MILLBROOK — A festive wine and hors d’oeuvres reception opened the traditional Friends of the Library Holiday Silent Auction on Friday, Dec. 5. Area residents took advantage of the opportunity to survey the more than 120 items being auctioned. Bidding will remain open until Saturday, Dec. 20, when the auction will end with another reception and an opportunity for last-minute bidding between 3:30 and 5 p.m.
Auction chairperson Sam Falk indicated that all auction proceeds support the library’s special projects that are not included in the normal operating budget.
“I’m always amazed at the generosity of the community,” Falk said, as she prepared the opening, looking after the final touches.
Although this year’s event marks 17 years of the Holiday Auction, the years have not been consecutive, Falk said, because of the hiatus brought by the pandemic.
Keeping the refreshment table refreshed at the opening reception for the Holiday Silent Auction on Friday, Dec. 5, were Robert McHugh, President of the Millbrook Historical Society, and Sam Falk, chairperson of the auction.Photo by Leila Hawken
The event coincided with the popular Parade of Lights in Millbrook, making the evening a true community event.
Falk said a core group of roughly 10 committee members took on a variety of responsibilities, including securing donated auction items, managing publicity, and overseeing event preparations.
Items being auctioned include a family membership and private tour of Innisfree Garden, personal training sessions and classes at Kyle’s Functional Fitness, 100 gallons of heating oil from Taylor, a weekend stay at Albanhaus Kennel for a pet, dinner for two at Stissing House,dinner for two at Panacea, a variety of gift baskets, antiques, fashion accessories and a range of gift certificates from leading local merchants.
Several local businesses provided support for the event, including Central Press, Bank of Millbrook, Marona’s, Matt’s Auto Body, Millbrook Winery, and Wes’ Autobody.
For more information about the Holiday Silent Auction and to see a complete list of auction items, go to millbrooklibrary.org/holiday-silent-auction/.
Webutuck sophomore Hayden Whiteley, center, battles for a layup during the Section IX Tournament pre-lims on Saturday, Feb. 28.
Webutuck quickly adjusted, mounting defensive pressure and picking up the pace offensively to keep S.S. Seward's score within reach.
By the half, Webutuck was only down by two points.
The Wildcats kept up with S.S. Seward through the next half, pulling ahead enough to lead S.S. Seward 39-36 at the end of the third quarter.
But the Spartans made a final push in the last quarter, scoring 14 points and holding Webutuck to just six points to win the game 50-45.
Webutuck senior Evan Bremmer led the wildcats in scoring, racking up 20 points in the final game of his high school career
Photo by Nathan Miller
Dutchess County Legislator Chris Drago addresses the crowd at the end of a discussion on challenges facing parents and child care providers in rural northeast Dutchess County on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Drago hosted the forum to collect feedback from local stakeholders ahead of an expected $20 million in state funding to establish a universal childcare program in the county.
The proposal follows Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement in her State of the State address that she is seeking $60 million for Dutchess, Monroe and Broome counties to expand child care, with an emphasis on children under three. The funding, pending approval as part of the state budget due April 1, is a component of her broader effort to expand affordable child care statewide, including a push toward universal access for children under five.
Billed as a fact-finding session ahead of the state budget vote, the forum opened with presentations from representatives of Poughkeepsie-based child care advocacy and training organizations. Parents expressed concerns about access in the far reaches of the county, where services have long lagged behind more densely populated areas.
Kim Yarnell, a parent who lives in Millerton, said she struggled for years to find childcare. She was one of the parents left scrambling for care last December when the North East Community Center announced the sudden closure of its Early Learning Program.
"When I first got pregnant in 2019, I was on a waiting list for two years," she said. "So that's the kind of situation we all face every day."
Parents emphasized a lack of providers in the area, saying the biggest barriers in rural communities are cost and availability. Webutuck Elementary School Principal Amanda Coppola said parents regularly tell her they can't afford child care, a struggle she said she can relate to.
"I have a four-month-old at home, and I just finished my first month of paying for daycare, and it's expensive," she said. "Funding, as far as tuitions or lowering tuitions, I feel is one of the biggest needs that I hear. And now that I'm living it, I hear even more."
