INK MAGAZINE - OCTOBER 2022

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It’s FALL! As I make the rounds, I speak to so many people, and it is almost unanimous that fall is a favorite. So many reasons to love the season. Cool nights for sleeping and still warm, sunny days. Getting out to the orchards to pick apples or farmers markets to enjoy the bounty of summer. It also marks the unofficial beginning of the holiday season. We begin to think of gift shopping for our loved ones and gathering up our friends and families to share meals. This leads me to something that is near and dear to us here at INK. Our advertising partners are what keep the magazine you are holding free. These local businesses are also what keeps towns, towns. Main streets without thriving business have proven themselves to be un healthy to the towns that spring out around them. LOCAL is the way to go. LOCAL business is the cornerstone of a healthy community. It is re warding to buy a needed good or service from someone who knows your name and vice-versa. Each LOCAL business has people behind it, and therefore it has a story to tell. For example, the ad on the facing page of this writing, Bali Bungalow has a very special something to offer. The fur niture they sell is built in Bali by LOCAL craftspeople there. So a purchase from a Stonington resident also helps build and strengthen a community thousands of miles away. To make it even better, you get something that is both high-quality and unique. Of course, sometimes a LOCAL purchase can cost a little more than an internet one, but the stark difference is not only the experience but also the enduring result. So as the holiday season approaches, please consider your patronage as a gift in and of itself. It makes a huge difference.

SHOP LOCAL this year!!!

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“It must be October, the trees are falling away and showing their true colors.” Charmaine J Forde

By Jan Tormay

rtists Erich and Janice Steinhagen of Griswold, CT enjoy traveling through time and dressing in period clothing. Their portal: reproductions of Early American and English redware pottery from the 18th and 19th centuries that they bring to historical reenactments and shows throughout the Northeast and as far south as Virginia.

Erich switched from working with contemporary pottery (stoneware) without much surface decoration to redware, a common clay that is fired at a lower temperature and often decorated with sgraffito (a drawing or writing on pottery, or both), “because that is what interests most people.”

He made the decision after the couple was “pulled into the reenactment world by fellow reenactors” who saw them at the Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury in 1995, they said.

The sgraffito technique “involves taking the pot that’s made and dried to some extent and coating the surface with another clay, which can be done by painting it or simply by dipping the pot into a bucket of a different-colored clay that’s very liquidy, he said. “It’s similar to glaze, but it’s not glaze. It is clay, and it has a colorant in it,” which is different from the color of the pot. With a sharp tool, Erich said you can then “draw through that color into the base color.”

Opposite page: A double-walled, lidded piece with carved openwork in the outer layer of clay. Photo by Janice Steinhagen

Erich started out doing sgraffito, but as he got busier creating pottery, he asked Janice for help. These days, he said she is “far more skilled at it” than he is, and “she is every bit as important to this operation.”

Sgraffito “adds a little bit of life” to the pottery, said Janice, who draws from her lifelong art experience as an art teacher, art critic, dressmaker, spinner, weaver, and dabbler in the fiber arts.

These days, the former Reminder News/Courant community reporter said she spends most of her time reconfiguring period motifs to her own taste and includes other sources like Fraktur, crewel embroidery, and other craft techniques, while “still keeping the essential elements of this sort of 18th century period design on the front and this sort of shield shape or heart shape on the back.“

Erich emphasized that original, highly-decorated Pennsylvania German and Pennsylvania Dutch folk art from the 18th and early 19th centuries is achieving very high values.

Referring to the aesthetic experience of the way a mug feels to hold and to drink from or how a teapot pours, is part of the beauty of most handmade pottery, he said. He added that it’s meant to be used, and “you’re not experiencing it fully unless” you are. Janice pointed out that, “Eric has formulated the glazes so that they are not toxic since they are meant to hold food and beverages.”

The Steinhagens enjoy looking at old pieces, researching designs, and telling stories. “There’s a story behind virtually everything on our shelves,” Janice said.

In addition to creating pots, bowls, plates, jugs, and mugs, they make other unique items that are clearly labeled. They range from “gross” and weird to interesting. Examples include a “leech pot” (physicians used leeches to “purify” people’s blood). They also make a small “Pox” bottle with the word written on one side. On the reverse, a “skull and crossbones” are drawn in sgraffito. “Physicians at the time would take the live smallpox virus and introduce it into somebody who was healthy, which sounds like a really

Erich and Janice Steinhagen in full historic garb in their booth at Mount Vernon in September 2021. Photo Courtesy of Deborah Bauer.

While pottery is “leathery,” and not completely dry, Janice Steinhagen draws a design on the mug by cutting away part of the surface layer. This decorative process is called “sgraffito.”

Photo by Jan Tormay

“You begin to kind of slip back into the way it might have been.”

Another puzzle mug, with imagery inspired by the biblical tale of Adam and Eve. This type of puzzle mug was used for drinking games at taverns. “You can’t drink out of it in the ordinary way,” Erich Steinhagen said. “To drink out of it without getting wet, you would have to know the secret” and how to plug the holes. Often, there was a hidden hole. Photo by Janice Steinhagen

This ornate but functional puzzle mug is based on the British coat of arms. The puzzle is: how does one drink out of a vessel that has openings all around the perimeter? It can be done. Photo by Janice Steinhagen

This harvest jug, based on an original from North Devon, England, was thrown by Erich Steinhagen and decorated with sgraffito designs and lettering by his wife, Janice. During harvest time, jugs of this size and even bigger were filled with ale, cider or switchel, which the Steinhagens described as an old beverage made with vinegar, ginger and molasses, sort of like an electrolyte type of beverage “that wouldn’t make people sick to their stomach while they were strenuously working,” Janice Steinhagen said.

