Chronogram February 2024

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CHRONOGRAM 1

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Mary-Kay Lombino, curator and deputy director at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center on the Vassar College campus in Poughkeepsie.

Photo by David McIntyre

COMMUNITY PAGES, PAGE 36

february

DEPARTMENTS

WEDDINGS

8 Esteemed Reader

30 Taking the Plunge: Waterfront Venues

Jason Stern meets a young man of vision.

9 Editor’s Note Brian K. Mahoney offers unasked-for writing advice.

FOOD & DRINK 10 Harana Market 2.0 Opens in Accord The newest iteration of the beloved Filipino deli and Asian market is in a spacious former barn on Route 209.

13 Sips & Bites Recent openings include Bar Brava in Newburgh, Spettro in Poughkeepsie, Misto in Red Hook, and Mirador in Kingston.

HOME 14 Chicken Math Transplanted urbanites David Krause and Ayan Chatterjee were unsure at first about homesteading in Freehold.

HEALTH & WELLNESS 26 The Art of Connection We asked a handful of local therapists for tips on how to build and sustain healthy relationships.

The region is chock full of places to get hitched by the water, from the mighty Hudson to inland creeks and ponds.

COMMUNITY PAGES 36 Poughkeepsie: A New Start The Dutchess County seat kicked off the new year by swearing in its first Black mayor, Yvonne Flowers.

44 Poughkeepsie Portraits by David McIntyre

RURAL INTELLIGENCE 54 10 Things to Love About Winsted, CT Nestled in the foothills of the Berkshires, the small town of Winsted is the unpolished gem of upscale Litchfield County.

55 A Taste of West Africa House of Seasoning in Pittsfield is a dream come true for Mathieu and Raissa Niamke, who bring the flavors of their native Ivory Coast in West Africa to the Berkshires.

59 “Like Magic” at MASS MoCA An exhibit of 10 contemporary artists who have structurally been denied power due to their race, sexuality, gender identity, indigeneity, or immigration status.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM 3

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Corinne Marchand stars in Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), directed by Agnes Varda, which will screen at UPAC on April 4, part of the Game Changers movie series.

THE GUIDE, PAGE 70

february

ARTS

THE GUIDE

60 Music

66 David Gonzalez brings the multimedia event “The Effects

Michael Eck reviews Reflect and Oppose by Sky Furrows.

Jason Broome reviews Silver Sky by Black Lake. Morgan Y. Evans reviews Do We Need Another Psycho by Future One. Plus listening recommendations from Guided By Voices bassist and Kingston resident Mark Shue.

61 Books Richard Kreitner reviews My Beloved Life, Amitava Kumar’s new novel. Plus short reviews of A Brutal Design by Zachary C. Solomon; All of Us: Storiesand Poems Along Route 17 by Esther Cohen; Jazz with a Beat: Small Group Swing 19401960 by Tad Richards; Crossing Divides: My Journey to Standing Rock by Vernon Benjamin; and Catskill Creatures

by Nancy Furstinger and Bob Ebdon.

62 Poetry Poems by Eileen Bailey, Augusta Block, Sydna Altschuler Byrne, Ian Gillis, Joanne Grumet, Jennifer Howse, Sebastian Isler, Wendy Kagan, Paloma Kop, C. P. Masciola, Cyrus Mulready, Emily Murname, Christopher Porpora, Shane Romer, Claire Scott, and Jim Tilley. Edited by Phillip X Levine.

64 Profile of Indie Harpist Mikaela Davis Davis has generated buzz with her blend of dreamy ’70s AM gold, funky soul, synth pop, and modern indie styles.

of Gravity” to the Bardavon on February 16.

67 The Holocenter in Kingston’s first show of holographic art, “Iridescence,” is up through February 18.

69 Here are the shows we’ll be attending this month:

Lenny Kaye at the Local, Nels Cline Consentrik Quartet at the Falcon, Big Head Todd at Levon Helm Studios.

70 The Short List includes Cirque Zuma Zuma at Paramount Hudson Valley and Ballet Hispanico at the Mahaiwe.

71 South African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo takes the stage at Colony on February 22.

72 Listings of museum and gallery shows across the

region. This month’s standouts include Doug Navarra at Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild and Carl Sprague at Opalka.

HOROSCOPES 76 Melting the Icy Heart of Winter Cory Nakasue reveals what the stars have in store for us.

PARTING SHOT 80 Painting the Town Shadowland Stages in Ellenville gets a new mural.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM 5

on the cover

Descent, oil on linen, 2023

Arrival, oil on linen, 2023

Freefalling

Lily Morris Descends from Chaos In creating Descent, Chatham-based painter Lily Morris, 36, was inspired by François Lemoyne’s The Apotheosis of Hercules, a mural at Versailles that depicts the Greek hero being inducted into the ranks of the gods by his father Jupiter. “I love this painting as an aesthetic feast,” Morris says. “It’s a cosmic snow globe, and Versailles itself is the Barbie penthouse of 18th-century France. The completion of the mural earned the artist the title of First Painter to the King, yet the artist killed himself shortly thereafter. I find the contrast of fantasy power play and the stark reality of lived experiences fascinating with regard to this painting’s history.”

Stark realities indeed: While Covid raged, Morris’s son was born two months premature and then she had to overcome life-threatening health issues herself. (Both Morris and her son are healthy.) The chaotic state of her life and the world affected her mindset. “Global politics bulged with unfathomable doom as it still does today. Descent became a meditation on freefalling 6 CHRONOGRAM 2/24

and a kind of transformation from old stories of strength and power,” she says.

Descent also brings to mind the heavenly perspective of Italian Renaissance painters, something that Morris absorbed while studying in Italy. “I wandered throughout Florence awed by the sheer mountain of life force captured in paint.

That experience showed me what sheer creative commitment and discipline can produce while cultivating a heightened desire for my own voice and personal momentum,” she says.

Morris’s work has been featured on Netflix and other television shows, placing her classical expertise in a 21st-century context. It all began when she had a solo exhibit on Martha’s Vineyard in her mid 20s. “The man who was transitioning the novel Bird Box into a screenplay saw my work. Scott Frank, writer of The Queen’s Gambit, spoke with director Susanne Bier. They decided to change Sandra Bullock’s character into a painter and fill her studio with my work. Bier continues to bring me on to Netflix and HBO projects

to this day. It has been a wonderful and deeply collaborative experience,” Morris says.

Morris grew up on Martha’s Vineyard before its current popularity as a posh vacation destination.

“It was rather feral. We were children with matted hair, feet trained to cling to rocks, life dictated by the weather more than any other force,” she says. “My parents made documentary films about global poverty as we lived humbly amongst the mounting vacation hysteria that is Martha’s Vineyard today.”

She landed in Hudson in 2015 with no friends and started a series of seven paintings for a collector. She met her husband at the Hudson Sloop Club, then a nascent community sailing organization. “My need for culture and nature made the Hudson Valley the perfect home, and its nautical history created a sense of familiarity,” she says. “It has given me the grand arc of my adult life, and I feel like I am just beginning to see what incredible magic and people it holds.”

—Mike Cobb

EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney brian.mahoney@chronogram.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR David C. Perry david.perry@chronogram.com DIGITAL EDITOR Marie Doyon marie.doyon@chronogram.com ARTS EDITOR Peter Aaron music@chronogram.com HOME EDITOR Mary Angeles Armstrong home@chronogram.com POETRY EDITOR Phillip X Levine poetry@chronogram.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Anne Pyburn Craig apcraig@chronogram.com

contributors Winona Barton-Ballentine, Jeanette Brodeur, Jason Broome, Julia Dixon, Michael Eck, Morgan Y. Evans, Ryan Keegan, Richard Kreitner,

MID VALLEY

WINE & LIQUOR Find what you love.

Love what you find.

David McIntyre, Cory Nakasue, Sparrow, Jaime Stathis, Albert Stern, Lynn Woods

PUBLISHING FOUNDERS Jason Stern, Amara Projansky PUBLISHER & CEO Amara Projansky amara.projansky@chronogram.com EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Jan Dewey jan.dewey@chronogram.com BOARD CHAIR David Dell

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esteemed reader

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In the first frame of the film we see a table with a wide-mouthed jar and some beakers on its surface. A figure with the proportions of a man enters from the left.

The frame shows his torso up to the neck in a white lab coat and checkered tie. He is evidently some kind scientist. With a pair of steel laboratory tongs, the figure holds a transparent box with a roiling mass of black granular objects inside.

An authoritative baritone voice with a British accent narrates: “Training fleas requires a glass jar and a lid.”

The figure then pours the mass of granular objects into the jar. They begin to bounce and jump out of the jar and it is clear these are the fleas referenced in the narration. The scientist’s manicured fingers screw on a top and the fleas hop about inside the jar.

“The fleas are left undisturbed for three days. Then, when the jar is opened, the fleas will never again jump higher than the level of the lid,” the narrator intones.

In the next cut the jar is gone and all we see is fleas leaping out of their mass on the tabletop. They continue to jump within the confines of the nonexistent jar.

“Their behavior is now set for the rest of their lives. And, when these fleas reproduce, their offspring will automatically follow their example,” the narrator explains.

Here the film clip concludes.

Does the film depict a real experiment or was it invented by artificial intelligence? I don’t know. Nevertheless, it rings true in its implications for our human predicament and raises, for me, important questions.

In connection with the imprisoned fleas, I was recently having coffee with a friend. He is a college student in his early 20s and has the inquisitive and receptive psyche that shows up in some young people.

We were talking about how we felt affected by the variety of horrors unfolding on different parts of the planet, mostly perpetrated by the empire of which we are both citizens. “If you had unlimited resources, what would you do to change the world?” I asked him.

His answer was a source of surprise and delight. “I would start a food program that ensures everyone is well-nourished with whole foods, and I would start programs to make processed food, GMOs and factory farming unsustainable and unprofitable. I would set up a system of small local farms that feed everyone,” he said.

“How will that help the world?” I asked.

“Because when people are nourished they are more intelligent and less afraid, and small regenerative farms connect us to the whole cycle of life on the planet,” he said.

“That’s cool,” I replied.

And another thing,” the young man continued. “I wouldn’t give anyone any medicine unless they were sick. No prophylactics. People will be healthy if they are nourished and I’m afraid all the vaccines people take to avoid getting sick are actually part of what’s making them ill.”

“Whoa,” I said, “that’s a controversial statement.”

“It just seems like common sense,” he replied.

“OK, anything else?” I asked.

“Well, yeah. Food isn’t just what you put in your mouth. It’s also what comes into your senses and mind. So I would buy up all the media companies, just like the oligarchs do, and start reporting all the good news we never hear about.”

“Are you talking about controlling the media, like censorship?” I asked.

“Well, first, the media is already completely controlled and censored. Everyone knows it’s owned by the same people that own the banks, the weapons industry, the pharmaceutical companies. It’s obvious that they use the media to tell the story they want people to believe for their own reasons,” he said.

The young man took a sip of his coffee and continued. “I would use the media to tell the truth about what people are doing that is regenerative. Instead of fomenting fear and war I would foment happiness and peace. I would find ways to encourage people to put down their phones and computers and go outside. I would change the educational system and curriculum to teach about the unity of life. Unity in diversity. With a new narrative, I think the world would change very quickly.”

I left the conversation with a feeling of happiness that a young person has a vision for how to change the world. It seemed like a good vision, and I loved that he wasn’t interested in violent revolution but rather creating new systems that supported a more natural and harmonious human society.

He seemed to be a young man that realized he could leap outside of the shape of the nonexistent jar.

editor’s note

by Brian K. Mahoney

The God of Digging Ditches

W

riters love to grouse about how hard writing is. They seem to enjoy it much more than writing whatever it was they were supposed to be working on in the first place, as if they have to get off their chest how arduous the journey of the literati is before they actually start a project. Here’s a sample menu of writerly woes: The terror of the blank page. The loneliness of solitary work. The haunting specter of perfectionism. The elusiveness of trying to narrow the infinite possibility of language into finite strands of words that convey meaning through the fine-grained emotional nuance of lived experience.

“Writing is hard” is a cliché. And writers should avoid clichés. But like all clichés, it’s also true.

Writing is the thorniest thicket I crawl into on a regular basis. I’m with Dorothy Parker here: “I hate writing; I love having written.” (I mean, reading my old columns can be fun—if not cringey, like many a backward glance—but writing them is not pleasurable. Playing chew toy tug of war with Clancy is fun. Typing away at these keys, trying to structure the swirling chaos of my mind into coherence, it’s not painful, it’s just, well, difficult.

But don’t take my word on it. Writers also love to write about how difficult the activity is. Children’s author Amy Joy puts it this way: “Anyone who says writing is easy isn’t doing it right.” Legendary editor Robert Gottlieb, who wrote half a dozen books himself, noted in his memoir, Avid Reader: “There are editors who will always feel guilty that they aren’t writers. I can write perfectly well—anybody who’s educated can write perfectly well. But I dislike writing: it’s very, very hard and I just don’t like the activity.” (I feel so seen by this quote that it feels targeted.)

My favorite metaphor in the hallowed litany of literary whingeing is from David Rakoff, a frequent contributor to “This American Life” before his death in 2012: “Writing is like pulling teeth. From my [redacted anatomical appendage].”

I was so taken with Rakoff ’s horrifically vivid, percussive vulgarity—which manages to capture the self-directed outrage—that I decided to try my hand at a writing-is-hard metaphor involving [redacted anatomical appendages]. Here goes:

Writing is like looking for a [redacted anatomical appendage] in a bag of [redacted anatomical appendages] and realizing halfway through that you don’t like sorting through [redacted anatomical appendages] very much and you wonder why you ever thought sorting through [redacted anatomical appendages] was a good idea in the first place.

Not as good as Rakoff ’s quip, admittedly.

Of course, there’s delightful counterprogramming as well from within the writing community: “Writing is hard for every last one of us,” writes Wild author Cheryl Strayed.

“Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig.”

Speaking of digging, here’s Chuck Wendig, author of The Book of Accidents, who tries to find a middle road between acknowledging the difficulty of the endeavor and not letting a fairly privileged group of knowledge workers off the hook either: “Why is it hard digging ditches? Why is it hard being a god? Writing is somewhere in between both of those. You’re the god of digging ditches.

You’re navigating this interstitial terrain between art and craft, between self-actualization and commerce, between empathy and evil. It has all these rules, and almost none of them are true.”

“All these rules” that Wendig speaks of: The world is overpopulated by books of them, from Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style to Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing and Constance Hale’s Sin and Syntax. I recall that a key takeaway from Strunk and White was to be judicious in one’s deployment of exclamation points because overuse would cause loss of impact and create reader fatigue. I wonder what they would think of any given email written in the course of workday: Subject Line: Let’s Get Stapled!

Hi Sandy!

Just heard from Brad in Accounting! The PO was approved! We’re good to buy that stapler! Can’t wait to see your report!

Making shit happen!

Jim-Ellen!

Of course, we have our own house rules at Chronogram. Fifteen of them, in fact. I won’t bore you with them all, but here’s a taste: Rule #14: Don’t Use the Word “Unique” Strictly speaking, unique means “being one a kind,” not “unusual.” Unique is usually employed as hyperbole, esp. in a marketing context, and should be avoided.

Even if something is one in a million, it is not unique—just rare, as there are two in two million. The word unique has become so devalued through its misuse as to be meaningless. One of a kind or singular work just as well.

Nitpicky and pretentious? Certainly. But not wrong.

Writers also love to give advice about how to be the best writer you can be. The first rule of writing is “write what you know,” so the following logic prevails: Writers know how to write; therefore, they should write about writing.

Which is to be expected, but that doesn’t mean it ain’t insufferable—all these writers trying to ram advice down our throats.

There’s Joyce Carol Oates: “Most important for a writer to read widely, enthusiastically.

Writing is a consequence of reading and writing well is a consequence of reading well.” Or Stephen King: “A radio talk-show host asked me how I wrote. My reply—‘One word at a time’— seemingly left him without a reply. I think he was trying to decide whether or not I was joking. I wasn’t.” Or David Mitchell: “Neglect everything else.”

And there’s always a bull market for writerly advice. The legions of us who burn to communicate with these clunky word clusters do need help. Despite how hard it is, we are foolish enough to sit down to it time and again.

But eventually the old alchemy begins again, the transformation of mind into matter and matter into meaning. Knowing when to stop is part of the trick of it all, resting the pen on the pockmarked page a kind of final magic.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM 9

food & drink

Harana Market 2.0 OPENS IN ACCORD

After almost two years of community fundraising and build-out, Chris Mauricio (left) and Eva Tringali (right) moved their beloved Filipino deli and Asian market from a tiny storefront in Woodstock to a spacious 2,500-square-foot barn on Route 209 in Accord.

Portrait by Leo Samanamud and Jen Phanomrat Exterior photo by Jason Bover

By Ashleigh Lovelace

J

ust a few months after opening Harana Market’s original Woodstock location in the fall of 2020, owners Chris Mauricio and Eva Tringali knew they were going to need a bigger space. “People always say that you need three to five years to see whether a new business is actually going to make it,” says Tringali, “but the response was so immediate that we knew even then that we needed to start searching for our next home.” This Thursday, after almost two years of community fundraising and build-out, the second iteration of their beloved Filipino deli and Asian market opened on Route 209 in Accord.

Harana’s new home, the spacious 2,500-squarefoot barn on Route 209 that has previously been home to everything from a gym to a pizza restaurant and a barbecue joint, offered Mauricio and Tringali an opportunity to dramatically expand their footprint.

Their original location, a 100-year-old general store perched on a sharp curve on Wittenberg Road, was known for its precarious parking situation and tiny, 800-square-foot interior that only accommodated a few customers at a time.

Despite its physical constraints, Mauricio and 10 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 2/24

Tringali grew Harana (the Tagalog word for serenade) into a warm-hearted community hub that ​​celebrated the homestyle Filipino recipes handed down to Mauricio by their grandmother and served as a safe “third place” for queer, trans, AAPI, and BIPOC communities in the Hudson Valley A Community-Supported Expansion The couple began fundraising last summer, and through a generous loan from a local Filipino family, a silent auction, a GoFundMe fundraiser, and a HaloHaloween event at neighboring Skate Time, raised over $30,000. To bring Harana 2.0 to life, they partnered with Ora Ferdman of Accordbased Fora Construction. “Ora, our Earth angel, reached out to us over email and said, ‘Hey, I’m a neighbor and a builder and I want to help you with this project,’” says Tringali. “None of this would have happened without her.”

After almost a decade of working for general contractors on residential and commercial projects—over five years in the area—that have included the Hotel Kinsley and Lola in Kingston, Ferdman, a designer and third-generation builder, opened her own firm last year to focus on building

trans, queer, POC, and women-run community spaces in the Hudson Valley.

Inspired by photographs from Mauricio and Tringali’s visits to the Philippines, Ferdman worked closely with the couple to design a space that felt like home and honored the heritage of Harana’s lutong bahay (homestyle) Filipino food.

Next to the front door, Ferdman hand-painted the Tagalog words “Kain Tayo” (“Let’s Eat”) in bright turquoise, a color that is carried throughout the dining space and the custom banquet that runs along the back wall and in the lacquered countertop of the DJ booth, which fills the space with music, in a nod to Harana’s namesake.

In addition to the banquet, two-top tables that Ferdman’s team fabricated from salvaged wood provide seating for almost 30 inside, and there are a handful of picnic tables in the large front yard for when the weather is nice. In the coming months, Ferdman will also be hand-painting murals in the interior, and working with Mauricio and Tringali to build-out the property’s 1,000-square-foot outbuilding for Harana’s community events. “This project has been so collaborative,” Ferdman says.

“It really felt like we were supporting each other throughout the process.”

Clockwise from top left: Fried chicken (served on a bed of Bjorn Qorn popcorn with Thai chili honey, atchara (pickled papaya), ensaladang talong (roasted eggplant salad), baby bok choy with fermented black soy beans and jasmine rice.

Mung bean stew in coconut milk with calabaza squash, Thai chili, and spinach, served with jasmine rice.

Tortang talong, fire-roasted eggplant omelet with ground pork, garlic, onion, tomato, cilantro, scallions with a drizzle of Jufran banana ketchup.

Longsilog, sweet-garlicky skinless pork sausage served with garlic fried rice, a fried egg, sliced cucumber, tomato, atchara and house sawsawan (spicy garlic vinegar).

2/24 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 11

Harana has indoor seating for 30, expanded shelf space for a selection of Asian pantry items and indigenous housewares and imported foods from independent makers and vendors, and a DJ booth.

Menu Mainstays Hold Strong Inspired by generations-old family recipes, Mauricio’s hand-rolled lumpia, impossibly crispy patis citrus fried chicken, garlicky arroz caldo, and fiery tofu sisig put Harana Market on the map as a food destination quickly, earning accolades from the New York Times as a must-visit new restaurant in the Catskills.

At the new location, Mauricio and their team will continue to offer all of Harana’s classic, seasonally rotating dishes, as well as a few new menu items including a $7 silog rice bowl and the option to make rice plate entrees family style and receive a larger portion with no rice. BYOB is also welcome, and there is now more shelf space for their selection of Asian pantry items such as gochujang, fish sauce, dried and frozen noodles, and sweet treats, as well as indigenous housewares and imported foods from independent makers and vendors.

“That’s part of the magic for me when I go to work every day,” says Mauricio. “We’re not only creating space but access to ingredients that make people feel closer to home.”

Running a Mission-Driven Business From day one of their Wittenberg location opening, the couple has imbued their business with a “rising tides lift all boats” ethos, focusing on fostering a supportive, inclusive environment that creates positive impact for their team, customers, and their community.

