DUTCHESS AND COLUMBIA COUNTIES — A billboard with art by James Wise of the Bard College class of ’26 was on view at 3391 US-9 in Hudson from Dec. 20, 2023, to Jan. 17, 2023.
Titled, “How Long Will We Be Driving?”, the billboard came about through a partnership with Bard Community Arts Collaborative, the Center for Civic Engagement at Bard, and Shandaken Project’s Public Arts Initiative.
Wise’s piece was chosen from projects done by students in an extended media studio course at Bard College taught by Julia Weist.
Her students made 2D projects that were reviewed by Shandaken, and 3D projects that were reviewed by the Village of Red Hook’s chair for the Public Spaces Initiative Committee.
The 3D works were installed at Richard Abraham’s Memorial Park in Red Hook. The pieces ranged from interactive sculptures to large-format photographic prints to sculptures of wood and metal. This exhibit was not open to the public; it was a pilot program with the idea of future collaborations in mind.
Student Elena Schneider ’27 said, “Being able to make something to be displayed in the landscape where we live pushed me to create something I really care about and am proud of.”
Of the class, Weist said, “If you can create art that affects a viewer, moves a viewer in the parking lot of a grocery store, which is where our billboard project is located, you’ve succeeded profoundly as an artist.”
Wise’s piece was selected for the billboard outside of Hudson by Shandaken as part of its Public Art Initiative 14x48, which has exhibited “new work by contemporary artists across New York State since 2021.”
The title refers to the increasing reliance of society on artificial intelligence (AI) and the potential loss of human independence with such things as self-driving cars, Wise has explained; it questions the very use of cars in the face of global warming. The figure at the center of the work, an avatar created with AI, reminds viewers that AI is a field dominated by white males.
Explaining his approach to the work, Wise said: “My main concern was in conveying my concept as clearly as possible. I wanted the billboard to blend in, so I researched local insurance billboards for a base.” He added: “After layering and collaging the AI images I’d generated from various local insurance-themed prompts, I ended up landing on the final product. I was always cautious to keep my work as close to the source material as possible, while still subtly distinct under closer inspection.” Wise created the billboard by layering more than 50 AI generated images.
Photo courtesy Bard College
A Bard College student installs her sculpture at Richard Abraham’s Memorial Park in Red Hook. The installation was part of a pilot program with the village of Red Hook’s Public Spaces Initiative.
Max Amsterdam reaches out to pet a red panda at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on Millbrook School’s campus on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Amsterdam is a senior at Millbrook School and serves as the zoo’s head student curator.
Stahl said the zoo has been engaged in a long-range master planning process for several years as part of preparing for its next Association of Zoos and Aquariums accreditation review in 2027. “We knew we had to make a plan and look toward the future,” Stahl said. “We had to think about what more we could be doing for the animals, for students and for the community.”
Construction is nearing completion on a new animal holding barn, the first step toward housing off-exhibit animals. Funded by philanthropist Barbara Tober — whom Stahl described as the project’s “catalyst” — the facility is required under AZA accreditation standards. The holding barn will serve as a first stop for new animals required to quarantine before entering an exhibit. It will also safely house animals when enclosures are being repaired or when they need rehabilitation.
The new animal hospital, which zoo staff are referring to as an animal wellness center, is poised to be four times larger than the existing space. Stahl said the team is looking forward to dramatically expanding the zoo’s ability to treat animals on campus, eliminating the need to transport them off-site for procedures like X-rays or ultrasounds.
Max Amsterdam feeds a red panda at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on the Millbrook School campus on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Amsterdam said he became interested in the school's zoo in his freshman year when he watched an older student perform a biopsy on a wolf that had passed away at the zoo.Photo by Aly Morrissey
Stahl said a primary goal of the master plan and the animal wellness center is to “bring the outside in.” The public will be allowed to watch certain procedures and operations to learn more about the veterinary work that goes on behind the scenes.
In addition to the zoo’s around-the-clock staff, rotating veterinarians visit the zoo each week to check on the animals and perform routine procedures. The current space is limited, and zoo staff are eager to have an expanded footprint.
“Right now we’re very limited space-wise,” Stahl said. “This new facility will let us have more space, more vets and more learning happening.”
Max Amsterdam has lived at the Millbrook School as a boarding student for four years and has held a working role at the zoo throughout that time. Today, in his senior year, he serves as the zoo’s head student curator — a coveted leadership role that requires a formal application and selection process.
When Amsterdam first applied to Millbrook School, the zoo was not front-of-mind. Although he wanted to become a veterinarian as a young child, the desire dissipated until he set foot in the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo as a freshman.
“I watched a senior perform a biopsy on a red wolf that had passed away from a uterine tumor,” Amsterdam said. “I didn’t even know that students could do that. I realized right then how incredible this place was and the zoo became my thing.”
Over his four years at Millbrook, Amsterdam has assisted veterinarians, shadowed medical procedures, conducted necropsies and even traveled with staff to national AZA conferences. “As you grow, you gain a relationship with the staff and vets, and when they know you can handle it, they let you do more,” he said.
With graduation on the horizon and plans to study biology at Bucknell, Amsterdam admits he’s a little jealous of the future students that will benefit from the new zoo facilities.
At the end of the day, he is grateful for the hands-on experience he has received in his leadership roles at the zoo. Millbrook School is the only high school in the country with an AZA-accredited zoo on its campus.
“I’m jealous, but I’m also so grateful that the zoo got that donation because it’s needed,” Amsterdam smiled. “We deserve it, too. It’s a lot of hard work by the staff and students — it’s 200% effort seven days a week, and not many people see that.”