Photo courtesy of Janice Steinhagen

Potter Erich Steinhagen teaches the Davis children how to create pottery during the Fort Frederick, MD Market Fair. From left are Nathaniel, 8, Samuel, 9 and Avery, 11. Photo by Janice Steinhagen

Kilnload of new pottery

Photo by Janice Steinhagen Photo by Janice Steinhagen

Unfired Pottery-Home Studio Photo By Jan Tormay

bad idea. It would cause a mild form of the disease,” said Erich, referring to the practice as “kind of an early form of a vaccine.”

“Covid has made them (Pox bottles) suddenly more interesting, and then we get to tell people the story about how the technique actually came from Africa,” Janice said. “The African slaves brought this technique from their villages. A slave who belonged to Cotton Mather in Boston was the first one who talked to the white people about it.”

Also, “When smallpox began to break out at the winter camp in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War, George Washington ordered his surgeon general to inoculate “all the incoming troops, which were required to be isolated for two weeks, at which point they would get over it,” she said.

The Steinhagens’ goal is to “try to make history compelling for other people and help them understand how important” it is and how it “builds us into who we are now.”

“History is so relevant to the present day. The stories speak to us in a different way and sometimes because of the political environment, they speak to us more strongly and more urgently because we understand how strong and how urgent it was back then, and some of these same issues are facing us now,” Janice said.

While donning period clothing and promoting their wares under a canvas tent in historical settings such as Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario and Fort Ticonderoga, NY, Erich said they find their way of thinking changes, and “you begin to kind of slip back into the way it might have been.”Then in the evening when the public leaves and they retreat to their campsite, they gather by the bonfire to enjoy hearth-cooked meals, share stories/jokes, listen to people playing instruments and singing sea shanties and bawdy songs of the 18th-century British Army – a dramatic change from plugging into computer screens and cell phones, watching television, and other trappings of this modern era.

“We’ve just made lifelong friends. We get paid to stay in these amazing places,” said Erich, who worked as a mental health aide at Norwich Hospital for seven years and for the Connecticut Department of Labor for 23 years. Janice added, “We get to camp in George Washington’s backyard for a whole weekend and roam the grounds,” in Mt. Vernon, VA.

In 2016, the Steinhagens spent two weeks in England to vacation and research redware pottery. They visited the Victoria and Albert Museum and British Museum in London and others.

Erich said the trip energized them and “kind of pushed us in different directions.” They drew inspiration from owl and harvest jugs they saw at Bedeford and Barnstaple Museums in North Devon, England, where many of the original harvest jugs were made “to celebrate the harvest

Steinhagen Pottery’s display under a canvas tent at America’s Hometown Thanksgiving in Plymouth, MA, November 2021.

Photo by Janice Steinhagen

The famous motif, “Join, or Die,” on these fired and unfired mugs was created by Ben Franklin and printed in one of his newspapers 20 years before the Revolutionary War. “If you look carefully, it’s a snake that has been cut in pieces. Each of the pieces is labeled with the initials of one of the colonies starting at the tail in the south with South Carolina and North Carolina and moving up the eastern seaboard: Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania (and) New Jersey,” Janice Steinhagen said. At the head is New England. “It was intended to rally these self-interested little colonies to come together with the mother country to drive the French out of North America,” she said, adding “the whole meaning is turned on its head now that we are uniting against the mother country.”

Photo by Jan Tormay

Unfired and Fired Pitchers with Sgraffito Photo by Jan Tormay

feasts at the end of a harvest much like our Thanksgiving.”

“Seeing the size and the heft and the shape and finding details that are just not evident in photographs is really instructive,” Janice said. “Granted, they’re on display in the museum, but to see them in the place where they came from and to see the respect that people still have for that kind of ware was really wonderful.”

Some jugs from that time have hilarious inscriptions, Erich said, such as, “Out of the earth with skill I am made, and when I break the potter laughs” (because he will be able to feed his children). Another says, “No Stamp Act” on one side and “Liberty Restored” on the reverse.

Also, after seeing the 1760 pitcher in the form of an owl (the head is a cup) at the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent, England,

Potter Erich Steinhagen teaches the Davis children how to create pottery during the Fort Frederick, MD Market Fair. From left are Nathaniel, 8, Samuel, 9 and Avery, 11.

Photo by Janice Steinhagen

Erich Steinhagen admires this giant pot at the Gladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, England in October 2016. This city was the center of pottery production in England starting in the 18th century. Photo by Janice Steinhagen

Erich and Janice Steinhagen at Parliament in London during their October 2016 trip to England for research. Photo Courtesy of Janice Steinhagen.

they were inspired to create their own version. So far, they have made 275 of them.

The Steinhagens have been collaborating since the 1970s when both were working on bachelor’s degrees in art at Pennsylvania colleges situated one-half-hour apart from each other - Janice at Seton Hill University and Erich at Saint Vincent College. Since Saint Vincent didn’t have an art department at the time, just an art gallery, Erich took all his art classes at Seton Hill. To graduate, they were required to show an exhibit of their work for their senior thesis. The Pennsylvania natives decided to do it together at Saint Vincent College.

“So we did our own work. He was doing his pottery while I was doing my weaving, batik, and spinning,” Janice said. At the time, Erich predicted it would be the first of many combined shows, and he was right.