Longtime Harana customers may notice the prices have increased on each menu item by a few dollars, an intentional move to a gratuity-included system that helps provide Harana staff with a living wage. Their food equity programs, which include a pay-it-forward gift wall that invites visitors to give or take prepaid meal vouchers, and a “Chosen Family” meal program where every Sunday LGBTQIA+ people eat free, will also continue at the new location, in addition to a slate of new events and programming.

“Being mission-driven and family-owned gives us an opportunity to directly contribute to the type of world we want to live in,” Tringali says.

“We get to choose what our priorities are and make business decisions in support of that.”

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Harana Market 5125 Route 209, Accord Thursday-Sunday, 11:30am-6:30pm Haranamarket.com

sips & bites Misto

7466 S Broadway, Red Hook Wilson and Nadia Costa, owners of Misto, have received accolades in the Hudson Valley for their popup and catering businesses. The Brazilian-Ukrainian husband-andwife duo have taken the natural next step, opening a cafe and market on Broadway in Red Hook. Bringing to bear the foodways of their respective cultures with hyperlocal ingredients, Misto is beloved for its inventive yet accessible, affordable, and hearty food. The cafe serves up sandwiches, salads, and hot menu items like housemade calabrese sausage and vegan chickpea curry, plus a rotating list of daily specials, which can range from braised beef shank to creamy polenta.

Misto-eats.com

Bar Brava

96 Broadway, Newburgh Under owner Philippe Pierre and chef Mike McCree, the spot at the corner of Liberty and Broadway in Newburgh once occupied by Mama Roux is now Bar Brava. With tapas, curated wine, cocktails, and live music, the new restaurant seeks to bring a taste of modern Spain to Newburgh with a small-plates approach that allows you to pick your own price point. There’s no mold-breaking here: Expect classic tapas like albondigas (meatballs, $12), camarones al ajillo (garlic shrimp), croquetas de jamon (ham croquettes, $14), and pulpo a la parilla (grilled octopus, $16). Filling entrees include paella ($32/$38) and pan-roasted branzino ($33). Wash it all down with a sherry, vermouth, or a glass of Spanish wine.

Bar-brava.com

Mel the Bakery

324 Warren Street, Hudson Mid-pandemic, acclaimed baker Nora Allen launched Mel the Bakery on the Lower East Side.

The accolades racked up quickly, but when the building went up for sale, Allen decided to move Mel upstate. Opened in December in the former Breadfolks space in Hudson, Mel dolls out artisanal bread and gleaming pastries made with freshly milled flour and heirloom grains.

Plans to unroll a full menu are in the works, but for now choose from loaves like olive sunflower ($12) and Danish rugbrod ($14). Pastries

HUDSON ROASTERY COFFEE BAR & CAFÉ include their lauded sourdough chocolate croissant ($5.75) and French favorite kouign-amann ($6) a caramelized pastry that’s both crispy and fluffy. Savory ham and cheese croissants are an irresistible savory option ($6.50).

Melthebakery.com

Serving handcrafted beverages from our own roasted coffee along with a chef inspired menu

Spettro

44 Lagrange Avenue, Poughkeepsie With a gleaming, tiled interior (including the impressive pizza oven), Spettro brings the concept of Italian gastropub to Poughkeepsie with Sunday brunch, lunch, and dinner. Mid-day options range from sandwiches like the PLT (p for pancetta, $17) to panzanella salad, pizzas, and, for starters, tasty morsels like shrimp in white wine sauce ($18) and grape and ricotta crostini ($16). Dinner is a hefty affair with mains ranging from scallops to pork chop and steak frites ($35-$37).

The oven pumps out panouzzos (i.e. pizza sandwich) and mouthwatering pies like the Santa Rosalia with tomato cream, Calabrian chili oil, Sicilian oregano, stracciatella, basil, and EVOO ($19). A few pizzas, like the Florina, topped with hot Italian sausage, roasted fennel, fior di latte, San Marzano tomatoes, and parmesan, come with sesame seed crust ($20).

Spettropk.com

Open 7 Days a Week Weekdays 7am−3pm, Weekends 7am−5pm 4 Park Place, Hudson, NY • 518-821-6634 • hudsonroastery.com

Mirador

636 Broadway, Kingston Where Lunch Nightly once created a gravitational center for Kingston’s hip and artistic, serving natural wine and inventive small plates in a punk-chic, red-tinged interior, you’ll now find a portal to Southern Spain. Musician cum restaurateur Nick Africano fell in love with Andalusia years ago, and since has done his part to bring the culture and libations of the region stateside with his bottling project En Rama Sherry Co. and the accompanying Enramistas Sherry Club. With Mirador, he recreates the Spanish taberna dishing up Andalusian tapas alongside imported sherries ranging from Fino to Manzanilla, wines, and conservas on Broadway. The cafe is open for lunch and dinner, with options like Spanish tortilla served with smoked mussels and tart apple ($15), plates of acorn-fed Iberian ham ($16), and patatas bravas ($10).

Miradorkingston.com

The best spot in town for healthy & fresh.

Your co-op. Your community.

Your favorites. Your food. www.berkshire.coop (413) 528-9697 34 Bridge Street, Great Barrington, MA

@berkshirecoop

2/24 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 13

the house

Chicken A Math A designer and a producer learn to love country life in Freehold

By Mary Angeles Armstrong Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine

14 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 2/24

t first, David Krause and Ayan Chatterjee planned to rent. “Ayan wanted chickens, but I didn’t, explains Krause. “There are companies that will rent the birds and coops for six months, which seemed like a good compromise.” The couple had moved into their Colonial-style farmhouse in 2019, originally intending it to be a weekend escape. At the beginning of 2020, they were still getting a feel for country life when Krause heard rumblings of the coming pandemic. “I’d been working with manufacturers in China who were telling me how serious Covid-19 was,” says Krause. Early that winter they decided to make the twostory farmhouse their full-time home, letting go of their city apartment and decamping to the Catskills.

Still, Krause resisted. “I didn’t even want a dog,” admits the designer and one of the founders of the skincare line Alder New York. But Chatterjee, a producer at MSNBC, remained fowl-curious. It seemed their rambling 1850 home was calling out for some kind of husbandry. Once the center of a 90-acre chinchilla farm, the farmhouse with ornate flourishes and a wraparound porch sat on a two-acre hill overlooking the Greene County hamlet of Freehold.

There was plenty of room for a coop, as well as gardens where Krause could grow ingredients to develop new skin care products.

David Krause with his flock of chickens.

Krause and his husband, Ayan Chatterjee, started out with two chickens during the pandemic lockdown. Now 29 birds strong, their flock includes Maranes, all black Australorps, Easter Eggers, Ameraucanas, Welsummers, Wyandottes and Bielefelders. “Friends often mention that I’ve never seemed happier,” says Krause. “I can attest that I haven’t.”

Opposite: Chatterjee and Krause on the front porch of their 1850 Colonial-style farmhouse. The four-bedroom farmhouse required extensive renovation. With the help of local contractor Bob Briski, they carefully updated the home for modern life. “We wanted the house to feel timeless,” says Krause. After revamping the home’s siding with the help of a local wood mill, they chose All White for the home’s exterior and Strong White for the shutters, both by Farrow and Ball.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 15

Krause’s final relenting was really a form of acceptance.

“I realized that we’d be staying upstate for more than a few months,” he says. However, when they went to rent chickens there was already a three-year waiting list. “So I agreed to get two birds,” he says. “It was a way to accept the change in our lives and also, I tricked him a bit,” says Krause of Chatterjee, who was still taking the lockdown a bit more casually. After one winter protecting their tiny flock from raptors, they decided to get a rooster. “Then we realized there are chickens that lay different-color eggs,” says Chatterjee. Those two chickens became three and then quickly became four. Now, 27 chickens, three coops, two vegetable gardens, and one dog (an Italian Greyhound named Levi) later, the couple has completely embraced country life. “It’s called chicken math,” explains Krause. “You start with two but they just keep multiplying. With chickens, two plus two equals 40.”

Scratch Pad Although it needed extensive renovation, Krause and Chatterjee were smitten with their 2,300-square-foot farmhouse from the start. “It was basically a big square box covered with aluminum siding and topped by a leaky roof,” says Krause. “But I loved its stateliness.” The home’s exterior 16 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 2/24

oozed period charm with decorative shutters and a carved roof soffit. Scrolled corbels edged the porch roof and the carved center door was flanked by rows of double-hung, paned windows.

The four-bedroom, two-bath interior also showed plenty of promise. Downstairs, a sitting room flowed easily through a central entrance hall into a formal dining room and then into a giant farmhouse kitchen. There was even a threeseason porch in back. Upstairs, the four bedrooms enjoyed abundant views of the Catskills. “The interior flow felt so modern for being so old,” says Krause. “It also had so many original features, like moldings and wood floors—that’s history that can’t be replicated.”

Re-Nesting The couple approached the extensive remodeling project with reverence for the home’s history. “We wanted to make it comfortable but not really change the aesthetic,” says Krause.

While the home officially dates from 1850, the couple believes it could be older. “From our research we think it was built by the Hoose family slightly before 1850, which is when the records started,” says Chatterjee.

They began by removing the aluminum siding to reveal

Inside, Krause put his background in design and love of decorating to work. “I enjoy combining contemporary modern style with the warmth of antiques,” says Kraus. In the living room, Kraus made a custom slipcover for the Hay sofa and matched it with a leather sling chair and ottoman. Vintage decor—and Levi, their Greyhound—add variety to the mix.

WOODSTOCK. 2 homes in the heart of the village on 12+ private acres. The property is bordered by both the Sawkill Stream & 90+ acre preserved land of the Comeau property. The main home, once owned by the founder of the 1969 Woodstock Festival Michael Lang, has been thoughtfully expanded & features a spacious open-concept kitchen, a great room, & primary bed w/a new en-suite ba & a fieldstone fireplace on the main lvl. Upstairs are 3 more bds & 2ba, 1 en-suite. The 2ba guest house has a flexible layout w/a large sauna. Whether you seek a serene nature retreat, a piece of local history, or simply a spacious & comfortable home, this village estate is "a million miles away," & embodies all of Woodstock's charm & allure. $2,650,000. Associate R.E. Broker, Laurie Ylvisaker 845-901-6129 (cell)

RHINEBECK. This peaceful Hudson Valley ranch feels like a country cottage & is just mins from the Rhinebeck Village. Set back on a lovely, treed lot there are two beds, 1 ba, an office & a garage for storage or hobbies.

Mins from serene parks, charming shops, schools & restaurants. $419,000. The Angela Lanuto Team 845-658-0536 (cell)

SAUGERTIES Live, work, and play at Justin Love's Loveland Studios. Set between Woodstock and Saugerties, this captivating mixed-use property offers nearly 10,000 square feet of versatile space anchored by a converted 1800s church and an income farmhouse and accessorized with a saline pool. $1,649,000. R.E. Salesperson Henry T. Ford - 917-921-0122 (cell)

WAWARSING. Less than two hours from New York City, South Hill is a new community of modern, architectdesigned homes set on the South Hill Ridge, immersed in the landscape of the Catskills and Shawangunk Mountains - rich in history, culture, and nature. Sited on high in southern Ulster County the rustic-modern homes at South Hill share a 30-acre community meadow, a community barn, and dramatic views of the Rondout Reservoir, the Catskill Mountains, and the Shawangunk Mountains. Choose from three designs: The Hudson, The Windham, & The Woodland with natural finishes like Shu Sugi Ban or red cedar siding, vaulted millwork ceilings, millwork walls, and options for a pool, decks, guest house, & sauna. $1,289,750 $1,917,250. R.E. Salesperson, Antonio Parrotta 917-575-0725 (cell)

VILLAGEGREENREALTY.COM 845-253-4040

Quintessential Mortgage Group, LLC is a Licensed Mortgage Lender, Connecticut Department of Banking, ML 979266; Licensed Mortgage Lender, Florida Office of Financial Regulation, MLD2147; Licensed 1st Mortgage Lender/Broker, Michigan Department of Insurance and Finance, FL0023993; Licensed Mortgage Broker, New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance; Registered Mortgage Broker, New York State Department of Financial Services, A007447, Loans Arranged Through Third Parties; Licensed Mortgage Broker, Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities, 76288. Quintessential Mortgage Group’s NMLS Number is 979266 – Verify our Licenses at WWW.NMLSCONSUMERACCESS.ORG. ©2023 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker® and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each office is independently owned and operated. We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, & familial 2/24 because CHRONOGRAM HOME GARDEN status, or national origin. Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty's corporate office is located at 268 Fair Street, Kingston, NY 12401.

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18 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 2/24

The couple gutted the home’s kitchen, then added a mix of modern appliances topped with sleek quartzite counters and a backsplash.

Framed oil paintings, vintage candlesticks, family heirlooms, and photos add an antique twist to the modern design.

“I have a particular affinity for early American and primitive furniture and art,” says Krause. “Especially when it complements sleek, minimal spaces. “

older wood siding, and beneath that the original hardscrabble exterior. “Underneath the wood, the original exterior was just stones and rocks, kind of mushed together and then carved into the shape of blocks to make it look like a big stone house,” says Krause. “It was trying to be grand but was really a humble farmhouse.”

Working with local contractor Bob Briski, they decided to repair and replace the aging wood siding, then revamped the original shutters and porch. “It took years of work and was extremely collaborative. Bob became like family to us,” says Krause. “If it wasn’t for Bob, I don’t think we would have made it—he became our ‘upstate dad.’”

Under Briski’s guidance, they added a new standing seam metal roof, then painted the exterior a combination of white and gray to reflect the sun’s rays in the summer and keep the home’s interior cool. While reviving the roof, Briski suggested they upgrade the three-season porch into a year-round room. They went for it— insulating the room and adding a wood-burning stove.

Rustic Contemporary Inside, the couple balanced preserving the home’s historic details with the need to update the spaces for modern life.

They had no hesitation, however, with gutting the farmhouse kitchen to create an ample, serene space that mixes clean

contemporary styling with antique touches. “I don’t like it when someone has an old house and they try to make an old kitchen to match,” says Krause. “The design isn’t fooling anyone into thinking that it’s the original kitchen.”

After removing a dropped ceiling, they discovered wood beams still lined with bark in places and decided to leave them exposed in the kitchen’s final design. After adding a suite of stainless steel appliances and a range hood along the home’s back wall, they installed gray quartzite counters and a backsplash. A hotel concierge desk gleaned from an antique warehouse in Hudson serves as a giant kitchen island in the middle of the room and a panel front refrigerator blends with the wood cabinetry. Krause added oil paintings along the counter edges to give the design an eclectic, elegant twist.

Downstairs, the couple transformed an outdated laundry into a contemporary bathroom where comfort intermingles with style. “It felt like such a waste of space,” says Chatterjee of the kitchen adjacent room. “There was only a small bathroom upstairs, so we decided to create one giant bathroom.” They added a double shower with glass doors along the back wall and then finished the entire space floor to ceiling with subway tiles. Radiant heat keeps the room toasty and black fixtures enhance the clean, minimalist aesthetic.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 19

Beauty Standards for Chickens As their renovation—and the pandemic lockdown— progressed, Krause and Chatterjee were learning to love their avian companions. “Every morning we’d take the chickens out of their coops and watch while they would range free on the lawn,” says Chatterjee.

“They all have personalities—there’s the brave one, the skittish one, and the one who always bullies the others. It’s very meditative to watch.” They began to see the world through their birds’ eyes. “People are a lot like chickens, I’ve learned,” says Krause.

The couple added to the flock with a mix of hatted and bearded breeds. After a while, Krause began to notice the dominance of the hatted chickens. They were pulling out the beards of the bearded chickens.

“And the bearded chickens just let them,” says Krause.

“The flock created a whole beauty standard around the dominant breed. “At first, the addition of a few all-black mystical Cemeni Indonesian chickens, which are believed to communicate with the dead, added some mystery to the brood. “Although, I don’t think chickens would be great communicators,” says Krause on further observation.

Inspired by his time upstate, Krause’s business has been growing just like his flock. Expanding on his skincare line, Krause plans to open his latest venture, Welsummer, as a storefront in the area this year.

“It will offer antique and vintage furniture, fresh cut flowers, plants, and other home goods,” he says.

“We’ve really fallen in love with living up here, and we really, really fell in love with chickens.” However, 29 chickens, three coops, two vegetable gardens, and one dog is enough. “I draw the line at goats.”

Top: In a guest room, the couple painted one wall black to visually act as a headboard. An antique print, sourced locally, hangs over the bed and is matched by contemporary wall sconces by Kelly Wearstler.

Middle: The couple decorated the second-floor landing with a mix of beloved artworks. A painting of Chatterjee commissioned for his birthday is alongside photos by Krause’s uncle and a large modernist painting by his business partner, Nina Zika.

Bottom: Surrounded by a mix of farms and woodland, the two-acre property felt overly spacious when Kraus and Chatterjee moved in. However, they’ve since grown into a small farm. “After adding a pool, cut flower and vegetable gardens, and three chicken coops, I find myself wishing for more acres,” says Krause. Still, he’s not leaving. “Living here has ruined vacations for me,” he says. “Even if somewhere is nice, it’s never as nice as being at home. “ 20 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 2/24

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2/24 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 21

SPONSORED

Summer Camps & Programs Well before the daffodils bloom in our gardens each spring, there’s already one item on parents’ minds: A summer camp or program that will help their little buds flourish, too. Luckily, the Hudson Valley is ripe with opportunities for exploration, imagination, and cultural enrichment for teens, tweens, and kids as young as age three. From nature-based programs to creative workshops for burgeoning artists, here are a few wonderful programs to spark your search.

Hawk Meadow Montessori School

Wild Earth

LaGrange, NY (845) 214-0260 Hawkmeadowmontessori.com/program-highlights/summer-program

High Falls, NY (845) 256-9830 Wildearth.org

Hawk Meadow Montessori School’s seven-week summer program takes place on their beautiful six-acre campus, featuring a large natural playscape, gaga ball, basketball, ping pong, a zipline, gardens, and a greenhouse. Under the guidance of Montessoritrained staff, students will explore art, cooking, water play, science, gardening, games, and mindfulness, with lots of outdoor time. This program is open to students ages 3-12 from June 17–August 2, 2024.

Half or full-day spots are available.

Ashokan Center Olivebridge, NY (845) 657-8333 Ashokan.org

Come sing, dance, and jam with newfound friends in a serene natural setting. Camps for all ages begin in May and include: Acoustic Guitar, Bluegrass, Family Camp, Banjo Weekend, Scottish String Fling, Ariles Son Jarocho, Uke Fest, Old Time Rollick, Northern, Southern, Western, and Swing.

Pricing includes on-site camping and delicious meals. Private rooms/ bunks are available.

22 SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS CHRONOGRAM 2/24

At Wild Earth, all of the senses are engaged as campers meet plants and animals, learn wilderness skills, create natural crafts, and build deep connections with friends and inspiring adult and teen mentors. Guided by patterns observed in nature, each day begins by gathering in the woods through expressing gratitude and finding new ways to play. They form smaller groups and set up camp in the forest by building fire pits and shelters. Instructors tailor activities to the interests of the campers, fostering curiosity and guiding learning through skillful questions, opportunities for appropriate risk-taking, and empowering challenges.

Berkshire South’s Action Adventures Day Camp Great Barrington, MA (413) 528-2810 ext. 34 Berkshiresouth.org/aadc

Action Adventures Day Camp is packed with play and exploration!

Campers will perform STEM experiments, build castles, make healthy snacks, craft, and play games.

We’ll also go on fun field trips.

Campers have access to our onsite amenities including playgrounds, fields, trails, and pools. Open to children ages 5–14, from June 24–August 22.

SPO NSO RED

Arts Camp @ RoCA

West Nyack, NY (845) 358-0877 Rocklandartcenter.org

A place for young artists to explore creativity on spacious grounds and in professionally equipped studios. A large sparkling pool and open field provide plenty of healthy outdoor recreation. Campers learn to express themselves through the visual and performing arts. 4 two-week sessions: July 1-August 23, 2024 with a 3 or 5-day-a-week option.

Saturday Open Houses: March 16, April 13, or May 11: 2-5pm.

Panorama Summer Art + Nature Program at Olana State Historic Site Hudson, NY (518) 567-2170 Olana.org/panorama

Dive into Frederic Church’s Olana this summer! Back for its 15th annual season, The Olana Partnership will offer four weeks of hands-on exploration for children ages 6-11 from July to August at Olana State Historic Site. Experience art, science, and nature through sketching, lake exploration, hiking, painting, play, and more, all while meeting new friends and learning from the experts. The whole summer focuses on art and nature with special guest visits and activities each week. You don’t want to miss this unforgettable summer adventure! The program runs Monday-Friday, 9am–3pm.

Early bird registration is available through February 29. Scholarships are available by emailing education@olana.org.

Hudson River Maritime Museum 50 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY (845) 338-0071 Hrmm.org

Every summer, the Hudson River Maritime Museum offers kids and teens a chance to experience the magic and history of the Hudson Valley’s rich sailing traditions. The museum, located on the banks of the Rondout Creek in Kingston’s historic waterfront district, hosts immersive multiday programs that teach practical skills in sailing and woodworking that build self-confidence and forge new friendships.

Little kids will have a blast out on the water in the Parent-Child Sailing Class (ages 5-9) or Introduction to Youth Sailing (ages 7-9), which teach the basics of sailing in a nurturing, fun environment over the course of three days.

