Mohawk Valley Living #113 April 2023

PSYCHEDELIC:

ROCK & ROLL POSTER ART

APRIL 1 - JUNE 11

The late 1960s saw the arrival of a new counterculture in San Francisco. To promote concerts there, venues employed young artists and print shops to produce advertising posters. The artists used their assignments as a chance to experiment with color and visual techniques. The complexity of the flyers worked as a promotional tool for the concerts and they also became desired artwork in their own right. See 23 original posters in this groovy exhibition!

Bill Graham 9. Artist: Wes Wilson. (Fillmore Auditorium, June 3-4, 1966; Quicksilver Messenger Service; Grateful Dead)

Next Issue: May 1st

I HeART Utica

by Sharry L. Whitney

I’m a bit nostalgic this month. Maybe it’s the spring weather that reminds me we’ve come full circle—the world around us is renewed. My husband, Lance, and I first moved to the Mohawk Valley for college. I accessed the art classes at Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute through what was then Utica College (now Utica University). I recall many students abbreviating MWPAI back then, referring to it as “The Munstitute.” On page 3 of this issue, you will see MWPAI’s announcement of their new name.

We are thrilled to be working with our alma mater again after all these years. Back in the late 1980s, we brainstormed with fellow Munson students about an arts and entertainment newspaper. A fellow Munson student friend of mine, Vanessa, first introduced me to John von Bergen and Sculpture Space. Last month, I attended Sculpture Space’s spring Open Studio event. One sculptor in residence from California, Cedric Tai, created an installation in response to the vandalism that occurred at the studio last summer. His work considered the perspective of 8 to 12-year-olds—the ages of the vandals. The entire evening of the event, Cedric’s installation teemed with young attendees as the artist engaged locals in conversations about the incident. This “foreigner” found a positive way to respond to a Utica setback and found beauty in the community’s reaction to a tragic event.

Utica’s resilience is its beauty. It’s what has brought immigrants here for generations and why they stay. It’s what Lance and I saw many years ago...Utica isn’t perfect, but it’s always renewing itself.

Riggie is roaming around and hiding in the advertising areas of the magazine. Next to him you’ll find a letter. Find all the Riggies and rearrange the letters to answer this riddle. Enter by the 15th of the month to be entered in a $100 shopping spree at one of our advertisers!

(Excluding media and banks) One entry per household per month. Mail to: Riggie’s Riddle, 30 Kellogg St., Clinton, NY 13323 or email: mohawkvalleyliving@hotmail.com

NOTE: Please enter Riggie’s Riddle and crossword puzzle in separate emails.

They say, “A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work,” but what kind of day are you having if you catch one of these while fishing the Mohawk River?

7 letters

See the answer and winner to last month’s riddle on page 46!

Do birds have ghosts? Can someone be haunted by one? As it happens, I’ve been haunted by the ghost of one particular bird for nearly 30 years. If not for a simple twist of fate, I would have chronicled the breeding experiences of this bird in the manner I’ve done for other raptors, most notably, the Utica Peregrine Falcons. Unfortunately, all I’m left with is a third-hand account of a tragic waste and lingering frustration.

I was recently contacted by a man who sought the identity of a bird he had a close encounter with back in the 1980s. At the time, he was a student at Hamilton Col-

lege. Back in the spring of 1989, he had been hiking through the Kirkland Woods when he presumably got too close to a hawk nest and was hazed by the parent hawk. I immediately knew the bird he was referring to. It was a Northern Goshawk – the largest and most fearsome of three members of the accipiter family that breed in the forests of the Northeast. Although I had never seen the specific bird he encountered, I knew of her reputation.

In 1995, I had a conversation with a local birder friend of mine. For the purpose of this article, I will refer to him as “Frank.” He told me that several years earlier, a friend of his had been repeatedly hazed (dived at) by a nesting Goshawk. Reputedly, the man was a professor who regularly crossed through the Kirkland Woods to get from his house to the college. He had become irritated with the Goshawk’s attacks and decided to bring a walking stick along as protection. One morning, when the overprotective mother hawk dove too close, the professor bashed her with his stick and brought her down. As one

might imagine, I was horrified by this story. Goshawks were rare at that time (they are rarer now) and even if we weren’t discussing a threatened species, the act as described to me was criminal. It is illegal to

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The now extinct Passenger Pigeon was once a major prey item for raptors like the Goshawk

This Cooper’s Hawk has orange barring on its chest, which helps differentiate it from the Goshawk which has lighter gray barring.

tive bird – regardless of their conservation status. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation would follow up on incidents like these, but it would have to be a fresh case, and certainly not something five years old. There was no longer evidence of anything. All I had was a story.

Of course, to me, it was far more than a story. One action by a single individual effectively put an end to what may have been years of breeding by a rare and magnificent species and the ecosystem had been deprived of an apex predator. If I had known

about the situation at the time, I could have worked to protect the hawks and the nest area. The foot trail could have been temporarily rerouted so hikers wouldn’t get too close to the nest. That way, the female Goshawk wouldn’t have felt compelled to attack anyone. When the man hit the hawk, he not only took out that individual, but he most likely consigned the hawk’s offspring to death. I can’t know for sure what stage the nest was at when the adult female was taken down. But given how aggressive she was – how she had been swooping at, and sometimes striking passersby, she surely had young in the nest. Developmentally, they would have been somewhere between hatchlings and fledglings. If they were on the younger side, the female would still need to brood them to protect them from the elements. This is not something her mate would take over, for brooding is not in the job description of a

male Goshawk. Had the nestlings been older and closer to fledging, it’s conceivable the male would have been able to provide for at least some of the voracious young, but again, it is all speculation.