After marrying and moving to Connecticut, the Steinhagens ran a “pop-up” studio called Gallery 33 in Downtown New London from April to October 1982 – each doing their work in front of a big plate-glass window where everyone could observe them. “It was a fun and interesting experience,” said Erich, adding Building Owner Bruce Barrett came up with the idea for numerous artists to occupy his vacant storefronts and just pay utility costs until he rented them. Erich also taught briefly at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson and at their basement retail storefront/ studio in a Mystic factory building called Fire & Fiber. “We used to joke about the low overhead which was literal as well as figurative because the ceiling was very low,” Janice said.

Erich was first introduced to pottery at Saint Mary’s Area High School in the Allegheny Mountains in North Central, PA. “My art teacher looked at what I was doing and thought that I might benefit from an association with Doug Sassi, a potter in town.”

Erich ended up apprenticing with Sassi mostly in the summer for 2 years, which Erich described as a much more “organic” experience compared to classroom instruction.” I just worked, he worked. If he saw I needed help, he’d come over and help me or he would ask me to help him with something. So it was just a real good way to learn how a studio potter actually functions. It was an invaluable experience. And to this day, I think it’s probably the best work experience I’ve ever had.”

For more information about the Steinhagens and their redware pottery, go to steinhagenpottery.com, call 860-376-3329, or email them at steinhagen7@aol.com.

Erich Steinhagen turns “mud” into pottery on his home studio wheel Photo by Jan Tormay

An array of pottery fresh out of the kiln. Photo Courtesy of Janice Steinhagen.

By Susan Cornell Photos courtesy of Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum

mwuh-huh-huh-huh-huhhhhhhh, dare to enter the Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum, a oneof-a-kind tribute to the actors and effects artists who’ve contributed to the legacy of classic fantasy films. The museum, found in Plainville, is the brainchild of Cortlandt Hull, a director and writer known for his work on Phantom of the Opera and other ghoulish creations.

The original Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum opened in Bristol in 1966. It began with 13-year-old Cortlandt who, being ill during most of his childhood, occupied some of his time building Aurora monster model kits. The art of movie makeup and how actors could be transformed into fearsome creatures fascinated Cortlandt. As a kid, he visited several wax museums, only to be disappointed by “Chamber of Horrors” lacking the classic movie monsters.

Cortlandt’s monster models were not enough so he created his own life-size character, “Zenobia the Gypsy Witch” as a hostess for his own “Horror Museum.” She was named in honor of a former abhorrent classmate of Hull’s mother named Zenobia, a name his mother felt was “fit for a witch!”

Incidentally, Cortlandt just so happens to be the great nephew of Henry Hull, who portrayed Universal Studios original lycanthrope in the 1935 classic “Werewolf of London,” and his great aunt Josephine played one of the Brewster sisters in the 1944 macabre comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace.”

We all have unusual family members, but this guy was literally born into a frightful family.

Perhaps partly because of his roots, Cortlandt dedicated his efforts to preserving classic monster movie culture by creating and displaying detailed, accurate, full-size reproductions of classic horror movie icons.

The wax museum style tour features re-created figures of Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, Bela Legosi, Vincent Price, and others each in a scene or diorama. Movie museumgoers are guided through the tour by other-worldly costumed hosts, giving insights to the films, actors and makeup artists, as well as special voice recordings by John Agar, Mark Hamill, June Foray, and Vincent Price. Rare original movie props and makeup appliances used in films are also featured, making for a cool fieldtrip for families, film students and movie buffs.

The museum is small but, like they say, it’s quality not quantity that counts. There are over 22 life-size figures such as the Creature from the Black Lagoon. And where else are you going to see the original suit worn by Vincent Price as Professor Jarrod in “House of Wax”? Likewise, where else will you catch the “Werewolf of London,” the first movie werewolf?

Cortlandt recalls the early days: “Back then, the makeup, the sets, the costumes -- everything was handmade; it was just beautifully done, and it was an art form.”

“This is really a movie museum, it is not a haunted house so therefore movie buffs love it,” he explains.

“As a kid I collected Aurora model kits and built them up, but they were only 8 inches tall, and I wanted these figures to be much larger and so I decided to start making them life size.”

Along with his fascination with horror movies, he developed a talent for art and sculpting. The then teenage monster maker combined the two, and the Witch’s Dungeon opened its doors 56 years ago. The museum is now the longest running horror attraction in the US.

Cortlandt’s parents Robert and Dorothea were got involved. “When I started this, I was only 13 so I needed the help of my mom and dad to really make this come to life. My mom was terrific at doing costume design. She had done it professionally, and then my dad and I built the building itself and we wanted it designed to look something like a Swiss chalet sort of a building that a witch would live in.”

Under the tutelage of John Chambers of “Planet of the Apes” and Dick Smith of “The Exorcist,” Cortlandt refined his skills while crafting a compilation of famous ghouls. As his artistic abilities developed through college, and his career in art, so did his accuracy in re-creating figures. He learned some of their techniques and acquired life casts of the actors from which to work.

For decades, he has continually updated his yearly Halloween haunt, which is now (as of 2021) open year-round.

But it wasn’t just makeup artists who helped him refine his contribution to haunted Americana.