For tweens and teens ready to become self-sufficient sailors, the oneweek Youth Sailing Program (ages 10-17) dives deep into developing skills on a variety of boats, from eight-foot training dinghies to racing boats and more. The four-day Building and Sailing Boats course offers a well-rounded blend of STEM-focused skills and activities that provide an introduction to woodworking, boatbuilding, and sailing. A limited number of spaces are reserved in each sailing class for scholarship recipients.

A week-long Youth Woodworking class (ages 10-16) draws on the traditions of wooden boat-building to provide an introduction to the craft of carpentry. Participants will learn everything from shop safety to joinery to tool use and care, and complete their own project to take home.

This year also welcomes the first-ever Soapbox Derby class, a group-build course where students work together to create a non-motorized kinetic sculpture for the annual Kingston Artists’ Soapbox Scan to learn more Derby in August.

Produced by Chronogram Media Branded Content Studio.

about summer programs at Hudson River Maritime Museum

2/24 CHRONOGRAM SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS 23

S PONSORED

FUDR Bill Canfield Fly Fishing Camp

Forman School

Hancock, NY (973) 454-0315 Fudrcanfieldcamp.com

Litchfield, CT (860) 567-1802 Formanschool.org/summer

The premier coed fly fishing camp for kids 12-17 on pristine Catskill trout waters. A week-long sleep-away experience that inspires a lifelong passion for fly fishing and a commitment to conservation while nurturing personal growth and confidence. Working one-on-one with expert guides, campers learn to cast, tie flies, catch and release fish, and basic entomology and river ecology. Many fun activities away from the water. Top-notch facilities at ACA-accredited French Woods Center. First-timers get a free Orvis rod/reel. Scholarship support available. Two sessions, in June and August.

The Forman Summer Program, a fun coed boarding and day camp, takes place on the Forman School campus during the month of July. The program is a dynamic balance of academics and recreation for students entering grades 7-11 who learn differently. Under the guidance of expert faculty and staff, students discover their unique learning styles while being inspired, challenged, and empowered. They develop effective and tactical classroom and study strategies, learn self-advocacy, and gain lasting confidence in their abilities.

The Art Effect Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 471-7477 Thearteffect.org

The Art Effect’s summer art camps and classes allow young artists to explore fine art, digital media art, and performing arts while strengthening their self-confidence, creative thinking, and art-making techniques. Professional artists and experienced teachers lead youth ages 5-19 to imagine, discover, create, and have fun this summer.

Register today!

Hudson Valley Writing Project Hawthorne Valley Farm Camp Ghent, NY (518) 672-4465 ext. 203 Hawthornevalleysummercamp.org

Embark on an extraordinary journey with Hawthorne Valley Farm Camp, where children aged 8-16 are invited to embrace an unplugged adventure. This isn’t just a camp; it’s a gateway to a profound connection with the natural world. Delve into the art of caring for animals and nurturing the earth, forging memories that will last a lifetime. In a society where understanding the origins of our food is a rare luxury, this camp provides an immersive experience of the journey from farm to table. Its transformative power goes beyond education, fostering independence, self-confidence, and a deep well of compassion, shaping a holistic awareness that will last a lifetime.

24 SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS CHRONOGRAM 2/24

New Paltz, NY (845) 257-2836 Newpaltz.edu/hvwp/summercamps

HVWP Young Writers Programs bring children and teens together to find their voices, share their ideas, and discover the joy of writing.

Experienced teachers create inspiring and supportive settings for students to write and explore their interests—art, nature, fantasy, activism, podcasting, and more!

Tuition assistance is available.

SPON SOR ED

Berkshire Art Center Stockbridge, MA (413) 298-5252 Berkshireartcenter.org

Be inspired to make art all summer long! Join Berkshire Art Center for an exciting summer season of fun and creative art-making camps led by local artists for children ages 4-14 years old. Register for one or more weeks of camp by visiting the website.

The Rowe Center Rowe, MA (413) 339-4954 Rowecenter.org

Mountain Laurel Waldorf School

Join us for our 100th year of summer camp in the Pioneer Valley of Western Mass! Welcoming young minds aged 8 to graduating seniors who are fun-seeking creatives and change-makers desiring a more inclusive world.

Explore 40 acres by Pelham Lake, live Unitarian Universalist values, and be part of a transformative summer adventure.

Conveniently located in the heart of New Paltz, Summer Days at Mountain Laurel offer an enriching and nurturing Waldorfinspired environment for children ages 3–11. Both residents and summer visitors to the Hudson Valley are welcome. Enthusiastic and experienced instructors bring wonder and adventure through outdoor play, crafts, song, games, storytelling, and building projects using natural materials. Rhythm and reverence will follow your child throughout the day. Weekly and daily rates available June 24–August 23. Monday–Friday. 9am–3pm. Sibling discounts available. Early registration ends March 1st.

New Paltz, NY (845) 255-0033 Mountainlaurel.org/summer

Wheelhouse Creative Education Center Acra, NY (518) 943-4649 Catskillwheelhouse.org

Camp at Wheelhouse Creative Education Center is all about curiosity, creativity, and quirkiness.

Days are filled by exploring the land, then transforming these experiences into creative expression through visual art, performance, and conversation. Weekly themes serve as invitations to explore new topics, which evolve in myriad ways through children’s contributions.

Seed Song Farm and Nature Camp Kingston, NY (845) 383-1528 Seedsongfarm.org

Seed Song Farm Camp unfolds children’s innate curiosity about farm and nature, which inspire exciting weekly themes. Activities evolve around each camper’s learning style and enthusiasm as they explore farm and forest, care for plants and animals, practice traditional skills, make music, arts and crafts. Ages 4-16. Financial assistance available.

Curiosity Camp at Simon’s Rock Great Barrington, MA Simons-rock.edu/curiositycamp

Curiosity Camp at Simon’s Rock is open to inquisitive and motivated students interested in exploring their academic and creative interests in a college environment while they are currently completing grades 9, 10, or 11. Students participate daily in Simon’s Rock’s signature Writing and Thinking Workshop along with a Seminar, and arts and science courses to experience diverse and exciting academic offerings.

The program’s cohort of 30 students allows for small class sizes where students and professors can collaborate and engage in dynamic discourse in this academic summer camp. Students live on campus in the college’s residence halls.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM SUMMER CAMPS & PROGRAMS 25

health & wellness

The Art of Connection SEVEN COMPONENTS OF HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

By Jaime Stathis

F

rom the moment we’re born, we’re learning to be in relationships with others. We start with our parents and siblings, followed by classmates, teammates, coworkers, and romantic partnerships. Along the way, we meet our best friends, a few lovers, maybe someone who becomes a spouse. Some of these relationships only survive for a reason or a season, while others go the distance and last a lifetime.

The closer you are to someone, the more navigation that’s required to have a healthy relationship. Some people go all in on making relationships work—assuming things like trust and honesty—while others are more hesitant and hold people at arm’s length while sussing them out. There’s no one right way to do relationships.

However, we know that our lives are made richer by sharing our experiences with others.

Beyond creating more joy and ease in our lives, healthy relationships have additional benefits, such as boosting our immune systems, reducing depression, and improving sleep.

“Our long-term friendships remind us of who we used to be and how far we’ve come,” says Kara Bucci, LCSW, a therapist with Upstate Therapy in Beacon and Kingston. “Our daily exchanges with colleagues offer us consistent support and make our worklife more meaningful, and our connection in the community fills us with purpose and a sense of belonging,” Bucci says. “It is important to consider how we may use the building blocks of our romantic relationships to create depth in these other areas of life.”

26 HEALTH & WELLNESS CHRONOGRAM 2/24

We asked Bucci and other Hudson Valley therapists for their tips on how to build and sustain healthy relationships.

Respect Humans want to feel respected, heard, and understood just as much as we want to surround ourselves with people we respect. “Respect is a key pillar to happy relationships,” says Sarah Betz, LCSW, founder of Meadow Therapy, with locations in Kingston and Accord. Respect allows for open communication, kindness, care, and affection to grow,” Betz explains. “Some ways to show respect are: be kind in your words and tone of voice, listen deeply without waiting to respond, and create shared meaning and language to help you understand your partner’s point of view.”

None of these tips for healthy relationships exist in isolation, and most build on each other.

“Respect provides the motivation to be honest and to trust,” John Metzger, LCSW, MA, MFA, New Era Therapeutics in Hudson.

Trust Some people lead with trust, but for others, it has to be earned. Trust is a critical component of a healthy relationship, regardless of how long it takes to get there. “In order to open up the parts of ourselves that are most intimate, we need to trust that the person we are with can receive us, without judgment or critique,” explains Roni Schnadow, LMFT, a counselor for all stages of life in Rhinebeck.

“When we feel heard, accepted, and celebrated, we then feel it is safe to lower our guard and share more of our true selves,” Schnadow says. “The opposite happens when we feel judged, criticized, and not listened to—that’s when we become defensive and shut down, and in turn, so does our relationship.”

Honesty Relationships only work if we’re honest with ourselves and others. In healthy relationships, we respect those we’re in partnership with enough to tell our truth and receive theirs. “When you’re honest in a relationship, you present your authentic and genuine self,” explains Sarah Gugluizza, LCSW, founder of Rising Lotus Counseling in Stone Ridge.

“When you’re showing up as your true self, the basis of your relationship is built upon a foundation that has no misconceptions, misthoughts, or judgments,” Gugluizza says.

Clear communication Relationships without clear communication don’t stand a chance. Amanda Forste, LMSW at Meadow Therapy in Kingston, encourages her clients to be mindful of their word choice and to use “I statements” to convey their perspective.

“As we all know, words can have a big impact, but sometimes what has an even bigger impact— especially in relationships—is using no words at all,” Forest says. “When we don’t communicate clearly with our partners, it can create distance and resentment between us.”

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“Don’t forget that fun is one of the most important things in any relationship.”

—Katie Peterson, LCSW

Clear communication is a critical component of all relationships, and these tips for communicating in romantic partnerships also apply to most other relationships, including those with our parents, our children, our employees, and even our neighbors. “Having unspoken expectations or needs that aren’t verbalized sets us up for dissatisfaction,” Forste says.

Active listening In addition to clear communication, active listening is another essential component of healthy relationships. “Active listening allows for the ability not just to hear what someone is saying, but actually to listen and understand what they are saying,” Gugluizza says. When you’re active listening, you’re focusing on your partner’s perspective and what’s important to them instead of just waiting for it to be your turn to talk.

“Active listening means listening to understand rather than just listening to reply,” Metzger says. “If we listen to not just what people are saying but how they are saying it, then we can understand not just their point of view but how their point of view serves them.” Without active listening, there’s a lot of room for distortion and misunderstanding.

Shared interests It’s not realistic to expect your partner (or best friend) to want to do everything you want to do—and healthy relationships also allow for space in the togetherness—but if your partner is

into backpacking and other off-grid adventures and you prefer luxury hotels and get your thrills through securing reservations at the hottest new restaurants, it might be hard to sustain a connection longterm.

“While there doesn’t need to be a 100 percent match, I think there needs to be a general shared direction within the relationship,” says Katie Peterson, LCSW, a Hudson Valley-based therapist who sees clients virtually. “I’ve had couples and individuals say they don’t feel ‘on the same page’, especially when it might come to shared interests and day-to-day tasks,” Peterson says, “But I think it’s more important to ask if you’re in the same chapter, or at least in the same book, as you move forward.”

Willingness to compromise Even two people with all of the above will have to compromise. “Willingness to compromise with your partner shows effort and resilience,” says Courtney Dunn, LCSW at Meadow Therapy.

“Focus on creating a culture of love and respect for one another’s needs, wants, and dreams.”

Dunn warns about competition in relationships and pushing back because you “shouldn’t have to” or simply because you want to win. “Create a culture in your relationship where compromise means loving and respecting your partner enough to meet them halfway, communicating openly and authentically, and caring about their wants and needs,” she says.

“Compromise cannot be forced, and when you’re

unable to compromise, be truthful about what is going on for you.”

Bucci adds that relational compromise is easier said than done. “As someone who preaches this to my patients in therapy, I still find it to be particularly challenging to make compromises when it feels like a contradiction to my need for autonomy,” Bucci says. “Although it may be difficult to accept, compromise is a part of every healthy relationship.”

These seven components for healthy relationships are a great place to start whether you’re searching for a partner or looking to strengthen a current relationship, and these tips will help you navigate all your relationships, not just romantic partnerships. But there’s one major, overarching concept to keep top of mind: fun.

“Being human is hard enough—let alone being a human connected to another complicated human—so don’t forget that fun is one of the most important things in any relationship,” Peterson says. “Our lives and relationships are usually pretty stressful and challenging, so making sure to infuse fun into your relationship is a way to refill your ‘relationship piggy bank.’”

Peterson recommends incorporating elements of play into your relationships, which could look like learning a new sport together, hitting a local hill for some sledding, or playing rock-paperscissors to divide household chores. “Keeping your relationship piggy bank filled with laughter and good times helps a lot when the bank inevitably get depleted by life,” Peterson says.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM HEALTH & WELLNESS 29

weddings

30 WEDDINGS CHRONOGRAM 2/24

weddings

Taking the Plunge Waterside Wedding Spots in the Hudson Valley

By Anne Pyburn Craig Above: Mary Pavlu and Mannis O’Brien’s wedding ceremony at Meadow Ridge on Hudson in Coxsackie on July 10, 2021.

Photo by Brittney Raine Photography Opposite: Ivy and Carmine Harrison had their wedding at Vanderbilt Lakeside in Philmont on November 5, 2022.

Photo by Rachel Koudellou Photo

W

ith its symbolic associations to transformation, rejuvenation, and purification—in addition to our innate attraction to it—it’s not surprising that many couples seek a wedding venue with a water feature. “One of the first things that stands out to me whenever we’re hosting an outdoor wedding is the sense of calm that the presence of the water brings, not to mention it just being a beautiful view,” says Henrietta Paris, coowner of Vanderbilt Lakeside in Philmont. “Your sense of space and openness multiplies with the water’s reflection of the sky and surrounding trees. The water acts as a giant stage for so much wildlife, particularly birds, and it’s not at all uncommon to see herons, ducks, and even a family of bald eagles flying around.

This past spring we even had some swans briefly pass

through, providing a magical, unplanned backdrop for one couple’s ceremony.”

Keep that word “unplanned” in mind as you contemplate a watery wedding. “The only downside to waterfront weddings is that one cannot control public access water,” says Anne D’Elia, wedding planner at Meadow Ridge on Hudson in Coxsackie. “While uncommon, during summer, a boat might pass by during a ceremony. Boats typically go unnoticed at Meadow Ridge because the venue sits on 100 private acres, but venues that do not have a private shoreline have little control. Couples who might be averse to this should definitely look at their venue for the potential of unforeseen disruption, and ask specifically what is private and public access space, particularly where the ceremony is to take place.”

2/24 CHRONOGRAM WEDDINGS 31

Liat and Joey Avital getting hitched at Diamond Mills Hotel in Saugerties on June 27, 2021.

Photo by Delconte Photography

Waterfalls offer a striking setting for a celebration, but you’ll need to make sure key moments don’t get, uh, drowned out. “I always recommend that couples booking entertainment add on an extra microphone so that everyone can hear the officiant and couple during the ceremony,” says Brianne Ebel-Whalen, sales director at Diamond Mills Hotel & Blackbarn, where the patio overlooks the stunning, though sometimes noisy, Cantine Dam Falls.

That said, there’s nothing lovelier and more evocative than light sparkling on water. So here are some top-notch local venues with splendid waterscapes. Most offer in-house catering, all offer expert coordination, and several are places where you and your loved ones can bed down.

City Winery Hudson Valley is a freshly refurbished mill space alongside the Wallkill River in Montgomery. If you love historic brick-andpastoral vistas paired with New York City-level food and service, check out their offerings—their Main Falls Venue can seat 400 in a luxe space with two full service bars, its own stage with state-of-the-art AV setup, and superb river views 32 WEDDINGS CHRONOGRAM 2/24

including the titular falls. As you’d expect, the wine and beverage selection is world class, and founder Michael Dorf takes pride in a “conscious company” that hires inclusively, promotes from within, and shares generously with nonprofits.

Diamond Mills Hotel, on the banks of the Esopus, offers waterfall and waterfront settings and a comprehensive list of vendors to choose from in tailoring your special day. With 30 luxe guest rooms, each with its own waterside balcony, a full-service waterside spa, and a short walk to all the fun of Saugerties village, it’s a perfect setting for your destination weekend of nuptial festivities.

Their Blackbarn Hudson Valley restaurant is the farm-to-table sibling of Blackbarn in Manhattan and holds itself to similar standards.

Foreland Catskill is a lively 85,000-square-foot contemporary arts campus beside the Catskill Creek offering three venue options—the Waterfront, the massive Great Lawn; and the artist-designed Bookhouse—and loft apartment bridal suites. They can handle up to 300 and have two full catering kitchens, state-of-the-art AV

setups, cutting-edge lighting, and fire pits with Adirondack chairs. They’ll gladly arrange a private river cruise for parties staying the weekend.

Hutton Brickyards, yet another beautifully refreshed relic of the region’s industrial history, books full weekend weddings of all sizes, acting as venue and beverage provider and offering a preferred vendor list, though customers are welcome to hire whomever they like. Their waterfront cabins offer complimentary Hudson River sunrises; there’s a stately 1873 mansion and a riverside pavilion, and they’re a stone’s throw from everything Kingston has to offer.

The Hudson House and Distillery, spectacularly sited in a century-old former monastery overlooking the Hudson in Esopus, offers a 4,000-square-foot waterfront deck, indoor event space, and full on-site catering. In the cellar is a functioning craft distillery with a beverage portfolio made with “holy water” from an onsite artesian well; you and your guests will enjoy exploring the historic manor and grounds and sipping the freshest craft cocktails around.

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The Grandview in Poughkeepsie decorates its stunning river vistas with the necklace of the Mid-Hudson Bridge and offers a choice of two ballrooms, indoor and outdoor, for your festivities. Guests are welcome to the comfy riverside cocktail room by a champagne wall and grazing table,—there’s also a private outdoor ceremony space with a pergola, and a wedding cottage where the wedding party can get ready.

Meadow Ridge on Hudson is sited on a historic 19th-century riverside farmstead revamped into a modern luxury estate, offering meadows, woodlands, gardens, and a stone-rimmed pond in Coxsackie. A lovingly refurbished dairy barn offers three levels of space; a clearing among towering oaks and walnuts offers an intimate setting for vows steps from the riverbank. There’s also a spacious patio for outdoor drinks and dancing.

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The Wire Event Center is a newly opened chic remodel of a historic iron foundry accommodating groups from 50 to 500 on the bank of the Hudson in Coxsackie. An open-air glass atrium overlooks the water; there’s a ceremony spot beneath a stately canopy of trees and a grand indoor event space with cutting-edge tech amenities for your dining and partying pleasure. There’s also full service catering and a spa to get you looking and feeling tip-top, and the James Newberry Hotel offers 47 luxurious rooms with locally themed decor.

Vanderbilt Lakeside Bar Room and Guesthouse is a historic house with a secluded feel, overlooking a 20-acre mirror-peaceful lake in the quaint village of Philmont. This was originally a railroad hotel built by fabulously wealthy Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1860, so you know the location is on point; the team who have modernized it added the best modern amenities to the mix, while retaining its formal Victorian elegance.

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community pages

A New Era Poughkeepsie

By Ryan Keegan Photos by David McIntyre

O

n January 2, community members and local leaders gathered at the Poughkeepsie High School to witness a historic moment: the inauguration of Yvonne Flowers as the city’s first Black mayor. The event was filled with celebration. At the start of the ceremony, Talent Davis—of the MASS Design Group—sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (also known as “The Black National Anthem,” written

by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson in 1900). As Flowers took the stage, her entrance was accompanied by “I See a Victory,” a song crafted for the 2016 film Hidden Figures, which portrays three Black women mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Space Race. And surprising everyone was an unexpected visit from New York Attorney General Letitia James, who also made history as the first Black woman elected to her position. James stepped up to the stage to commend Flowers for “shattering a glass ceiling.”

Flowers, a lifelong Poughkeepsie resident and four-term Fifth Ward councilwoman, was a popular candidate in the recent mayoral election. She won every one of the city’s 36 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

eight wards, with approximately 68 percent of the vote. Her inauguration is a particularly meaningful milestone for the community, given that about a third of the city’s 32,000 residents are Black, representing the largest concentration of Black and minority residents in Dutchess County.

“Being a Black mayor shows the kids in our Black and Brown communities that there’s so many different positions and different avenues that they can aspire to, regardless of their background,” says Flowers. “People were literally crying at the oath of office ceremony, because they thought they would never see this. It’s exciting right now. I feel like I have to make sure I work twice as hard because I don’t want to let the people down.”

Housing Affordability and Homelessness One of Flowers’s major goals, along with improving the public safety and the economic development of Main Street, is to deal with Poughkeepsie’s housing affordability crisis.

It’s a problem that Flowers understands well; she and her family lived in Poughkeepsie public housing for 15 years before her parents could afford a home of their own.

Walkway over the Hudson viewed at dusk from Victor C. Waryas Park.

Opposite, above: The Marist lacrosse team practicing on campus.

Below: A pop-up vendor selling flowers and teddy bears on Main Street.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 37

38 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

“People are hurting out here, trying to find affordable housing,” says Flowers. “Right now, a family is living in a hotel because they can’t afford rent. They had to leave their previous place because the landlord increased their rent by about five or six hundred dollars a month. We have a lot of people that are on fixed income, including Social Security, disability, and retirement, and they’re finding it very hard to find an apartment they can afford. That is a big crisis here in the City of Poughkeepsie.”

