AMENIA — Spectators gathered at Keane Stud in Amenia Sunday, Oct. 6 to watch the $125,000 Grand Prix final at the Silo Ridge Masters showjumping competition.
Brian Moggre, of Flower Mound, Texas, took home the prize money and a champagne soaked jacket Sunday afternoon.
Moggre rode 15-year-old gelding Vivre Le Reve around the ring, receiving no penalty points in the first round.
Four riders competed in a tie-breaking jump-off: Sloane Coles of Virginia; Darragh Kenny, representing Ireland; Daniel Bluman, representing Israel; and Moggre, the champion of the weekend.
The show jumping competition was the first of its kind at the expansive Keane Ranch. Pedro Torres, owner of the farm and racecar driver, said the ring finished construction just days before the event started on Thursday, Oct. 4.
Torres said a horse show had been a long-time dream for him and Judy Garofalo-Torres, his wife. They built Keane Stud so Garofalo-Torres could train show jumpers. Torres said there are a lot of show jumpers local to the Northeast U.S. and there’s demand for more competitions in the region. Silo Ridge Masters also serves as a fundraising event for the Silo Ridge Community Foundation and the Amenia-Wassaic Community Organization.
Speckled colors on the ridges of the Amenia valley provided a scenic backdrop for the four-day long event. Visitors remarked on the location, saying the views from the top of the hill were breathtaking.
Anticipation began to build as representatives of regional press organizations were invited to Media Day on Thursday, Oct. 3. Reporters met riders and their horses, some from area and regional stables and others coming from countries whose flags circled the competition rink.
Caroline Mawhinney of Wellington, Florida, competed in the $125,000 Grand Prix class at Silo Ridge Masters on Carsey Z, an 11 year old Belgian warmblood. The rider ranked 14th at the international competition in the scenic Harlem Valley.Nathan Miller
The Silo Ridge Masters event marks the first year of a local equestrian center joining the competitive Hudson Valley Show Jumping circuit for their fall calendar. An equestrian training program led by Judy Garofalo-Torres is included in the programs at the Keane Stud Farm in Amenia. Silo Ridge served as a sponsor for the show jumping competition. The proceeds would benefit the Silo Ridge Foundation and the Amenia Wassaic Community Organization.
Student riders were the feature of the day on Oct. 3, putting their horses through their paces as they confidently jumped the obstacles and kept to good form. Many of the students’ adult riding coaches would be competing into the weekend, in preparation for the finals on Sunday.
This year the competition would be a 3-star show, explained Lindsay Brock, press officer, noting that shows can be up to 5 stars. The differing levels determine the height and difficulty of the obstacles being jumped and the size of the prize purse.
Warmblood horses are ideal for jumping events, due to their hardy nature and temperament.
Already planning for next year, Brock said that Silo Ridge would like to go to 5 stars.
Christian Coyle of Christian Coyle Show Stables, Sherman, Connecticut, originally from Ireland, had horses and riders competing in the event. He said that he has been involved with competitive show jumping for 40 years and was pleased that the Silo Ridge event was relatively close by.
One of Coyle’s riders, Camellia Ford was once a student at Kent School, studying under Michael Page. Ford said she would be riding 9-year-old Jetties. She added that all horses turn a year older each January, rather than being fussy about their actual birth month.
“It’s a matter of trust between horse and rider,” Ford said about building the essential relationship. “It’s a partnership with the horse, with another sentient being,” explained Tiffany Foster, competing from her home stables in Vancouver, British Columbia. She operates an equestrian training center and most often brings some of her students to compete in show jumping competitions.
A three-time Olympian, Foster is ranked as the world’s top female rider in the sport, although she said that she is ranked 21st among all riders. The 20 who rank higher are all men she explained.
“We’re all here because we love horses,” Foster said. “It’s a physical thing; it’s hard on your body,” she added in speaking about the demands of competitive show jumping.
Foster rode “Northern Light” during Sunday’s final Grand Prix competition.
Contemporary chamber musicians, HUB, performing at The Clark.
MASS MoCA is known for its 20th-century holdings spread throughout a sprawling complex of industrial brick buildings. Installations by Sol LeWitt and James Turrell have permanent homes there. Just down the road in Williamstown, the Clark features masterworks by Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet.
But what visitors might not immediately associate with those established names is how deeply both institutions invest in art happening right now.