“June Foray provides the voices for Zenobia The Gypsy Witch. You’ve heard her work as Rocky the Flying Squirrel as and Granny from the Tweety cartoons, and June finally gave Zenobia her voice. Mark Hamill has done an introduction just before you enter the Witch’s Dungeon. Vincent Price, who was a great friend for many years right up until the time he passed away, he did the opening and closing dialogue, and then John Agar did a great recording for us of “The Mole People”.

He has also received support and encouragement from the heirs of the legendary horror actors showcased in his exhibit. “Over the years we’ve been very fortunate to have a number of celebrities, great people to the Witch’s Dungeon and it’s a thrill for anybody to be able to see Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi Jr., and probably one of our strongest supporters, Sara Karloff.”

By the 1970s, into the 1980s the museum had doubled its size. It was beginning to achieve national attention with articles in The New York Times, National Geographic, Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, and even Playboy. Network TV shows Entertainment Tonight, Good Morning America, Kids are People Too, and To Tell the Truth featured the museum.

Visitors to “The Witch’s Dungeon”, beginning in the 1990s were greeted by very special hosts, such as Ron Chaney (grandson of Lon Chaney Jr.), Sara Karloff (daughter of actor Boris Karloff), Bela G. Lugosi (son of actor Bela Lugosi), Oscar and Emmy award-winning makeup artist Dick Smith and several others, who supported the exhibit by donating their time.

The museum became involved with the U.S. Postal Service - promoting their “Classic Movie Monster Stamps,” which featured portraits of Chaney, Karloff, and Lugosi in 1997. The museum figures were displayed at several post offices. Soon after, the monsters began to travel – as several film conventions requested displays of Cortlandt’s classic chillers and original movie props at conventions and shows across the country. Locally, the Hartford Stage Company requested a major lobby display in connection with their production of “The Mystery of Irma Vep”.

Due to the accuracy of the figures and the success of the “Dungeon”, Universal Studios Florida commissioned Cortlandt to create a figure of Lon Chaney Jr. as “The Wolf Man” for their Classic Monsters Café.

Shortly after Cortlandt’s mom, Dorothea passed away in 2004, it was decided to honor everyone involved with the museum. Thus, as The Dungeon was approaching its 40th anniversary in 2006, a two-hour documentary “The Witch’s Dungeon - 40 Years of Chills” was produced. The film documents the creation of the museum and regales moments of horror history.

Even now, 56 consecutive seasons since the opening, there’s more “new”. Cortlandt has added a gallery of vintage classic horror/sci-fi movie posters from the 1920’s to the 1960’s and expanded the guided Wax Museum tour with new sets

including “The Invisible Man” and a teleportation device for “The Fly”. There are also embellishments to the “Phantom Of The Opera” set, and new displays in the movie makeup and prop room.

“My family and I we never thought it would become as popular as what it has to this day and it is great fun to be able to see these people that have come one generation after another to see it.”

“The Witch’s Dungeon Classic Movie Museum” is open by appointment. Please call 860-5838306 several days in advance for reservations. Preservehollywood.org; 103 East Main Street in Plainville.

by Rona Mann / Photos Courtesy of David Dunlop

Transparent Stream by David Dunlop

A young 5th grader sat in his classroom listening intently to the directives of Mrs. Vineyard, the teacher. She asked her charges to draw something. Young David Dunlop drew a wagon train, but then without any prompting, he drew the line of covered wagons disappearing from the foreground of the picture, growing smaller and smaller as they met and became one with the horizon.

Mrs. Vineyard was amazed, perhaps even shocked, for she had never had a student, much less one who was barely 10 years old, do that. She told David, “You drew that wagon train with a linear perspective of disappearance.”

“What’s that?” the boy asked, his curiosity now piqued. Like all good teachers worth their salt and wanting their students to make an effort rather than just be given an answer, she countered with, “Look it up.”

David did exactly that. He looked it up and found that this thing called linear perspective, was a technique artists use to create a sense of realism in their work. By using converging lines they create an illusion of depth which serves to make the work more realistic and believable and most importantly, not flat nor one-dimensional. Thus, it lends movement to the painting.

Apparently, that talent was already deeply embedded in Dunlop’s DNA as his mother was artistic, and both his aunt and greataunt were fine artists with museum-quality work. His mother took her children frequently to the St. Louis Art Museum and “just let us wander around on our own.” David loved wandering, meeting many artists. He loved looking at different paintings...the colors, the light, and even though he didn’t yet know all the names for the techniques used in creating them, he was beginning to form a lifelong appreciation. There was never a

Image by Autumn Handley

David Dunlop's Studio Image by Autumn Handley

plan on which to fall back. There was never an alternative. This was his present and this would be his future. David Dunlop wanted to paint, to be a professional artist.

Many decades later, he has become a much sought after and well-respected artist both here and abroad. “I grew up with a cubist abstraction” This technique allows the artist the option of depicting objects not just from a single viewpoint but from a multitude of viewpoints. Once again, this opens up new possibilities and creates an illusion of movement.

Dunlop’s parents had familiar ties to the East coast so every other year they would vacation in Maine or Cape Cod, the Jersey shore, or New York. Ah, how David loved New York because for him that was the place of romance, that was the place for artists to come, to study, to observe, to meet other artists, to live. It would become his place as well.

