Artist Pieter Lefferts Paints A Magical World With Words

Photo by Stephanie Stanton of High Vibe Chick Photography
In the deep pine-scented quiet of the north woods, known here as the mythical land of Borea, a story unfolds: Its heroine, Rana Kek Kek, an “intrepid amphibian,” is about to embark on a journey of self-discovery in which she is transformed from a child into a Person of the World. Meanwhile, Aramook the Raccoon decides to take a risky trip to the town where the People of Man live so he can persuade them to slow down their ways of consuming everything. Then there’s Koli Bear and the owl Oti Semper, who join forces to rescue Aramook and stop a possible disaster.
In “What the Kek Kek Saw,” described as an animist fable, these story lines are braided together like sweetgrass, says author Pieter Lefferts, a Sharon, Conn., artist whose lifetime of visiting a family cabin on Upper Ausable Lake in the high Adirondacks inspired this charming, imaginative new book about the importance of understanding the other sentient beings with whom we share a fragile planet.
“It’s basically a creation story,” he explained. “People who have read it say it’s a book about hope, and it is. There are so many movies and books that rely on dystopian visions of the world. I wanted to create a more hopeful, optimistic side of the future.”
While the novel’s title character was drawn from his childhood at the lake listening to wood frogs calling “kekkekkek,” this is not a children’s book, he noted. His animals “don’t wear clothes or live in little houses.” In the best tradition of animal fables (think “The Jungle Book” and “Watership Down”) they “live in a predator and prey world, and they understand that about each other.”
Published by UnCollected Press and available from Oblong Books in Millerton, N.Y. (as well as Amazon and Barnes and Noble online), this is a first book for Lefferts, an artist long admired for his evocative landscapes and elegant portraits; to his delight, he was one of 30 authors invited to the prestigious Summer Book Signing of the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon this year (“a dream come true,” he said, happily).
His paintings are widely collected and have been shown at galleries throughout the Hudson Valley, the Adirondacks and New England.
Fond of taking students on plein-air field trips into local wilderness, he’s a much beloved art teacher — or as he prefers, an artist who teaches: His Northlight Art Center in Amenia, N.Y., has offered classes in oil and acrylic painting, pastels and traditional drawing techniques since 2010, with participants urged to become “more themselves” as they discover their individual creative voices.
Writing was always a sideline, albeit one he greatly enjoyed, until a comment 10 years ago by the late Richard Grossman, distinguished publisher, writer, psychotherapist and Salisbury, Conn., resident, got him started in a serious way. “I showed Dick this little three-page ditty I’d written and he said, ‘I think you have a diamond in the rough here,’” Lefferts remembers.
Encouraged, he began a decade of working on what became “What the Kek Kek Saw,” sometimes spending months in a row on it, sometimes putting it aside while he painted or taught, or both. Ultimately, he enrolled in a free writing class at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, where his wife, Claudia Cayne, was director (recently retired, she still leads the library’s book club), and met a writing coach and editor named Virginia Watkins, whom he credits with helping him finish.
“A first effort can easily get away from a novice writer,” he admitted with a laugh. “She was fantastic in challenging me to go deeper and avoid certain writing traps. And I think my experiences as a painter, as a naturalist, as an observer, and as someone who’s just eternally curious, allowed me to describe the landscape, the world of Borea, in a painterly way.”
The cast of anthropomorphic characters he created for “What the Kek Kek Saw” are haunted by tales of “The Clearing,” a mythical catastrophe that mirrors what actually happened to the Adirondacks in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when vast tracts of trees were cut down and some wildlife was hunted to extinction.
Lefferts found that — similar to the freedom of painting outdoors — his words flowed easily in nature, and solo writing stays at the family camp became about “listening and feeling into” the animals that survive in the forest today.
“I wanted to tell their story about coexistence,” he said, “since coexistence is very much what the book is about.”
SALISBURY — Joseph Robert Meehan the 2nd,photographer, college professor and nearly 50 year resident of Salisbury, passed away peacefully at Noble Horizon on June 17, 2025. He was 83.
He was the son of Joseph Meehan the 1st and his mother, Anna Burawa of Levittown, New York, and sister Joanne, of Montgomery, New York.
