Blagden And The Wolf


Artist Allen Blagden settled down beside a wolf and fell in love.

That was in Greenwich, in 2008. The wolf was one of two traveling around the eastern United States on a mission: a wolf educational tour. Blagden was so smitten that he started drawing and painting the until recently endangered animals.

Now these images, in a show titled "Wolves and the Call of the Wild," are on view at the Ober Gallery in Kent.

Rocky Mountain gray wolves were first placed on the endangered species list in 1995, when few of the animals remained except in Alaska. Fifteen years later, in early March 2008, the second Bush administration removed them from the list and declared victory for protection and conservation. (How this decision was made is puzzling at best. The Department of the Interior estimated the wolf population of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming at only 1,500 when announcing victory. All three states have since allowed wolf hunting.) And Gov. Sarah Palin reintroduced wolf hunting from helicopters (talk about sporting) in Alaska.

For Blagden and the people who established Mission: Wolf, a 50-acre reserve 9,000 feet high in the southern Colorado

Rockies, these animals are misunderstood predators that help maintain ecological balance wherever they are allowed to exist in the wild. They do not attack humans, but do prey on livestock when especially hungry. It was humans who encroached on their homes, the wolf protectors say, not the other way around.

Now many people are frightened by the eyes of wolves. At least in fiction. But Blagden has written, "To look into the eyes of a wolf is to experience an unfathomable wisdom beyond any previous comprehension." And there are many pairs of eyes — knowing, vacant, warm, disinterested — in these pictures of thin, long-legged creatures. (Wolves have high, narrow chests — unlike dogs — so they can chew up 30 miles a day, running, at times, at up to 35 miles per hour.)

Blagden uses his signature water colors and graphite in most of the pieces, although there are a few oils. The graphite works are somber, studied, rather like memories of animals. The water colors seem more immediate, less ghostly. While not lovely in our conventional meaning — like show dogs and horses and cats — these animals achieve their own majesty and beauty in Blagden’s renderings.

 

 "Wolves and the Call of the Wild" is on view at the Ober Gallery, 14 Old Barn Road, in Kent, and runs through Jan. 15.Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 860-927-5030.

 

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less