By KAITLIN LYLE
Part II
HARLEM VALLEY — Last week The Millerton News reviewed the top stories of the first half of 2020, a year with challenges including a global health pandemic and a collapsing economy. In this week’s edition, the year in review will take a brief look the headlines between July and August.
July
As New York State and Dutchess County to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, summertime activities in the Harlem Valley continued — including summer camp, summer school, fundraisers and other area celebrations — altered to fit the new normal (or canceled) or a virtual platform.
Responding to the urgent call for police reform, local police agencies — including those in Millerton, Pine Plains and Millbrook — began to review their policing strategies, policies and procedures to develop plans to address community needs, promote community engagement and address “any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color,” as mandated by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order. The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police also re-examined procedures through this and other months.
The town of North East created a Zoning Review Committee (ZRC) and appointed the nine-member board.
While the Stissing Mountain Class of 2020 celebrated its graduation at a ceremony held on Sunday, July 12, New York State Senator Sue Serino (R-41) officially announced her breast cancer diagnosis to the public in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining routine health screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, July 29, the town of Pine Plains officially closed on the sale of a property at 12 North Main St., bringing it a step closer to plans to revitalize its main hamlet area.
Having served the village of Millbrook since the start of 2017, Mayor Rodney Brown submitted his letter of resignation on Friday, July 31. Brown announced his intent on June 9; he gave no reason for his decision to leave office just months before his term was scheduled to end. Village Trustee Mike Herzog served as interim mayor until year’s end and was just re-elected to serve as village trustee again in 2021.
August
With the start of a new school year, Harlem Valley school districts began submitting their individual re-entry plans to the New York State Department of Health (DOH) and the New York State Education Department (NYSED) between the end of July and the start of August. The Webutuck, Pine Plains and Millbrook school boards held multiple virtual meetings to discuss the logistics and complications that could potentially arise once students and staff returned to campus.
New York residents Creek Iversen, Ben Schwartz, Monica Hunken and George Elliot each received one year probation on Monday, Aug. 3, for climbing the smokestack to protest the Cricket Valley Energy Center power plant in Dover on Nov. 16, 2019.
Hundreds of thousands of people lost power in the wake of Tropical Storm Isiais on Tuesday, Aug. 4, throughout the Tri-state region, with fallen trees and wires.
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, Pine Plains voters cast their ballots in a special election to authorize the Pine Plains Fire Company to issue $275,000 in bonds to finance the purchase of a new 2021 Class A pumper to replace an old firetruck. Out of 77 votes cast, 68 voted in favor of the purchase; nine votes were against the buy.
Though Election Day was still months away, Gov. Cuomo signed a new law into effect on Thursday, Aug. 20, to make absentee ballots permissible in the 2020 election.
In Millbrook, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies received support in the amount of $11 million through its Campaign for Cary for a renovation project, with the hopes of raising the remaining $2 million.
After more than 20 years of planning and saving, the Amenia Free Library held a ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 29, to celebrate its long-awaited expansion, with an opening date for the new addition scheduled for Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
“Once Upon a Time in America” features ten portraits by artist Katro Storm.
Part of what became a capstone project for Wolgemuth, she left behind a comprehensive guide to help future student interns manage the gallery effectively. “Everything from who we should contact, the steps to take for everything, our donors,” Wilbur said. “It’s really extensive and it’s been a huge help.”
Art teacher Lilly Rand Barnett first met Storm a few years ago through his ICEHOUSE Project Space exhibition in Sharon, “Will It Grow in Sharon?” in which he planted cotton and tobacco as part of an exploration of ancestral heritage.
“And the plants did grow,” said Barnett. She asked Storm if her students could use them, and the resulting work became a project for that year’s Troutbeck Symposium, the annual student-led event in Amenia that uncovers little-known or under-told histories of marginalized communities, particularly BIPOC histories.
Last spring, Rand emailed to ask if Storm would consider a solo show at HVRHS. He agreed.
And just a few weeks ago, he arrived — paints, brushes and canvases in tow.
“When Katro came to start hanging everything, he took up a mini art residency in Ms. Rand’s room,” Wilbur said. “All her students were able to see his process and talk to him. It was great working with him.”
Perhaps more unexpected was his openness. “He really trusted us as curators and visionaries,” Wilbur said. “He said, ‘Do with it what you will.’”