Meeting David Dunlop is like being thrown headlong into 500 years of art history and doing so at 80mph. Once a hand is shaken, a greeting made, he is off to the races! Not trying to impress. Not bragging as he throws

around the names of the greats like DaVinci, Cezanne, Courteau, and others whose influences have had a profound effect on his life and work. He merely wants to get his audience excited whether that audience is one person in a gallery like Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison, a classroom in Europe, or on his Emmy Award-winning PBS Television Show, “Landscapes Through Time with David Dunlop.” He is creating a partnership, working hard to build an appetite for art in those with whom he interacts. He is all at once an excited child in a septuagenarian’s body fairly screaming, “Look here! Look there! Come with me! I want to show you how this moves. Let’s take a journey together.” And that journey may span the compendium in his mind that represents 500 years of art history or be as simple as what is installed on the gallery walls in front of the viewer’s eyes.

Susan Powell is not just a gallery owner, she is perhaps Dunlop’s greatest cheerleader, sitting in awe listening to him speak, barely taking a breath as he goes from element to element, artist to artist, period to period. “Every show we have here at the gallery, David always introduces new ideas,” Susan says.

October Memory

In a 2020 edition of American Art Collector Magazine, the cover features Dunlop’s painting “Brooklyn Bridge Ascending,” a magnificent oil that was exhibited in a solo show at Susan Powell Fine Art. He continues to not only be an integral part of most Powell shows but to also have a solo show every year at the gallery with 25 new paintings on view. Currently on view at Powell’s gallery and continuing through October 22nd, 13 artists are showcased in an installation entitled, “Artists to Watch –A Group Show.” A number of Dunlop’s paintings will be exhibited.

Although David is much sought after as a lecturer and has taught at the Silvermine Art Guild in New Canaan for many years, the teaching never stops. He can’t, it is so much a part of who he is, a kind of modern-day old master. With each stroke he teaches those who view his work, beckoning them not to just look once and move on, but to study the

colors and how they change, embrace the light, and see and feel the movement. It is indeed an invitation to go into a painting and wander around. “If you have an appetite,” Dunlop says, “you can find what elicits the mystery in a painting.”

Every painting is an art course, every image is a sensation that evokes imagination, and that is precisely what Dunlop is after. His favorite themes stem from nature, the city, and landscape. He thrives walking through woods, finding marshes, watching the wind blow silently through the tall grass, different each time as the light changes. His landscapes,

Image by Autumn Handley September Morning

Shoreline Meander and Salt Marsh

Grand Central Station, Light Textures

Marsh to Infinity

Electric Street Theater

Blue in GreenBrooklyn Bridge Dancing

Image by Autumn Handley

Coneflowers

though often mysterious, are never shrouded in dark. They beckon you with their luminosity and upon further examination always surprise.

Dunlop’s love affair with New York City has never ended, and he finds romance in sometimes the least likely venues. His oils on laminated aluminum depicting Grand Central Station give such light and beauty to what otherwise is nothing more than a big train station bustling with commuters. Through the mystery of the fog there is light and movement and an excitement, and everyone sees it differently which is always Dunlop’s intention. “Paint offers ambiguity, we see through projection. Is it just paint or an illusion?” Still, David will admit that his is a generalist approach, and he “goes where the muse takes me.”

Most often David is exploring fields and streams and woods and coastlines not previously visited. “I want to go out in nature and see what I haven’t seen before. There’s a science to experimentation, and I want to take the beholder with me on my journey.”

There is something about an artist, isn’t there? Any artist. It matters little whether they act, sing, dance, throw pottery at a wheel, sculpt, or paint, they are all a little different from the rest of us. It is as though when they were created with that innate bit of genetic matter that when they were created, they were given a mission to touch the rest of us.

Perhaps after you view the work of David Dunlop online, at Susan Powell Fine Art, or are even lucky enough to listen to him speak, you will realize why long ago that wagon train that seemed to dissolve in the distance was not in fact diminishing nor gone forever.

It was never really gone at all.

Visit Susan Powell Fine Art at 679 Boston Post Road in the heart of downtown Madison (203) 318-0616

View works: www. susanpowellfineart.com Find information on David Dunlop at: www. paintingclass net

Washed in Sunlight

Year-end strategies that fit your wealth plan

By Jan Tormay

Even though mock skeletons and tombstones seem to be everywhere in October prior to Halloween, death is not something most people talk about very much. These days, however, there is much to consider: We now have the option to “launch” out of this world in eco-friendly ways.

Most states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, have “green” cemeteries which require biodegradable wooden/wicker caskets without metal fasteners and that people not be embalmed. Instead of a casket, one can also choose to just be covered with a biodegradable shroud made of cotton, linen, or other material – a custom in the U.S. until the 1840s.

Green burials are safe, explained Elizabeth Foley, a Hanover, Connecticut native and registered nurse who now lives in Hamden. “Soil is an excellent filter and with few exceptions (Ebola, rabies, maybe one or two more) all human pathogens are quickly rendered benign upon the death of their host,” she said in an email. “There is an elaborate thanato-microbiome that quickly goes about repurposing our remains for organic means. There is no known detriment to groundwater; there are no reports of animals disrupting burial sites even at the shallower depth of 3-4 feet. The soil itself becomes prime, nitrogen-rich compost within a year, and a memorial planting or tree could be richly supported by the remains.”

Creating a coffin or shroud for someone “could be a loving closure,” suggested Glenn Cheney during a telephone interview. He, along with Foley, Angelynn Meya, and Nicholas Fulton, founded Connecticut Green Burial Grounds, a non-profit organization.

Some green cemeteries also allow cremated remains in biodegradable containers and the family pet to be buried with deceased loved ones. One such cemetery is Hanover Green Burial Ground, a quarter acre, back green section of Hanover Cemetery on Potash Hill Rd. in Sprague, Connecticut which was established in June. It is one of five in the Nutmeg State and the only one in Eastern Connecticut that is open to everyone and does not require that people must have lived in the town at some point prior to death.