Housing affordability represents just one facet of the broader challenges confronting Poughkeepsie. The city, with a poverty rate of approximately 18 percent, is also dealing with the related issue of homelessness. A coalition of civic-minded locals—including sculptor Suprina Troche, Equitable Future Inc. CEO Brian Robinson, and Celebrating the African Spirit cofounder Carmen McGill—have united to address this concern. Operating under the name ¡PK Forward!, they have actively engaged in city and county meetings for the past two years, advocating for improvements in how Dutchess County handles homelessness.

They have rallied against the county’s proposals to establish a 120-bed transitional homeless shelter at 26 Oakley Street and a temporary emergency homeless shelter at the old Dutchess County Jail on North Hamilton Street. In March, the county reversed its decision to locate a shelter on Oakley due to cost, and building and zoning issues. However, in August, the county said it was applying for state funding of up to $15 million to move ahead with redevelopment of the location—despite opposition from the stakeholders committee, a group created by the legislature to represent the community during the facility’s development process. ¡PK Forward! argues that Poughkeepsie bears a disproportionate burden of the county’s unhoused. “The city already has 39.5 percent of the homeless beds in the county, but we’re only 10 percent of the population in the county,” says Troche. “Forcing the Fifth Ward to take on two homeless shelters is not conducive to the healing needed for this vulnerable population.”

The group has also raised concerns about the logic behind housing homeless individuals in a jail. “Why would you want to put people in a jail building when they haven’t committed any kind of crime?” questions McGill. “Why subject them to that environment? On top of that, they’re only allocating $750,000 to redesign the place, which isn’t enough. They gave $25 million to rehab the sports stadium, but they can’t put money toward people.” Robinson points out that 92 out of the 100 cells in the jail fail to meet the minimum standards set by New York State law, which requires a minimum of 80 square feet per room for housing the homeless.

Top: Karla Dickerson pouring a margarita at La Cabanita Mexican restaurant on Main Street.

Middle: Giovanni and Roberto Rossi outside the original rosticceria location on Clover Street.

Bottom: Eric DeRise, co-owner of Slate Point Meadery, in the tasting room on Main Street.

Opposite, top: Members of the city's witchcraft community gathered outside the Witchcraft District Bazaar on Mount Carmel Place.

Below: Aga Lorenz and Danny Stokes, who are turning their Potato Bar pop-up concept into a brick-and mortar location, on Main Street.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 39

40 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

Broadly, Robinson criticizes the county for not clearly communicating long-term goals to address homelessness.

He also questions the criteria used to determine shelter locations, arguing that the county lacks clear data to support their choice of multiple sites in Poughkeepsie.

“What is the unemployment rate, bond rating, and fiscal health of the city?” asks Robinson. “What is our crime rate, arrest rate, and gun violence rate? These types of public health concerns need to be considered in the evaluation methods, rather than having a predetermined answer and picking arbitrary criteria to fit that answer.” The group hopes that the county’s plans can shift toward more permanent housing solutions in thoroughly researched locations. They’ve also initiated a petition against the two shelters, with 600 signatures so far.

When asked for a statement on current plans for the sites, Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino offers: “Ten days into the New Year and my new administration, we are in the midst of the necessary conversations, fact-finding, and due diligence review on a variety of projects, including plans for the emergency housing facility, to determine what our next steps will be.”

Empowering Youth In the midst of these challenges, there’s a growing recognition in Poughkeepsie that the city’s youth play a vital role in shaping its future, and various movements are working to foster positive change. In November, the US Department of Education awarded the Poughkeepsie City School District a $2.5 million grant as part of its Full-Service Community Schools program. The money is going to be put toward the district’s five elementary schools for programs like “high-dosage” tutoring, afterschool enrichment, early childhood education, and interventions targeting chronic absenteeism and violence prevention. The Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet, a collective of city youth and officials tasked with guiding local policy, worked closely with the school district to support the grant application.

The Children’s Cabinet also played a crucial role in another development: securing grant funding from the Wallace Foundation for the creation of the Poughkeepsie Board of Artistic Youth (PK BAY). Comprising 12 teenagers from the city, each representing one of four youth nonprofits—the Art Effect, Family Services, Community Matters 2, and the Boys & Girls Club—PK BAY focuses on empowering young people to advocate for art, entrepreneurship, and youth voice to be valued in community leadership.

“What’s most exciting about the work we’re doing is that we’re creating a cradle-to-career support network for young people,” says Art Effect executive director Nicole Fenichel-Hewitt. “Poughkeepsie is small enough that if we make a plan to support all the young people in the city, we can do it.”

Top: One Dutchess, a recently completed luxury development on the Poughkeepsie waterfront just north of the Walkway Over the Hudson.

Middle: Opened in December, the MJM Northside Line is a 1.2-mile urban rail trail connecting Hudson Heritage Plaza in the town of Poughkeepsie to Parker Avenue in the city.

Bottom: A new moon rising over Spretto, Italian gastropub that recently opened on Lagrange Avenue.

Opposite: Yvonne Flowers, who was sworn in on January 2, is Poughkeepsie's first Black mayor.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 41

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therivernewsroom.com PART OF THE

FAMILY

Artist, gallerist, and community activist Suprina Troche in her Conveyor Gallery on Main Street.

In January, PK BAY received proposals from 10 artists to help conceive a public art installation that enables youth and community participation. Once the students choose an artist to collaborate with, they’ll work together to plan the public art throughout winter and fabricate it in spring. The installation will be positioned within the Youth Arts Empowerment Zone, a multi-block area anchored by the Art Effect’s Trolley Barn Gallery on Main Street. “The vision is that, over time, the area around Main Street will be filled with art, transforming into a highly inspiring and uplifting area of the community,” Fenichel-Hewitt says. The art will focus on at least one of the following themes: unity and peace, anti-violence, Poughkeepsie history, or drug abuse prevention.

Looking Ahead For the past few years, Dutchess County has been developing plans to construct a multi-use facility on the site of the former Poughkeepsie YMCA. The project, named the Youth Opportunity Union (YOU), aims to provide recreational, educational, and health opportunities for young people. The facility is planned to include a family pool, a gym, an early learning center, a fitness center, and a smart lab. But although the YOU has secured $25 million from the county, it still needs to raise $40 to $50 million before the project can come to fruition.

While the YOU remains a work in progress, residents can celebrate one county initiative that has been completed: the MJM Northside Line (named for former county executive Rep. Marc Molinaro). In December, this 1.2-mile urban rail trail officially opened for yearround use. It connects the Hudson Heritage Plaza in the town of Poughkeepsie to Parker Avenue in the city and has amenities like secure bike parking, bench seating, and bike-repair stations. Seth McKee, executive director of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust, notes that the trail is “an important link for the city’s northside neighborhoods and communities of color, where many households face economic challenges and do not have access to a household vehicle.” Additional finishing touches, like signage and safety railings, are anticipated to be complete by spring, and future phases may extend the trail to Marist College.

With changes underway and more on the horizon, Mayor Flowers hopes the spirit of activism will help move things in the right direction. “I think what makes Poughkeepsie special is its people and the diversity of its people,” says Flowers. “I love the fact that so many people want to get involved and see Poughkeepsie thrive and flourish. We all see the challenges that are out here. Everyone’s trying to figure out, ‘What can I do to help?’”

2/24 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 43

The weather was straight out of a Winnie the Pooh novel at our Poughkeepsie popup portrait shoot on January 13: blustery, wet, and chilly. Thanks to all who braved the elements to join us at the Trolley Barn to represent the city. A tip of the hat to John Penney and the mayor’s office for helping to spread the word. Big love to Jaime Ransom and the Art Effect for hosting us at the Trolley Barn. And the sandwiches from Rossi’s were incredible, as always.

Sharon Mathison, cosmetologist.

Opposite: The members of the Poughkeepsie Board of Artistic Youth, top row: Aaliyah Elting, Micah Jumpp, Avi Reeves, Peter Sealy, Andrea Martinez Lopez, Xay’vion White, Edwin Gomez-Perez; bottom row: Phyenix YoungWhite, Jazylo Alexis-Taylor.

Join us for the February issue launch party on February 8 at 1915 Wine Cellar from 5 to 7pm.

We have a special treat planned: Kathyrn Andren, the Love Astrologer, will be on hand to offer free tarot readings.

44 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

community pages

Poughkeepsie Pop-Up Portraits by David McIntyre 2/24 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 45

Top row: Ondie James, Fifth Ward Councilwoman; Barbara Todd, Sustainable Hudson Valley program coordinator; Brett Miller, guitarist and instructor at Metal Guitar Academy; Carrie Decker, Crazy Over Art on Tour; Bottom row: Daniel Beckel, Just Lit!; Elinor Levy, folklorist and Folk Arts program manager at Arts Mid-Hudson; Ellin Kristofik, artist, and Jeff Johnson, artist, woodworker, teacher; Ericka Von Salews, Vassar-Warner Home executive director.

46 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

Top row: Filomena Fanelli, CEO/founder Impact PR & Communications; Franc Palaia, artist, musician, curator; Jaime Ransome, The Art Effect; J Marado, musician.

Bottom row: Jean Hinkley, associate director, Community-Engaged Learning, Vassar College and Mark Cotten, computer hardware design engineer; Jeffrey Aman, City of Poughkeepsie Public Arts Commission; Jillian Grano and Chris Wilmoth, Canvas and Clothier; Jocelyn Zimmer, Zimmer Brothers Jewelers president.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 47

Top row: Joe Troche, CPA and Suprina Troche, artist and Conveyor Gallery owner; Jules Smith, student and Dungeons and Dragons master; Julia Drahos, Miss Fanny’s Victorian Party House; Kathryn Andren, The Love Astrologer, founder Heaven and Earth Healing.

Bottom row: Lala Montoya Heredia, language justice, artivist, and youth coordinator at Poughkeepsie Farm Project; Larissa Pitcher Alvarado, artist and herbalist at Poughkeepsie Farm Project; Lisa R. Kaul, County Legislator, District 6; Lou Patrou, artist.

48 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

Top row: Stephanie JT Russell, Dutchess County Poet Laureate; Marisa Fischer, IT specialist Hyde Park Central School District; Rebecca Edwards, Town of Poughkeepsie Supervisor; Luis Nobondo, Hudson River Housing care manager and Samuel Nobondo, student/Art Effect camp counselor.

Bottom row: Judy Green, artist and Marta Knapp, musician; Micah Jumpp, Poughkeepsie Board of Artistic Youth administrator; Nikki Hung, artist and gallery director at WomensWork.art.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 49

Top row: Paola Bari and Mary Ann Glass, Gallery 40; Sue DiGilio, artist; Robert Natal and Liz O’Raffity, The Wise Owls Factory owners.

Bottom row: Miriam Jimenez, aka LadyDragonFlye, psychic/ clairvoyant/clairaudient with Anubis; Lynn and Lou Varuzzo, Daffodils Gift Shoppe; Penny Dell, artist.

50 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

POUGHKEEPSIE LAUNCH PARTY

Join us for a Virtual Open House on February 4 Contact admissions@oakwoodfriends.org ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR 2024–2025 • GRADES 6–12

February 8, 5-7pm 1915 Wine Cellar 40 Cannon Street, Poughkeepsie Let’s raise a glass to the Chronogram community Join Chronogram at 1915 Wine Cellar in Poughkeepsie to celebrate the February issue of Chronogram.

Enjoy happy hour deals on drinks and food and a free tarot reading with Kathryn Andren, The Love Astrologer.

Friends by Diane McCarron, Poughkeepsie Quaker

22 Spackenkill Road • Poughkeepsie, NY • 845-462-4200 www.oakwoodfriends.org

Practicing Peace.

Worshiping Silently.

POUGHKEEPSIE QUAKERS

Here in the Hudson Valley for over 300 years POUGHKEEPSIEQUAKERS.ORG Silent Worship Every Sunday 10:00 am In-Person Virtually Welcome

Chronogram.com/LaunchParty RSVP

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road trip

PLEASANT VALLEY & MILLBROOK

Popping Out of Poughkeepsie Leaving Poughkeepsie, Route 44 heads northeast through the heart of Dutchess County.

Enjoy bucolic views of horse farms and the rolling foothills of the Taconic Range between stop-offs in the village centers of Pleasant Valley and Millbrook, whose flourishing Main Street shops and farm-to-table eateries welcome visitors to a genteel way of life.

Millbrook (845) 677-5888 Charlottesny.com

Originally a c.1830s church, now an established restaurant in the Millbrook Hunt Country serving all your favorites. In winter, relax by one of the woodburning fireplaces and enjoy a bottle from the award-winning cellar. In the summer, enjoy a mango margarita in the outdoor garden. Perfect for a dinner for two or a family reunion. Private rooms available.

Millbrook Beef & Dairy Market

The Village of Millbrook Millbrooknewyork.com

Millbrook Beef & Dairy is a farm store nestled on route 44 in Millbrook. Brian and Keegan Donovan, a first generation farming couple, offer pasture-raised proteins and dairy products. You’ll find pasture-raised black angus beef, artisanal cheeses, and more raised right on the farm. The Donovans believe living a simpler life is more of a step forward, rather than backwards. Utilizing regenerative farming practices allows the Donovans to produce high-quality products while providing utmostrespect to the land as well as the animals. Read more about what they’re up to on their website, or take a visit to the farm store.

A bucolic village surrounded by rolling hills and much to offer–Orvis Sandanona, Innisfree Garden, Trevor Zoo, two of the best shops in the world (Veranda Magazine 2022), Cary Institute, an authentic diner, Millbrook Winery, a hardware store founded in 1907, a classic French bistro, a volunteer fire department, and so much more.

Shady Knoll Orchards & Distillery

Chronogram Eat.Play.Stay.

Newsletter

Millbrook Shadyknolldistillery.com

Chronogram.com/eatplaystay

Millbrook (845) 380-2971 Millbrookbeefdairy.com

Shady Knoll Orchards & Distillery is a family farm distillery near Millbrook.

The apples and grains grown there create its Shady Knoll Apple Brandy, Pommeau, Rye Whiskey, Single Barrel Rye Whiskey, Four Grain Whiskey and Whiskey. They focus on producing small quantities of high-quality specialty craft distilled spirits.

Tours and tastings by appointment through their website.

52 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

It’s time to discover more of the Hudson Valley. Get in on the most-talked-about restaurant openings, buzzworthy events, important community stories, and curated real estate listings before everyone else.

Sign up for our newsletter and get digital exclusives on the region’s arts and cultural scene in your inbox each week.

Rachel Hoffman Photography

Charlotte’s

Sponsored

T

Flower Power Peony Design Studio Blossoms in Pleasant Valley

here are few places that inspire more creativity and joy than a flower shop.

Chock full of blossoms and botanicals in a riot of colors, they provide a feast for the senses—and a sweet way to brighten anyone’s day. With last summer’s opening of Peony Design Studio, Pleasant Valley residents now have a shop that offers a bouquet of services, from custom wedding and event florals to sustainable and Hudson Valley-made gifts to community workshops that show anyone how to tap into the floral artist within.

Peony Design Studio was founded in 2010

by Christine Fontana, a floral designer who has over two decades of experience in the industry.

Over the last decade, she has become one of the Hudson Valley’s go-to wedding and event florists, traveling all over the region to bring her clients’ most-dreamed-about moments to life. Whether she is creating arrangements for celebrations in rustic Hudson Valley vineyards, Pennsylvania horse farms, historic Connecticut estates, or quaint Catskill Mountain backyards, her designs take inspiration from the people who are celebrating as much as the settings themselves.

“Design doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it’s a give and take,” she says. “People often come to me with a few colors or concepts, or the feeling that they

want to create for their event, but the process really starts there. Learning about someone and how they want their event to feel for their loved ones is how you begin to tell their story in the space.”

After 13 years of working with clients on custom floral arrangements for events of all sizes, Fontana felt it was time to put down stronger roots in her community by opening her studio to the public and expanding into the retail side of the business. “I saw that there was an opportunity to open a space that is there for the community,” she says. “I wanted this to be a space where people can feel comfortable just stopping by to see what’s going on.”

Last July, she opened her first brick-and-mortar shop in a historic building on Main Street across the street from the town’s new library. The white building, painted with larger-than-life pink peonies, is easy to spot. Inside, shoppers will find fresh-cut bouquets and centerpieces as well as a range of giftable items that Fontana has curated exclusively from companies with give-back programs built into their operations.

“In my own shopping, I realized there was nowhere close by where people could find skincare, candles, and other giftable items that were sustainable, made locally or in the USA, or had some sort of social responsibility,” she says. “To be

able to provide a place in town where people can come and purchase products that actually support something bigger feels amazing.” Items on the shelves include everything from Harney & Sons teas (a 1% For The Planet participant) to candles from Calyan Wax Co., which donates to charities that fight human trafficking.

This spring, the shop will also begin hosting workshops where Fontana will teach floral design techniques as well as seasonal and holiday crafts.

Customers can also stop by the shop or reach out by phone or email to discuss custom floral arrangements for celebratory events of all sizes, from large weddings and anniversaries to smaller elopements, post-engagement photo ops, and even private dinners. “Where you choose to have your event is so central to who you are. Some people might have super romantic visions and for others, it’s all about their family,” Fontana says. “It’s such an honor to do this work because people are inviting you into their lives at such a special moment.

It’s such a happy place to be.”

Peonydesignstudio.com (845) 723-4600 1583 Main Street, Pleasant Valley Produced by Chronogram Media Branded Content Studio.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 53

Chronogram x Rural Intelligence

Little Red Barn Brewers

10 Things to Love About Winsted, Connecticut Nestled in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains in Northwest Connecticut, the small town of Winsted is the unpolished gem of upscale Litchfield County.

Winsted’s charming Main Street looks a bit like the setting of a Hallmark Christmas movie. Beautiful examples of ecclesiastical, Victorian, neoclassical, Greek Revival, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival architecture abound here.

A 2022 Wall Street Journal article highlighted how Winsted not only survived the Covid-19 pandemic, but thrived as city dwellers realized they could work from anywhere, including this small town, remotely. Every summer, tourists flock to Winsted’s own crown jewel, Highland Lake. One of the largest lakes in Connecticut, Highland Lake is known for its crystal-clear water and is a popular spot for swimming, boating, water skiing and fishing. Here are just some of the places we love in Winsted, located at the crossroads of Route 44 and Route 8.

1. 2nd Home Lounge In 2021, Cheryl and Sean McGlynn transformed an old building at 524 Main Street into a welcoming and cozy lounge for adults. Take a seat on the couches and comfy chairs and relax with friends over a good beer or glass of wine while enjoying some tasty, light, fare.

2nd Home also offers books to read and games to play.

Local art adorns the walls and area musicians perform here every Friday and Saturday.

2. Noujaim’s Bistro Often touted as the best Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant in Connecticut, Noujaim’s Bistro, 430 Main Street, is the proud creation of owner George Noujaim.

Chef George, who loves to welcome every diner like family, honors his Lebanese heritage by creating spectacular Mediterranean dishes. Actor Erik Estrada even stopped in recently for dinner. Next door, Noujaim’s also manufactures its own hummus and other specialty foods.

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Since 2008, Rural Intelligence has helped readers explore the Berkshires, Litchfield County and the eastern portion of the Hudson Valley, sharing and cultivating a passion for culture and country life.

In 2019, Rural Intelligence joined the Chronogram Media family of publications.

While we may not have known it at the time, a cross-publication collaboration was likely inevitable—our region-loving

Fall at Highland Lake. Photo by Jeannette Brodeur 3. Gilson Cafe and Cinema Retired fireman Alan Nero bought the former Strand Theatre in 1985 and created the Gilson Cafe and Cinema, where patrons can eat dinner or snacks and have cocktails while watching first-run movies. Nero named the space in honor of his film industry mentor, Warren Gilson. The Winsted landmark also hosts live jazz performances on Sundays.

4. Whiting Mills A thriving artist community is blossoming in Winsted.

A former hosiery mill, Whiting Mills, at 100 Whiting Street, is now filled with studio spaces for local artists and craftspeople. The nearby American Mural Project, at 90 Whiting Street, is the largest indoor collaborative artwork in the world with a 120-foot-long, five-storyhigh mural that honors American workers. Both buildings are also used for community events, classes and live performances.

5. LiVE.AtHome Owned by Jackie McNamara, LiVE.AtHome is a funky-and-fun gift/clothing/home store featuring new handcrafted, repurposed and fair-trade merchandise, clothing and gifts, including many that celebrate Highland Lake. The store at 58 Main Street hosts paint nights, charcuterie design classes, murder mysteries, and psychic readings.

6. Cura Di Se Next door to LiVE.AtHome is Cura Di Se, which means “self-care” in Italian. The store, at 60 Main Street, features healthy protein shakes, power bowls, and boosted teas. Cura Di Se was created when owner Rebecca Corcoran left her job as a pediatric medical assistant to focus on her own health and homeschool her younger son during the pandemic. The store also offers events like fitness and nutrition classes and tasseography (that’s fortune telling with tea leaves and coffee grounds).

7. The Curious Cat Bookstore What started as a pop-up business in LiVE.AtHome has

points of view are simpatico. So, beginning with this issue of Chronogram, we’ll be publishing Rural Intelligence content in our pages, showcasing events, the restaurants, shopping, parties, nonprofit organizations, and personalities that make life so rich in the Berkshires and Litchfield County.