On Saturday afternoon, a panel of young artists discussed their relationships with art, identity and technology as part of MASS MoCA’s “Technologies of Relation” exhibition, which opened that evening. The artists represented a broad range of cultural backgrounds, drawing on ancestry while exploring the future of art and technology.
The work itself ran the gamut: wax relief paintings, stained glass, interactive video and sculptural installations. One immersive piece automated the traditional Armenian practice of reading fortunes from coffee grounds. Particularly striking were Roopa Vasudevan’s hand-drawn QR codes and Taeyoon Choi’s large-scale weavings of binary code.
Opening the same night was Zora J. Murff’s “RACE/HUSTLE.” Through photographs, paintings and installations, Murff explores the wide-ranging and sometimes violent implications of being Black in America today. Each piece — whether confronting the rise of white supremacy or examining stereotypes imposed on Black communities — carries razor-sharp visual commentary designed to unsettle.
Pelenakeke Brown’s “Reverb” (detail) at Mass MoCA. D.H. Callahan
On Sunday, the Clark continued the contemporary thread. A small exhibition of work by Raffaella della Olga, titled “Typescript,” features intricate patterns created using a typewriter on varied paper surfaces. The effect seems almost impossible until viewers watch a video of della Olga loading her typewriter with 140-grit sandpaper and typing in a hypnotic rhythm. Though the typewriter is considered obsolete technology, she continues to find new applications for it, completing some of the works in recent months.
Next door in the Clark auditorium, HUB New Music performed works written specifically for its unusual instrumentation: violin, cello, clarinet and flute. While that combination may not stand out to casual listeners, relatively little classical repertoire exists for it. The ensemble regularly commissions composers to expand the possibilities.
The results were striking. From the opening notes of Francisco del Pino’s “Passacaglia,” the quartet’s command and layered repetition pulled unexpected emotion from the audience.
After three pieces came the world premiere of Daniel Wohl’s “Mirage,” a roughly 25-minute work accompanied by digital blips, static and electronic textures evoking radio transmissions and UFO lore. Hearing four virtuoso musicians extract entirely new sounds from traditional instruments echoed the weekend’s larger theme: old tools made new again.
Like della Olga’s typewriter, Vasudevan’s QR codes or Murff’s charged imagery, the performances demonstrated that contemporary art often grows from familiar materials — reimagined.
The old masters will always draw visitors to these institutions. But when living artists command equal attention, this quiet corner of the Berkshires feels less like the middle of nowhere and more like a creative epicenter.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his artist wife in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
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Ash Baldwin, senior administrative assistant at the North East Community Center, launched the weekly Craft Collective in July 2025.
“I’m the type of person who struggles to stay focused on projects,” said Ash Baldwin, NECC’s senior administrative assistant, who came up with the idea last summer. “I realized I work better when I’m with other people and when I have a dedicated time and space.”
The idea took shape after Baldwin found herself racing to finish a crocheted baby blanket for her sister’s baby shower.
Participants have already brought a range of projects to the group, from sewing and mending to creative repurposing – including one crafter who transformed an old shower curtain into kitchen valence curtains.
“The goal is really community and connection,” Baldwin said. “People can meet other crafters, swap tips, give feedback on projects – maybe even make a friend.”
Ash Baldwin displays a crocheted blanket.Photo by Aly Morrissey
Crafting, Baldwin said, offers a kind of mental reset. “It’s peaceful,” she said. “It quiets my mind and lets me focus on one thing at a time.”
Like many crafters, Baldwin admits to having yarn and unfinished projects scattered around her home, and says she tends to make gifts for others more than items for herself.
Though Baldwin has been crocheting since 2022, creativity has always been part of her life. Her mother sews, her grandmother crocheted, and she grew up surrounded by creative projects. Baldwin joked that her grandmother once “fully kidnapped” her American Girl doll to make custom clothes for it. She also describes herself as a longtime “band kid,” saying creative arts were woven into her childhood.
When she’s not organizing the Craft Collective, Baldwin works behind the scenes at NECC, handling administrative and fiscal operations, including service tracking for programs such as the food pantry.
The Craft Collective is held every Tuesday at 6 p.m. at 51 S Center St., Millerton. There is no cost to participate. For questions or to donate crafting supplies, contact Ash Baldwin at ash@neccmillerton.org or (518) 789-4259 ext. 132.
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