Northern Goshawks are members of the accipiter family. They are the largest of the three accipiter hawks that inhabit North America. All three species inhabit the Mohawk Valley although the Goshawk is now quite rare even as a migrant. The more common accipiters are the medi-

Goshawk in flight

Goshawk nestlings. Brooding is not a trait of male Goshawks.

um-sized Cooper’s Hawk and the smaller Sharp-shinned hawk. Both are sometimes referred to as “birdfeeder hawks” for their habit of hunting Mourning Doves and other songbirds at bird feeders. Unlike falcons, which are designed for hunting in wide open spaces, the accipiter hawks are more suited to flying quickly through forest conditions. They have relatively short, broad wings and long tails which enable them to maneuver with precision through tight-knit tree branches. Their tails act as rudders and help them to make sharp, fast turns. This is an ideal skill for predators that need to chase down and secure quick and agile songbirds. In some cases, the Goshawk will resort to pursuing prey on foot like a Tyrannosaur, running after them into the underbrush. With an average wingspan of 3.5 feet, the Goshawk’s larger size enables them to hunt more hefty prey like grouse. They also don’t limit themselves to preying primarily on bird species like the other accipiters and frequently hunt rabbits and squirrels. While the Cooper’s Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks have nearly identical plumage, the Goshawk’s appearance is markedly different. The Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned have orange barring on their chests, while the Goshawk’s breast is lighter with fine gray barring. All three species have red eyes and blue-gray backs, but only the Goshawk has a black cap and prominent white eyebrow. These serve as the species’ most notable field marks.

A typical Goshawk nest is a relatively large structure, located as high as 50 feet up in a tall, mature tree. Goshawks often anchor their nest to a horizontal branch and the tree’s trunk; sometimes they construct it in the crotch of a tree. These nests are well-made, sturdy stick structures, capable of lasting several years. They are lined with finer materials such as smaller sticks and bark. Some Goshawks use down feathers from their prey in their nest linings. Both the male and female Goshawk contribute to the nest building, but it’s thought the female does most of the work. They often build several nests within their territory and alternate between them in successive seasons. In the spring, the female lays from two to five eggs and it’s her role to handle most of the incubation. Once the eggs hatch, the female oversees brooding the young and the male’s contribution is to provide food for the family. The female Goshawk handles the actual feedings. Once the young are a few weeks old and well-feathered, the female no longer needs to brood, and she can resume hunt-

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Goshawk nestlings close to fledging

ing. With Goshawks, the other accipiters, and with falcons, the female is substantially larger than the male – roughly a third bigger. This size difference allows the male and female together the ability to exploit a wider variety of prey. The male can concentrate on securing smaller prey like songbirds and

chipmunks, while the female can secure larger animals like rabbits and grouse.

Goshawks are thought to mate for life, although there have been cases of individuals switching partners. Goshawks typically hold a territory of over 400 contiguous acres of forest. They can have an extended hunting territory that is much larger, and they may fly as far as 25 miles out on hunting forays. They tend to be quite particular regarding the quality of the forestlands where they nest. They prefer mostly closed canopy forests comprised of mature trees. Forestland of that type is relatively rare in the Eastern US, and very rare in the Mohawk Valley. The Goshawk prefers mixed

deciduous coniferous forest but will sometimes accept nesting accommodations in less diverse stands of either all deciduous or all coniferous growth. They don’t prefer forests fragmented by logging or development and will often abandon their territories when logging ensues nearby. Most Goshawk nests are located in relatively close proximity to a perennial water source like a woodland stream.

Dating back to the time of European colonization of this land, the Goshawk has had a complicated relationship with humans. As a hawk that relies on heavy forest cover for its habitat, the widespread clearing of the forest that took place after colonization deprived the species of most of its hunting and breeding grounds. With much of the forest cover gone, some Goshawks and other raptors began raiding barnyards and taking domestic poultry. This was a crime punishable by death. All Goshawks, whether guilty or not, were persecuted as “chicken hawks” and killed on sight. Far from being protected by the government, some State governments and municipalities offered a bounty on chicken hawks which continued in the 1920s and 30s even after the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (which was the law providing legal protection for

Early

of

from a book on NY State Birds

native bird species) became the law of the land in 1918. It wasn’t until 1972, that the federal government decided to take raptor conservation seriously and provide them true legal protection. The authorities finally began prosecuting individuals and industries charged with illegally killing raptors.

Formerly, even the Goshawk’s friends were highly problematic. Conservationists and falconers that sought out and “appreciated” Goshawks were often out to plunder nests and/or kill birds. Conservationists of the late 19th and early 20th century were profligate collectors of specimens and

would often destroy their subjects in the interest of gaining scientific knowledge. In a single study from 1927, an astonishing 251 migrant Goshawks were killed at one site to examine their stomach contents. As a preferred and valuable hawk for falconry, young Goshawks were often stolen from nests, trained, and used for sport hunting. This use of Goshawks and other raptors continues to this day, although now falconers are limited in how many Goshawks can be taken from wild nests. Falconry is an ancient sport, dating back to the time of the pharaohs. It is sometimes referred to as the sport of kings since aristocracies around the globe practiced it for many centuries.

In New York State, the Goshawk has become our rarest breeding hawk species. I have seen less than five Goshawks in the past decade. Despite regional declines, the Northern Goshawk is not classified as an endangered species (in New York State it is listed as a Special Concern Species). It may be sparsely represented across its North American range, but since that range is so vast, the species is considered secure

and not at imminent risk of extinction. In Pennsylvania, an estimated 150–200 Goshawk territories in the 1980s dropped to only two in forty years. In New York State, the data is harder to interpret, but a precipitous rate of decline is suggested over the same period. As long as the Goshawk remains so particular about the character of its breeding grounds, and such ardent defenders of their realms, it is difficult to imagine their road back. We can glean some hope when considering the example of the Goshawks in Northern Europe, who have begun to nest in and around cities. It may come down to making some fundamental changes on our part – changes in the way we manage forest lands, and changes in the way we interact with wildlife, particularly predators. •

Peregrine Falcon in flight – note the narrow, pointed wings

Matt Perry is Conservation Director and Resident Naturalist at Spring Farm CARES in Clinton. He manages a 260 acre nature preserve which is open for tours by appointment. His nature videos and photos can be found on the Spring Farm CARES’ Nature Sanctuary Facebook page.

In April, the forest begins to come alive from the ground up. Weeks before the trees break bud and the forest canopy begins to fill in with foliage, the spring ephemeral wildflowers get their chance in the sun. Among the first to push up from the soil and bloom are Spring Beauties, Sharplobed Hepatica, and Bloodroot. Of those early risers, it is the diminutive Spring Beauties that are most common – occurring in large rafts and located throughout our old woods. This most delicate groundcover is interrupted on the forest floor by moss-covered logs and robust patches of Wild Leeks. Like the great majority of our woodland wildflowers, Spring Beauties have a subtle charm and require close examination to be appreciated. From a distance, the flowers appear pink, but close inspection reveals that they are white with pink or purple pinstripes. Each individual flower, depending on weather conditions, only lasts a few days, but each plant has multiple blooms and can usually keep blooming for several weeks.