Consider Rural Intelligence your friend who shows you the best way to participate in all the region has to offer.

The Soldier’s Monument and Memorial Park now found a permanent home at 386 Main Street. The bookstore is run by Stacy Whitman, who has more than 20 years of book publishing experience. The Curious Cat features books for all ages as well as bookish items like stickers, games, and puzzles, and hosts author events, game nights, book clubs, and adoption nights with area rescue organizations.

8. Little Red Barn Brewers In 2019, brothers Matt and Nate Day and Nils Johnson opened Little Red Barn Brewers in an old factory at 32 Lake Street. The popular spot boasts an open taproom, food trucks, and live music. They also host local fundraisers and community events. They recently expanded their space for weddings, meetings, and other events as well as the construction of an axethrowing gallery.

9. The Soldier’s Monument and Memorial Park The park, at 84 Crown Street, is a castle-like, square granite Gothic Revival tower that overlooks Winsted and honors local soldiers who served in the Civil War. A bronze statue of a Civil War soldier stands watch atop its parapet. Within its walls are the names of more than 300 local soldiers who enlisted in the Civil War. The monument and park were dedicated on September 11, 1890. The tower, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is closed most of the year but opens for tours on Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, and Veterans Day. 10. American Museum of Tort Law Where can you see a cherry red 1963 Chevy Corvair up close and learn about scalding coffee cups, the Ford Pinto, and dangerous toys? At the American Museum of Tort Law located at 654 Main Street. The museum, which opened in 2015, was developed by Ralph Nader, a well-known political activist, author, and attorney who was born and raised in Winsted.

The museum is open Fridays and Saturdays from 12-5 pm. and Sundays from 12 to 4pm.

—Jeanette Brodeur

food

A

s you drive around Berkshire County, particularly in Pittsfield, you may notice some of the storefronts advertising the sale of African products or phone cards and money transfer services that connect West Africans to their countries of origin. There is a small community of West Africans in the county, one that is growing as those who have settled here share information and opportunities with friends and family members. If, like me, you’ve worked in public schools, you may have had the chance to get to know some of the younger generation growing up as Americans and heard stories about how they’ve adapted and of their parents’ pursuit of success in their adopted country.

It’s perhaps not surprising that the West Africans in Berkshire County might want a place to meet and enjoy tastes of home—which is what they have been getting at House of

Seasoning in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The sign outside reads “African-American Food,” but what owners Mathieu and Raissa Niamke have been serving for over a year is different from the more familiar Black American “soul food” dishes that developed out of the culinary traditions of the southern United States. As Raissa explains, the dishes she prepares are authentically West African, with a menu augmented with items like wings and hamburgers (Tuesday is burger night) for customers wanting more familiar American fare.

“My passion and love is to cook,” says Raissa, who developed her skills in her mother’s kitchen, in the restaurants her family operated in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and in African restaurants in New York City. Clued into opportunities in the Berkshires by Ivoirian friends, the Niamkes left Brooklyn five years ago for an easier lifestyle in Pittsfield, where they are

A Taste of West Africa HOUSE OF SEASONINGS IN PITTSFIELD

By Albert Stern

Choukouya de poulet—African-style jerk chicken marinated with special seasoning.

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Attieke poisson grille—fried fish with fresh vegetables served with cassava couscous.

raising two young children. Mattieu first worked at Kripalu and Raissa at the Brien Center, which is near House of Seasoning on Seymour Street.

That’s how they first noticed the property that houses their restaurant, which was formerly home to Friends Grille.

Opening a restaurant has been the Niamkes American dream come true and they are putting all they know about hospitality into this endeavor. Mattieu is a welcoming presence in the front of the house and the bar while Raissa works the kitchen, turning out dishes in different West African styles. True to the restaurant’s name, what distinguishes this food are the seasonings—all-organic spices and mixes that are brought in for the Niamkes directly from Ivory Coast. In fact, Raissa’s African mother makes the peanut butter (a key ingredient in West African stews and sauces) used at House of Seasoning.

Raissa stresses that while the word “seasoning” may suggest “spicy” or “spicy hot,” newcomers to West African food should really be thinking about the richness and complexity of flavors rather than heat—although you can ask for the burn, if that’s what you choose. The key thing to know about House of Seasoning is that the African food it serves is the real deal—there is no “Americanized” version of this kind of cuisine (in the manner of, say, Mexican or Asian food) anyway, at least not that I’ve tried. While I’ve never been to West Africa, House of Seasoning compares favorably 56 RURAL INTELLIGENCE X CHRONOGRAM 2/24

Gigot—barbecue-roasted lamb legs in green sauce with onions.

to the better restaurants of its kind I’ve eaten at in New York City and Paris.

Start with the juicy grilled chicken wings, marinated in spices that impart a subtle warmth that lingers on the palate after you’ve eaten all on your plate and are sitting there wishing you’d ordered more—House of Seasoning serves baskets from six to 28 wings, and the restaurant serves eat-in specials on Friday night happy hours.

The signature dishes include jerk chicken— Raissa says that jerk is not just a Jamaican dish, but one that is enjoyed throughout West Africa. Hers is made in the Ivoirian style. The dishes enjoyed by my dining companions and I on the night we visited were, in ascending order of funkiness: Chicken yassa. There are many different styles of this classic West African comfort dish of meat and onions marinated in a tart mixture of vinegar, citrus, chiles, and spices. I’ve had it as a stew and a braise, and House of Seasoning’s traditional Senegalese take on this dish is to grill half a chicken and cover it in a rich caramelized onion sauce topped with olives. With a side of fried plantains, it’s a fine introduction to the cuisine of West Africa for the unfamiliar.

Gigot. Two meaty pieces of grilled lamb shoulders covered with chopped onions, tomatoes, and other fresh veggies and herbs in the manner of a Mexican pico de gallo or an Israeli salad, but with distinctive spicing. An intensely satisfying meal if you want something on the heavier side.

Like the pork braise that’s also on the menu, the recipe is from Ivory Coast.

Attieke Croupion (cui de dindon). Turkey tails fried and served with a tomato sauce, and indeed they are turkey tails, not another part of a turkey euphemistically called “turkey tails.” Thanksgiving warriors like myself consider a roasted turkey tail one of the decadent joys of the fall feast, but from the way I’m asked each year “Are you really going to eat that?” as I devour my treat, I know that turkey tails might not be everyone’s cup of meat.

I admired my dining companion for ordering the full-on attieke croupion (a dish from Ghana and also Ivory Coast) and really enjoyed my taste, but this may not be the ideal starter meal at House of Seasoning. Maybe one to work up to and then share among intrepid tablemates as an appetizer rather than a main course.

House of Seasoning joins a roster of good ethnic restaurants in the area—among them BB’s Hot Spot (Caribbean), Espetinho Carioca (Brazilian), and Placita Latina Restaurant & Market (Salvadorian/Mexican)—that together may make central Pittsfield more of a destination for diners hankering for authentic dishes in offthe-beaten-track settings.

House of Seasoning 117 Seymour Street, Pittsfield, Massachusetts Open Tuesday to Sunday for dine-in and takeout, but calling ahead for days and hours of operation might be a good idea because of special events and theme nights.

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chronogrammies.com

NOMINATIONS end february15

s’ Choic r a e e d w A a Re

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s d r

art

Rituals, Talismans, and Divination “LIKE MAGIC” AT MASS MOCA Through August 2025 Massmoca.org Installation view of Flail Broom, Cate O’ConnellRichards, brass, red brass, wood, broomcorn, twine, hemp, 2022. Courtesy of the artist

I

’m always fascinated to learn what people turn to for comfort, care, and existential meaning. Religion—or the belief in a higher power—is a source of reassurance for many, and countless objects are used across practices to express and fortify that connection. A Catholic crucifix is a reminder of God’s love. Tibetan prayer flags contain Buddhist mantras that spread peace, compassion, and good fortune.

Kippot, kufis, and Mormon temple garments are worn to convey piety. Beads are used in many religions to guide prayer, and gemstones themselves are thought to have healing properties. I remember placing an emerald and aquamarine crystal over my heart when I was pregnant with my daughter to ward off a brewing cold. (I awoke the next morning feeling fine, for whatever reason.)

It’s not these belief systems specifically, but the practice of ritual itself, that is investigated in MASS MoCA’s latest group exhibition, “Like Magic,” at its massive art campus in North Adams, Massachusetts.

On the contrary, mainstream religious practices are mostly absent here. Instead, curator Alexandra Foradas has gathered the work of 10 contemporary artists who, she says, have structurally been denied power due to their race, sexuality, gender identity, indigeneity, or immigration status. Laws governing organized systems often demand uniformity, creating “othering” experiences for those who advocate against, or at the very least, question those systems.

“Magical” practices ensue.

Witchcraft may first come to mind for New Englanders. In the 17th century, witch hysteria, fueled by sexism, racism, classism, and religious extremism, led to the executions of more than a dozen people

in Massachusetts and Connecticut. “Like Magic” artist Cate O’Connell-Richards, a queer artist, jeweler, and broomsquire, takes control of this narrative by transforming the language and tools of witches into exquisitely crafted objects including rings, candlesticks, and harnesses outfitted with “witch-enhancements” meant to heighten a sexual experience.

Brooms, a ubiquitous object of labor also associated with witches’ magic, become weapons, spears, and totems to be reclaimed in new rituals. “Craft-informed artists deal a lot with process, and [we] have to find joy and meaning in that,” O’Connell-Richards says. “It’s not about an end point—it’s about working to become a more connected person.”

Mundane objects imbued with ritualistic meaning abound in “Like Magic.” Iran-born artist Gelare Khoshgozaran’s luminous installation US Customs Demands to Know, a collection of shipping boxes sent from Iran that were opened and searched by Customs and Border Protection officers, and Rose Salane’s powerful pairing of lost rings alongside photographs of artifacts stolen from and subsequently returned to the Pompeii archaeological site, redefine and personalize the nature of sacredness. Grace Clark presents multiple works—including Lean, an arrangement of salvaged, whittled, broken, reshaped, and mended wood—that document her search for healing in life and solace from death; her piece In a new light (Healing Dirt) invites others to do the same.

“I tried to open my hopeless heart to anything that could help me: maybe God, nature, my own public claim, or my belief,” Clark says in conversation with Foradas as published in the “Like Magic” gallery guide. “In that choice, I didn’t find a cure. But I did find, within myself, a little higher power.”

Chicago-based artist Nate Young is also searching for healing and connection to his ancestors, but within

a constant time loop of racial trauma. His meticulously built reliquaries enshrine—and, thus, protect, honor, and elevate—the bones of the horse his enslaved greatgrandfather rode to freedom on and later killed for his own protection. The literal darkness that envelopes these objects transforms the gallery into a chapel-like space, with a pitch-black installation in the middle of the room serving as the confessional, depriving you of all senses except for what you can think, hear, and feel.

As in many religions and religious practices, performance is an important component to the themes in “Like Magic” as well as the personal belief systems of several participating artists. Singing, dancing, listening, chanting, reading, praying, walking, and touching are highly emotional expressions of faith, particularly in times of uncertainty or need.

New York City-based filmmaker Tourmaline and multidisciplinary artist Simone Bailey each present performance as video documentations that position the viewer as audience. Tourmaline’s short film Atlantic is a Sea of Bones and Bailey’s Hometraining video installation use pageantry to make new meaning of the past, specifically as it relates to Black Americans and enslaved Africans.

Artists Raven Chacon, Petra Szilagyi, and Johanna Hedva, on the other hand, invite the viewer to become the performer in their work. Chacon’s musical scores provide us with unique sets of instructions—informed both by Navajo traditions and conceptual art—that challenge the conventions of how and what we learn.

Szilagyi invites us to “pray however to whatever” inside their cob hut and Hedva asks us to both read and listen to their short story “Who Listens and Learns.” Both of these nonbinary artists explore the magic and mysticism of binary code, the internet, and artificial intelligence— which could become our new God. —Julia Dixon

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music Sky Furrows Reflect and Oppose (Feeding Tube Records)

I’m guessing that it’s fair to say that millennials are not the primary audience for Reflect and Oppose, the new album from Sky Furrows—a collective comprised of performance poet Karen Schoemer along with drummer Phil Donnelly, guitarist Mike Griffin, and bassist Eric Hardimann (experimental instrumentalists, all with ties to Albany improv psych unit Burnt Hills). Sky Furrows makes the kind of art-terror music current gray-haired pates used to dig deep into vinyl stacks for, searching out on foraging trips to St. Mark’s Sounds in Manhattan or Looney Tunes in Boston. There is, in fact, a certain early ’80s Bowery vibe at work here, reaching back to touchstones like Scott Johnson’s “John Somebody” and compilations from Giorno Poetry Systems; “Word, sound, and power,” as Rastafarians might have it.

Lefties, like me, will love—and stand in horror at—Schoemer’s rage. “The military could bring him down, so he purged it,” she spits in the grungy “Koba Grozny,” a takedown of Stalin’s initial reduction of the latter to “the most destroyed city on Earth.” Her diction, however, is always clear, and that’s a huge part of what makes this project work, even when the backing, thankfully, gets as gloriously aggressive as the words. The well-placed closing number, a West Coast-Sonic Youth-like rumination called “Desert Song,” which naturally follows “Welcome to Niverville,” functions like one—hooks, chorus, and everything. Reflect and Oppose, perhaps thornier than the group’s self-titled 2020 debut, is a gratifying, smart, and beautiful aural excursion no matter your age.

—Michael Eck

Black Lake Silver Sky

(New Reality Records) Black Lake’s Silver Sky is gloriously raw and unpretentious. Intentional or not, the songs flow fast and furious, as if recorded in a passion-fueled, one-night, four-track orgy of first-take inspiration. The instrumentation is simple and striking; stark guitars, varied percussive sounds, and vocals layered deep in watery reverb. The sound is cavernous and ethereal, as if entirely recorded with a single submersible room mic. The Columbia County duo of Slink Moss and Susan Jennings have been experimenting with various mediums since 2009. Performing with installation sound and art, spoken word and poetry, and projections fused with paintings, sculpture, and shadows, they create in the immersive and the abstract. Self-described as “post-punk jangle-dream,” the album is a probing, psychedelic-folk dance of 16 songs ranging from the delightfully sublime 24-second “China Mei Li” to the soothing and invitingly epic three-and-a-half minute “How to Fly.” —Jason Broome

Future One Do We Need Another Psycho?

(Independent)

Future One, Peekskill musician Paul J Magliari’s one-man project, returns to follow up 2021’s excellent Lost Highway with Do We Need Another Psycho?

The title track has a sly, smooth, Duran Duran-meets-Eels charm: “Who is to blame? Was it all true?” Paul wonders, before a quirky, climbing scale and sort of Leonard Cohen-by-way-of-post-Roger Waters-Pink Floyd instrumental passage takes over. Throughout the album, sliceof-life lyrics pair with self-aware snark and an aesthetic akin to Paul McCartney or early Elvis Costello, making the most of melody, whimsy, and tasteful restraint. It isn’t easy to write multifaceted tunes that are kinetic, catchy, and clever, but Magliari nails it; Bizou and Gothic Tropic come to mind as other current artists who likewise don’t tip their hand while blowing minds. “Hold Me, Hold You” comes off like the Beatles writing a mid-period Clash song, just a pure joy.

—Morgan Y. Evans

SOUND CHECK | Mark Shue Lately I’ve been really diving deep back into the wonderful world of Martin Newell and [his 1980s band] the Cleaners from Venus. The songs are so great, and I just love the sonic universe that that music exists in.

There is so much rich material in that catalog. Blow Away Your Troubles (1981) is a great record and a classic.

I also finally just got the opportunity to see the recent documentary made about Martin Newell called The Jangling Man and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Been on a Flamin’ Groovies trip, too. Always. It’s my life soundtrack.

It keeps giving itself back to me all anew. That band is everything.

As far as new stuff goes, I’ve really been digging the new singles from both MGMT and the Lemon

60 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM 2/24

Twigs. MGMT have a new single out called “Nothing to Declare,” which is sort of a great departure for them.

The Lemon Twigs’ new single, “My Golden Years,” has been buzzing and bomping around in my skull since it came out, and it’s great. I’m excited to hear what they do next. I’ve also been really digging the Scout Gillet record, No Roof No Floor. Her style is really something else, I love it. “Slow Dancin’” is my jam.

Mark Shue is the bassist of the influential indie band Guided By Voices and the singer and guitarist of noise rock trio Beech Creeps. Guided

by Voices’ 39th album, Nowhere to Go But Up, is out now. He lives in Kingston. Guidedbyvoices.com.

books

A Brutal Design Zachary C. Solomon LANTERNFISH, 2024, $19

We meet Samuel Zelnik at the ragged end of a long rail journey and learn that he has followed a shady uncle’s recommendation to flee from his shattered life in an unspecified country now ruled by fascists and relocate in Duma, a planned community in the desert that styles itself an egalitarian paradise. Samuel, an aspiring architect and close observer of detail, is disoriented and disillusioned by what he finds; Beacon resident Solomon keeps his dark tale moving like a bullet train through one subtly disturbing twist after another.

All of Us: Stories and Poems Along Route 17 Esther Cohen SADDLE ROAD PRESS, 2023, $21

Small towns are weirdly epic places, full of human foibles standing out in sharp relief against mundane backgrounds. Cohen, the author of six earlier books, led a writers’ group in Cairo; and served as executive director of the labor-centered nonprofit Bread and Roses, captures a quietly elegant, lovingly detailed portrait of one such town in upstate New York, with lyrical, intimate depictions of the housecleaners and solitary men, the careful wives and illicit lovers, the lifers and the newcomers as they face life’s twists and turns.

Jazz with a Beat: Small Group Swing, 1940-1960 Tad Richards SUNY PRESS, 2024, $29.95

Louis Armstrong said that “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” Prolific local author and former Opus 40 creative director Tad Richards argues eloquently for the seminal role of the “soul jazz” made by small combos that kept people dancing through the 1950s and became known as rhythm and blues. Richards has clearly done his homework and recounts the adventures of these lesser-known and enormously listenable players and their impact on the birth of rock ‘n’ roll in meticulous and lively style.

Crossing Divides: My Journey to Standing Rock Vernon Benjamin BUSHWHACK BOOKS, 2023, $12.95

The late Saugerties native Vernon Benjamin led a considered life: local reporter, historian, legislative aide to Congressman Maurice Hinchey in his state assembly days, and author of a definitive two-part History of the Hudson River Valley. In late November of 2016, at the age of 70, Benjamin impulsively set out for Standing Rock bearing hay and chocolate bars for the Water Protectors camping there. Kingston-based writer Will Nixon, a longtime Benjamin fan, adds just enough context to Benjamin’s humble and eloquent travelogue.

Catskill Creatures Nancy Furstinger, illustrated by Bob Ebdon GOLDEN NOTEBOOK PRESS, 2024, $13.95

Parents, especially those new to country life, will enjoy this lively exposition of the lifestyles and survival strategies of familiar forest neighbors as much as their kids: engineering tactics of beavers, navigation skills of brown bats, and 13 more critters described in lively, relatable detail that will work as a read-aloud for just about any age. Wildlife advocate Furstinger, a Margaretville critter herself, adds practical info for human allies on making your neighborhood wildlife-friendly, along with what wildlife rehabbers are all about and where to find them.

—Anne Pyburn Craig

My Beloved Life Amitava Kumar KNOPF, 2024, $29

A vivid exploration of some of life’s most painful experiences—the catastrophic breakup of a marriage, political violence, and social crisis, the death of one’s parents—and how we manage to go on afterward, this third novel by Amitava Kumar, a professor of English at Vassar College—revolves around a man named Jadu.

Born in a village in northeast India without running water or electricity, he goes to college and becomes a historian of early Indian nationalist movements, which remind him of “a rebellious India,” not “the India of incense sticks and yoga or vegetarian food,” but one that is “scrappier…its goal was freedom for the masses.”

The first half of the novel is narrated in the third person, closely following Jadu’s perspective on his own life; the second by his daughter, Jagnu, who, inspired by her father’s brief glimpse of the outside world during a fellowship in America, moves to Atlanta to study journalism and work for CNN. The book frequently touches on the role of writing in shaping our memories and our selves. Only when Jagnu agrees to write her father’s obituary does the news of his death begin to become real. She concludes that “we are in touch with a great astonishing mystery when we put honest words down on paper to register a life and to offer witness.”

My Beloved Life is itself convincing proof. Written in an insistently laconic register, punctuated by moments of subdued eloquence and scintillating insight, the book explores how our lives are shaped by the stories we tell about them, how we often misread one another’s intentions and delude ourselves about our own, how what we are told as children about the time before we were born becomes incorporated into our own narratives. When Jadu’s mother tells him that her marriage was a disappointment, for his father’s family proved not nearly as wealthy as they had hinted before the wedding, the revelation becomes “yet another lesson in tragedy in Jadu’s early life.” The early pages offer a brilliant depiction of the confusion of adolescence, how we are torn between different impulses and dreams, and the happenstance or even ridiculous ways in which we choose our destinies, often while hiding from ourselves that we are indeed making a choice.

The book is also a bottom-up account of the unmaking of modern India. How individuals shape history, Kumar suggests, is rarely as interesting as how history shapes individuals. When Jadu becomes a professor, he watches as his students “leapt on the footboard of that fast-moving vehicle called fate and became powerful.” Ramdeo, Jadu’s low-caste college friend who once hoped to enter politics and improve the lot of his people, succeeds in becoming a federal minister. He is bestknown for swindling massive sums of public money and proposing that the poor consume field rats as a source of protein. When Jagnu asks her father what has changed in India since the 1970s, he replies that “those who were in prison then were in power now. They were now sending others to prison.” Another character muses over why it is that “the most violent, the most brutal people…act as if they are the ones carrying the biggest wounds in their histories and in their hearts.” Kumar connects these themes with the contemporary political situation in both India and the United States in subtler and more rewarding ways than in his last novel, A Time Outside This Time (2021), which included a screenshot of a Trump tweet in its bibliography.

