FALLS VILLAGE — Eric Veden’s 37th installment of videos about Falls Village starts with Bunny Williams, a nationally recognized interior designer and author who has long made her home in the Northwest Corner, reflecting on her early love of the countryside.
As a young professional making her way in New York City, Williams said, “It bothered me that I had no place to garden.”
It took two years, but she finally found the right house in Falls Village. The property was being run as a rooming house and needed work.
“But I knew when I turned in the driveway that it was going to be my home,” she said.
Williams, who owns 100 Main in Falls Village, talked about her philosophy of interior design. She tries not to do the same things, and it has worked out, especially in her home.
“It would be hard to repeat a room here because I use so many unique objects,” she said. “A room should open up to you over a period of time.”
Artist Ann Kraus, who also appears in the film, spoke at the David M. Hunt Library about her recent show, “I Collect Clouds.” She began by saying, “I don’t actually collect clouds.
“Where would I store them?”
Kraus said she was always interested in painting, something she picked up from her mother, who also told her not to rely on art to make a living.
So as she carved out a career in finance in New York City, she kept painting and studying.
She said she is attracted to clouds because in Manhattan, it is difficult to see clouds in the canyons formed by skyscrapers.
She also noted that she worked in the human resources department at the New York Times.
“You’ll notice there are no people in my paintings. Read into that what you will.”
John Holland reminisced about his more than 50 years in Falls Village and his career as a carpenter, which began with a partner named Chamberlain, giving rise to the business name Holland and Chamberlain.
After about a decade, the two added a third partner, Albert Ginouves. “Since his name was Al, we changed it to Holland Chamberlain et al.,” Holland said.
Holland said over his career he and his partners were fortunate to work for “a great mix” of clients.
“Teachers, librarians, Wall Street tycoons, film people.”
They also emphasized energy efficiency “as much as the clients would allow.”
Collage artist Ingrid Freidenbergs revealed her dramatic story. Born in Latvia, her family fled the country toward the end of World War II. “Stalin was coming.”
They wound up in the British zone of occupied Germany, and after a lengthy wait in a refugee camp, wound up in Rockville Center, New York.
That involved a crossing in the USS General Taylor, where the conditions were cramped.
“That was not my favorite 10 days.”
Buzz Wismar reflected on the changes he has seen on Music Mountain Road, at the property his grandparents bought 100 years ago, in 1925.
“The largest change is the demise of dairy farms,” he said.
As a boy he remembers dairy farms, but even by 1925 it was difficult for a farmer to make a living.
The family that built his home in 1909 were farmers, but they also cut railroad ties to make ends meet.
Wismar noted that while one can still see the contrast between cultivated and wild land in Falls Village, much of the land once devoted to agriculture has been reclaimed by Nature as forest.
The Falls Village videos are available for borrowing or purchase at the David M. Hunt Library. Veden has a YouTube channel, “Eric Veden.”
