAY we CHOOSE ...

Are YOU a Care-taker? - OR - just a taker? 

Please also consider this short film from Bealtaine Cottage, a vital permaculture residence in Ireland ...

And, this - Stand with the Standing Rock Sioux - Video of Robert Redford's Request.

164th Rockton Worlds Fair - Thanksgiving Weekend 2016

The Rockton World's Fair, is a super family-friendly agricultural Fall Fair located on the large Rockton fairgrounds just off Hwy 8, between Cambridge & Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

From hamsters to horses, with 'live' judging of well-bred livestock and multiple food competitions (the 'biggest' pumpkin, best pies & pickled preservatives etc.), good-spirited competitive sportsmanship permeates the entire event. The local 4H farming community is heavily involved. Drawing from all around the area, youngsters & oldsters alike, get in on the act.

A small portion of the fair is devoted to a circus-type 'carnival' with typical circus rides, cotton candy & balloon-popping entertainments. Live music comes & goes.

Indoors, through the fair buildings, various displays of antiques, quilts, and unique clothing by the long-standing Woman's Institute entice with their superior skills, radiating with the common-sense of solid home-keeping.

There are also various levels of art & photography displays, ranging from children's concepts to adult executions. I am thrilled to have one of my paintings included in the 'Country Scene' Art Section of the Rockton World's Fair this year. The painting below effectively evokes the stillness of Dusk: when the skies are still & the wind drops down to a whisper, in the slow boat ride home ...

Dusk - by M.L.Holton / oil on board / framed -
Rockton Fair: Section 78, Class 19 - 'Country Scene'

   Come on Out with the Family! Wander the grounds, experience the sights & sounds of a proper country fall fair. (You may even be tempted grab a mustard-relish-smeared foot-long hot dog ...)

Admission prices, map & other vital info are listed below. Best to just pop over to their website for any other particulars.  Hope to see you there!

(I hope to be in attendance on Saturday for 4-5 hours, mid-day to dusk, weather permitting.)

Dress country, of course ... :)   

Come On Over!! 

The Rockton World's Fair LINK.

Rockton Worlds Fair - Between Cambridge & Hamilton, just off Hwy 8, in the village of Rockton.

Dropped off my piece yesterday - fairground is getting 'set up' ...

 Composite - Photography by M.L.Holton

UPDATE: Woohoo! - Won 2nd Prize, 'Open Art Class: Country Scene' 
(Posted a wee 3 min video of the fair on Saturday afternoon, on Facebook)

Plus, here's my ribbon!  woohoo!

 

FASM Studio Tour UPDATE / FINALE

From the WHITE OUT series by M.L.Holton - SOLD

People are always fascinated by my pinhole cameras, and interested to learn about the history and basics of pinhole photography. But sometimes, something else completely catches their eye ... It's always gratifying when a new patron SEES something that I've done from a few years ago, likes it, and then, buys it.

Done in 2012, the above image (30x22.5") is from my 40+ WHITE OUT series. Some prints from that series are now available in an assortment of print sizes (with or without frames as per your preference) via my Fine Art America 'retail' LINK.

Telling Tales Festival 2016, at Westfield Heritage Village

Main Stage Audience at Telling Tales Festival 2016 - Photo by M.L.Holton

I had the good fortune of attending my first Telling Tales Festival (now in it's 8th year) at Westfield Heritage Village this past Sunday. What a joy-filled & brilliant event this is!

The Festival convincingly engages & entertains on multiple levels, all geared towards developing and encouraging interest in literacy for youngsters. The focus is 'story-telling' at its very finest.

A 'Good Book' gives so much, much more then just 'a story'. Converting a child to read in this current age of 'screen dominance' is, seemingly, an up-hill battle. But, as the author, Dr.Daniel Coleman, rightly explains in this video, literacy can OPEN a child's IMAGINATION in ways unimaginable by just vision-based content. It creates complex synaptic associations that build the ground-work for future constructive & creative thinking. It envelops the MIND in worlds outside of one's own experience or knowledge. All told, a Good Book nurtures a profound love of the essential 'code' of language - WORDS. 

What follows are my own impressions from my first visit to this heart-warming Festival. It's like nothing I've ever seen or heard before.  I truly wish 'Telling Tales' would SPREAD nation-wide like wildfire ...