As he ages, Jadu is haunted by the gruesome death of his mother and the quieter but no less devastating death of his father, as well as by regrets and disappointments, oversights, errors, humiliations, inadequacies. Jagnu, in turn, becomes equally fixated on the lonesome death of Jadu early in the coronavirus pandemic, when she cannot return home to supervise his cremation or properly reckon with her loss: “Like an actor robbed of an audience, I felt I was walking alone on a dark and empty stage.” A year later, Jagnu travels to India to report on the devastation of the pandemic’s second wave, which left hospitals without oxygen and morgues overflowing, prompting the construction of massive public pyres. Jagnu leaves her hotel and walks toward the distant flickering glimmer. “It was as if my father’s body was still burning,” she says. “I had to reach the crematorium in time so that I could learn to read from his glowing bones everything about who I was.”

—Richard Kreitner 2/24 CHRONOGRAM BOOKS 61

poetry

EDITED BY Phillip X Levine

Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Dementia

City Lexicon

Lost Poem

My daughter says my mind is sliding words lost at sea, snagged in seaweed tangled in silt

Ferry ride Ocean voyage squeezed into a bay

the round thing you put your supper on

Financial District Greed squeezed into respectability

this poem has been lost. if found, please return.

I have post its on my fuzzy night shoes my favorite red fruit, the photo of my sister, or maybe my aunt pills from my daughter dissolve on my tongue

Subway Strangers squeezed into intimacy

post its on top of post its, no idea which is the right one and what on earth is calamander doing on my desk

Skyscraper A village squeezed into elevators

living in the shadow of the valley of lost words

Glance Lust squeezed into a flash

but where was I going with all this? oh yes, she (Lucy? Layla?) says no more bourbon but I hide it somewhere, ha! but look! there is toilet paper floating into the harbor followed by persimmon and potato peeler I scoop them up in the thing with holes dry them off and take them home yet still fewer and fewer words until I walk out of this watery world under spinning stars and a yellow saucer in the sky —Claire Scott Bridgespotting Warm air over the ancient river You ask the name of that bridge It’s not what you think, I say It’s not what they say, I think I’m wrong again The bridge had another name Words across water The spans of time crisscrossing But the name doesn’t matter As we float above Elevated somewhere in between There and here The rushing water keeps its own time Uses its own quicksilver language We hear it murmured in the night We discover it together —Cyrus Mulready 62 POETRY CHRONOGRAM 2/24

—Joanne Grumet The Grass Field We were riding to the beach When you called out I circled back and we laid the bikes down The remains of an animal A red fox maybe Or a coyote Scruff of patchy fur and bones He had crawled under the dry brush At the side of the road Next to the marsh Ivory teeth Lay scattered In some sort of prophesy You laid your towel down Spreading it out on the dry sand Then we moved the body We took it to the field behind my house And dug the grave with my dad’s camp shovel It took all afternoon and when we were done We weren’t sure what to do So we smoked The army issue Lucky Strike We had stolen from your dad Then we laid ourselves down in the grass Where no one could see We were only boys And it was just a dog —Augusta Block

we miss it.

—Paloma Kop When I think of the way the heart wants what it wants I think of my daughter’s friend S, born in a boy’s body, who asked for bits of starshine as soon as he could name them: bracelets, boas, rhinestones.

Quick to trade cargo pants and tees (laid out by mama each morning) for sparkle and spin, S came to our house to totter the crabgrass in plastic heels and crinkled princess gowns, dollar-store strands of rubies and pearls. I heard them once, five years old, chatting like church ladies. “Do you want to be a boy or a girl?” my daughter asked in her fairygodmother-make-a-wish voice. S answered: “girl.”

“Well,” she granted, “you just have to dress like one.” They played quietly on. And in that small tea-party of silence, she opened wide a door of tulle and lace and crinoline, as if to say: Come in. You are welcome here.

—Wendy Kagan Not King of Exquisite Tastes “About palates I am never wrong,” he claimed as I sat in the chair waiting. “Me, too,” I thought.

We had been talking about the finest eating establishments on Cape Cod, and I imagined he was referring to the exquisite flavors of foods, not only his favorites, but those of others as well, but when he said, “This might leave a bitter taste in your mouth—the pinch might hurt a little,” I realized that I was actually lying down, not sitting, and that dressed in a light blue gown and masked, wearing magnifying goggles, he was not a master chef, but my dentist, the needle in his hand looking anything but appetizing, the future gold crown for my tooth, not my head.

—Jim Tilley Haiku Early morning light Lifts the night like a blanket Who rises? Who sleeps?

—Sydna Altschuler Byrne

The Long Ride Home

2023

Jury Duty After Life

i just don’t want to go home.

as bombs strike the earth every eye focused on war even potatoes

Got the notice, it’s my duty, must report, but will tell them my wife died a few weeks ago, two days before our 49th wedding anniversary, so unsure how good of a juror I can be not thinking clearly yet, how can I put it, still kind of raw... dreamt of my wife last night and she was not dead just normal—is this what’s expected or do we come back as something else? If so, I’d like to come back a bee, short span of time as we know it, yet busy and productive collecting nectar carried to community hive producing sustainable honey... not a bad assignment for a bag of meat to turn into; and you can fly!

can’t we just stay here? just us? in the car with the heat cranked up? we can talk about books. we can talk about summer. we can say things like “i’m going to miss you” and mean them. we can hold hands. for now. for a while. we can breathe deep, together. inhale, exhale— uneasy and shaky like something too important to go unsaid somehow still going unsaid. we can talk about the things we’ve done together and try to ignore all the time we’ll miss. we can talk about songs that remind us of each other, that we’ll listen to over and over again in the space between. we could just as easily not talk. there are few things more beautiful than silence between two people with a genuine connection. i do not want to go home. can’t we just stay like this? for now? for a while? forever?

—Ian Gillis Full submission guidelines: Chronogram.com/submissions

after the bombs fall red mitten in the schoolyard warming the silence —Jennifer Howse Delightfully Misheard on the Radio “Your nothing is enough for me.”

—Christopher Porpora For Better or Worse First the roof flies off the courthouse.

Paper whirls—a swarm of petty griefs Winters around us in the gale.

That’s apocalypse—a frieze in motion— Then the sky opens like the door to a visitor.

Confusion jungles—a crowd of noise— My eyes, dartlike, meet yours— Needled, venomous, swiftly true— That’s when the moon unhinges herself.

Howling—horror—but there is a hole in me As empty of fear as the space above— I already lived through the morning Where you did not love me anymore.

—Emily Murnane

—C. P. Masciola

Manatee Gray zen torpedoes stealthily silently softly glide pffffffff pfffffff breathy water mammals bobbing blimps turning rolling reflected fluid visions quiet conversations a sacred temple, a master class be humble, move slowly with purpose and breathe, great gulps of life —Eileen Bailey Fly Fruit Fly Those annoying little fruit flies Are simply a sign That you have fruits around somewhere.

And that’s healthy.

If there are too many fruit flies And you get annoyed by more than ten of them, Then you might have some fruit That is a little too old And too soft And maybe too squishy.

Keep count of those flies They are communicating with you.

—Sebastian Isler

To the Patron Saint of Lost Things Saint Anthony, I pray once more for why I kneel before mahogany or pine.

You stole, how cleverly, a precious cry.

In life, they chopped his bloodless fingers off, A smoker’s hand, nails stained with tar like mine.

Saint Anthony, I pray once more for why.

He lies so still, I wait for him to cough, My fingers intertwined wait for a sign You stole, how cleverly, a precious cry.

Here, numb, I pretend to pray, myself I scoff.

A mere social courtesy, benign, Saint Anthony, I pray once more for why.

To shed a tear across my face and drop off, Incapable to alter or refine, You stole, how cleverly, a precious cry.

How deep is the puddle I stand in, a trough, Of tears unshed, enough to build a shrine.

Saint Anthony, I pray once more for why You stole, how cleverly, a precious cry.

—Shane Romer 2/24 CHRONOGRAM POETRY 63

arts profile

Home is Where The Harp is MIKAELA DAVIS

By Peter Aaron

T

emperatures in the upper 20s. Wind whipping up a bone-blasting chill. The second substantial snowstorm of the season in the forecast for the following day. On this midJanuary afternoon, it’s certainly a lot different in the Hudson Valley than it is in Jamaica, which is where Mikaela Davis was less than 24 hours ago. “Yeah, it’s definitely really cold,” says the singersongwriter and musician, who flew back last night from a wellearned vacation on the Carribean island between tours by her band Southern Star, and days ago was hanging out on the beach and watching her partner John Lee Shannon perform with his group, Circles Around the Sun. “It was sad to leave that weather behind, but I’m happy to be back.”

Davis is a master of an instrument not often found in rock music: the harp. “ As soon as I saw and heard one there was just this feeling, this connection,” explains the Rochester-raised 31-yearold, who started playing when she was eight. “The music program was starting up at school, and one day they were showing us all the different instruments we could study. I knew I wanted to play something that was off the beaten path, but I wasn’t sure what. I was thinking maybe cello or viola—just definitely not violin, that was too common. I wanted to be different. They showed us the harp last, and that was it. I started taking lessons as soon as I could after that.”

Photo by Emily Pinto 64 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 2/24

Classical Past

Along with harp Davis began studying piano. “Right away, I just loved playing so much,” she says over coffee in Catskill, where she, Shannon, and her band members live. “I’d wake up extra-early every morning just so I could practice before school.” Alongside the classical canon she learned about classic rock, reggae, and zydeco from her guitar- and saxophone-playing uncles and was enchanted by the lilting pop of singer-songwriters Vanessa Carlton, Fiona Apple, and Michelle Branch.

Davis’s parents split up when she was 11, and she and her younger brother stayed with their mother, a speech pathologist by trade. Composing her first songs brought a bit of solace during that difficult period. “I thought, ‘Can I write songs?’,” remembers the singer, who put on a concert for her school when she was in seventh grade.

“And then I thought, ‘I don’t see why not.’ I still have recordings of some of those songs. [Winces.] They’re emotional, pretty dark. But, looking back, they were my self-therapy, and writing them brought a kind positivity.”

Also bringing positivity was Rochester’s longstanding and nurturing music community, which is famously centered around the Eastman School of Music and the revered Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. The city boasts strong indie rock and jazz scenes as well.

At 14, the budding prodigy toured Europe as part of a local youth orchestra, but when it came time for higher education, she headed nearly four hours north to the Crane School of Music in Potsdam. “Crane was secluded and cold,” recalls Davis, who earned a degree in harp performance. “There’s nothing to do there except play and practice music, and most of the students major in music education or get ready to look for a good orchestra position. I had a really great teacher and mentor there, Dr. Jessica Suchy-Pilalis, and I think she was bummed at first when I told her that I didn’t want to do either of those things and that I wanted to go out and play my songs. She’s supportive now, though.”

Mikalea Davis and her band, Southern Star, released their sophmore effort, And Southern Star, in 2023. Davis settled in Catskill after recording a song for a Harry Nilsson tribute album at the village's Old Soul Studios.

Photo by Jamie Goodsell

Special Delivery

While at Crane, Davis met brothers Cian (guitar, keyboards) and Shane (bass) McCarthy and called up her childhood friend Alex Cote (drums) to accompany her. She played solo and with the group and selfreleased a 2012 eponymous debut and a pair of EPs before her 2014 graduation. A YouTube video of her unaccompanied performance of Elliot Smith’s “Twilight” attracted a booking agency that put her and the group on the road as small-venue headliners and opening for alt-rock band Filligar. She signed with Rounder Records for 2018’s Delivery, which was produced

by John Congelton (Angel Olsson, St. Vincent, the Decemberists) and generated buzz with its blend of dreamy ’70s AM gold, funky soul, synth pop, and modern indie styles.

It was music that initially brought Davis to Catskill— but not her own music. “In 2019, [producer and engineer] Kenny Siegel at Old Soul Studios was doing the second volume of the Harry Nilsson covers albums that he put together [This is the Town: A Tribute to Harry Nilsson, Vol. 2;],” the harpist explains. “He invited us to record something for it, so we came up and did a song [Davis’s version of “Take 54” opens the album], and we really liked the vibe of the town and the whole Hudson Valley area. When we were doing the session, Kenny kept saying, ‘You guys should move to Catskill!’ and we were, like, ‘What? Who, us? Move to this small town in the mountains instead of some big, 'happening' city? Hmm, I don’t know about that.’”

But it was too late, the spell had taken hold: The following year, Davis and her collaborators relocated to the historic riverside Greene County village, and Shannon arrived not long after. “We already knew a lot of musician friends who live in Hudson, Kingston, Woodstock, and other places,” she says. “So we get to meet up with them a lot, whenever we’re not on the road.” The move has been beneficial for Old Soul as well as Davis’s band, with the members finding occasional work on other sessions at the studio.

Different Direction

As Davis settled in, she and the group began incorporating other influences into their sound, adding pedal steel guitarist Kurt G. Johnson to the lineup and shifting things onto a cosmic country path. The newer direction would seem to reflect their slower surroundings, although the bandleader herself isn’t so sure that’s entirely the reason for it. “I guess it’s more from being around different musicians, hearing different styles,” muses Davis.

“I started to get more into Neil Young and Cass McCombs, and then I started finding out about the Buffalo Springfield, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Emmylou Harris. So I think [the current musical course] really comes from that. I hadn’t thought about nature seeping in. But maybe it did.” With the McCarthy brothers and Cote contributing more to the songwriting, it felt like a name change was in order when Davis and her sidemen returned to Old Soul to make their 2023 sophomore album; thus, its title, And Southern Star, a declaration of the backing unit’s new moniker.

With haunting, atmospheric, folk-based tracks like the fragile opener “Cinderella,” the coy “The Pearl,” and “Home in the Country,” a cowrite with Cian McCarthy whose title could be an acknowledgement of the band’s rustic residence as well as its newfound love for country music, the release is a rich, nowgeneration interpretation of the regional rural rock traditions established by Bob Dylan and The Band.

“As a songwriter, Mikaela has a knack for writing distinct, catchy, and memorable melodies,” says Siegel. “Her complex harp parts provide beautiful counterpoint, and her vocals bring a whole other psychic dimension.”

Days of the Dead

Another impact on Davis’s course came from deep dives into the early Grateful Dead that found her quintet improvising on nuggets from the San Francisco icons’ catalog circa 1967-1969, a move that has been highlighted by an in-its-entirety cover of the psychedelic pioneers’ brain-bending Live/Dead double album. Sometimes sharing shows with Circles Around the Sun, she and Southern Star have found a warmly receptive following on the jam-band scene, and she even sat in with the Dead’s Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, an auspicious occasion that led to more spots for her with Weir’s group. “The time I played with Bob and Phil, in 2018, was so much fun,” says the musician, who has also jammed with Christian McBride and appeared with Bon Iver and Lake Street Dive. “I started getting serious about improvising after that, and it’s opened a whole new world. We’ve all learned so much about ourselves as musicians by playing the Dead’s music.”

So what’s next for Davis? At the moment, having wrapped up a late-fall tour with Shannon’s Dead covers project, Grateful Shred, she’s mainly just enjoying the cozy Catskill winter. “I love living here,” she says. “It’s so peaceful, and there’s a real community feel. Going out and walking down the street—nine times out of 10 I run into somebody I know. It’s great, going on tour and visiting all of these big cities—and then coming back and literally being able to see the mountains from my window in the morning. It’s great.”

Mikaela Davis will perform at the Winter Hoot at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge on February 3. Mikaela Davis and Southern Star will perform at the Solid Sound festival at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, on June 30. And Southern Star is out now on Kill Rock Stars Records. Mikaeladavis.com.

1/24 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 65

theater

David Gonzalez performs "The Effects of Gravity" at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie on February 16.

Cosmic Entanglement “THE EFFECTS OF GRAVITY” AT THE BARDAVON Bardavon.org February 16, 10am and 7pm Sometimes a story is at its most powerful when it’s stripped down to the essentials: an actor on a bare stage, say, accompanied by some bluesy riffs on an acoustic guitar. If the story exposes some event or trauma related to the vicissitudes of a history of oppression, the effect can be transformative, an intimate engagement that translates something we’ve understood only intellectually into the crucible of feeling.

Such is the case with “Finding North,” a one-man play

by David Gonzalez that recounts an incident from the life of John P. Parker, a former slave who owned a foundry in Ohio and helped hundreds of slaves on their flight to freedom in the Underground Railroad. I don’t know if the play’s account of Parker’s rescue of a slave family from a white man who worked for him actually happened, but when I saw the performance at Kingston’s Old Dutch Church, back in the fall of 2022, Parker the man and the predicament he faced felt utterly authentic.

The plainspoken language of the monologue, the naturalness with which actor Daniel Carlton inhabited the character of this gutsy 19th-century abolitionist, and the intricate, rootsy guitar accompaniment, which was also composed and played by Gonzalez, made the story come alive.

By interspersing contemporary first-person narratives into Parker’s monologue, the play was also charged with historical relevance. With the aid of a simple prop, such as a scarf, baseball cap, or cane, Carlton effortlessly transformed himself into a range of characters, including a young Guatemalan woman recounting her treacherous journey north across the Rio Grande; a Pakistani teenager who was harassed by his classmates in the wake of 9/11; and a grief stricken old man recounting how as a child he watched the lynching of his sharecropper father. “Finding North,” 66 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 2/24

which was commissioned by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park to celebrate the opening of that city’s Underground Railroad Freedom Center, is currently touring theaters across the country.

Besides being a playwright, composer, and musician, Gonzalez, who resides in Rosendale, is also a storyteller, poet, and producer. His plays, musical productions, and spoken word pieces have been performed nationwide. In some cases, he has facilitated nonartists, often members of marginalized communities, in finding their own voice, which sometimes results in a production. For example, “Hard Dinero,” which was performed at the Rosendale Theatre in October 2022, consists of a series of bilingual monologues and dialogues based on immigrant stories of Ulster County residents. While some of the stories are hopeful, others, such as the young man who couldn’t escape his burden of debt and hung himself, are tragic.

Another of Gonzalez’s locally inspired productions is the play “Falcon Ridge,” which traces the evolving relationship between a local African American couple and their new neighbor, a Jewish couple from New York City, in the 1950s; it was inspired by stories from the multiracial, isolated mountain community of Eagle’s Nest (and was performed at Old Dutch Church last March).

“Art can be impactful,” Gonzalez says. Indeed, he’s been recognized for creating performances that matter: he was a cultural ambassador for the US State Department and received a Drama Desk Nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Sustained Excellence from the International Performing Arts for Youth, among other honors.

His roots as the son of a Nuyorican mother and Cuban father growing up in the Bronx have informed much of his work. For his critically acclaimed production “!Sofrito!,” which was first performed in the 1990s, he told traditional stories from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Bronx accompanied by salsa performed by the Latin Legends Band. Gonzalez began his career as a music therapist, working with special-needs kids. Bringing an element of playfulness into his practice, he began telling stories and performing for free at venues in his East Village neighborhood.

That evolved into paying gigs first at schools in the New York metro area, then around the country. In the 1990s, he co-hosted “New York Kids,” a live radio show that aired on Sunday afternoons on public radio station WNYC. “I was the goof, the improvisor, the fun one,” he recalls.

It was Gonzalez’s poem “Entanglement” that planted the seed for one of his latest projects: after meeting Luke Keller, a professor of physics and astronomy at Ithaca College, at a conference, on a hunch he showed the scientist the poem, which alludes to the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. The two decided to collaborate on a production that would tell the story of the cosmos from both a scientific and a poetic perspective. The result is “The Effects of Gravity: A Cosmic Journey, Cosmology & Art,” which will be performed at the Bardavon on February 16. (The free performances are scheduled at 10 am and 7 pm.)

It’s a fresh approach to understanding the cosmos and Earth’s place in it, combining scientific explanations, poetry, and music with stunning images of space projected on a giant screen, which consist of photographs taken from the Hubble and James Webb telescopes as well as computer-generated simulations. The back and forth between Keller and Gonzalez about the “small flash” that alternatively birthed the cosmos and a baby daughter, about dark matter and how a mother with dementia lost her sense of time, is accompanied by the electric guitar playing of Kingston-based sound artist Alvaro Domene, which is by turns funky, edgy, and portentous and delicately lyrical. Keller remarks on the limits of our understanding as well as our amazing powers of observation: “We have a gift in that we can look back in time,” he says. And forward: in one compelling segment, a simulation depicts the merging of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies two billion years from now.

The piece culminates in a poem and images celebrating the rich diversity of nature on Earth, followed by photos of environmental destruction and a rap-like rant by Gonzalez lamenting the forces of greed and corruption that are threatening the planet. The audience is left with a question: “Do we integrate or disintegrate?”

—Lynn Woods

art

Shaman, Michael Blyenburg, reflection hologram from combined pulse laser recordings, 2016

How often is a new art form created? Sometimes centuries go by between such breakthroughs. Born around the same time as the Beatles, the hologram is one of the most recent artistic mediums to be developed.

(The one before that? Motion pictures, invented in 1895.)

And Holocenter, the only holographic art gallery in the world, is in Kingston, where “Iridescence,” a survey of 11 artists, continues through February 18.