Artist Katro StormNatalia Zukerman
Storm’s artistic training began at New Haven’s Educational Center for the Arts. His talent earned him a full scholarship to the Arts Institute of Boston, then Boston’s Museum School, where he painted seven oversized portraits of influential Black figures — in seven days — for his final project. Those works became the backbone of his early exhibitions, including at Howard University’s National Council for the Arts.
Storm has created several community murals like the 2009 READ Mural featuring local heroes, and several literacy and wellness murals at the Stetson Branch Library in New Haven. Today, he teaches and works, he said, “wherever I set up shop. Sometimes I go outside. Sometimes I’m on top of roofs. Wherever it is, I get the job done.”
His deep ties to education made a high school gallery an especially meaningful stop. “No one really knew who these people were except maybe John Lennon,” Storm said of the portraits in the show. “It’s really important for them to know James Baldwin and Shirley Chisholm. And now they do.”
The exhibition includes a wide list of subjects: James Baldwin, Shirley Chisholm, Redd Foxx, Jasper Johns, Marilyn Manson, William F. Buckley, Harold Hunter, John Lennon, as well as two deeply personal works — a portrait of Tracy Sherrod (“She’s a friend of mine… She had an interesting hairdo”) and a tribute to his late friend Nes Rivera. “Most of the time I choose my subjects because there are things I want to see,” Storm said.
Storm’s paintings, which he describes as “full frontal figuratism,” rely on drips, tonal shifts, and what feels like emerging depth. His process moves quickly. “It depends on how fast it needs to get done,” he said. “Sometimes I like to take the long way up the mountain. Instead of doing an outline, I just start coloring, blocking things off with light and dark until it starts to take shape.”
He’s currently in a black-and-white phase. “Right now, I’m inspired by black and white, the way I can really get contrast and depth.”
Work happens on multiple canvases at once. “Sometimes I’ll have five paintings going on at one time because I go through different moods, and then there’s the way the light hits,” he said. “It’s kind of like cooking. You’ve got a couple things going at once, a couple things cooking, and you just try to reach that deadline.”
For Wilbur, who has studied studio arts “ever since I was really young” and recently applied early decision to Vassar, the experience has been transformative. For Storm — an artist who built an early career painting seven portraits in seven days and has turned New York’s subway corridors into a makeshift museum — it has been another chance to merge artmaking with education, and to pass a torch to a new generation of curators.
Le Petit Ranch offers animal-assisted therapy and learning programs for children and seniors in Sheffield.
Le Petit Ranch operates out of two small structures next to the family’s home: a one-room schoolhouse for animal-assisted learning sessions and a compact stable for the three miniature horses, Mini Mac, Rocket and Miso. Other partner animals include two rescued Spanish greyhounds, Yayi and Ronya; four guinea pigs and a flock of chickens.
Borreda offers programs at the Scoville Library in Salisbury, at Salisbury Central School and surrounding towns to support those who benefit from non-traditional learning environments.
“Animal-assisted education partners with animals to support learning in math, reading, writing, language and physical education,” she said. One activity, equimotricité, has children lead miniature horses through obstacle courses to build autonomy, confidence and motor skills.
Child working with a miniature horse at Le Petit RanchMarjorie Borreda
She also brings her greyhounds into schools for a “min vet clinic,” a workshop that turns lessons on dog biology and measuring skills into hands-on, movement-based learning. A separate dog-bite prevention workshop teaches children how to read canine body language and respond calmly.
Parents and teachers report strong results. More than 90% of parents observed greater empathy, reduced anxiety, increased self-confidence and improved communication and cooperation in their children, and every parent said animal-assisted education made school more enjoyable — with many calling it “the highlight of their week.”
Weekly small-group sessions with seniors at Le Petit Ranch stimulates cognitive function and improves motor skills.Marjorie Borreda
Le Petit Ranch also serves seniors, including nursing home residents experiencing depression, social withdrawal or reduced physical activity. Weekly small-group sessions with animals can stimulate cognitive function and improve motor skills, balance and mobility.
Families can visit Le Petit Ranch for animal- assisted afterschool sessions, Frech immersion or family walks. She also offers programs for schools, libraries, community centers, churches, senior centers and nursing homes.
For more information, email info@lepetitranch.com, visit lepetitranch.com, follow @le.petit.ranch on Instagram or call 413-200-8081.