From left, Glenn Cheney and Registered Nurse Elizabeth Foley founded the Connecticut Green Burial Grounds with Angelynn Meya and Nicholas Fulton. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to “promote the establishment of green, or natural, burial grounds in Connecticut; educate the public, funeral professionals, and cemetery associations in the benefits and desirability of green burial; establish generally accepted standards for green burial and green burial grounds,” according to its website, ctgreenburial.org. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Foley

Only flat, natural rocks (which can be engraved) are permitted at the Hanover Green Burial Ground; headstones are not allowed. By mowing once annually, “the green cemetery is going to take on a meadow effect eventually. There’ll be wildflowers and birds. It will be very tranquil and inviting to come and visit,” said Hanover Cemetery Association Treasurer, Joan Ryan during a joint telephone interview with Sexton Jen Benson.

The more Ryan thought about it after the six-member board met with Cheney, the more she said she “liked the idea that it was back to nature” and eliminated many hidden, traditional funeral expenses including a coffin and vault.

For those looking to “preserve the environment,” Jensen said green burials are a good option. No chemicals are used, and no gases are released from cement vaults. “It’s just totally natural.”

“I’ve always envisioned my body being wrapped in big banana leaves or thin cotton and laid into a river or shallow grave. Something natural,” Sahara Farrugio, funeral director of Smart Funeral Planning states on her website, smartfuneralplanning.com/blog. Based in Weston, Connecticut, and a partner with funeral homes across the state, she is also a Connecticut Green Burial Grounds board member.

“When I got into the funeral industry in Connecticut I became aware that (green burial) might not be a possibility if I chose to stay here,” because the state doesn’t “have much to offer for green cemeteries.”

Farrugio is hopeful that a natural burial could become “a reality someday” for her. “I want my body to be broken down (more rapidly if given a choice) and fed back into the land to support more life. To become a fertilizer and breed new life is really quite dreamy from a mother’s perspective.”

The traditional approach to burials today involves embalming deceased individuals and often using non-biodegradable caskets which are lowered into grave liners. “These types of modern cemeteries are ‘toxic waste dumps,’ because formaldehyde, a carcinogen used to embalm people, lasts forever and could eventually get into the water,” said Cheney, a Sprague selectman and author of The Merry Burial Compendium and more than 30 other books.

Conventional cemeteries in the U.S. annually bury “over 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete, 4.3 million gallons of toxic embalming fluid, 17,000 tons of copper, and 64,500 tons of steel. Natural burial does not use any of these materials,” according to peacefulpassageathome.com/green-natural-burial.html.

As of this year, “60.5% would be interested in exploring ‘green’ funeral options because of their potential environmental benefits, cost savings, or for some other reason, up from 55.7% in 2021,” as found in the National Funeral Directors Association’s website, nfda.org.

“In 1960, only 3.6% of Americans chose cremation. The projected cremation rate for 2025 is astronomically higher at 63.3%,” according to nationalcremation.com.

Cheney pointed out that cremations are not as eco-friendly as people think, because the process requires burning 28 gallons of fuel, but “it’s not as unfriendly as embalming.”

COSTS

Conventional burials which include embalming the body, hairstyling, makeup, casket, vault, transportation, flowers, viewings, and religious services, can range upwards of $15,000, Farrugio said in an email.

“A good point of interest in the funeral rule is that every funeral home in the United States must already offer a form of a green burial with a direct burial offering. Funeral homes are required to present a price list that includes a direct burial,” according to northwoodscasket.com.

There is also a “Basic Services of Funeral Director & Staff” n on-declinable charge, which Farrugio said is “set by the funeral homeowner and can literally be whatever they want.”

Additional fees in traditional cemeteries include the price of a plot and headstone.

People can purchase their own casket and have it sent to the funeral home, Farrugio said.

Biodegradable materials include cardboard, rattan, bamboo, seagrass, banana leaves, and soft woods (pine, maple, oak or poplar). “The national median cost of a funeral with cremation was approximately $6,971,” according to nfda.org.

Fees run the gamut from $3,000 on average (without third-party expenses) for the body being cremated “shortly after passing without embalming, viewing, or visitation” to a full-service cremation for about $7,500, which incorporates the benefits of both a traditional funeral service and cremation, including embalming and a casket rental. Cremation is performed following the funeral services,” according to Smart Funeral Planning’s infographic used on its Instagram page.

Of course, a plot is not required for cremated remains. They can be scattered at one’s favorite place or kept in an urn.

All deaths involve funeral directors, who “have a legal obligation to sign and file the death certificate within five business days of the death” and “must be present at the time of burial,” Farrugio said. Cheney said “people should be aware that if they want a green burial, they should buy a plot and make sure that when the time comes, their loved ones can go to the funeral director and say, ‘We want a green burial.’”

“You can even include instructions about the material you’d prefer for your casket and clothing,” joincake.com, an end-of-life planning organization, suggested. “Prepare a document for your next of kin that breaks everything down into clear and simple steps. People who are grieving may be overwhelmed about making decisions. Making those choices easier will allow them to honor your wishes without undue stress.”

For more information about Hanover Green Burial Ground, contact Hanover Cemetery Association Sexton Jen Benson by email at jbenson@99main.com, or call her at 860428-7818. For more information about green burials, including facts and myths as well as locations in Connecticut, go to ctgreenburial.org.