Spring Beauties, like most spring ephemerals, rely on insects for pollination, which means they require the services of the earliest emerging pollinating insects. Among the insects that perform this task is the Spring Beauty Mining Bee which has a special association with its namesake

flower. The Spring Beauty Mining Bee’s emergence is timed with the plant’s emergence and the larvae of the bee feed exclusively on pollen from these flowers. The Spring Beauty’s association with insects does not end there. They also rely on insects to disperse their seeds. They produce fleshy coverings on their seeds called elaiosomes. These lipid and protein-rich structures are prized by ants which transport them through the forest and bring them home to feed to their larvae. In its new location, the discarded seed is then left to germinate and become a new Spring Beauty plant.

In April, I always check on our woodchuck burrows to look for signs of activity. In the Northeast, Woodchucks generally enter hibernation in October and wake up in April. Seeing footprints going in or out of a woodchuck hole doesn’t necessarily mean the Woodchuck is active since a variety of other animals avail themselves of these burrows for temporary shelter. Skunks often use them, as do Opossums. However, they don’t tend to go very deep into the tunnel and certainly not deep enough to reach one of the Woodchuck’s

living chambers. Signs of recent excavation work, like a pile of fresh dirt outside the entrance of a hole, are an indication that the resident Woodchuck has roused. I recall last year inspecting one of our burrows in time to see the sleepy head of a Woodchuck suddenly poke up. I think he wanted his breakfast. Usually, it is the male Woodchuck that wakes up first. During their extended sleep, they will lose more than half their body mass, and when they wake up, they must immediately go about replenishing their reserves.

Bird migration that largely began in March intensifies in April, to the point where new faces are being seen and new voices are being heard daily. In the woods, the Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers arrive, and the males immediately set out skirmishing over territories and pounding out proclamations on trees. Their uneven drumming pattern, which sounds like a clumsy attempt at morse code, is one of the most distinct of the woodpecker clan, and cannot be mistaken for any other species, virtual-

story and photos by Matt Perry

A Woodchuck wakes up from hibernation

ly all of which are also drumming their hearts out throughout the awakening forest. The Hermit Thrush is the first of the woodland thrushes to arrive, and they can be found in small flocks of five to ten birds, skulking about in the forest understory and rummaging through leaf litter for their invertebrate prey. Although, they don’t always limit themselves to invertebrates. A few years ago, we watched one freshly returned Hermit pluck a Redbacked Salamander from the soil and swallow it whole.

At the forest edge and in the overgrown hedgerows, our largest sparrow species returns and, like the Hermit Thrush, is finding its food by thrashing through the detritus. The Fox Sparrow is more interested in finding seeds and berries but will also consume insects when they are available. This reddish-brown backed sparrow looks more like a thrush in size and plumage, but it is through and through a finch like other members of the sparrow clan. That fact is confirmed by the shape of its bill which is relatively short and conical and is built for cracking seed hulls. Also, unlike the Hermit Thrush, which he bears a superfi-

Marsh Marigold occurs in wetlands in April

The Yellow-shafted Flicker returns to our woods in April

A pair of Tree Swallows

Bloodroot emerges in the old woods

cial resemblance to, the Fox Sparrow has no inhibitions about letting lose its full song, which is a sweet wavering whistle. The Fox Sparrow is an accomplished singer, although he comes off sounding a little drunken as if he had been hitting the fermented elderberries. Of course, he hadn’t been, and that is simply how his song is supposed to sound.

In the second half of April, the rate of birds returning to the Northeast intensifies, as the strict insectivores begin to filter in. The first warbler types on the scene are the water thrushes, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Palm Warblers. In the final days of the month, the Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, and Black and White Warbler make their first appearances in the forest and wetland tree borders. Like the Fox Sparrow, they are all using song to telegraph the exciting news of their arrival. This is all preamble for the flood of neo-tropical migrants that will enter the woods in May. The coming of those birds and more will be the subject of next month’s nature article. •

A hungry Woodchuck wakes from its winter slumber

The Hermit Thrush hunts in the forest’s leaf litter

The Fox Sparrow is our largest sparrow species

An Eastern Bluebird male looks for nesting cavities in April

by carol higgins

Planets Jupiter and Venus gave us a splendid night sky show in February and March, especially on March 1 when they were very close together. That event, called a conjunction, made national news and was photographed by thousands of astronomers. Many photos also captured four of Jupiter’s brightest moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. They are known as the Galilean moons in honor of Galileo Galilei, the first person to observe them through a telescope in 1610. In a few weeks, a mission to visit three of those moons begins. The JUICE spacecraft is scheduled to launch April 13, 2023!

JUICE, formally known as the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft, is a European Space Agency (ESA) project designed to collect data about Europa, Ganymede and Callisto during a fouryear mission. But out of the 92 moons that orbit Jupiter, why these three? They are interesting, icy, and watery worlds. Scientists want to learn more about each unique world and determine if their suspected subsurface oceans provide habitable conditions that can support life.

The spacecraft carries an impressive research payload. Armed with ten instrument packages, it will capture images and data about the atmosphere, surface topography and chemistry, sub surface composition and structure, magnetosphere, and more. The information

collected will improve our understanding of Jupiter and its neighbors, and lead to new theories about the formation of the other gas giant planets in our solar system.

Ganymede is the primary science target due to many intriguing features. It is the largest moon in the solar system and the only one with a magnetic field. The icy and cratered surface, where temperatures range from -297 to -171 degrees Fahrenheit, is a mixture of bright and dark regions, tall ridges and grooves that can stretch thousands of miles. Scientists estimate the ice is about 95 miles thick and covers a saltwater ocean containing more water than all the surface water on Earth. At the center is a liquid iron core with a rocky outer shell.