He is predeceased by his wife, Elsie Lynn Meehan who passed away in November of 2023.
He leaves behind a son, Joseph Cortese, of Upton Massachusetts, his wife Mary and grandchildren, Michaela (Cortese)Donabedian, her husband Sevag and his great grandson, Ari, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
His grandson, Joseph Cortese, of Barrington, Rhode Island, and his granddaughter, Jaclyn Cortese of Tamworth, New Hampshire.
He also leaves behind his daughter, Kathleen Cortese Zito and husband Dominic, their three children, Michael, Alessandra, and Mathew Zito of Broomall, Pennsylvania.
After teachingpsychology at Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, starting in 1968, his40-year career in photography started in the mid to late 70’s and has included assignment work for a wide variety of commercial and editorial publications. Over a thousand of his photographs have appeared in newspapers, books, magazines and on web sites for clients such as Nikon, and Hasselblad cameras, SanDisk memory cards, Tiffen Filters, Fujifilm, Eastman Kodak, the U.S. Army, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Museum and the U.S. Department of the Interior.
His work ranged from the beauty of the Salisbury areato an expedition photographer for arctic animal studies in the high Canadian Arctic, photographing Inuit hunters in Northern Greenland to landscape work in other extreme locals such as Death Valley, California.
Portfolios of his work have featured in such magazines as Outdoor Photographer, Shutterbug, Rangefinder and Popular Photography and his style has been characterized by the New York Times as “…alive with color and sparkling with light.”
He also served as the technical editor of Photo District News for over a decade, writing about new technologies and products and was the former editor of the Photography Yearbook. He has authored over 20 books on photographic technique many of which have received “best book” awards and have been translated into several languages.
Born in New York City, he was a 1959 graduate of Levittown High School, Levittown, New York.
He received his baccalaureate degree with honors from Columbia and a Master of Arts degree from Manhattan College. He has taught photography on the college level in the U.S., England and at the National Academy of Arts in Taiwan and gave workshops at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre in West Palm Beach, Florida.
His eye always saw the beauty of the Salisbury area through alens and he captured those images in an area that he and his wife Lynn loved.
When they were not on/in and around the lake, he and Lynn didn’t miss any of their grandchildren’s big events.Joe took great pride in photographing all these memorable events.
His beautiful images will always be here for all to appreciate.
Funeral services are under the direction of Newkirk-Palmer funeral home and a graveside service will be held this Friday, June 27, 2025, at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Cemetery, 18 Cobble Road, Salisbury, Connecticut.
STANFORDVILLE, New York — It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Florence Olive Zutter Murphy, who went home to be with the Lord on June 16, 2025, at the age of 99.
She was born in Sharon, Connecticut on Nov. 20, 1925, and was a long time resident of the Dutchess County area.
She was a devoted mother, loving wife to James Francis Murphy, who passed on Oct. 11, 1971, and a dear friend to many.
Florence, who was also known as Flo, managed a dairy farm for many years on Carpenter Hill Road in Pine Plains, New York. She is remembered for her delicious home cooked meals.
After raising her children she became an avid square dancer, racketball and tennis player. She then discovered her love for bike riding. She enjoyed embarking on bike tours well into her mid 80’s. When Flo wasn’t out riding her bike she could be found taking care of her property. She loved gardening, clearing the woods and building rock walls one stone at a time.
Florence was an amazing woman of great integrity, strength and tenacity. She was adored, respected and greatly loved by her family and those who knew her.
Florence is survived by her seven children — Bonnie June Chase, James Albert Murphy, Donna Sue Strauss, Jackie Lynn Merwin Disher, Glenn William Murphy, Lori Lee Mora and Clint Evan Murphy as well as 16 grand children and 20 great grand children.
She will always be remembered and greatly missed.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
Chore Service hosted 250 supporters at it’s annual Garden Party fundraiser.
On Saturday, June 21, Mort Klaus, longtime Sharon resident, hosted 250 enthusiastic supporters of Northwest Corner’s beloved nonprofit, Chore Service at his stunning 175-acre property. Chore Service provides essential non-medical support to help older adults and those with disabilities maintain their independence and quality of life in their own homes.
