In the company of artists

In the company of artists

Curator Henry Klimowicz, left, with artists Brigitta Varadi and Amy Podmore at The Re Institute

Aida Laleian

For anyone who wants a deeper glimpse into how art comes about, an on-site artist talk is a rich experience worth the trip.On Saturday, June 14, Henry Klimowicz’s cavernous Re Institute — a vast, converted 1960’s barn north of Millerton — hosted Amy Podmore and Brigitta Varadi, who elucidated their process to a small but engaged crowd amid the installation of sculptures and two remarkable videos.

Though they were all there at different times, a common thread among Klimowicz, Podmore and Varadi is their experience of New Hampshire’s famed MacDowell Colony. The silence, the safety of being able to walk in the woods at night, and the camaraderie of other working artists are precious goads to hardworking creativity. For his part, for fifteen years, Klimowicz has promoted community among thousands of participating artists, in the hope that the pairs or groups he shows together will always be linked. “To be an artist,” he stressed, “is to be among other artists.”

Curator and owner Klimowicz and both artists spoke of the physicality of making art, revealing an abounding intimacy with their materials. Podmore recounted seeking the perfect bare branches to use in her “Fall,” the piece that dominates the center of the space.She would find those that most suggested figures slipping into a fall, and mimic them herself, as animators do for accuracy, before admitting them into the crew now lying on the floor.Each isunique, but all are united by their red-socked feet, which, though tiny, are touchingly rendered in adult proportions. For art professor Podmore, they signal how “failing in public” is a phenomenon today’s students must learn to navigate.

For Varadi, whose background is Rusyn-Carpathian, the main medium is Karakul sheep’s wool, a particularly robust variety used in Persian carpets. Her process of felting the fiber involves extremely hard labor; she wryly expressed hope that technology would ease the burden of this long-term project, best seen in her huge wall piece, “With Their Backs to the Mountains.” The title refers to the staunch resilience of her ancestors — stateless but proud, subject to historical violence.

In Varadi’s video “Hunia-Permission to Be,” the color red amid the chiaroscuro of snowy winter forests offers a mesmerizing counterpart to Podmore’s floorpiece.Wearing the traditional, oversized red felted coat called the Hunia, the artist silently plods through the lovely scene, suggesting cycles of effort, disappearing and reappearing.

Podmore’s video adds the aural element, with the creaking of trees rubbing against each other at various tilts.The title “Fifteen Degrees” indicates a tree’s maximum safe angle from vertical. Reflecting this, two silhouetted jointed figures lean against each other — by turns intimate and aggressive — a shockingly apt metaphor for current society.

“As a younger artist,” Podmore observed, “I was very serious about the human condition; now I see that it is just bizarre.”

Another of Podmore’s works, “Audience” — now on view at Mass MoCA — gives a nod and a wink to our strange time.Hundreds of unique plaster-cast baskets mounted along an 85-foot wall, some fitted with single mechanical eyes, offer viewers the experience of being viewed, to the quiet cacophony of eyes popping open.A must-see through Nov. 30.

The Re Institute exhibition can be seen through July 5, with hours Saturdays 1 to 4 p.m. and by appointment.More information at the reinstitute.com.

Latest News

Millerton Police Dept. rebuilds after fire; new cruisers on the way

The borrowed Pine Plains cruiser parked on Main Street in front of the Millerton Inn during the Millerton Street Fair on Saturday, June 28.

Photo by Aly Morrissy

MILLERTON — After receiving substantial state grant funding in July 2024 and beginning to roll out new equipment that fall, the Millerton Police Department suffered a setback when the February fire at the Village Water and Highway Department building destroyed much of its newly acquired gear — including patrol vehicles outfitted with cutting-edge technology.

Thanks to full-value insurance coverage and swift support from the Town of Pine Plains — which loaned the department a vehicle — Millerton officers were able to remain active in the community. Millerton Police Chief Joseph Olenik said two custom-built, four-wheel-drive Ford Interceptor cruisers are now in production and are expected to arrive by the end of the summer.

Keep ReadingShow less
Uncertainty looms over Millerton community pool timeline

Groundbreaking of the new pool planned for Eddie Collins Park has been delayed after the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation intervened to determine the status of wetlands in the proposed building site.

Archive photo

MILLERTON — The long-awaited groundbreaking for a new community pool at Eddie Collins Memorial Park — once expected this past April — now faces significant delays with no definitive timeline in sight, Mayor Jenn Najdek said.

The primary setback stems from a still-pending permitting process, as the village awaits final approvals from the Dutchess County Board of Health and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding septic placement and wetland buffers. A patch of wetlands on the site — roughly five feet by five feet, Najdek said — requires a protective buffer, which could range anywhere from 5 to 100 feet. That determination will dictate whether the current pool design needs to be altered or moved altogether.

Keep ReadingShow less
North East town records brought into the digital age

Chris Virtuoso reorganized parcel records in the North East Town Hall basement by parcel number during the process of scanning and digitizing the documents.

Photo by Grace DeMarco

MILLERTON — Within the walls of the two-story Victorian housing the North East Town Hall lies a room-full of town records dating back to the late 19th century. Stored in labeled cardboard boxes and protected by dehumidifiers, the records are in the process of being dated, organized, and scanned into categorized online programs.

As the Town Hall works to relocate to 5603 Route 22 at the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness, the consolidation and digitalization of records, as well as the disposal of those unneeded, is a time-sensitive project. Marcy Wheatley, the Deputy Town Clerk, emphasized their current heavy focus on organizing and scanning. “Now, when we move, we can get rid of a lot,” Wheatley stated.

Keep ReadingShow less
Fun, food and facts bring crowds to downtown Millerton

Nora Garcia, 6, of Millerton, bottom right, gets a face painting treatment from Maddy Rowe, a Webutuck High School senior. Nora’s sister, Juliana, 8, top right, is decorated by Giana Kall, a Webutuck senior. The program was sponsored by the Webutuck PTA.

Photo by John Coston

Locals and visitors packed into downtown Millerton Saturday, June 28, for the first ever Millerton Street Fair hosted by the Millerton News, the Millerton Business Alliance and Townscape. Representatives from local nonprofits, businesses along Main Street, Bee Bee the Clown and face painters from Webutuck High School drew in crowds all afternoon.

Festivities officially opened at 10 a.m., and a steady stream of visitors soon followed. Volunteer firefighters hosted a bouncy castle, a duck pool, a “put out the fire” ring toss game, and the “touch a truck” event at the fire department’s garage.

Keep ReadingShow less