The second high-priority target is Europa, which is almost the same size as our Moon. Scientists believe there is a salty liquid-water ocean below the surface that holds twice as much water as all of Earth’s oceans combined, making it the most likely place to support life beyond our planet. Its orbit around Jupiter is slightly oval, so the distance from the gas giant varies and creates tides that stretch then relax the surface. This action may help explain the unusually smooth but widely fractured icy surface, crisscrossed with mysterious dark reddish-brown streaks.

Callisto is another place with a suspected subsurface ocean, but is quite different than its two companions. Of the Galilean moons, it is the one furthest away from Jupiter. Its rocky and icy surface is the most heavily cratered object in the solar system, and the bright white spots on the surface are believed to be craters containing water ice.

Although JUICE will focus mainly on the icy targets, it will also study volcanic Io and a few other inner moons. Jupiter itself will be explored to learn more about its atmosphere, rings, and powerful magnetic field.

Final launch preparations are underway at the ESA launch site in French Guiana. JUICE is scheduled to launch April 13 on an Ariane 5 rocket at 8:15 a.m. EDT. After a long journey, the spacecraft arrives at Jupiter in July 2031. So the next time you observe Jupiter and the four Galilean moons with your telescope or binoculars, ponder this fun question: is there some form of life in any of those watery worlds? Wishing you clear skies! •

Hanny’s Voorwerp. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Keel, Galaxy Zoo Team

Mohawk valley astronomical society

Jupiter’s Icy Moon Europa

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

Rintrona’s Bistro in UTICA

by Maryann Vanderpool-Imundo

When one enters Rintrona’s Bistro, they’re met with a wall display of family photos while music reminiscent of the swing era softly plays in the background. This evening’s sound is from Nat King Cole.

Basket bottomed wine bottles, red roses, threaded garlic, pseudo grapes, wooden spoons, red checkered tablecloths, and large cans of tomatoes decorate the main dining area.

“I want my customers to walk in and feel like they’re coming to Sunday dinner,” said Marissa Rintrona, owner of Rintrona’s Bistro.

Rintrona describes herself as very Italian, someone who appreciates tradition and family, both of which Rintrona is demonstratively grateful for.

Her passion for sharing food, which led to her career in local eateries, was influenced by both sides of her grandparent’s generation: the Rintrona’s of Rintrona’s Bakery; and the Verillis of Verilli’s Market. Both once located in East Utica.

In 2020, Rintrona achieved her dream of restaurant ownership. This was the year that her daughter Gianna was diagnosed with cancer. “I decided to do it then because I was trying to create a happy spot to distract us from all that we were going through.”

Rintrona’s menu includes many conventional Italian dishes, most named in honor of her loved ones. Some examples are: Gianna’s Greens (daughter); Gerry’s peppers (grandmother);

Marisa Maggio, Marisa Rintrona (center), and Chef James Preston

Customers can design their own pasta dishes

Rintrona’s Bistro in Utica opened in 2020

Johnny V’s Fried Bologna (grandfather); Candace Chicken Cutlet (mother); Angelina’s Antipasto (grandmother); and Rocco’s Riggies (grandfather).

“We try to offer other types of food, but we put our Italian spin on them,” Rintrona said. Some options are: Egg Rolls, Fried Pickles with Wasabi, Burgers with Remoulade sauce, and Fish Fries.

Desserts are available from Rintrona’s cousin’s bakery, Holy Pizzolie. Cannoli, pusties, and specialty cakes are among some of the sweets at hand.

Separated from the main dining area is a sports bar that has a more relaxed, casual vibe. It offers a wide variety of alcoholic beverages and specialty happy hour drinks.

Presently, Laurie Lange is seated at a bar stool enjoying a Samuel Adams Lager as she watches a game of golf on the big screen. Lange said, “I like coming here because I like the people, and the food is great.” Moments later, she joins her friends at a corner table to share an appetizer of Spinach Dip: a generous portion of fresh spinach, artichokes, and secret spices served with a side of wonton chips.

“We use the sports bar often for special events, like Super Bowl parties and charity golf tournaments,” Rintrona said.

In the warmer weather, the walls of the sports

Laurie Lange enjoys the people (and a pint) at Rintrona’s

Marisa Rintrona works alongside Chef James Preston

Scot Raymond is a regular entertainer at Rintrona’s

bar open up and lead to a lovely outdoor dining area where Ribeye Steak Sandwiches are prepared on an open grill.

Rintrona’s provides live music or karaoke every Saturday in the winter and every Wednesday and Saturday during the summer months. This week featured the solo musician, Scot Raymond.

With Rintrona’s Bistro’s combination of good food, friendly people, pleasing decor, and enjoyable entertainment, their catchphrase rings true, “Rintrona’s… A place your feet may leave, but your heart remains.” •

470 French Rd, Utica, NY

(315) 864-8050 • Open: Wed & Thurs: 4-10pm, Fri: 11:30am-10pm, Sat: 12-10pm, Sun: 12-6pm www.rintronabistro.com Maryann

creative writer. She is

active mem ber in the Oneida Chapter National Society of The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). She enjoys history, writing, public speaking, ballroom dancing and line dancing.

Mivos Quartet

(The Chicago Reader)

april Crossword

Answers found in the pages of this magazine! Solution will appear in next month’s issue

Across

3. This month’s featured artist. (2 words)

7. Be sure to stop and smell these.

8. All is well when these are full in Suzie’s barn

9. What Gary wears when bushwacking. (2 words)

13. MWPAI is now ____. See page 3.

14. World-renowned conductor ___ Más-Arocas leads the Clinton Symphony Orchestra in a concert Saturday, May 20th at 7:30pm.

Down

1. This month’s featured restaurant (or bistro).

2. What Suzie’s barn is filled with this time of year.

4. A reme”tea” you’ll find at Peter’s Cornucopia.

5. The Utica Herald Journal called this 19th-cen tury Utica museum “the prettiest little museum in the state outside of New York City.”

6. This spacecraft will collect data about Jupiter’s moons

10. Clip the top of a tree.

11. The real name of Matt’s “Ghost Hawk”

12. Your father’s sister or that Anne with the irresistible pretzels!

MVL Crossword Puzzler:

Before the Museum and School of Art, before the Concerts in the Court, there lived a shrewd investor, art collector, and philanthopist who is the reason we still know the name Munson today. Unscramble the letters in the yellow boxes then email your answer to: mohawkvalleyliving@hotmail.com by the 18th of this month. You’ll be entered to win an MVL Mug and a bag of delicious, fresh-roasted FoJo Beans coffee! Answer and winner to last month’s puzzle on page 46.

