Tuesday night’s announcement that representatives from The Gilbert School and Winchester Public Schools had agreed on the draft agreement of a three-year contract between the semi-private high school and the public school system was relieving on one hand but somewhat distressing on the other.Gilbert and the municipal school board have agreed that seventh- and eighth-graders will be relocated to Gilbert beginning this fall. The agreement was expected to be ratified Thursday night, and the fact that board members from both sides were able to reach a final accord was good news.Board member Susan Hoffnagle added that she was pleased with the negotiations, because Gilbert agreed to a clause that requires any annual budget arbitration to happen after the town budget is passed at referendum. That means representatives from both boards will have hard numbers in their hands each year when they negotiate any adjustments to finalized budgets.But Hoffnagle also listed a number of areas in which Winchester board members made little progress in their negotiations. For instance, the school board agreed not to offer vouchers to students seeking to matriculate outside of the Winsted-Gilbert system, while agreeing to a clause designating Gilbert as the town’s official high school. Winchester was unable to increase representation on Gilbert’s governing board (the town is currently allowed three of nine seats on the board), and language concerning budget arbitration still favors The Gilbert School.In essence, the contract between the town and the high school will be the same as it has been in previous years and decades, with a private board making decisions related to fiscal and educational issues in the Winsted high school community. That independent decision-making ability will now extend to the seventh and eighth grades, as well.On the financial end, no one involved in the negotiations to send the seventh and eighth grades to Gilbert has been able to specify where the monetary savings will be found. The proposed 2011-12 school budget for the town asks for a whopping 10 percent increase, to $23 million and change, and the notion that services need to be slimmed down and streamlined seems to have been forgotten. Townspeople should be wondering aloud why closing a public school and sending two grades up to Gilbert isn’t saving them a load of taxpayer money.Yes, it is a relief that the negotiations have resulted in an agreement and that preparations are underway for the transitions happening at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year. But it is fair for Winsted voters to question the details and demand assurance that they are getting the most out of their tax dollars.
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Author, educator and environmentalist Nancy Castaldo met with Region One students at Housatonic Valley Regional High School Friday, Nov. 6.
A Chatham, New York, resident who has written about 25 books on environmental subjects for young readers, Castaldo opened her “Good Farms = Good Food” presentation by describing the working farms she passed on her drive to Connecticut.
“I saw one that had animals called alpacas,” she said. “And another one with cows.”
She introduced the children to different kinds of farms, drawing them into the discussion with a series of true-or-false questions about where food comes from.
“People eat most of the corn grown in the U.S. How many think that’s true?” she asked.
A handful of children raised their hands.
“How many think that’s false?”
Most of the children stuck their hands up and waved them enthusiastically.
The answer was false. Most U.S. corn is used for livestock feed and ethanol production.
Sticking with the corn theme, Castaldo offered another statement: “Popcorn is not really made of corn.”
This time, the audience was split, with about half choosing true and half choosing false. The answer: false.
“Popcorn is made of corn, but it’s not the same as the corn on the cob we eat in the summer,” Castaldo said. “It’s a different variety.”
Castaldo also met with students in grades 3-5 and 6-8. A virtual presentation for HVRHS students is scheduled for later this month.
Author, educator and environmentalist Nancy Castaldo.Patrick L. Sullivan
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Kenise Barnes Fine Art presents “Cool & Collected ’26,” its annual exhibition celebrating the joy of collecting, featuring works priced under $2,000.
Part of “Cool & Collected” at Kenise Barnes in Kent.D.H. Callahan
Kenise Barnes, the gallery’s owner, has been gifting art to friends and family for years. Now, many of them have their own personal collections, with works carefully selected for and by them.
It’s not just aspiring collectors who benefit from this kind of show. Smaller price tags can often mean less pressure on the artists, giving them more to experiment.
“This exhibition encourages artists to play and explore while giving visitors the opportunity to acquire original artwork at an approachable scale and price,” Barnes said. “It’s a celebration of creativity, generosity, and the pleasure of living with art.”
Across the border in Millerton, a similar exhibition is up at The Re Institute. Artist and gallery owner Henry Klimowicz has curated a show that features more than 400 original works of art from more than 200 artists, all priced under $750. The exhibition is a continuation of an accessible art show put on by LABspace in Hillsdale, which routinely had more than 300 pieces in its small, two-room gallery. Klimowicz has also hosted an art gift shop at the Re Institute, with moderately priced art as the shop’s inventory.