Glenn Cheney (pictured) founded the Connecticut Green Burial Grounds with Registered Nurse Elizabeth Foley, Angelynn Meya and Nicholas Fulton. Cheney is a Sprague selectman and author of “The Merry Burial Compendium” and more than 30 other books.

Photo by Mark Patnode

AskAshley Ask How To Protect Your Happiness

Tips from a celebrity psychiatrist

By Ashley Alt

Happy Fall, everyone! I hope you are diving into the season along with its many adventures of apple picking, pumpkin patching, and bonfire sitting.

As our attention turns more inward during the colder months, there’s no better time than the present to give ourselves the gift of a mental reset.

I’ve been listening to a slew of helpful mental health and wellness pod casts lately (there are so many great ones out there right now, let me know if you need a good rec), and have been learning a lot about brain health in the process.

It turns out, keeping your brain healthy isn’t all that different from keeping your body healthy (the two are interconnected, after all), though there are a few specific things to be aware of when it comes to having a healthy mind.

I tuned into an episode featuring Dr. Daniel Amen, a celebrity psychiatrist who works with the likes of professional athletes including Troy Glaus and artists like Justin Bieber, among many other Hollywood starlets. With a bold mission to end mental illness by creating a revolution in brain health, Dr. Amen is a fascinating one to listen to.

His tips for protecting your brain health and sustaining happiness are actually quite simple, and are things that anyone can do. From eating right to limiting screen time, we can all do a better job of getting our brains healthier — all it takes is practice.

What makes a healthy brain?

With a healthier brain always comes a happier life. While“getting happier” is never a quick fix, there are concrete, science-backed ways to feeling better, which Dr. Amen sums up in his work as a doctor who has administered over 200,000 brain scans to patients.

During the episode I listened to, Amen explained that when your day is rooted in connection and meaning, you feel fulfilled.“Those are the happiest people,” he said. “When people say they are looking for happiness, what they’re really looking for is deeper connection with people and more meaning in their lives.”

This makes complete sense as to why we don’t necessarily feel good after we hit a goal that we thought would make us happier. Whether that’s making your first sale in business or hitting the New York Times Bestseller list, that feel-good feeling simply doesn’t last because the goal was (most likely) driven by ego.

It’s the same thing with social media. What happens when we post a cute photo of ourselves or our families and don’t receive as many “likes” as we wanted? At the very least, we feel bad about ourselves. When we flip the script and come from a place of service rather than one of ego, we feel a sense of pride and accomplishment because we know we’ve helped someone feel better in some way.

To that end (and to no surprise), Dr. Amen reminds us that people who spend a significant amount of time on screens are more likely to develop anxiety, depression, and weight gain. Screen time is something to seriously consider cutting back on. We don’t feel good after binging Netflix or falling asleep thumbing through Instagram. It’s time we admit it.

Try setting limits or having rules like “no phones during dinner” or “no TV after 8 pm.”Your brain (and your body) will thank you for it!

Protecting our happiness

When it comes to protecting our happiness, things like setting boundaries and putting our needs first are no-brainers. If we have become accustomed to putting others’ happiness before our own or saying ‘yes’ to everything because we’re afraid of hurting people’s feelings, it’s going to take some rewiring of the brain to break old patterns and form new ones.

Before we do that, Dr. Amen says the first rule of order is to eat your fruits, veggies and fatty fish. The second thing to do, he says, is to give your happiness away. “We are completely impacted by the levels of happiness of those around us,” he said. “Giving your happiness away is the best thing you can do for your own happiness.” He even goes as far as to say that happiness is a moral obligation, to which I agree. Happiness is kind of like smiling and laughing — it’s contagious!

He also suggests starting every morning with a simple affirmation like, “Today is going to be a great day.”The repetition of saying this every day can be incredibly powerful in rewiring your brain to think positively instead of negatively, setting the tone for the rest of the day.

In the same token, ending the day by asking yourself, “What went well today?” is also a great habit to get into. We tend to automatically think of everything that went wrong during the day or ruminate over things we didn’t get done. When we focus on what went well, our stress levels decrease and we feel calmer and more present.

As for tangible things we can do daily to promote a healthy brain, Dr. Amen encourages us to “only love food that loves you back.” Meaning, foods with no sugar and foods that are filled with healthy ingredients only. “Nuts are great, especially walnuts,” he said. “As are fatty fish and extra virgin olive oils.”

My favorite tip from Dr. Amen is also the simplest: Ask yourself before you do any activity or eat any food:“Is this good for my brain or bad for my brain?”

Here’s to your healthy and happy brain!

To keep up with Ashley, sign up for her newsletter, where she talks all things wellness and mental health: https://ashleyalt.substack.com/.

The Cheesemonger

Paul Partica, The Cheese Shop, Centerbrook CT

Autumn Cheese

Most cheeses are available all year long but there are a few that have special importance during some seasons and some only exist in the Fall. Here are a few you might want to look for.

Petit Vaccarinus (Vacherin Mont D’Or)

The original cheese in Europe is called Vacherin Mont D’Or. It’s strictly a seasonal cheese only made in late fall and early winter. This process takes place when the cows are brought down from the mountains and milk production is less so they are not able to make the large wheels of Emmenthaler and Gruyere. They make instead, Vacherin, which is a combination soft ripening brie and washed rind cheese. The cheese is wrapped in spruce bark which not only adds to the flavor but gives it its shape. When brought to room temperature, or it can be actually heated, the cheese becomes an instant fondue.