Artist Tim Rand of Clinton

by Cassandra Miller

Tim Rand was once known as the “Putin Guy.” In 2016, he cheekily displayed an oil painting portrait of the Russian president on the porch of his green-and-yellow house/studio in Clinton

In 2022, Rand updated the portrait with red paint around the background and had a “Great Tomato Toss” with friends. “Putin is a turd, so we covered him in five gallons of rotten tomatoes,” he wrote in an Instagram post about the October event. Rand got the past-prime heirloom tomatoes from his friend’s produce farm, where he works in the summer.

While Rand has other jobs–helping on friends’ farms and working as a studio tech at Hamilton College–he also has been a working artist since he graduated from the Institute of Art and Design at New England College in 2011. After college, he moved back to his hometown of Clinton and into his grandfather’s old house on the main road into town.

While he primarily works in Clinton, he travels extensively for inspiration. Masks from Nepal, Ghana, Italy, and elsewhere decorate his painting and printmaking studios in his house. Portland, Maine is a favorite destination for his “Fish Out of Water” oil painting series of old boats. “Old boats are like people. They have so many stories,” Rand said. Paintings from this series wrap around the walls of the frame-making room on the first floor of his house. Rand mainly painted portraits for the first 10 years of his career, specializing in a grid presentation that he sometimes makes three-dimensional with varying lengths of

Tim’s portrait of Putin caused a stir when displayed on his front porch in 2016

Tim’s studio is located in his home in Clinton that was once his grandfather’s house

wood blocks–this is the style of his portrait of Adirondack Bank Center/Utica AUD architect

Gil Seltzer displayed in the hockey arena’s executive suite.

During the pandemic, he got into painting bees. He painted a bee mural on a pavilion at the Utica Zoo, and he’ll be doing a live demonstration of painting a bee at the “Art in Bloom” exhibition at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute on April 1, 2023. He’s currently enamored with water buffalo and paints his new favorite subject three or four days a week. “I’m getting looser with my technique, which is liberating,” he said. The drips and streaks of color on his latest works are a departure from the tightly contained grids of his portraits.

Printmaking is a newish medium for Rand that he’s picked up in the last few years since starting as the printmaking and wood shop studio tech at Hamilton College. “As much as I love painting, I wanted to challenge myself in a new medium. Every plate I figure out something new,” he said.

He created a printmaking studio in the basement of his house and last year purchased his own printing press. He is immersing himself in the medium this spring, teaching classes at the Kirkland Art Center in Clinton and at his home. A printmaking show he is curating at KAC

During the pandemic, Tim got into painting bees. He will have a bee painting demonstration during “Art in Bloom” at Munson Saturday, April 1, 1-3pm

opens in April and will include works by him, his students, and students from Hamilton College.

From teaching classes at KAC to selling produce at the Clinton Farmers’ Market, Rand has embraced life as a working artist in his hometown. He welcomes visitors by appointment to his studio at 84 Utica St. in Clinton and connects with patrons through his website trandart.com.

Hot Off The Press

April 29 - May 27, 2023

Opening Reception & Demonstration: Saturday, May 6, 1-4pm Kirkland Art Center 9 1/2 East Park Row, Clinton, NY kacny.org

Tim has a printmaking studio in his basement. he enjoys teaching the craft at Hamilton College and the Kirkland Art Center

Printmaking exhibition featuring Tim Rand’s and his student’s work.

I love making music with others and sharing what we do with the audience. Music makes us humans, music connect us all in very unique and profound ways.

Octavio Más-Arocas

Hometown/current town: Valencia, Spain/Haslett, MI

Instrument: The Orchestra. I am the conductor, the one with the baton that starts everything

Age when began music: 8 years old

Education: Alumnus of the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, where I studied with David Zinman. Completed doctoral studies and my main mentors include Kurt Masur, Harold Farberman, and Emily Freeman Brown.

Current employment/position: Music Director and Conductor, Clinton Symphony of the Mohawk Valley, New York; Director of Orchestras, Michigan State University, Michigan; Music Director and Conductor, Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, Ohio; Music Director and Conductor, Marquette Symphony Orchestra, Michigan; Conductor in Residence, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, California

Collaborations: Love working with all the musicians of all the orchestras I work with. They don’t only love what they do, they are generous, and always give their very best. It is such a privilege for me to be part of that collaboration.

Just good music.

Special Event

Octavio Más-Arocas conducts

Clinton Symphony Orchestra of the Mohawk Valley

Saturday, May 20th at 7.30pm

Clinton Central Schools Theatre

www.clintonsymphonyorchestra.org

In cooperation with

“Heroes and Fairy Tales”

Detail of Featherlight,LakeOtsego,NY, a mixed media painting by Melissa Tevere. Her work will appear in a solo show at the Cooperstown Art Association this month.

March

Art inspired by poetry and poetry inspired by art created by faculty in MVCC’s Schools of

and Art

MVCC, 1101 Sherman Drive, Utica www.mvcc.edu/gallery/index.php

UpstateCerebralPalsy: Pieces of HeART

April 1 - April 22, 2023

Pieces of HeART is an adaptive art program for people with limited mobility and developmental disabilities. Multi-talented adult artists, ranging in age and ability, create art with a common goal of self-expression.

TimRandprintmakingInstructor andStudentPrintmakingShow

April 29 - May 27, 2023

Opening Reception & Demonstration: Saturday, May 6, 1-4pm

Kirkland Art Center

9½ E Park Row, Clinton, NY (315) 853-8871 kacny.org

Open Wed: 9-1, Thurs: 10-2, Sat: 1-4

RobertCoppensoloexhibit

Through April 29, 2023

MV Center for the Arts

401 Canal Place, Little Falls, NY • (315) 823-0808 • mohawkvalleyarts.org

ArtinBloom2023

March 31 - April 02, 2023

Demonstration: Florals & Bees: Saturday, April 1, 1-3pm with artists, Annette Gurdo, Pamela Vogan Lynch, Tim Rand Munson

72ndAnnualCentralADKArtShow April 8 - June 4, 2023

View

Peale’s Museum

by Ro Hall, OCHC Volunteer

On February 27, 1859, a fire of unknown origin broke out. This event marked the dramatic demise of the Metropolitan, one of Utica’s earliest museums. It had opened in 1828 by War of 1812 veteran and city resident Comfort Butler and his business partner Charles Linneaus Peale. Peale was known as Linneaus and was one of 18 children of famed early 19th century portrait painter Charles Willson Peale. For most of its existence, the institution was known simply as “Peale’s Museum.” It was modeled after the painter’s well-known establishment of the same name in Philadelphia.