Local parents, child care providers and nonprofit representatives outline the challenges they face in accessing and providing childcare in rural northeast Dutchess County during a forum at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains on Wednesday, Feb. 25. Photo by Nathan Miller
Representatives of the Child Care Council of Dutchess and Putnam presented facts and figures to the group, saying that within Drago’s legislative district there are roughly 300 children under three who need care, but licensed facilities have capacity for only 95.
Outside of Red Hook — the district’s most populous town — licensed providers have capacity for just 29 children.
That data underscores parents’ anxiety. The governor’s proposal emphasizes working within existing child care systems and infrastructure, but those resources are limited in northeast Dutchess County. Parents said there's a significant need for infant care, with some reporting they drive more than 30 minutes one way to Connecticut to access the nearest available care.
"We just need more daycare," Yarnell said. "It's not complicated, like, we need more daycare."
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Stephanie Haboush Plunkett
“The field of illustration is very close to my heart,” she said. Inspired by that example, she studied illustration at Pratt Institute and began her career as an illustrator before shifting toward museum work. An internship at the Brooklyn Museum proved pivotal. “It was inspiring to see the children come alive in front of art,” she recalled.
In addition to her curatorial work, Plunkett is the author of two children’s books, “Kongi and Potgi: A Cinderella Story from China” and “Sir Whong and the Golden Pig,” and has written or co-authored numerous books on illustration, including “Drawing Lessons from the Famous Artists School” and “Leo Lionni: Storyteller, Illustrator, Designer.” She earned an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and built a museum career that included positions at the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and the Heckscher Museum of Art before joining the Norman Rockwell Museum, where she has worked for 31 years.
But elevating illustration has meant challenging decades of critical skepticism.
“The goal has been to shine a light on this important American art form and to elevate public awareness of its artistic and cultural importance,”Plunkett said.
As a popular and widely circulated art, illustration is sometimes thought of as inferior to fine art, such as painting and sculpture. Plunkett considered why. She theorized that the 1913 New York Armory Show, the International Exhibition of Modern Art, with works by artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Duchamp, initially contributed to this evaluation. In the 1930s and ’40s, abstract expressionism became the art of the nation, and the rift widened further.
“Norman Rockwell became the antihero for many art critics of the time,” said Plunkett. “Illustration was viewed as too commercial and sentimental because of its emphasis on visual storytelling.”
Plunkett calls illustration “art with a job to do.” She explained, “Illustrators are adept at solving visual problems for their clients while expressing their own aesthetic and artistic vision.”
Visitors consider Norman Rockwell’s paintings on Civil Rights for Look Magazine, “New Kids in the Neighborhood” (1967) and “The Problem We All Live With” (1963.) L. Tomaino
She noted that the line between the fine and applied arts “is much more porous now, with many artists working across platforms and styles.” She cited late-20th-century illustrators like Marshall Arisman, Barbara Nessim, Robert Cunningham, Bernie Fuchs and Mark English as illustrators who forged unique approaches to working and seeing.
Plunkett commented that people want to see the original illustrations. “Generally, Rockwell exhibitions bring high attendance. Currently, our traveling exhibition, ‘Norman Rockwell: From Camera to Canvas,’ is at the New Britain Museum of American Art, but we’ve traveled Rockwell and illustration to 45 states and several countries, including Japan, France, Italy and Germany.”
Nowadays, illustrators take on subjects that are important to them. “The children’s book industry is committed to sharing the richness and diversity of people and cultures with young readers.” Plunkett cited the late illustrator Jerry Pinkney’s commitment to this goal. As a boy, Pinkney found no books portraying children like him, and “his life’s mission as an artist was to present inspiring, positive images of children of color.”
The Norman Rockwell Museum and Rockwell Center seeds were sown when “Rockwell placed the first 199 artworks in the care and collection of the Norman Rockwell Museum upon its founding in 1969, some of which he personally acquired for the fledgling collection,” said Plunkett. “The museum’s current Rockwell holdings include 865 original artworks, the artist’s Stockbridge studio and an archive of 400,000 photographs, letters, props and first uses of the artist’s work. We also hold about 25,000 illustrations by other artists, from the historical to the contemporary.”
“We call ourselves the home for American illustration. We have a real commitment to illustrators and what they’ve accomplished,” said Plunkett.
The Norman Rockwell Museum is located at 9 Glendale Road, Stockbridge. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit
nrm.org
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