After One Year of COVID: Interview with Margaret Lindsay Holton

It's always so interesting to look back at various point in Time ...

In this instance, I was invited, in early April 2021, to discuss where I'm at - as an artist and author - one year after the onset of COVID. 

I remember the start of the pandemic rather vividly. It was mid March of 2020 and suddenly it seemed that everyone was going into lock-down mode. I just instinctively knew, as did so many others, that this was SERIOUS. We had to hunker down. I did not do a run out to stock-up on toilet paper, but I was struck by the disappearance of all fresh eggs from the local grocer. For two days, I literally hunted for fresh eggs - finally finding a dozen in a small convenience store. And the 'new reality' sunk in. 

Interestingly enough, James Strecker and I go back a lot further than one year ... Many years ago, when he was running a small and vibrant publishing house in Hamilton, I submitted a poem for an local anthology about 'what Life meant'. (A typical kind of artist Q&A!)  It was also one of the first poems of mine ever published. Here's the blurb for that #poetry book, This I Believe ...

 Well, time goes on ... as do writing projects ... 

Now, some 30+ years later, with three novels under my belt, numerous photo-books, two books of poetry and a social history about religion in Toronto, James and I have circled around again to each other. In the following interview, James asks, again, about 'what does Life mean' ... 

 

 

JAMES STRECKER: If, before the COVID crisis, you were asked for 50 words to summarize what you do, or have done, in the arts, what would you have said about your purpose and creations?

MARGARET LINDSAY HOLTON: I’ve been active in the local, national and international arts community for over 40 years now through a variety of disciplines: Canadian fine furniture design & making, painting, writing, experimental photography and short film works. Essentially, I am offering my vision of ‘how I see the world’ from this exact point – in Time and Space – on this, our amazing home planet. This has been my job … 

Read the rest of the free-ranging interview here.

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