While two of Linneaus’ older brothers later founded their own eponymous museums in Baltimore and New York City, Utica’s Peale’s became known as the Metropolitan after Butler sold it to General Volkert W. Roth in 1850. Roth’s improvements to the original structure led to the facility being praised by the Utica Herald Journal as “the prettiest little museum in the state outside of New York City.”

Propitiously located by Butler at 173-175 Genesee Street, a location now occupied by Utica University’s Robert Brvenik Center for Business, Peale’s Museum was surrounded by dozens of professional and commercial establishments, ranging from law offices - including that of attorney John Bradish, son of a prominent Revolutionary War surgeon - to tailor and millinery(hat) shops, several taverns, a hotel, and even a cabinet warehouse. The museum was easy to access, and people were drawn to it. And why wouldn’t they be? With exhibits touted as the “grandest and finest ever invented by man....amusing, useful and instructive in the highest degree,” and an admission fee of 25 cents - not cheap, perhaps, but

hardly exorbitant - one and all came flocking.

The exhibits, accompanied by written explanations, included the complete skeleton of a mastodon exhumed in Orange County, NY in 1801 by Charles Willson Peale; a walrus (“the front view of the young animal, before the tusks have grown, has a very human aspect;”) and a grizzly bear that had “only recently been identified as a distinct species by Lewis and Clarke in their western explorations.” It was wonders such as these that drew visitors in.

There was also an exhibit featuring more than 300 stuffed birds and a variety of other animals. Writer Blandina Dudley Miller (1843 - 1912), who focused on Utica’s history, described in detail the museum’s shell and mineral collection. Its elephant’s foot, the “compound solar microscope that could magnify an object more than five million times,” and the “celestial machine of metal globes and rods which shows the position of some of the planets,” were all housed within the museum’s “two spacious rooms.”

That not every viewer left completely enthralled, however, is evident by an 1829 letter, which noted that the writer had “Visited a new museum containing one or two dried alligators, a few worm-eaten snakes and a number of wretched daubs in the shape of portraits.” The paintings, in particular, seemed irredeemable. “Never,” in the writer’s opinion, had “poor John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay...been abused...as the cold-blooded artist has done!” And not satisfied with letting the museum off the hook with only that criticism, the letter’s composer finishes up noting that “the other parts of the collection were miserable enough.”

The visit to Peale’s was not, however, a complete waste of time, as this writer goes on to note that “From the top of the building...I enjoyed a glorious view of the whole village and the surrounding country for many miles. What a beautiful country!” The city’s appearance had also improved when compared with the way it looked during a previous visit: “The houses were then scattered, though some were spacious and elegant, but now they are closely built, lofty and...some of the streets, like New York, begin to look like a wilderness of bricks.”

From a letter by another writer, dated July 4 1835, we learn that during a visit to the museum “with Cousin Electra and Miss Lake” ...many interesting objects” were seen, such “the execution of Louis the 16th of France in 1790 represented by wax figures.

“The characters were an officer on horseback... a secretary standing at his desk with his watch in his hand...the king’s page kneeling before him and receiving his robe of royalty, a priest...

Peale’s Museum was located at 173-175 Genesee Street, a location now occupied by Utica University’s Robert Brvenik Center for Business

The museum’s exhibits were touted as the “grandest and finest ever invented by man...amusing, useful and instructive in the highest degree.”

holding aloft a crucifix, three executioners... and last of all the king, with one foot on the scaffold which terminated his earthly existance (sic) at the age of 39 years after an unfortunate reign of 18 1/2 years.” And later, “after spending some time looking at the curiosities with which the museum abounded we went to the top from which we had a good view of the city and saw several skyrockets ascend...”

Peale’s also sponsored concerts, acts by magicians, and temperance plays. People flocked to hear the many speakers, such as Dr. Batchelor (or Bachelder,) whose eight-week program focused on “the principles and practices of surgery.” The doctor noted that he would also demonstrate, “if practicable...an operative Surgery based on Anatomy”...in which case, his program “would last 10 weeks.” Dr. Batchelor’s medical expertise was attested to by his having performed 80 cataract surgeries and lectured in the field of anatomy.

Perhaps the success of the Utica’s Peale’s Museum played a part in showman P.T. Barnum’s decision to create one of his own - the famed American Museum, located in Manhattan and open from 1841 to 1865. Providing lectures along with scientific and artistic displays, the American Museum was larger and wealthier, but its collections and programming were quite similar to the offerings at Peale’s.

Some of the most popular “exhibits,” including Chang and Eng, the famous conjoined twins from “Siam,” and, 3’ 2’’ tall “General” Tom Thumb, described as the world’s shortest man, astonished visitors at both museums, and at similar establishments throughout the country and the world. •

Description of a mounted walrus head at Peale’s Museum: “the front view of the young animal, before the tusks have grown, has a very human aspect.”

Mastadon skeleton by Charles Wilson Peale

Spring Brings Summit Fever…

Are You Ready?

by Gary VanRiper

I have mild case of summit fever beginning to set in. It usually does as the daylight lasts longer, and the wait for fair-weather hiking gets shorter.

It’s time to inventory all the vital gear. I hiked my first Adirondack high peak in the summer of 2002, so with just over two decades of experience on and off the trails in that wilderness area, I am pretty well set on what I know I will need.

Most of my equipment has held up well, except for boots. This year has been one to break in another new pair.

A hiker’s needs and wants will differ, so my list may differ from yours. About 95% of my hikes are day hikes – so a day pack, and a light pack cover in case of rain, is sufficient. The more room you have in a pack, the more tempting it is to fill it – and when pounding trails for an entire day, you will want to travel as light as possible!