A lot has changed since I visited the Museum of Holography in Manhattan in 1979. Back then most holograms were simple gimmicks—I remember a glowing human skull. These pieces are closer to the late works of Kandinsky, if the dots and lines in those paintings could reach out and touch you.

Holograms are “interactive,” to employ a much-abused term. You know how the eyes of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa follow you around the room? Well, an entire hologram pursues you—and performs for you. The best way to view an installation is to pace back and forth in front of it, like a lawyer conducting a cross-examination. And in some cases, you should bob your head up and down.

(Certain holograms are designed to shift horizontally, others both horizontally and vertically.)

Michael Bleyenberg’s Shaman is a shrewd double selfportrait, one image in profile, the other facing forward, in a white half-mask inscribed with geometric designs. It’s the visual equivalent of a Jungian therapy session. Both

faces share an elongated, rather archaic fedora.

Ray Park is represented by three tall, sinuous vases.

The holograms are on the back, so one may place violets or dried grasses in the vases, and allow their shapes to interact with the art. This is the first functional hologram I’ve ever seen (unless you count the ones on Visa cards).

Betsy Connors’s Light Reef calls attention to the crisis in the world’s oceans with a meticulous reconstruction of a coral reef, glowing ember-red. A protest hologram!

Most of the pieces in “Iridescence” are quite colorful, but Lana Blum’s Birth is a graceful monochrome rendering of a winged dancer.

As with much of today’s technology, it’s more or less impossible to explain how holography works. Here’s one try: A hologram is made by splitting a laser’s light into two separate beams, which bounce off an object to create a three-dimensional image. One might call it sculpting with light. The first holographic picture—of a toy train and a bird—was made by two physicists in 1962. It wasn’t until 1968 that artists became involved.

Eventually first-rate art stars made holographic works: Salvador Dali, Bruce Nauman, Louise Bourgeois, Roy Lichtenstein, and James Turrell. Andy Warhol sat for a holographic portrait while reading a copy of Interview magazine. At one point, there were three museums devoted to the hologram.

Laser Focus “IRIDESCENCE” AT THE HOLOCENTER IN KINGSTON Through February 18 Holocenter.org By the mid-2000s, the four companies who made the silver halide film emulsion necessary for holograms stopped production. The progress of this art form virtually ground to a halt. Meanwhile, the hologram became a ubiquitous “security” device on credit cards and drivers’ licenses. The Holocenter lost its space on Roosevelt Island, in New York City, during the pandemic, and relocated to 518 Broadway in Kingston last August.

Executive director Linda Law fell under the spell of holograms in 1975, when she entered one of the first shows of the new art at the International Center for Photography. Since then she has performed numerous roles in the world of 3D art: critic, artist, curator, educator—and now administrator.

Law has the delightful idea to teach children in underserved communities how to make holograms.

Bring on the next generation of laser-wielding visionaries!

—Sparrow 2/24 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 67

RED OWL COLLECTIVE 25 CORNELL ST MIDTOWN KINGSTON OPEN THURSDAY TO MONDAY 11AM TIL 6PM REDOWLCOLLECTIVE.COM

Global Connections: Miguel Covarrubias, Isami Doi, Aaron Douglas, and Winold Reiss Winold Reiss, The Painter–Watanabe, ca.1926, Courtesy the Reiss Partnership

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February 4 — July 21, 2024 This exhibition is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT NEW PALTZ www.newpaltz.edu/museum

live music

Nels Cline’s Consentrik Quartet plays The Falcon in Marlboro on February 7.

Petite Noir

Nels Cline’s Consentrik Quartet

Big Head Todd and the Monsters

February 2 at No Fun Congolese singer-songwriter, musician, and producer Petite Noir (born Yannick Diekeno Ilunga in 1990) got his start as half of the duo Popskarr and made his solo debut with the 2015 EP The King of Anxiety, which found much favor at Pitchfork and elsewhere. Now signed to WARP Records, he just released Motherfather, which blends art pop, postpunk, hip-hop, electronica, Afrobeat, and modern R&B. With Jordan Taylor Hill and Wavy Cunningham. (Flatwounds, Ngame, and others rock February 1; Jon Spencer wails February 11.) 7pm. $15.64. Troy.

February 7 at the Falcon Guitar genius Nels Cline is known to the larger world as a long-time member of alternative rock giants Wilco, but his parallel resume as a staunchly searching jazz and experimental player long precedes his tenure with Jeff Tweedy’s group and continues alongside of it. A resident of the western Hudson Valley these days, the bandleader brings his mind-blowing new Consentrik Quartet, which also includes drummer Tom Rainey, bassist Chris Lightcap, and saxophonist Ingrid Laubock, out for this rare date. (Don Byron bops back February 4; Kurt Rosenwinkel dazzles February 10.) 7pm. Donation requested. Marlboro.

February 12 at Levon Helm Studios Closing in on their 40th year, Colorado’s Big Head Todd and the Monsters have hit the road to promote “Her Way Out,” the lead single from their forthcoming 12th studio album. “It has become a band favorite for how it’s musically reminiscent of Tom Petty, but also for its original and compelling lyrics and Springsteen-esque bridge,” says leader Todd Park Mohr. “The song has a chorus that shifts meaning after each of the verses…

Basically, ‘Her Way Out’ is tough guitar and piano rock betrayed by a lyric that implies trust is fragile, and true love is a difficult but empowering achievement if it is maintained.” (Glen Phillips and Shawn Mullins appear February 23; Driftwood floats by March 1.) 7:30pm. $90$100. Woodstock.

Lenny Kaye February 3 at the Local As the founding guitarist of the Patti Smith Group and the compiler of Nuggets, Lenny Kaye is among the most impactful icons in the rock ’n’ roll pantheon. He’s also a producer (Suzanne Vega, Soul Asylum) and author whose most recent literary effort, 2022’s Lighting Striking: Ten Transformative Moments in Rock and Roll, examines selected flashpoint scenes from across the music’s timeline: Memphis in 1954, Liverpool in 1962, San Francisco in 1967, New York in 1975, etc. For this intimate eve he’ll read from the book, tell stories, and perform solo acoustic songs. (Joy Clark strums February 1; Cindy Cashdollar and Tombs Dixon tap in February 24.) 8pm. $35.44. Saugerties.

The Savage Young Beatles February 7 at Daryl’s House In the years before Beatlemania swept the US and the quartet morphed into the phenomenon that changed the world and music itself, the Beatles were a raw, leatherclad band of brothers learning their craft by blasting out tough early rock ’n’ roll covers on the Reeperbahn and at the Cavern Club. In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Fab Four’s original invasion, the Savage Young Beatles, who are made up of twenty- and thirtysomethings from both sides of the Atlantic, land with the living, screaming, sweating, yeah-yeah-yeah-ing party. (Steve Forbert tunes up February 2; Rhett Miller returns February 29.) 7pm. $27.69-$44.17. Pawling.

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue February 23 at UPAC New Orleans native Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews was raised in the city’s vibrant Treme neighborhood and has taken the deep music of his hometown around the world, working with some of the biggest names in jazz, funk, rock, hip hop, and pop. An exuberant bandleader since the age of six as well as an actor, producer, and philanthropist, the trombonist blows through our region this month on his torrid “Shorty Gras” tour. The Soul Rebels open. (The Bardavon presents the Met’s “Florencia en al Amazona” on February 10 and “The Effects of Gravity” on February 16.) 8pm. $49-$69. Kingston.

—Peter Aaron 2/24 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 69

short list

Game Changers Film Series

So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls

February 1-June 20 at UPAC and the Bardavon Running through the end of June, this film series will feature a dozen movies that revolutionized cinema. The classic of classics, Orson Welle’s Citizen Kane kicks off the screenings on February 1. A number of movies well known to contemporary moviegoers will be shown, including Black Panther (February 15) and Moonlight (June 20). The real gems here are less well-known films, like Akira Kurosawa’s film noir masterpiece from 1949, Stray Dog (March 7) and Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s Close-Up, a tale of fractured human identity from 1990 (May 9). Free. Poughkeepsie and Kingston.

February 7 at Tinker Street Cinema Tinker Street Cinema is the movie theater equivalent of free-form radio, programming whatever it damn well pleases, from screenings of “Gumby” cartoons to Johnny Weismuller in 1932’s Tarzan the Apeman. This eclectic mix features a release party for local bestselling author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong’s latest from Dey Street Books, So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls (and Why We’re Still So Obsessed with It). Clips from the endlessly quotable 2004 classic will be shown and Armstrong will dish on the behind-the-scenes details with Sari Botton.

Books will be on sale from the Golden Notebook at a signing afterwards. $6-$10. Woodstock.

Winter Hoot February 2-4 at the Ashokan Center Think of the Winter Hoot as a weekend-long house party hosted by musicians Ruth Ungar Merenda and her husband Mike Merenda at the Ashokan Center, their bucolic home in the woods. The three-day festival kicks off with a Friday night performance by local folk royalty Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. Saturday’s line-up includes Mikaela Davis (read a profile of Davis on page 64), singer Storey Littleton, with the Merendas’ band, the Mammals, headlining. On-site lodging available, sold separately. Weekend pass, $50. Olivebridge.

Cirque Zuma Zuma

“Alice by Heart”

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

February 2-11 at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck Inspired by Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland, this musical by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater (“Spring Awakening”), was first performed by London’s Royal National Theater in 2012. In the rubble of the London Blitz of World War II, Alice Spencer’s budding teen life is turned upside down, and she and her dear friend Alfred are forced to take shelter in an underground tube station.

When the ailing Alfred is quarantined, Alice encourages him to escape with her into their favorite, cherished book and journey once more down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. This Teens on Stage production is directed

by Lynne Czajka with musical direction by Russell McCook. Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 3pm. $19. Rhinebeck.

February 10 at the Rosendale Theater Dick Van Dyke swore off the terrible Cockney accent he tried out in Mary Poppins for his next British movie musical, 1968’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Van Dyke plays inventor Caractacus Potts, who builds an onomatopoetically named flying car for him and his girlfriend, the terrifically named Truly Scrumptious, to drive, fly, and sail around in with his two angel-headed, singing children. There’s an evil baron as well to provide a little drama amidst all the singing and dancing. The film is loosely based on the children’s novel by Ian Fleming.

3pm. $6-$10. Rosendale.

The Artichoke Storytelling Series February 3 at the Howland Cultural Center Now in its fifth year, the Artichoke features award-winning storytellers from such well-known series and podcasts as “The Moth,” “Story Collider,” and “Risk,” as well as the occasional Beaconite thrown in to round out the lineup.

Artichoke stories tend be funny or uplifting—they can get dark, but they usually end on a high note—and they are under 10 minutes. These are rapid-fire storytelling events with seasoned raconteurs. The February show will feature Gastor Almonte, Michaela Murphy, Jamie Brickhouse, Sean O’Brien, Ivy Eisenberg, and Tina McKenna. 8pm. $20. Beacon.

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February 10 at Paramount Hudson Valley After touring the world as an acrobat and circus performer, Kenyan-born John Jacob realized he never saw an African circus show. He established Cirque Zuma Zuma in 2005 to showcase African culture and circus artists from his continent. Often described as an Africanstyle Cirque du Soleil, Zuma Zuma showcases African culture through rhythmic high-energy performances in dance, acrobatics, tumbling, limbo, singing, and more.

5pm. $25-$39.50. Peekskill.

Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards February 17 at Bard College There are currently more books being banned than ever before in US history. To combat this, the Eleanor Roosevelt Center and the Fisher Center at Bard present the inaugural Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards ceremony celebrating those championing intellectual freedom and the fight against censorship. Judy Blume—no stranger to having her books banned—will receive the award for Bravery in Literature. Six other authors will receive awards for their work focusing on racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and gender equality: Laurie Halse Anderson for Shout, Mike Curato for Flamer, Alex Gino for Melissa, George M. Johnson for All Boys Aren’t Blue, Jelani Memory for A Kids Book About Racism, and Maia Kobabe for Gender Queer. 7:30pm. $25-$65. Annandale-on-Hudson.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Banned Book Awards ceremony at Bard College on February 17 will honor Mike Curato (Flamer), George M. Johnson (All Boys Aren't Blue), Laurie Halse Anderson (Shout), Jelani Memory (A Kid's Book About Racism), and Maia Kobabe (Gender Queer).

Fortune Feimster February 18 at the Bardavon At a time when a number of comedians are spilling hate and vitriol on marginalized groups in front of stadiumsized crowds—all the while complaining that their speech is being constrained—Fortune Feimster’s humanistic stand-up is needed more than ever. The confessional comic bridges ages, backgrounds, and sexual orientations through her very peronsal storytelling and ability to create intimacy in front of hundreds of strangers every night. She’s your funniest cousin who isn’t afraid to spill the tea about her insecurities and good fortune. (Her bit about realizing she was gay while watching a Lifetime special about a girl struggling to come out to her mother is comedy gold.) Shows at 4:30pm and 7pm. $29.50-$65.

VIP: $165. Poughkeepsie.

It’s Basic Film Screening February 28 at Hudson Hall The idea behind the Universal Basic Income concept is a simple one—giving unrestricted direct payments to the people will inprove their financial circumstances.

Since 2020, HudsonUP has launched three UBI cohorts in the city of Hudson and currently serves 128 Hudson residents who receive $500 a month, guaranteed. Marc Levin’s film It’s Basic profiles several UBI pilot programs in the US and explores the power of money, the importance of dignity, and the ongoing work of providing an income floor through the eyes of guaranteed income recipients who have witnessed firsthand the life-altering effects of financial stability. Panel discussion following the 6pm screening. Free. Hudson

Ballet Hispanico March 2 at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center Ballet Hispanico is not only one of the nation’s most renowned Latino dance organizations, it is also a catalyst for social change, providing a haven for Black and Brown families seeking place and artistic sanctuary since 1970.

By creating the space for Hispanic dance and dancers to flourish, Ballet Hispanico uplifts marginalized artists and youth, which, combined with the training, cultural pride, and the power of representation, fuels the organization’s trajectory. For its stop at the Mahaiwe, the company will perform Línea Recta by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, ¡Si Señor! ¡Es Mi Son! (excerpt) by Alberto Alonso, Danse Creole (excerpt) by Geoffrey Holder, Buscando a Juan (excerpt) by Eduardo Vilaro, and 18+1 by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano. 8pm. $34-$84. Great Barrington.

music

The idea for Ladysmith Black Mambazo came to its founding leader, Joseph Shabalala, in his sleep. In 1964 the South African singer formed the traditional male choral group as a way to emulate the sounds of the Zulu isicathamiya harmonies he’d experienced in a recurring dream, adding younger vocalists to the earlier group he’d been leading and renaming it for his hometown of Ladysmith; the black ox, regionally regarded as the strongest farm animal; and the mambazo or “axe,” a reference to the group’s ability to “chop down” competitors at singing contests. The last part of the moniker proved prophetic: In short order Ladysmith Black Mambazo found themselves being barred from competing in such tournaments, simply because they were winning them all; soon, the ensemble was showing up at the events just to perform.

Their popularity continued to rise, eventually reaching the ears of Paul Simon, who enlisted them to sing on his 1986 album Graceland. The disc was a worldwide smash, selling over 16 million copies and making Ladysmith Black Mambazo a global success along the way. Although Shabalala died in 2020, the group continues to tour and record. Ladysmith Black Mambazo will perform at the Colony in Woodstock on February 22 at 8pm. Tickets are $40-$75. Group member Albert Mazibuko answered the questions below by email.

—Peter Aaron Recently, the group has been releasing albums of live concert recordings made during its 30-plus years of touring the world. What has it been like for the members to go back and listen to these recordings?

What kinds of thoughts and feelings come to you as you reflect on these past performances?

It is quite a surprise at how moving it is for us to listen to these old concerts. Very moving and emotional. To hear how we’ve grown over the years and decades is very good to hear as well. Plus, the concerts from the 1980s have members who have passed away, so hearing their

voices brings back very beautiful memories. We’re very happy that we can hear these older concerts.

Over the years, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has had many great collaborations, most famously of course with Paul Simon. In 2006, you sang with the great Pete Seeger, a very well-loved resident of our area who, as a member of the folk group the Weavers, helped to make South African singer Solomon Linda’s song “Mbube” famous around the world when he recorded it as “Wimoweh” in 1951 (the song was also a hit in 1961 when the Tokens recorded it as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”). What was it like to meet and work with Pete Seeger?

Pete was a huge fan of ours. It was a blessing to know him. He would come to our concerts when we were in the Hudson Valley area. He was remarkable and we miss him quite a bit. His enthusiasm and love of music from other parts of the world was deep and real. We learned so much from him about the history of music.

It’s been four years since Joseph Shabalala passed away. What are some important lessons that he imparted to you about continuing to make music with the group before he passed?

Joseph always said he wanted Ladysmith Black Mambazo to be about the music and tradition and not about him. It was a dream for him to retire and hand the group to his sons to continue. Joseph always told us it was important to stay true to the tradition. We certainly collaborated with other artists, but we tried to stay true to what we do within other’s music. Stay true to the tradition. That’s the most important lesson we learned from Joseph Shabalala.

One of the styles of music that your group is most known for singing, isicathamiya, developed within the harsh conditions faced by Black miners in South Africa, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s members

Living the Dream LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO AT THE COLONY February 22 Colonywoodstock.com

and families have themselves experienced very dark and difficult times. Somehow, though, the group’s music is always beautiful and quite often very happy and positive-feeling. Why do think this is the case?

It’s important to find a place within your own mind to have happiness and peace. It doesn’t matter if you are poor or if you are rich. You need to balance the bad with something good, something beautiful. That’s what we always wanted to be part of. In South Africa and its difficult history, we wanted to be something positive and beautiful for our fans. When we started traveling to other parts of the world, we would meet people with problems of their own, not so different than South Africans. Music was, is, and will always be a soothing source of peace.

Always. We’re so happy we can bring that to some people.

What do you most hope audiences feel and experience when they come to see you perform?

We certainly hope that our audience members find peace and something that they can take with them and keep special. We want them to learn of our South African traditional music and how important it is. How traditional music, whether it’s from South Africa, the US, or anywhere else, is something important. It’s music close to the people. Something that usually has developed over decades and centuries. It’s music that needs to be shared and kept alive. When we perform, we feel we are keeping our tradition alive and the audience is sharing in that with us and for us. We hope for a magical experience for our audience.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 71

art exhibits

1053 GALLERY

ANN STREET GALLERY

ATHENS CULTURAL CENTER

“Light Codes.” Photographs by Jessica Eaton, Don Freeman, Claire Gilliam, Emily Johnston, Parker Manis, Brendan Pattengale, Kate Quarfordt, Kathleen Sweeney, Dan Tapia, Caroll Taveras, and an installation by Lindsay Comstock and Monte Wilson. Curated by Lindsay Comstock. Through February 25.

“From the Ground UP.” A convergence of local community stakeholders and artists dedicated to imagining, rendering, and presenting collaboratively-designed visions for remembering and honoring African-Americans buried in, and disinterred from, Newburgh’s “Colored Burial Ground.” Led by Artist Researcher in Residence Jean-Marc Superville Sovak. Community gatherings, performances, and events will take place every Saturday afternoon through February 24.

“Movement Aids the Process.” Installation by Sean Desiree and Yangyang Rawden. Through February 11.

ART BITES

BEATTIE POWERS HOUSE

1053 MAIN STREET, FLEISCHMANNS

510 WARREN ST GALLERY

510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON “Flowers and Forests.” New works by Jim Koester. Through February 4.

“My Garden.” Recent paintings by Kate Knapp.

February 2-25.

THE ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM

258 MAIN STREET, RIDGEFIELD, CT “Chiffon Thomas: The Cavernous.” Three monumental sculptures. Through March 17.

“Yvette Mayorga: Dreaming of You.” Eight paintings, an artist-designed wallpaper, and a ceramic vase. Through March 17.

“Amanda Martinez: Canta Y No Llores.” A series of wall reliefs and freestanding sculptures referencing adobe construction, the works are a translation of earth-building techniques using mud and straw indigenous to New Mexico into a studio-based practice. Through May 5.

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104 ANN STREET, NEWBURGH

8 SECOND STREET, HIGH FALLS “Curious Arias.” Work by Irja Boden and Eduardo Cure. Through February 11.

ART GALLERY 71

71 EAST MARKET STREET, RHINEBECK “Soft Power.” Paintings by Jennifer Levine.

February 1-28.

24 SECOND STREET, ATHENS

BANNERMAN ISLAND GALLERY 150 MAIN STREET, BEACON

“Annual Small Works Exhibition.” Group show.

Through February 5.

“Art of the Garden.” Group show.

February 10-April 7.

10 POWERS PLACE, CATSKILL “Patrick Milbourn.” Work from the past four decades. February 17-May 15.

BAU GALLERY

506 MAIN STREET, BEACON

“3WI.” A newly commissioned installation combining video, sound, and performance by Dion “TYGAPAW” McKenzie. Through February 17.

“Alchemy / Paper and Sticks.” Work by Loren Eiferman and Midori Furutate.

February 10-March 3.

“Climate Line.” Installation of a video projection and paper doll-like drawings.

February 10-March 3.

“Elemental Conversations.” Wood-fired ceramics

by Meg Beaudoin. February 10-March 3.

ARTS MID-HUDSON GALLERY

BERKSHIRE MUSEUM

“Still I Rise.” Group show of Black artists curated

by Willie Mae Brown. Through February 29.

