photography

A Photography Series 400 Million Years in the Making

‘A stone is a thought that the earth develops over inhuman time.”

This line from Louise Erdrich’s story “The Stone” served as inspiration for photographer Sarah Prud’homme when creating her new series that is now on display at the Cornwall Library in Cornwall, Conn.

The exhibit entitled Inhuman Time opened to the public on Saturday, Jan. 21.

Prud’homme described the series as “a meditation on stones from New England’s coasts,” and says the natural world has always been a key influence on her art.

“I was just struck how nature could form something like this,” said Prud’homme as she held one of the roughly 400-million-year-old basalt stones. “These are from a cove which is very narrow, and because the wave action was so intense, they became very rounded.”

Many of the stones in Prud’homme’s series were found along the coast of Maine and were formed when volcanic magma erupted to the surface almost half a billion years ago.

“Mostly basalt, they have high concentrations of magnesium, iron, and calcium, which gives them a rich black hue.”

Prud’homme hoped the series would allow viewers to “reflect on the fact that humans and stones are composed of the same minerals, that the universe is interconnected, and that our survival depends on this awareness.”

The images on display were created by layering up to 50 unique photographs of each stone into a “hyper-focused composition that appears both flat and three dimensional.”

“Inhuman Time” is Sarah Prud’homme’s debut exhibit at the Cornwall Library and her first solo show since 2012. The prints will be on display in the library through March 4.

Photographer Sarah Prud'homme at the opening of her show at The Cornwall Library. Photo by Riley Klein

Photographer Sarah Prud'homme at the opening of her show at The Cornwall Library. Photo by Riley Klein

  
Photographer Sarah Prud'homme at the opening of her show at The Cornwall Library. Photo by Riley Klein
photography

Latest News

'Gather' at Troutbeck

'Gather' at Troutbeck

Romane Recalde speaking about her new business at Gather.

Natalia Zukerman

Hosted by Jason Klein and Sascha Lewis, an ongoing series called “Gather” at Troutbeck in Amenia brings together a curious crowd of local entrepreneurs, artists, and others with a story to tell for an intimate midday chat. On Thursday, Jan. 16, floral designer Romane Recalde, owner of the newly opened Le Jardin in Amenia, took center stage to share her journey from modeling in Miami to cultivating flowers in the Hudson Valley. Gather is a place to share stories, swap advice, and celebrate some of the unique businesses that make our area vibrant — all with a delicious lunch on the side. The gatherings are unconventional in the best way, with no agenda beyond good conversation and community building.

Recalde’s story isn’t just about creating a flower shop; it’s about a complete reinvention of self. “I hated Miami so much,” said the French-born Recalde, recalling her time in Florida before moving to New York. She worked as a model in New York, and eventually met her husband, James. Their pandemic escape to Turks and Caicos turned into a six-month stay, which in turn led them to Millbrook and finally to their home in Amenia, where Recalde’s connection to nature blossomed.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition

Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition
Mad Rose Gallery director Michael Flowers contributed to the gallery's "Assembled" exhibit with a series of collaged landscape photographs
Nathan Miller

Mad Rose Gallery’s “Assembled” exhibition opened Saturday, Jan. 18, with a public reception.

The eclectic exhibition — on view until March 2 at the gallery on the intersection of Routes 22 and 44 in Millerton — gathers together work from a group of diverse artists with decades of experience between them. The exhibition itself is true to the name, featuring photographs, sculptures, drawings and mixed media works in all shapes and sizes.

Keep ReadingShow less
exhibit

The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters' is written with such verve and poetic imagination that it’s hard to fathom how it could be the author’s first novel. Ms. Lerner, 64, has worked for three decades as a literary agent, editor, and non-fiction writer, but at some point during the Covid pandemic — without any forethought — she sat down and typed out the first line of the novel exactly as it now appears in the book, and then completed it without telling anyone what she was up to.

The novel takes place over twenty years — from the 1970s into the ’90s — and is a kind of guide for that era. It reads like a memoir accompanied by some bouncy dialogue, but is actually a work of what’s called autofiction in which Lerner mixes her own experiences — including her own struggle with mental illness — with things she simply makes up. The fictional narrator is Amy Shred, the younger of two sisters in an upper-middle-class, secular Jewish family living in the suburbs of New Haven, Connecticut.

Keep ReadingShow less
books

Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

This small stream is fishable, despite the wintry conditions. It probably won't be a pleasant or productive experience, but it can be done.

Patrick L. Sullivan

When syndicated columnists run out of ideas they do one of two things.

First they collect the last couple year’s worth of columns and call it a book. These are published to great acclaim from other syndicated columnists and show up in due course in gigantic, ziggurat-shaped mounds at Costco for $4.98 a pop.

Keep ReadingShow less