Almost everything I wear is treated with Insect Shield. I do all I can to avoid ticks that possibly carry Lyme Disease. My pants are lightly colored and long and tucked into boot gaiters. My shirt is long-sleeved, which means I can also avoid using sunscreen when exposed on a summit. My hat has a neck drape which blocks the sun when needed. A head net is handy and weighs almost nothing –great to have should you traverse a spot where insects are active.

When bushwhacking, I also wear safety glasses and some tough gloves.

I will never hike without trekking poles. Along with plenty of water in two bottles and a hand pump to remain

hydrated, they have been my greatest assessories. Poles help with balance in wet areas and when rock-hopping to cross rivers and brooks. They also help when ascending and descending, taking stress off the knees on a descent.

I always take paper maps of the region and a compass. A phone can be handy for a map and for emergencies – but only when you have service! And, of course, appropriate first aid.

A head lamp is essential, including checking the batteries. Why? Because many folks plan day trips and are not prepared for circumstances that may result in exit after dark or deep into the night. I’ll also tuck away a shell for warmth if needed, and that doubles for inclement weather.

Trail mix, a bagel, celery, cheese sticks, dark chocolate, an apple are some food items I’ll pack away for the day.

When younger, I did several peaks solo, but no longer. Among the many advantages there are having someone alongside? It could save your life. So… are you getting ready? •

Gary VanRiper is an author, photographer, and pastor at the Camden Wesleyan Church. He has written 19 children’s books with his son, Justin. Learn more at: www.adirondackkids.com

Gary enjoys sharing with young people how to prepare and what it’s like to hike the ADK wilderness.

Hiking with a buddy is always wise.

by Peggy Spencer Behrendt

In 1974, Tim and Peggy Spencer Behrendt set off on an adventure. They began a new life in the woods of Cold Brook, NY, without modern conveniences like electricity or indoor plumbing. These are excerpts and reflections from Peggy’s journal chronicling their adventures and also her childhood memories growing up in Westmoreland.

From my diary, April 2020 (During the COVID Pandemic):

“Days are flying by! Today I built a new gate for the garden. it took most of the afternoon and really tired me out, but it was interesting and fun. Before bed last night, I started reading the news and it got me quite upset, depressed, and scared. I won’t do it tonight, that’s for sure!

We ran into Kim and August on our walk. August was whizzing all over on that pedal-less two-wheeled bike we gave him last year. The UPS guy set their packages down instead of handing them to them. He had a treat for their dog Doc. Smart!

Todd mentioned seeing a dead cherry tree toward our place, figuring we’d want it for firewood. When we went back that way, we saw he’d drawn an arrow in the dirt of the road with “Cherry” etched next to it. I got a kick out of that. He’s calling it; “Analog Texting”! We got our seeds today, so I’ll start tomatoes tomorrow. My marigold seeds are popping up. I put clear plastic shower curtains over

the lettuce seeds in the garden to help them be warm enough to germinate. I hope it doesn’t cook them when the sun comes out!

I went with August and Todd to the beaver pond, and they took the canoe out. It was August’s first ride in a canoe!”

Now, in 2023, we are so hap py to be outside again in warmer temperatures, to be able to gather with friends and family and to wander further and further around our Preserve as the snow recedes. Our world steadily grows wider and so do our spirits.

Having the trained ear of a musician, I have fun figuring out how to transcribe the bird calls I hear. Chickadees are now singing their brief, three-note song; a quarter note on “A”, followed by 2 eighth notes in F# a minor third below. One of them sings an F instead of F#, likely thinking the minor interval is too melancholy.

Family tree

Another prefers to start his song on an upper C instead of an A. They need a Chickadee Choir Director to get things coordinated!

Misty Brook begins to appear, first in shallow pools among long stretches of white punctuated with alder trees, then one day, the whole length is revealed in a vibrating, murky, milky glow below between great banks of snow wrinkled with their own weight and speckled with pine cone scales accumulated throughout the winter.

We watch and listen for the first signs

of the many harbingers of spring; sprouts of succulent, green chives in our garden, the cheery whirr of the woodcock by the meadow, cowslips budding in sunlit marshlands, the “glunk – a-glunk” of the American Bittern (heron) in our cattail swamps, a shy chipmunk cautiously scurrying to pick up seeds under our bird feeder. Particularly gratifying is the singing of frogs and red-winged blackbirds in the pond areas. But robins are the classic harbinger of Spring. The first indication might be the rustle of dry leaves being tossed about as they look for seeds and bugs in the forest. Or it might be their cheery song belted out from the tops of the tallest trees where they catch nebulous heat from the rising sun where it glows on “breasts rounded out like ripening apples” as Noah John Rondeau wrote in his April 13, 1952, diary. I’m always curious to see where this year’s nests will be built. One was inconveniently located on top of my garden rake one year, and another, in the apple tree that our cat

Robins nesting above

loves to climb. Recently, they’ve been using a human-made basket above our Crafts Shop door.

One year, a rehabilitator brought us a young robin who’d been orphaned and raised by humans. As she wasn’t fully mature, her chest was not red but white with black specks. She was quiet until the rehabilitator started to gently lift her from the carrying box, then she started screeching with ear-piercing volume! This was compounded when wild robins in the distance responded, creating quite a cacophony! I strongly suspect they were saying (in robin language, of course!): “What’s going on? Someone’s in big trouble! We’d better find out!” And they flew towards us from every part of the meadow, calling: “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?!”

Despite its terror, the young orphan became silent, her head cocking with curiosity listening intently to these new sounds. I suspect that she

had never heard other robins before. When the rehabilitator opened his hands to release her, she immediately flew toward the flock of wild robins that had gathered on nearby trees and the loud calls became consoling chirps. I hadn’t realized that robins look out for each other like that!

During the COVID Pandemic, we were also looked after and comforted by nearby family even though we couldn’t have in-house gatherings. Instead, we had conversa tions and meetings on our road, standing far apart. One such meet ing was particularly important. We were concerned because we could no longer have free workshops for the Preserve and needed something to offer the public, in part to maintain our non-profit status and also because more than ever, access to the comfort of nature was important for people’s spirits. To facilitate

her husband Gael proposed that we upgrade our trail system.