“Painted Pages: Illuminated Manuscripts, 13th–18th Centuries.” Thirty-five works—some with elaborate gold leaf decoration and intricate

ART OMI

1405 COUNTY ROUTE 22, GHENT

696 DUTCHESS TURNPIKE, SUITE F, POUGHKEEPSIE

39 SOUTH STREET, PITTSFIELD, MA

Drawing for Grand Budapest Hotel, Carl Sprague, ink and watercolor, 2016.

Sprague, a stage and screen designer, is showing drawings and designs from his many of the projects he's worked on, including his longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Wes Anderson. Through February 24 at Opalka Gallery in Albany.

art exhibits

Untitled Indenture, Doug Navarra, gouache, ink, pencil, on found paper, 19" x 16", 2007. From “Ordinary Alchemy,” a group show at the Woodstock Byrdliffe Guild through February 25.

ornament— from medieval bibles, prayer books, psalters, books of hours, choir books, missals, breviaries, and lectionaries drawn from the collection of the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania. February 3-May 5.

BILL ARNING EXHIBITIONS/ HUDSON VALLEY

17 BROAD STREET, KINDERHOOK “Winter’s Long Embrace.” Work by Nick Barbee, Sallie Barbie, Chris Bernsten, Nayland Blake, T. J. Griffin, Karsen Heagle, Joe Klockowski, Philip Knoll, Scooter LaForge, Stephen Lack, Thedra Cullar Ledford, Jean Paul Mallozi, Mark Ponder, Gerardo Rosales, Elijah Ruhala, Carol Saft, Michael St. John, David Sokosh, and Michael Walden. Through March 9.

CAROL COREY FINE ART

6 NORTH MAIN STREET, KENT, CT “It’s All in Black and White.” Work by Roz Chast, Dozier Bell, Rick Shaefer, Mia Rosenthal, Susan Hartnett, John Guthire, and Emily Eveleth.

February 10-March 17.

THE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK 474 BROADWAY, KINGSTON

“Levee: Photographs by Adrianna Ault.” Photographs of New Orleans. Through March 17.

CHANGO LIFE ARTS

211 FISHKILL AVENUE, BEACON “Wanted Dead and Alive.” Work by 20-year-old Cuban artist Sheyla. Through March 31.

CLARK ART INSTITUTE 225 SOUTH STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA

“50 Years and Forward: British Prints and Drawings Acquisitions.” Work by Thomas Rowlandson, J. M. W. Turner, Thomas Girtin, Hugh William Williams, John Constable, Samuel Palmer, Thomas Frye, Evelyn de Morgan, and Anna Alma-Tadema. Through February 11.

CREATE GALLERY

398 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL “What We Hold: Stories + Objects.” Work by women artists. February 9-March 10.

DIA BEACON

3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON “Mary Heilman: Starry Night.” Long-term view.

“Andy Warhol: Shadows.” An installation that surrounds the viewer with a series of canvases presented edge-to-edge around the perimeter of the room.

DISTORTION SOCIETY

155 MAIN STREET, BEACON “A Hidden Quiet.” Abstract paintings by Taj Campman. February 10-April 6.

EXPOSURES GALLERY

1357 KINGS HWY, SUGAR LOAF “Africa Awakening: Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia.”

Photographs by Nick Zungoli. Through April 30.

FRANCES LEHMAN LOEB ART CENTER

124 RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE “Women at Work: Photography and Labor.”

Exhibition explores the relationship between photography and labor, spanning the early 1900s to the present, featuring seven American women photographers: Jessie Tarbox Beals, Margaret Bourke-White, Mary Lloyd Estrin, Remy Holwick,

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art exhibits THE HYDE COLLECTION

SEPTEMBER

“Venetian Vistas.” Through April 21.

“Decorating in Style: Furniture from the Permanent Collection.” Through April 21.

“Paul Anthony Smith: Passage.” Photo-based Caribbean landscapes. Through June 2.

“Figure Show/Nell Brookfield.” Work by Nell Brookfield, Eve Ackroyd, Maria Korol, Sarah Lee, Melissa Monroe, Sara Alice Moran, Taylor Morgan, Sonia Ruscoe, Allyson Melberg Taylor, and Brittany Tucker. February 10-April 7.

KATONAH MUSEUM OF ART

STONE RIDGE LIBRARY

“Young Artists 2024.” Group show.

February 11-March 3.

“Hudson Valley Landscapes.” Oil Paintings by Kate Masters. Through February 25.

LABSPACE

SUNY WESTCHESTER CENTER FOR THE DIGITAL ARTS GALLERY

161 WARREN STREET, GLENS FALLS

134 JAY STREET, KATONAH.

2642 NY ROUTE 23, HILLSDALE “Holiday.” Group show of small work.

Through February 11.

LONGYEAR GALLERY

785 MAIN STREET, MARGARETVILLE “Members' Winter Group Exhibit.”

Through February 11.

MAGAZZINO ITALIAN ART

2700 ROUTE 9, COLD SPRING. “Welcome to New York!” Work by Michelangelo Pistoletto, coinciding with the artist’s 90th birthday. Through June 24.

GEARY CONTEMPORARY

34 MAIN STREET, MILLERTON “Will Hutnick.” Paintings. February 24-April 14.

GREEN KILL

229 GREENKILL AVENUE, KINGSTON “John McGiff.” Paintings. Through February 24.

OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE 5720 ROUTE 9G, HUDSON

“Spectacle: Frederic Church and the Business of Art.” Exhibit combines immersive video technology with Olana’s archival holdings to demonstrate how Church’s art responded to the most advanced scientific thought of his day.

Through March 24.

GRIT WORKS | GRIT GALLERY 115 BROADWAY, NEWBURGH

“The Pull.” Painting and sculpture by David Lionheart. Through April 14.

HEADSTONE GALLERY

28 HURLEY AVENUE, KINGSTON “Rumor Mill.” Work by Gretta Johnson and Christine Stiver. Through February 26.

HOLOCENTER

518 BROADWAY, KINGSTON “Iridescence.” Group show of holographic art.

Through February 18.

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“Now & Then.” Group show curated by Jennie Currie featuring work by Mizuyo Aburano, Harriet (Hallie) Adamo, Robin Adler, Laura Avello, Bob Barnes, Lynne Bilenkey, Elizabeth Broad, Nancy Campbell, Heather Caufield, and many others.

Through March 2.

“I Should Have Been a Pair of Ragged Claws.”

Grou show. Through March 16.

TIVOLI ARTISTS GALLERY 60 BROADWAY, TIVOLI

“Figures & Faces.” Group show.

Through February 11.

TREMAINE ART GALLERY AT THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL

11 INTERLAKEN ROAD, LAKEVILLE, CT “between the motion and the act...” Ceramics by Tony Bright and Jon Riedeman.

Through March 2.

TURLEY GALLERY

98 GREEN STREET, SUITE 2, HUDSON “You Think, You Know.” Airbrush paintings by Kevin Ford and Daniel Herwitt’s psychedelic illustrations. February 10-March 17.

WOODSTOCK ARTISTS ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM 28 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK

SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART

WOODSTOCK BYRDCLIFFE GUILD

“Global Connections.” Work by Miguel Covarrubias, Isami Doi, Aaron Douglas, and Winold Reiss. February 4-July 21.

“Hudson Valley Artists 2024: Bibliography.” Work

by Osi Audu, Alta Buden, Shari Diamond, Kerry Downey, Stevenson Estime, eteam (Franziska Lamprecht and Hajoe Moderegger), Aki Goto, Adam Henry, Matthew Kirk, Niki Kriese, Melora Kuhn, Catherine Lord, Sean Sullivan, and Audra Wolowiec. February 4-April 7.

“Ordinary Alchemy.” Work by Hayoon Jay Lee, Xuewu Zheng, and Doug Navarra.

Through February 25.

140 NEW SCOTLAND AVENUE, ALBANY

QUEEN OF ROGUES

“Embrace: Cinematic Moments by James Seward.” Seward explores pivotal moments from classic films such as It’s a Wonderful Life, The Wizard of Oz, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Godfather Part II in paintings.

February 2-May 12.

“Rivers / Flow: Artists Connect.” Work by Norman Akers, Joe Baker, James Bard, Bahar Behbahani, Karl Bodmer, Daniel Putnam Brinley, Lorenzo Clayton and Jacob Burckhardt, James and Ralph Clews, Samuel Colman, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Susan Wides, and many others.

February 2-September 1.

37 FURNACE BANK ROAD, WASSAIC

“Peace, Love & Rock 'n' Roll.” Work by Christopher LaTorre. February 17-March 10.

OPALKA GALLERY

“Dialogue in a Variable Key”. Recent work by Eleni Smolen and Susanna Ronner.

February 10-March 3.

511 WARBURTON AVENUE, YONKERS

1 GALLERY CIRCLE, POUGHKEEPSIE

“Geometric Abstraction.” Work by Ilya Bolotowsky, Konrad Cramer, Rollin Crampton, Ernest Frazier, Helen Gerardia, Anne Helioff, Ralph Moseley, Rolph Scarlett, Miron Sokole, Harry Tedlie, Bernard Steffen, and Roman Wachtel. Through April 14.

“Onaje Benjamin: Storytelling In Black and White.” Black-and-white photographs. Through February 25.

“By a Thread.” Work by Andrea Andalis, Stacy Bogdonoff, Lucille Colin, Hoodie Crescent, Zenona Darrow, and many others. Show juried

by Fritz Hortsman. Through February 25.

“Carl Sprague: Setting the Stage.” Stage and screen designs. Through February 24.

HUDSON RIVER MUSEUM

“Landscapes of Transcendence: Part II—Scenes of Ethereality.” Work by Heather Boose Weiss, Carolyn Monastra, and Leah Oates.

February 1-March 24.

THE WASSAIC PROJECT

HUDSON BEACH GLASS GALLERY 162 MAIN STREET, BEACON

433 WARREN STREET, HUDSON

MASS MOCA

4033 ROUTE 28A, WEST SHOKAN

“Focus on Photographers.” Photographs by Larry Kerschberg, Ronnie Beth Sauers, Tony Cenicola, Pierce Johnston, William A. Loeb, Jane Soodalter and Sandra Belitza-Vazquez. Curated by Kerschberg and Sauers. Through February 25.

SUSAN ELEY FINE ART

“Paintings by Hulbert Waldroup.”

February 26-March 29.

OLIVE FREE LIBRARY

477 MAIN STREET, BEACON

“Student Showcase Exhibition.” Group show of Center for the Digital Arts students and alumni.

February 2-April 26.

“Winter Salon Show.” Group show.

Through March 16.

“Like Magic.” Simone Bailey, Raven Chacon, Grace Clark, Johanna Hedva, Cate O’ConnellRichards, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Rose Salane, Petra Szilagyi, Tourmaline, and Nate Young use healing earth, witches’ brooms, AI, divination, and more to imagine care-full and joy-full futures into being despite the peril promised by the past and present. Through August 31, 2025.

HOWLAND CULTURAL CENTER

27 NORTH DIVISION STREET, PEEKSKILL

MARK GRUBER GALLERY

1040 MASS MOCA WAY, NORTH ADAMS, MA

Susan Meiselas, Carrie Mae Weems, and Janet Yoshii-Buenger. Through March 31.

“Making a Life in Photography: Rollie McKenna.”

Survey of the prolific career of American photographer Rosalie (Rollie) Thorne McKenna (1918–2003). February 17-June 2.

3700 MAIN STREET, STONE RIDGE

THE MILDRED I. WASHINGTON ART GALLERY, DUTCHESS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

13 NEW PALTZ PLAZA, NEW PALTZ

Bust of Socrates, Kevin Ford, acrylic on panel, 16" x 13", 2022 From “You Think, You Know,” at Turley Gallery in Hudson through March 17.

4 HUDSON STREET, KINDERHOOK

2440 ROUTE 28, GLENFORD

1 HAWK DRIVE, SUNY NEW PALTZ

34 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK

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2/24 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 75

Horoscopes

By Cory Nakasue

Melting the Icy Heart of Winter February is the heart of winter in the northern hemisphere; host to the cool and steely sign of Aquarius and the ice-melting sign of Pisces. Much like last month’s six-planet pile-up in Capricorn, this month we’re inundated with six Aquarian planets (this is a trend for the next few months). When we live through planetary clusters like these the experience is cohesive and focused, if lacking some perspective. In Aquarius, we need our space and the freedom to go our own way and think our own thoughts—some of which might be revolutionary! Though the mood can be a bit chilly and distanced during these times, it’s not due to a lack of care.

The progress and wellbeing of humanity as a whole is of great concern for Aquarius—as long as things don’t get too personal.

Aquarius needs a bird’s-eye view.

Aquarius is also host to a new tenant, Pluto, who will spend the next 20 years delving into the shadows of social organizations and movements, technology, and the price of progress. Whatever Pluto touches gets a thorough interrogation and cavity search in order to ferret out secrets and rot. During February, Mercury, Mars, and Venus take turns conjoining Pluto in what looks like a series of private confessions. Just as things start feeling too intense, the sun moves into Pisces on February 18 to soften the sharp edges of Aquarian logic and offer hydration to thirsty hearts. Mercury follows suit on February 23, and our minds turn away from utopian visions and science experiments and toward the sublime, the intuitive, and the dream. The full Moon in Virgo on the 24, which opposes this lyrical Mercury, offers a not-so-rude awakening; more of a helpful nudge to hold what we yearn for in our arms.

ARIES (March 20–April 19)

A current of energy pulses through your social life this month, but I would hardly call it public. You’re amongst many people, but somehow separate, in observation mode. There is much to witness and learn from this vantage point, and it’s impacting you in profound ways. You’re at the beginning stages of altering the way you circulate through your social sphere; perhaps changing the circles you move in or engaging with social media in a different way.

Beware of thinking “what fools these mortals be!”

You are special and smart but definitely not above the human folly of your brethren.

TAURUS (April 19–May 20)

As the trajectory of your public life transforms and deepens, you’re gaining knowledge about the dark side of power—the power that you wield and that which is wielded upon you. The feelings and instincts that have been suppressed in your body can no longer remain underground. The sleeping giant of your desire and ambition is awakening! To avoid an unconscious eruption, feel, name, and own the powerful urges that are coming up before you act. It looks like all eyes are on you this month.

You don’t want to accidentally share something you don’t intend to.

Cory Nakasue is an astrology counselor, writer, and teacher. Her talk show, “The Cosmic Dispatch,” is broadcast on Radio Kingston (1490AM/107.9FM) Sundays from 4-5pm and available on streaming platforms. AstrologybyCory.com 76 HOROSCOPES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

Horoscopes

GEMINI (May 20–June 21)

World events are reshaping your worldview, and over the next several years they will crystallize into a new ethos and outlook on life. This month there’s a wonderful opportunity to feel sturdy about a set of beliefs. As conviction can be elusive for Gemini, this is an opportunity for growth. You might want to funnel your keen intelligence and data-gathering skills into reformation projects that align with this newfound sense of purpose. If in the past you’ve thought of yourself as “traditional,” you may be surprised to connect with “radical” ideas. It’s time to get excited about and explore what’s on the fringes.

CANCER (June 21–July 22)

Yours is one of the more private and sensitive signs of the zodiac. Cancer values safety and intimacy above most things. The intense planetary activity in Aquarius this month isn’t asking you to forsake these things, but it will challenge you to expand your ideas about who you can be intimate with and how to organize meaningful collaboration with others. Trusting people who are not blood relatives or lovers with sensitive material might feel incredibly vulnerable, but you’re being encouraged to find ways to share yourself with a broader human family.

Opening yourself up to loss creates space for gain.

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LEO (July 22–August 23)

Surrendering to the power of others isn’t easy for regal Leo, and yet, on a subterranean level there exists a desire to be consumed. People often take for granted that everyone wants to stand out, feel special, and be master of their domain, but those positions can also feel quite lonely. The allure of powerful people who threaten your sense of control shouldn’t be resisted this month.

The vulnerability you feel in their presence creates an opening for connection via humility. While there’s never an excuse for abuse or manipulation, allowing someone access to your least-prepared parts restores magic.

VIRGO (August 23–September 23)

It’s so important that the ingenuity with which you set up the systems of your life reflect your systems of belief. Too often, what we believe about the world on the grand scale doesn’t show up in our day-to-day reality. This simply won’t fly now. The dissonance would be unbearable. The good news is that you are at your most philosophically inspired and materially inventive right now. What daily practices of repair, devotion, and care can you implement as an homage to a grander vision of being in the world? Bonus points for originality and the revolutionary.

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LIBRA (September 23–October 23)

This month you have the opportunity to flex your under-used contrarian muscles. Forget balance and consensus. This is a time to explore the dark arts and take actions that will expose you to tons of criticism.

Practice welcoming a raised eyebrow or two. Going against the grain isn’t meant to feel smooth. Can you learn to enjoy the friction? As the Moon’s south node continues to traverse your sign, inviting you to break superficial peace-making patterns, take this opportunity to find the joys of disruption. Your genius lies in daring to offend and confronting your fears about discord.

2/24 CHRONOGRAM HOROSCOPES 77

Horoscopes

SCORPIO (October 23–November 22)

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The lives of those who came before us hold many mysteries. You may find yourself compelled to start a little digging into the past for information about the people you’re descended from. Do not dismiss this urge as a casual curiosity though. There’s valuable information in your past that will help you make foundational changes that will improve your circumstances in the future. You now have an opportunity to interrupt ancestral cycles by pulling them up by their roots—or consciously propagate them in your own special way. How are you altering your family story regarding belonging and safety?

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 22)

You’re about to get a glimpse into the origins of your opinions and mental habits. You’ll be able to decipher information from indoctrination, and once you do, you’ll truly be able to think independently. Experiment locally.

What do most of your neighbors, coworkers, and social media contacts think about current events? Where do they get their information? Do you agree with them?

If not, why? Would you feel comfortable challenging them? The more willing you are to seek information from alternative sources and understand how you process information, the more comfortable you’ll be as a dissenter. Your mind is cracking open!

CAPRICORN (December 22–January 20)

You have much to gain by exploring the hive-mind of any environment you find yourself in. While you tend to be a late adopter of social, financial, and technological trends, you could at least open up to a deeper investigation of the latest practices that everyone else is excited about. February is also a great time to learn about your value as an interconnected member of your community. As time goes on you’ll get richer in terms of assets, opportunities, and self-esteem only to the degree that others are benefiting as well. Trade the ladder for the network.

AQUARIUS (January 20–February 19)

When we reach the end of certain stories that are no longer relevant for us, we may be tempted to resist surrendering to the inevitable. I urge you to get curious about the things that are beginning to corrode, become stagnant, or inert. You are granted x-ray vision this month to see into the mystery of your own mind, heart, and energy. The root of problems and unviable elements of your life are exposed and you become privy to knowledge that was kept from you.

Open the door wider so that whatever needs to leave can. You’re at the beginning stages of regeneration and deep empowerment.

PISCES (February 20–March 19)

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78 HOROSCOPES CHRONOGRAM 2/24

FAMILY

While the first part of February has you feeling an uncharacteristic lack of sympathy and ruthless objectivity, know that there’s nothing wrong with distancing yourself from others. You may be tempted to judge yourself. Instead, look at this as an opportunity to feel your difference and individuality without the guilt. This will be especially useful at the end of the month at the Virgo full Moon. People will want tangible answers from you and ask you to justify your dreams.

You don’t owe anybody explanations on their terms, but it might feel grounding to be able to describe what’s real to yourself.

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parting shot

Painting the Town Shadowland’s Mural Makeover Amy Park’s mural design for Shadowland Stages in Ellenville was inspired by theatrical lighting.

Shadowland Stages has contributed to Ellenville’s cultural scene since 1985. But what most theatergoers didn’t know is that Shadowland comprises a three-building campus.

Now, after the completion of an expansive mural project designed by artist Amy Park, it’s impossible to overlook.

The murals cover all the exterior walls of the Shadowland campus, totaling over 15,000 square feet. The project started when the Shadowland board of directors approached Park, who owns an art studio in Ellenville with her partner, sculptor Paul Villinski. The goal was to unify the entire campus, which consists of three buildings with different architectural styles: a 1920s Art Deco vaudeville theater, a Mid-Century Modern former department store, and a renovated auto parts store.

Park had used architectural facades as the subject for her paintings for 25 years, and she was excited by the opportunity to do something on a large scale. To make the mural designs, she photographed all the walls to be painted, created drawings of the photographs, and then made photocopies of the drawings. “They were like coloring book pages,” says Park. “I’d print out 20, or even 50 copies of each wall, and I would just sit and make watercolor designs on each one.” Ultimately, she settled on cone-shaped geometric patterns in white and several shades of blue, based on abstractions of theater lights illuminating a stage.

Park’s designs were finalized in the summer, and, with funding from an anonymous donor, the actual painting began. Monticello muralist Josh Deitchman initiated the painting from September to October, with Ellenville painter Sheryl Richmond completing it in November. To ensure longevity, the murals are covered in an anti-graffiti coating, which shields it from UV damage and facilitates easy cleaning.

While the project unifies the buildings, Park notes that each wall has a distinctive design, tailored to its overall dimensions, style, and placement on the village block.

“One of the things that’s really fun about it is that when walking around, it becomes really interactive, almost like being in a collage,” says Park. “It’s always moving and always a little bit different.”

Reflecting on the murals, Shadowland board president Jim McIntyre notes, “Originally, we just wanted a theme, or something that would tie everything together. We didn’t envision Shadowland becoming a work of art in its own right.”

—Ryan Keegan 80 PARTING SHOT CHRONOGRAM 2/24

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