AMENIA — The town of Amenia was humming with holiday excitement on Sunday, Dec. 4, during the town’s 18th annual Holiday of Lights celebration.In the afternoon, children and families flocked to the Amenia Free Library to visit with Santa Claus and get their picture taken with him. The children also received a free book and a candy cane. While waiting in line, everyone chatted cheerfully, munched on homemade baked goods and sipped hot, fresh cinnamon apple cider.Nearby, at the Town Hall, children made ornaments and holiday decorations while a dance class performed select routines in the styles of waltz, foxtrot, hustle and pasodoble. The dance students will be performing their final recital on Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2:30 p.m. at the Webutuck High School auditorium. Admission is free to the public.Free raffle tickets were handed out at both locations. The prizes for the raffles were donated by local businesses, including the Bank of Millbrook, Video Forum, Freshtown and Santo’s Pizza and Pasta.The day’s celebrations were capped with two tree lighting ceremonies, one in Amenia and one in Wassaic.At sunset, merrymakers gathered in Fountain Square for the tree-lighting ceremony. Once the evergreens and the lamp post decorations were illuminated, the crowd sang Christmas carols led by Erica Doyle on vocals and Lizzie Chamberlin on violin.Santa chatted with a few more children before boarding a firetruck adorned with holiday lights and wreaths to make his way to Wassaic.During the tree lighting ceremonies in Amenia and Wassaic, certificates were handed out to the Citizen of the Year in each community. This year, both Citizen of the Year awards went to fire chiefs.The Amenia Citizen of the Year is Shawn Howard and the Wassaic Citizen of the Year is Scott Boardman.Both men were honored for their hard work during the extreme storms that have hit the region during the year, including Tropical Storm Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.Town Supervisor Wayne Euvrard and Councilwoman Vicki Doyle said that there were many people who helped the town in a meaningful way, but these two men stood out because of their dedication and the extreme effort they extended to help their neighbors during states of emergency, often putting the needs of their community above their own.Howard and Boardman will be honored along with previous Citizens on the Year in a display on the second floor of the Amenia Town Hall.Doyle said she hopes to move the display to a more prominent location on the first floor.
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Artist Victor Cella with his recent painting “White Dog” in his studio and shop, Little Store Antiques in Great Barrington.
L. Tomaino
Cella greets visitors while talking with a fellow painter who comments about his work and Cella himself: “Eclectic, amazing! Victor is decidedly loved in the community and exhibits to everyone his completely open heart.” She added, “He inspires the rest of us who paint.”
Cella began devoting himself to painting about four and a half years ago. He remembers taking art classes in high school. He had finished all his credits early and was allowed, in his senior year, to take art for four hours a day. He credits his art teacher, Mr. Owen, with giving him a good foundation in art.
“Now that I paint, I rely on my teacher’s words: ‘To unify a painting, pick a color and wash it over the painting,’ or, ‘You need to mix the colors!’”
He won a scholarship to New York University to study art, but his parents said no.Instead, he attended North Adams State College, where he also took an art class at Williams College, repeating a pattern from high school in which he finished his required credits early and used the extra time to study art.
He earned a teaching degree in special education and ended up working in schools in Massachusetts and Connecticut for 37 years. He retired in 2019.
Then, four and a half years ago, he got the urge to paint, and the paintings flowed out of him.
He has sold 757 paintings, with 95 of those sold since May 7. “I am having bizarrely good luck with my paintings.” He estimates he has painted 2,000 paintings in four and a half years.
He modestly attributes his success to “I sell low and I have a built-in client base of 51 years,” he said, referring to recurring customers in his antique shop. “A billion people give me feedback.” He has two patrons who each have several of his paintings. “Unbelievably,” says Cella, “one person owns 32 and the other owns 27.”
His studio is in the back of the shop. He paints now on 16-by-20-inch canvases, some of which he recycles, finding them at Goodwill.
Cella’s paintings are tucked in almost every available space thoughout Little Store Antiques. L. Tomaino
To keep his painting fresh and himself interested because, as Cella explained, “I can’t stay with one idea for long,” he has gone through several phases: crazy dogs, grids, flowers with black backgrounds, a geometric phase and “weird people.” The “crazy dogs,” as he calls them, are popular now. One person bought eight, left to go to her car and came back for a ninth, spotted in the shop’s window — the one that brought her into the shop in the first place.
He may even illustrate a children’s book with the “crazy dogs.” A local author liked them so much she asked Cella if he’d illustrate a story about three dogs if she wrote one.
Cella was also approached recently by a person who said, “Do you know you were my favorite teacher?” She came into The Little Store, attracted by the paintings in the shop’s window. It turned out the former student owns Crystal Essence on Railroad Street in Great Barrington and has asked to sell Cella’s paintings there.
Cella, who will soon be selling the building where The Little Store is located and move it nearer to his Southfield home, was glad to be offered a new venue for his paintings.
An artist he knows, Scott Prior, a painter from Nantucket, bought one of Cella’s paintings and gave him this advice: “Never go to art school. You are an artist. Let it pour out of you.”
Cella said, “You have to follow your own path.” He mused, “If I taught art, I’d teach it in a different way. I could teach it as an awareness — how to free yourself up.”
To see more of Cella’s work, visit The Little Store (88 Main St.) or Crystal Essence (39 Railroad St.) in Great Barrington.
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