When cellist, composer and filmmaker Christopher Hoffman moved into the former home of Rex Brasher in Amenia in August 2023, he didn’t arrive with a plan to make an album about the painter and ornithologist who once lived there. But once he began to learn about the home’s former inhabitant — about his attention to land, to birds, to work done slowly and with devotion — he started to compose. “Rex,” Hoffman’s solo cello album (releases Jan. 16, 2026) is not a portrait of Brasher so much as an echo of a person, a place and a way of seeing the world.
Brasher (pronounced “brazier”) was born in Brooklyn in 1869, the son of a stockbroker whose passion for birds left a lifelong mark. After his father’s death, Brasher vowed to paint every bird in North America, and to do it from life. He eventually created more than 1,200 works, depicting birds with a precision and intimacy that bordered on obsession. Working largely outside the art world, Brasher lived on 116 wooded acres he called Chickadee Valley, where he painted, wrote and published his monumental 12-volume “Birds and Trees of North America.”
Rex Brasher at his home in Chickadee Valley.Provided
Founded in 2008 to preserve Brasher’s legacy and promote bird and habitat conservation through art, the Rex Brasher Association became an early point of connection for Hoffman, who composed and performed an original piece at the 2023 Rex Brasher Symposium just months after moving into Brasher’s former home. After many years in Brooklyn, Hoffman and his family had been looking for a change when they were shown the 116-acre property by association board member and architect Matthew Schnepf, who shared the history of the land and of Brasher himself.
“We’re the first renters outside of Rex’s family,” Hoffman said, explaining that the house is rented as part of an agreement to maintain the estate. Upon moving in, Hoffman dug deeper, purchasing the two-volume set of “Birds and Trees of North America” and immersing himself in Brasher’s world. Around the same time, and at the encouragement of composer, saxophonist and flutist Henry Threadgill, Hoffman debuted his first solo project at Tomeka Reid’s Chicago Jazz String Summit, planting the seed for the 13-track album that he then composed, recorded, mixed and mastered in Brasher’s home. The RBA (Rex Brasher Association) was equally supportive of the finished work, granting Hoffman permission to use Brasher’s artwork for the album, including the swallow-tailed kite painting that appears on the vinyl packaging. “You open up the record and the whole painting is right there,” said Hoffman.
‘Swallow Tail Kite’ by Rex BrasherProvided
Though birds are central to the record’s spirit, Hoffman deliberately avoided literal birdsongs. Instead, the cello is layered into dense soundscapes that suggest rather than illustrate. “There are tracks with tons of layered stuff where I guess you could hear bird sounds if you wanted to,” he said. Brasher’s refusal to accept approximation — destroying paintings when feathers didn’t look right — mirrored Hoffman’s own instincts as a musician. Tracks were built, discarded, rebuilt. Nothing stayed unless it felt true.
For Hoffman, “Rex” became a kind of reckoning. Though Hoffman has begun noticing birds with new intensity, using the Merlin bird app to identify some 30 species on the grounds, he says Brasher’s acuity still feels out of reach. “Even with binoculars, I still can’t see the details he was seeing.”
The album will be released Jan. 16 on Out of Your Head Records. Composed for acoustic and electric cello, the record reflects the solitude and intensity that shaped both Brasher’s vision and Hoffman’s process. “This guy was working so hard,” said Hoffman of Brasher. “And it was like, ‘Alright, Chris, get it together. Make the solo record you’re afraid to make.’”
To listen and purchase the album, go to: https://christopherhoffman.bandcamp.com/album/rex
Olana State Historic Site, the hilltop home created by 19th-century Hudson River School painter Frederic Edwin Church, rises above the Hudson River on a clear winter afternoon.
2026 marks the 200th anniversary of Church’s birth, making this a particularly timely moment to take in what he created during his lifetime. Church — one of the most notable artists of the Hudson River School movement — was an accomplished landscape painter who gained a reputation as an artist-traveler.
From South America and Western Europe to the Middle East and the Caribbean, Church sought out dramatic, epic scenes that he could capture on canvas and bring back to the U.S. to sell. The profits from those works, in turn, allowed him to create a breathtaking masterwork of his own: Olana.
Olana rises above the Hudson River like a mirage, its Persian-inspired facade an unexpected sight amid the barren winter landscape. With miles of trails, visitors can take in the natural splendor of rolling hills and the river from every angle. From the house itself, the view stretches across the Catskills, a layered panorama of soft blues and silvers that appears all the more dazzling in winter.
A window at Olana.By Brian Gersten
Inside the home, the sense of awe deepens. Olana’s interior is rich with color, pattern and texture — warm reds, stenciled walls, intricate woodwork — a striking counterpoint to the monochrome world outside. Light pours through tall windows, framing the Hudson Valley like living paintings.
Every corner of the house pays tribute to the far-flung places Church visited throughout his career. From architectural details to the objects he collected and displayed, visitors are transported to another world. Walking from room to room feels less like touring a house museum and more like stepping into the mind of an artist transfixed by the staggering beauty of the world around him.
As I made my way back down the hill, the winter light fading fast, I felt refreshed in a way that only comes from seeing something anew. Olana is not just a monument to one artist, but a testament to a way of viewing the world — one that values observation, patience and reverence for the natural environment. For those looking to venture out during the colder months and to be reminded why this region has inspired generations of artists and dreamers, there may be no better place to start than Olana.
Olana State Historic Site is located at 5720 State Route 9G, Hudson, New York. For more information and to purchase tours, visit: olana.org
The dining room at OlanaBy Brian Gersten
Berkshire Hills Ski League includes Washington Montessori School, Indian Mountain School, Rumsey Hall and Marvelwood School.
The league includes a mix of private and public schools. HVRHS competed against Washington Montessori School, Indian Mountain School, Rumsey Hall and Marvelwood School.
Rumsey Hall competes in the Berkshire Hills Ski League.Photo by Tom Brown
Conditions were ideal for slalom skiing at Mohawk, albeit cold for spectators with the temperature in the teens. Approximately 20-inches of snow fell earlier in the week.
Mohawk will continue to host weekly meets of the BHSL each Wednesday through the end of the season. The league championship will take place Feb. 25.
There was lots of fresh powder on Mohawk Mountain Jan. 28 after approximately 20 inches fell earlier in the week.Photo by Tom Brown