The trails Tim and I had made were very light in environmental impact and required little labor and materials. They were only wide enough to walk single file. We bridged wet areas with old boards laid on naturally occurring, tiny hillocks. These boards were often

Peg is proud of her new garden gate

The next generation of Shawangunk Preservers. Rebekah and Gael Audic.

bly as well as narrow and tricky to balance on.

I knew they envisioned trails wide enough for two to walk side by side, with bridges that would require milled lumber. I feared that this would compromise our standard of minimal environmental impact, but they assured us that they would be sensitive to this.

Tim and I somewhat reluctantly agreed to

their project and to provide funding from the Preserve for materials. We also realized that it was time to let a new generation of stewards begin implementing their vision for the Preserve as we are getting old and rather tired. Why not transfer some control now so we can be available for counsel yet watch and enjoy the input and interest of younger folks instead of wondering what will happen when we’re gone? Why not let them experience the same satisfaction and joy of accomplishment that we had?

Sat., April 1, 10am-Noon Workshop at the Shawangunk Nature Preserve MAKE A FAMILY TREE

This comic/rustic version of a family tree will give chuckles and be fun for all ages to make out of natural twigs, goofy eyes, and a nut or two. It’s a cute conversation piece to hang in your foyer or summer patio. Bring your lunch for a little picnic together in the Preserve afterward.

Materials $5. Meet at 217 Shawangunk Rd., Cold Brook. Please call ahead 315-826-7405.

Misty Brook emerges from winter’s mantle

and skilled labor by Becky and Gael, and experiments in construction techniques, we now have beautiful, safe, graceful trails complimented by elegant bridges over streamlets and marshes. You can walk side by side with a companion, following the natural rise and fall of terrain and tree roots, cushioned by moss and wild grasses. Their trails provide access to vistas of beaver ponds, woodland

streams, forests, and meadows inaccessible before, and it was accomplished with minimal impact. Wild plants and mosses still abound alongside the trails, never having needed to recover from construction vehicles, and the wildlife who live here still thrive and are often seen by hikers. What a treasure We invite you to use them. The trailhead for the Black Creek Trail (2 miles long) has plenty of parking at the end of Shawangunk Rd. It then follows old Shawangunk Rd and turns to follow Black Creek. The Three Pond Trail (1 mile) takes you past three bea ver ponds and begins at the corner of Sunset Lodge and Pardeeville Roads, on the south side. The Beaver Pond Trail (only a few hundred yards long) is about ¼ mile down Shawangunk Rd on the left and goes past our Nature Library to a big pond with a bench and a canoe.

The Shawangunk Nature Preserve is a deep ecology, forever wild, 501©(3), learning and cultural center. Tim and Peggy still live there and can be contacted through their website.

www.shawangunknaturepreserve.com

Saturday,

10am-2pm

Shawangunk Nature Preserve

MAKE AN APPALACHIAN EGG BASKET

This curiously shaped basket was created to manage safe egg transportation on the back of a mule or horse. It’s sometimes called a Fanny Basket, to be descriptive. It’s a pleasantly fun challenge to make with the opportunity to use different materials for your own unique interpretation.

Three Board Members building a milled lumber bridge

spring Abounds

by Suzie Jones

Springtime on our farm is filled with babies of all sorts. Baby goats and lambs are bouncing all over the barn, racing up and down, playing ‘king of the mountain’ by climbing on their un-amused mothers, and practicing butting heads. There are literal piles of babies sleeping in every corner, because they love to cuddle with one another for warmth while their moms eat hay. It is such a busy, chaotic time that it is hard to imagine how all the moms and babies keep things straight. Yet, somehow, they do.

Meanwhile, we have hundreds of peeping baby chicks in our brooders. Heat lamps keep them toasty and warm; fresh, fluffy shavings keep them dry. These impossibly tiny things have no mother to watch over them, so the job falls to me to brood over their happiness and health. And brood I do—fretting over their food and water, checking their bedding and temperature of the brooders, and enduring sleepless nights when the wind whips and the temperatures drop below freezing.

It is an exhausting, amazing time.

As magical as a barn full of baby farm animals may sound, it represents a fair amount of work, tons of observation, and knowing when to step in. For example, I learned long ago to watch for signs that a pregnant ewe or doe may need assistance during birth. Nine times out of ten, the nose comes first, with a front hoof or perhaps

two, and the amniotic fluids will be only slightly tinged with color. If things do not progress fairly quickly, if the amniotic fluids are dark in color, or if there is only a hoof or two (and no head)—it is time to step in. Baby’s head may be turned back rather than towards the birth canal, two may be trying to come out at once, or the legs need a little tug. Either way it falls to me to roll up my sleeves and help.

After the baby (or babies!) are born, I give mum and her babes the best environment possible—a small pen just for them. (For us humans, it is like getting a room all to yourself in the maternity ward.) This allows mum to have undivided attention on her newborn(s) and no pressures from the rest of the herd. I then pause to watch mum and observe her behaviors. Amongst other things, I listen for the faint “chatter” between a mom and her new baby. No chatter...might not be a good mum. If needed, I will help guide baby to the udder; other times, I will milk mum a little to get the juices flowing (so to speak). There is a relatively small window for everyone to bond properly and I make sure to do everything in my power to make sure it happens.

Watching the baby chicks, too, is important. If they are all huddled directly under the heat lamps or piling on top of one another—they are too cold. If they are damp and have moved as far away from the heat lamps as possible—they are too hot. I add fresh shavings as needed and increase food and water levels as I observe them taking in more and more. I am a little like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, making sure the baby chicks enjoy conditions that are “just right”!

I have said it many times over the years, but closely observing animals is key to avoiding problems. Knowing what well-fed babies and healthy moms look and act like helps me spot problems before they become insurmountable.

So, if you see me in the grocery store or at and I seem to be in a zombie-like state, you’ll know why. My mind is preoccupied by that barn full of rambunctious baby goats, lambs, and peeping chicks! •

Suzie Jones and her husband, Peter, own Jones Family Farm in Herkimer. Together, with their children, they produce specialty goat cheeses and gelato. Find them at local farmers’ markets and online at www.anotherjonesfamilyfarm.com

Keeping Mohawk Valley Living on the road for years!

Steet Toyota Yorkville (315) 736-8241

Steet-Ponte Mazda Yorkville (315) 927-5081

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