Northumberland Hills Studio Tour: Jane Robertson on Interpreting the Landscape

Painting Jane Robertson stands smiling beside one of her agricultural landscape paintings

“I get most of my inspiration probably within 15 kilometres of where I live here. It’s just not necessary to go much further,” says painter Jane Robertson. Visitors on the Northumberland Hills Studio Tour, which ran September 9-10 in 2023, would probably agree—the region’s expansive landscapes lend themselves to painting. “It’s really about patterns and … Read more

Peterborough’s Escape Maze: Gold Rushes, Games, and Zombies

Exterior of Escape Maze, a set that looks like a Western movie

“Observation is probably the biggest thing—noticing small details,” Fred Preddy says. He’s sitting in an evocatively lit parlour, wearing a waistcoat that would have been the height of fashion a century and a half ago. As one of the owner-operators of Escape Maze south of Peterborough, Fred’s used to fielding questions about how the experiences at his interactive gaming facility are designed.

Meet the Musicians—Close Kicks feat. Louwop

We’re used to seeing far-off places in our media. New York lofts, tropical beaches, Icelandic vistas—all perks of living in the Internet age. But it can make it all too easy to forget about the scenery and stories in our own backyard. Darryl James’ Close Kicks project is unabashedly local, and there’s a thrill of recognition in his music videos to seeing our landscapes and streets not as stand-ins for another place or era, but as themselves. Speaking to James and his collaborator Luis Segura, aka Louwop, at Lindsay’s Academy Theatre, it’s clear their commitment to nurturing the local scene runs deep.

Outside the Box: An Interview with Northumberland’s Cardboard Reality

Four felt puppets play in a jazz quartet, in a still from a Cardboard Reality video

What do permaculture farming and animation have in common? Plenty, if you ask bekky O’Neil and Keith Del Principe, co-owners of Northumberland’s Cardboard Reality Farm & Studio. As animators, they’ve created award-winning stop-motion and 2D animated short films on their farm outside Roseneath. On the same property they’ve grown flowers, raised ducks, and experimented with a range of sustainable agricultural practices, making them the rare business whose output is equally at home at film festivals and the Cobourg Farmers’ Market.

6 Ways to Celebrate Halloween in Kawarthas Northumberland

A chill is in the air, the leaves have turned, and gravestones are sprouting like mushrooms on front lawns everywhere — Halloween must be drawing closer. Whether you’re looking for ways to entertain the kids on an October weekend or an adult who never lost the taste for a good scare, here’s a sampling of spooky seasonal events from around Kawarthas Northumberland.