Much credit must go to the Festival founder, Susan Jasper: a woman with a clear & well-developed innate literate VISION ... KUDOS to the WHOLE 'Telling Tales' team!!

And, next year, For Sure, GO with your Children!

Impressions of Telling Tales Festival 2016 from canadada on Vimeo.

Footage from Premiere of The FROZEN GOOSE

NB: This is my first time posting with Bloggers innate video tool.
FYI,  it does NOT link to Youtube, so don't bother popping over there ...
(You can use the bracket tool on the lower right corner to enlarge the video to full-screen.
 Quality is not so hot when you do that. So far, it seems to work on PCs, but not on APPLE mobile products.)

Canadian artist/filmmaker, Margaret Lindsay Holton, introduces Mayor Rick Goldring at the World (!) Premiere of The FROZEN GOOSE at the Art Gallery of Burlington, (Ontario, Canada) on September 11th, 2016.  The Mayor offers up amusing insights into acting & local film production ... Missing is second speaker, CEO of the Art Gallery, Robert Steven. No footage of that.

Canadian Fiddler  David Clarence MacLean sets the pace for the 1st screening of classic Canadian short story The FROZEN GOOSE, during the World Premiere at the Art Gallery of Burlington (Ontario, Canada) on September 11th, 2016.

Between the two screenings of the FROZEN GOOSE, fab folk group Whiskey Epiphany - led by fiddler extraordinaire (and cast member) David Clarence MacLean - entertain with toe-tapping traditional rural reels. Excerpts of that fine performance are included in this final clip.

All footage generously supplied to MLH Productions by David's wonderful mum, Judy Holbrook.
THANKS JUDY!

Fall Newsletter 2016, via Canadian Artist, M.L.Holton

 

Art Attack, Painting by Canadian Artist, M.L.Holton

Fall Newsletter 2016, includes links for TICKETS to my short 25 min film, The FROZEN GOOSE Canadian Premiere at the Art Gallery of Burlington on Sunday, September 11th, plus, other links to additional up-coming exhibitions & group shows that I will be involved in during the fall.

Formally, the film is DONE. 
It is now time to move on to other things ...

Tangentially, one invaluable 'summer project' has been to read James A. Michener's mammoth historical-fictional novel, 'Hawaii'. What a lovely escape that has been. How enthralling to read such a masterfully written work that so successfully immerses one in an alternate time & space!

It has ignited a deep pleasure to read BOOKS again (... something I did a LOT of before the advent of the net...) I intend to do a lot more reading of BOOKS over the next little while, and, as a result, will intentionally forgo the incessant daily 'seduction of the screens'. I'm not 'leaving the net' for good - just pulling back significantly - to regain a necessary balance, renewed personal perspective and, to my mind, a solid dose of sanity.

I want to re-FOCUS on my life long work as a Canadian Artist now, and concentrate on those issues that concern and motivate me. I want the time to just THINK, unfettered by a lot of 'net noise'.  So, even though the up-coming fall WILL BE very busy for me, I am really looking forward to the 'away time' to meditate on other 'off net' items of personal interest - like sustainability and care-taking planet stewardship  ...

Canadian Artist - Margaret Lindsay Holton

I WILL catch up in the late spring or summer of 2017. We'll see where I'm at then! - Have a Great Canadian Winter all. If you do need to contact me, please use the contact tab on the upper right of the blog. Otherwise, as the infamous Red Green used to say, 'Keep your stick on the ice!' 

And, most important, ENJOY Life. 

mlh

FASM Fall Studio Tour, 2016! - M.L.Holton Pinhole Photos and Cameras, at Doris Treleaven's Metalworking Studio

Wow. Just got the snazzy looking brochures for the Fine Art Society of Milton Fall Studio Tour. 

36 artists at 26 different locations in and around the Escarpment area of Milton, Ontario.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY

TWO DAY TOUR: 10am -5pm

Very please to announce that this year I will be showing as a 'Guest' of Doris Treleaven, a metal worker of both big and small projects. Her studio is HUGE! (Location 25, on above map.)  From my end, I'll be showcasing my pinhole photography  as well as giving small demos with my hand-made pinhole cameras, (no darkroom though!).

