AMENIA — A new Amenia recreation program kicked off on Monday, Feb. 3, with an invitation to enjoy winter skating at Silo Ridge’s outdoor rink on selected Mondays during February.
Skaters of all ages and varied experience on the ice came to the first session with more anticipated to participate as the word gets out. A warming fire was a popular feature.
The open skating community invitation will be repeated on Feb. 10 and 24. Each session will begin at 3:30 p.m. and continue until closing at 6 p.m. Advance registration is required . For more information, go to www.amenia.ny.gov, or to register, email the Recreation Department at pbogin@ameniany.gov.
“This is a good opportunity for Amenia and Silo Ridge to collaborate and bring events to the town,” said new Amenia Recreation Director Paul Bogin. “This will lead to more events for people to enjoy.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” added Mark Hussey, Director of VIBE at Silo Ridge, responsible for setting the mood of the field club’s atmosphere for its residents. He said he was pleased to see the town being able to use the ice.
New Amenia Recreation Supervisor Paul Bogin was on hand on Monday, Feb. 3, for the first of three Open Rink community events sponsored by the Recreation Department in collaboration with Silo Ridge where the rink is located. The free community skating will be repeated on Monday, Feb. 24, inviting local and area skaters to enjoy using the expansive rink. Registration required.Photo by Leila Hawken
Also attending to the details of the open skate day were Zachary Spencer, outdoor pursuits coordinator and outdoor pursuits attendant Maebal Spencer — no relation.
Their efforts kept the fire pit stoked with wood, and a variety of tasks to ensure the skating experience would be positive for all.
“The more the merrier,” said Zachary Spencer, noting that the open rink idea was under consideration for a long time. “It’s definitely something I support.”
He was pleasantly surprised, he said, to see the local visiting skaters had impressive skating talent, some even managing some figure skating moves.
“It’s good to see the public enjoying it, the town coming together,” Maebel Spencer observed.
“It’s a good vibe,” Hussey added, pleased by the evident sense of community brought about by the event.
Little Sloane Oksenhendler, 4, of Clinton Corners was fearlessly enthusiastic about the experience, not her first time on skates, nor her last.
Finding it fun, she managed to skate along and remain upright with the help of an ingenious “walker” box for use on ice.
“I’m going to invite all of my friends to come skating with me,” Sloane said, adding that she particularly loved how they — the other skaters — do tricks on the ice.
Local skaters enjoyed free skating at the Silo Ridge Ice Rink on Monday, Feb. 3, the first of three planned open rink days sponsored by the Amenia Recreation Department in collaboration with Silo Ridge. The Open Rink program will be repeated on Mondays, Feb. 10 and 24, inviting local and area skaters to enjoy community skating fellowship. Registration is required.Photo by Leila Hawken
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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