Unfortunately, this Swiss and French cheese are made from raw milk and not allowed in the country. Petit Vaccarinus is the thermalized version. The milk is partially heated producing a close version of Mont D’Or that’s considered safe for the United States. Curl up near a warm fire and enjoy.

Harbison Cheese

Harbison is the domestic version of the European Vacherin. The difference is it’s made all year long in Vermont. It too comes with a unique package surrounded by bark. This bark again adds to the flavor and it helps keep it shape. When served at room temperature the cheese gets very soft and would run like honey. The best serving suggestion is to leave the cheese in the bark, peel back the top skin and scoop out the cheese like a perfect fondue. This is the same process as Vacherin.

Harbison is a soft ripening cheese with a bloomy rind. It’s made from pasteurized cow’s milk. The bark comes from local Spruce trees which go through a process of peeling, drying, cutting, and boiling before it can be used. The bark is processed all year long so you may notice a slight difference in taste from summer bark versus winter bark. The cheese has a delicate, slightly woodsy aroma with a fresh sweet cream taste. It ends with a mushroom finish with a fresh hay aroma. The cheeses are aged approximately six to eight weeks before they are ready to eat.

Gruyere

Gruyere is one of my favorite cheeses. The reason is simple: few cheeses come close to the versatility of Gruyere. It gives fondue its body, onion soup

its elegance, and Quiche Lorraine its flavor. In fact, it can handle any task when it comes to cooking. It has great melting capabilities, it doesn’t get stringy, nor does it solidify. It is essential in making Fondue. Heat enhances its flavor and its keeping quality is longer than most other cheeses.

Gruyere dates back to the twelfth century and is named after the town of Gruyere, Switzerland. The cheese is manufactured with the finest raw milk from cows that graze only on fresh, lush, green pasturage. Milk from silage fed cows will never make its way into Gruyere production. The area is rich with Swiss traditional chalets and lush green pastures.

Gruyere is a natural cheese produced in 80-pound wheels. The rind is slightly shriveled and oilier than Emmenthaler yet produced in somewhat the same method. It has a fat content of 45% and has less moisture than Emmenthaler. It has almost no eye formation (holes) and most often, ‘blind’ (no holes) forms are the rule. The cheese is approximately thirty inches in diameter. Gruyere is more aromatic than Emmenthaler and usually sharper. This is due to a longer aging period and its size being less than half the weight of an Emmenthaler. All cheeses ripen from the outside in so a smaller cheese will ripen faster than a larger cheese. You can buy Gruyere at many different stages along the way. I prefer a longer cave aged cheese with much greater flavor.

Gruyere has a wide range of culinary uses. You can make a great meal by just slicing Gruyere on dark bread with a little raw onion, mustard, and smoked sausage. Add a crisp white wine such as Chenin Blanc, Riesling, or Chardonnay and finish with a fresh salad for a simple and appetizing meal. Panfrying this cheese dusted with a little flour is a great snack as well.

Cheddar

One of the most common and well-known cheeses in the world originated in England, in the village of Cheddar in Somerset. Cheddar still represents about half of the cheese consumption in England, second only to mozzarella in the United States. Cheddar is known for the cheddar-type cut curd from which it is made.

Cheddar is naturally pale white unless color is added. The push for natural food production has caused a decrease in not only colored cheddars, but most cheeses. Some might remember old-fashioned store cheese, sometimes referred to as “Rat Cheese”, which was usually a deep yellow-orange color.

England is known for both farmhouse, referred to as artisan today, and factory types of cheddar. Although factory cheese is more common and less expensive, farm-produced cheeses are of much better quality and well worth the additional cost, in the same way Grand Cru selections are superior to table wines.

You will find that cheddars come in all different sizes and shapes, and like all cheeses, the size will make a difference in the taste. Since all cheese ripens from the outside in, a large 40-pound wheel will ripen differently than a small five-to-ten pound wheel. Some will have a natural rind with a combination of cheese cloth and wax, while others might have a plastic rind. Then there’s the small, any-size waxed or plasticcoated cheddar, which are usually stamped or cut out of larger wheels. What’s left of the original cheese in this process turns into cold pack or processed cheese. It’s very important to taste these offerings because they will vary immensely.

Most likely, a less-than-desired taste found in cheddar can be traced back to either poor milk quality, forced curing (aging) or pasteurized milk vs. raw milk. Forced curing is the process of quickening the ripening process by aging cheese under warmer temperatures, but often the end result is a bitter cheese that bites the tongue and often has a bitter, sour taste.

Raw-milk cheddars tend to have a better, more flavorful taste then those made from pasteurized milk. It is my opinion that raw milk cheeses last longer and truly benefit better from longtime aging.

Although sharpness is important in choosing cheddar, I feel the finish is even more important. I would rather have a milder, smooth-tasting cheese with a pleasant finish than a very aged, sharp cheese that bites you back at the end. Cheddars are not consistent. Don’t assume that because a particular brand of cheddar, or a cheese made in the same region or state, was great one time, it will be equally so the next time. Try it.

Cheddar cheese on apple pie made from fresh picked apples or how about a slice of cheddar on a fresh picked sliced apple? This can only happen in the fall.

Quick ideas

It’s a good time for grilling cheese. How about smoked gouda on burgers? Baked brie, Gruyere on French onion soup, and melting Raclette are a few other choices that come to mind.

Nicole Hines with new 80 lb Gruyere