Jane MacLaren, Executive Director, and Dolores Perotti, Board President, personally welcomed arriving attendees. The well-stocked bar and enticing hors d’oeuvres table were popular destinations as the crowd waited for the afternoon’s presentations.
Jane MacLaren, Executive Director of Chore Service, and Mort Klaus, host of the Garden Party eventBob Ellwood
The Garden Party is Chore Service’s only major fundraising event of the year, so it was not only a wonderful social activity, but a vital support mechanism to keep our most vulnerable residents in their homes.
First to present was MacLaren, who underlined the organization’s mission, thanked all caregivers for their important work, and said, with gratitude, to all donors, “Our accomplishments are your accomplishments.”
Ellen Ebbs, a Litchfield resident and Chore client, delivered a powerful and deeply personal testimony, sharing how the organization’s services transformed her life after a serious fall left her “disabled, dependent, and depressed.” Her story resonated with the audience and highlighted the vital impact of Chore’s work.
Priscilla McCord, outgoing Board Chair of Chore Service and Patrick Roy, incoming Chair.Bob Ellwood
Patrick Roy, high-energy incoming Chair of the Board, as well as First Selectman of Roxbury and Chief of its police force, told the crowd of his “Fragile List” — those in the community a step away from losing their independence, and how he ensured that this group was adequately taken care of. Priscillia McCord, outgoing Board Chair after twelve years of unstinting service, asked for donations for Fund the Cause, urgently needed to support the recently-expanded transportation services before funding runs out in September. As Patrick Roy said, “In rural towns like ours, our clients depend on us for basic services — to get to their medical appointments, go grocery shopping, as well as life-enhancing activities like going to the library and getting a weekly lift to visit family and friends.” Both Roy and McCord emphasized the area of greatest current concern — that of an upcoming decrease in federal funding, something we will learn more about in August.
Chore Service supports the towns of Cornwall, Falls Village, Goshen, Kent, Litchfield, Morris, Norfolk, North Canaan, Roxbury, Salisbury/Lakeville, Sharon, Warren, and Washington.
For those interested in accessing services or providing them, please contact Chore Service at (860) 435-9177. To learn more about the organization or to donate, go to www.choreservice.org.
Sally Haver has lived in the Berkshires, on and off, since the mid-’70’s and her horse lives in Amenia.
The mission statement of the Berkshire Bach Society (BBS) reads: “Our mission is to preserve the cultural legacy of Baroque music for current and future audiences — local, national, and international — by presenting the music of J.S. Bach, his Baroque predecessors, contemporaries, and followers performed by world-class musicians.”
Its mission will once again be fulfilled by presenting a concert featuring Dane Johansen on June 28 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 29 Main Street, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Terrill McDade, Executive Director of BBS, said, “Dane is a supremely talented musician and a musical poet. Audiences will hear his cello speak in three different musical dialects: those of Bach, Gaspar Cassadó, and Benjamin Britten. They will experience and be able to find the idiom that means the most to them. The music is classical, contemporary, and modern. It is contemplative, energetic, lyrical, rhythmic, and, in the end, philosophical. The audience is in for that rare musical treat of an intimate recital of profound music interpreted by a solo player who gives them something to think about —whether consciously or sub-consciously.”
McDade added, “Berkshire Bach believes it is very important to present live performances of a variety of Baroque music throughout the season, especially in this time in our society. Music has restorative power, and when played by fine musicians, can provide moments of respite and reflection that do us good.”
Johansen’s recital on June 28 is a case in point. The sound of the cello — so close to that of the human voice —makes us feel better somehow — refreshed in our spirit, hopeful, better able to carry on in difficult times,” said McDade.
Johansen grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. He graduated from Juilliard and is a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, which he joined in 2016. He has performed all over the world as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. He was a member of the Escher String Quartet and a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.
The concert will conclude Berkshire Bach’s thirty-fifth season, which opened with the film “Strangers on the Earth,” also featuring Johansen as he walked the Camino de Santiago — the ancient 600-mile pilgrimage route extending through France and Spain — with his cello strapped to his back in 2014. He stopped in towns along the way and played the six Bach Cello Suites in local churches.
The concert will begin at 5pm. Tickets are available at: www.bershirebach.org/events.