Video Library

"When a small group of inspired people get together, just about anything can happen." - Jim Blake, Curator, Haliburton Sculpture Forest Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Haliburton Sculpture Forest experienced a dramatic increase in the number of visitors - from 10,000 in 2019 to 40,000 in 2021. In order to maintain the environmental integrity of the forest and improve the visitor experience, the non-profit organization greatly enhanced the landscaping and signage with support from the Regional Tourism Relief Fund. Read more about this project and view other success stories at https://ohto.ca/rtrf-video-series . Haliburton Sculpture Forest: https://www.haliburtonsculptureforest.ca/ Video Production by Ben Hemmings Media: https://www.benhemmingsmedia.com/ FedDev Ontario: https://feddev-ontario.canada.ca/en This project is funded by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), as part of Ontario’s Highlands delivery of support for local tourism businesses and organizations through the Tourism Relief Fund. #ComeWander #GoC #TourismReliefFund

"Twilight in the Sculpture Forest" - a poetry film written + narrated by James Morehead (Poet Laureate - Dublin, CA), and filmed + edited by Brad Brown. Filmed on location at the Haliburton Sculpture Forest, Haliburton, Ontario, Canada. Twilight in The Sculpture Forest copyright 2022 James Morehead The guardians have always stood at the trailhead, rusting in the sun. They are totems of a kind: father, mother, and their child, spines assembled from sickle and shovel, discarded metal things for arms, queer unblinking eyes and smiles. I do not linger for their blessing when passing through the trees. Gelert greets me: Irish protector, majestic, cast in bronze, nose ever tilting upward to detect the scent of hunting wolves on basswood, balsam fir, and pine. I caress his cool back, then move on. The forest pulls me deeper in where Pan is playing on his flute, each note suspended, held and silent, embedded in Canadian shield. Green-gray shadows fill my wake; canopy diffuses all sunlight. I pass a hiker in limestone: they wear a badge of maple leaf, ever autumn, reddish brown. One foot forward, one set back, a smile, a wink, or so I think, for their face is featureless— a simple orb of clean, smooth stone. Curious, a chain mail book, forged steel covers bolted down and each page sounds a rattle and crash. But, despite how long I gaze, its mysteries—hidden still, concealed by fire. I almost miss her as I pass, carved from Belmont Rose. The sleeping huntress, feathered hair and naked skin cut from a block, then set upon the forest floor. Up ahead a beaver sits, drawn from cement, with iron teeth, to gaze upon a single lamp post: steel, graffitied, out of place. Turn the corner a granite gneiss dome, low arched door and bench inside; I rest awhile where echoes dwell. “Silence is the language of God,” Rumi’s words inscribed, “all else is poor translation.” I’ve lingered long, twilight has come, the sculptures now—no longer stone. Welded wire forms a man: his arms reach up to welcome night, unsettling, just mesh for skin. They came before (now all sleep) Each paralyzed (secrets to keep) So I lie (but for a while) At midnight’s turn I try to rise, limbs locked in place, bereft, alone, until I hear footsteps are near, what are these passersby to think? I cannot call tongue turned to stone.

From September 13-18, 2021 visitors had the chance to see dance artists Brian Solomon, Noriko Yamamoto, Phylicia Browne-Charles, Madeline Friel and Throwdown Collective (Mairéad Filgate, Brodie Stevenson and Irvin Chow) as they spent a week in solo creative dance residency in the Haliburton Sculpture Forest. These selected artists were invited to take an existing work or idea—perhaps halted by the pandemic—and to re-engage, re-configure, and adapt it to the outdoor environment, exploring it through a new lens. Throughout this week, film footage was taken of the performers. The footage has been edited into a creative montage and was screened at a culminating live event in Haliburton in Fall 2022. The participating artists returned to Haliburton for the screening, to perform their work before a live audience and to participate in an artists talkback about their experience with re-emergence, re-engagement and re-connection!

Watch as Throwdown Collective, and Toronto dance troupe performs at the Haliburton Sculpture Forest! This performance was created in partnership between Dance Happens Here Haliburton and the Haliburton Sculpture Forest. This video was created by Sticks and Stones Productions. Come explore the magic of the Haliburton Sculpture Forest: https://www.haliburtonsculptureforest.ca/ Throwdown Collective: http://www.throwdownco.ca/ Sticks and Stones Productions: https://www.haliburtoncdc.ca/about-hcdc/incubator/businesses-in-incubator/sticks-stones-productions.html

Watch as Throwdown Collective, and Toronto dance troupe talks about the making of their 2018 performance at the Haliburton Sculpture Forest! This performance was created in partnership between Dance Happens Here Haliburton and the Haliburton Sculpture Forest. This video was created by Sticks and Stones Productions. Come explore the magic of the Haliburton Sculpture Forest: https://www.haliburtonsculptureforest.ca/ Throwdown Collective: http://www.throwdownco.ca/ Sticks and Stones Productions: https://www.haliburtoncdc.ca/about-hcdc/incubator/businesses-in-incubator/sticks-stones-productions.html

Watch as Throwdown Collective, and Toronto dance troupe performs at the Haliburton Sculpture Forest! This performance was created in partnership between Dance Happens Here Haliburton and the Haliburton Sculpture Forest. This video was created by Sticks and Stones Productions. Come explore the magic of the Haliburton Sculpture Forest: https://www.haliburtonsculptureforest.ca/ Throwdown Collective: http://www.throwdownco.ca/ Sticks and Stones Productions: https://www.haliburtoncdc.ca/about-hcdc/incubator/businesses-in-incubator/sticks-stones-productions.html