 AWARD WINNING Pinhole PHOTOGRAPHY

Copyright: ' Granny's Lounger'  by M.L.Holton (Canada)

Come check us out at LOCATION 25 on the map, 13016 5th Line. Just NORTH of Limehouse, EAST of Acton and WEST Georgetown. Very easy to find, SOUTH off Hwy 7.  The map/brochures are available around the area, starting this week, LOOK for them.

And/or download your own map/brochure, via FASM website in LATE AUGUST.

UPDATE, Oct 4th: A few quiet moments from this year's tour .... All in all, given the gray weather, it was surprisingly busy  - with people coming from as far afield as Toronto, Barrie and downtown. Oakville!  Doris's studio, just outside of Acton (as marked above, and seen below), is a treasure trove for eclectic 'metal-art' shoppers. She uses other materials too, like stain glass & wood etc., on commissions. If passing thru the area, make sure you do take 1/2 an hour to check out this truly unique artist & her busy workshop.

Short 12 minute documentary of Doris's metal-working 

studio now published on Raise the Hammer.

UPDATE: Nice bit of press from the Milton Champion. 
(Note -  tour has ALWAYS run for two days, that's nothing 'new'.) 
UPDATE: ha - who knew?!? Was also listed as a 'Culture Days' event, (listed by FASM.)

UPDATE, Jan, 2017.
Cleaning up the2016  desk top, came on this shot of my set-up.
Not the best shot, but hey, posterity! 

 

Get TICKETS to Canadian Premiere of The FROZEN GOOSE @ Art Gallery of Burlington

Please join the Cast & Director

at the Art Gallery of Burlington 

on Sunday, September 11th, 3-5pm.

Please note, there will be TWO screenings, (choose which one you prefer) at 3:15pm or 4pm, with a 'live' musical INTERLUDE by Whiskey Epiphany, and some fancy fiddling, before and aft, by fiddler extraordinaire, David Clarence MacLean. Surprise guests will head up the presentation. After the second screening, there will be a 15 min Q&A with the cast &  Director, Margaret Lindsay Holton.

TICKETS Now Available! - On-line ONLY -
via EVENTBRITE 

 LINK: Order yours HERE! 

Low Resolution OFFICIAL TRAILER below:

Summer Fleur - Photography by M.L.Holton

At the height of summer, operatic drama seems to overtake the persistent push of vegetation.  It can be overwhelming at times, even claustrophobic with all that smothering overgrowth ... (Horatio bellows: "Virginia creepers BE DAMNED!")  And yet, in the midst of it all, extraordinary colour plumes and exquisite delicate petals hold ground.

Hibiscus Supremus - Photo by m.l.holton

Queen Anne Lattice - Photo by m.l.holton

Hard Knocks Hibiscus - Photo by m.l.holton

Queen Anne in-Waiting - Photo by m.l.holton

Horatio Hibiscus - by m.l.holton

Demure & Potent - Photo by m.l.holton

Healthy Hibiscus - Photo by m.l.holton

Play Ground - Photo by m.l.holton

MLH on 'Art Jury Duty' for Inaugural 2016 'Art-in-the-Park', Country Heritage Museum in Milton, Ontario, Canada

Back roads, North Halton County - by m.l.holton

Very pleased that I can now announce completion of one intense day of art jury duty earlier this month with two esteemed colleagues, (from the Dufferin County Museum & the Ontario Crafts Council Board), for the inaugural 'Art-in-the-Park' exhibit at the incomparable Country Heritage Park in Milton, (formerly known as the Ontario Agricultural Museum), for August 21st, 2016.

There were a number of outstanding entries from both local and provincial artists for us to consider. As jurors, our goal was to aim for a good cross-section of works - and disciplines - that best reflect the strong abstract & realist trends in contemporary art and craft practices. We're sure the public will enjoy the chosen 35 exhibitors work very much. Details about the showing artists can be found - here. 

The Show & Sale will run from 10am-5pm, 

on August 21st, 2016, at the Country Heritage Park. 

Enjoy!

 

MAP: 

 Country Heritage Park

(formerly Ontario Agricultural Museum)

8560 Tremaine Road, Milton
Ontario L9T 2Y3

If you GPS Country Heritage Park, please use Postal Code L9T 2X3

Admission Per person - $10* (Children Under 12 - FREE)

Be sure to CHECK the website for Days OPEN. 

Heritage building, Country Heritage Park, Milton - by m.l.holton