The Re Institute’s Holiday Show features more than 400 works by over 200 artists through Dec. 6, with a closing party from 1 to 4 p.m. that day.D.H. Callahan
Klimowicz understands that even more moderately priced art isn’t necessarily any more accessible to all audiences. The first hurdle, he said, is that “buying art is a privilege. If you’re worried about buying groceries, you’re not buying art.”
With more and more people worried about groceries, the art market’s growth potential seems at least temporarily stunted.
The second hurdle is finding something that speaks to you.
“You have to decide that you like this unique thing. In America, we buy a lot of stuff. Almost everything we buy, we can count on the fact that we’re not the only person buying it.”
But when it comes to art, especially from emerging artists, there’s no market confirmation that what we’re buying is any good. You have to go out on a limb and trust your own taste to guide you.
“You can come here and you can purchase something truly unique, and that takes guts.”
For more information and gallery hours, visit kbfa.com and thereinstitute.com.
“I don’t really consider myself a traditional gallerist,” explained Terzian, a Southern California native who moved to Connecticut in 2008. “I see myself more as an artist advocate.”
Established in 2021 as a platform to promote the work of emerging and mid-career artists, Terzian’s gallery has grown into one of Litchfield County’s most compelling launching pads for contemporary art. Focusing on drawing, works on paper and paintings in ambitiously varied visual vocabularies, the gallery has built a reputation for its devotion to the artists’ methods, tools, materials and critical thinking. Terzian has also cultivated a niche rooted in an ethos that favors intense tactile engagement over sheer wall acreage.
“The gallery is really meant to create a very intimate relationship with the artist and the story behind their work,” said Terzian, who has spent two decades organizing exhibitions in galleries and museums and taught art history and museum studies at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington for six years. “It’s always very much about the process and I think the artists and the visitors to the gallery really recognize and appreciate that focus.”
That commitment to creative rigor is raising Terzian’s profile among art institutions. The gallery’s acceptance into the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) earlier this year marked a significant milestone, cementing its place within an international network of contemporary galleries and arts professionals dedicated to supporting vanguard talent.
“Her innate enthusiasm allows artists to test out new bodies of work on the walls in a supportive environment, creating space for both joy and growth,” explained Rebecca McNamara, chief curator at the Mattatuck Museum.
Jenny Kemp, whose solo exhibition “Reverbs” runs through Dec. 12, echoes that sentiment: “She encourages artists to lead in shaping their exhibitions and the installation, giving them the freedom to respond to the space and bring their own vision to it.”
While Litchfield County has long attracted creative minds, Terzian’s arrival in 2021 coincided with a period of cultural momentum, allowing her to tap into an expanding cadre of local talent. The gallery’s roster bridges mid-career artists such as Fritz Horstman, Kristin Lamb and Richard Pasquarelli, who have exhibited their work in museums, galleries and art fairs throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Yet her programming also crosses geographic boundaries seamlessly, bringing work by painters and paper-makers from Brooklyn, Providence, Berlin as well as artists working in established studios across Connecticut.
Jennifer Terzian’s gallery showcases emerging and mid-career artists, with a focus on drawing, works on paper and painting.Provided
Recent exhibitions highlight Terzian’s curatorial leanings toward precision and patience over hyper-commerciality. Jessica Smolinski’s mixed-media works probed memory and time through photography and textiles, while Aliza Morell employed holographic streamers against flat fields of color transferred to canvas via a layered material process. China-born artist Jenny Wu, who studied studio art at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and American University, poured and layered liquid paint until it took on dense, sculptural forms.
“The space feels like you are leaving the day’s responsibilities behind and entering a world of serenity,” said Wu, whose paintings explore composition, color and materiality. “Stand there, look at the works, feel them, and let them consume you for once.”
Terzian advocates for a more intimate scale to help amplify impact and says the diversity of aesthetics allows her to build a space tailored to creative rhythms of the artist. “It fosters a better dialogue between artist, curator and collector.”
The gallery’s momentum coincides with a broader revival across Litchfield. The recent arrival of three boutique hotels — The Abner, Belden House and Lost Fox Inn — has brought a steady influx of younger, design-conscious travelers to Connecticut’s northwest corner, energizing the town’s cultural landscape.
“I love for people who are new to Litchfield to walk down those stairs to my gallery and just come inside and just be educated about the artists and their work,” Terzian reflected. “Whether or not they walk away with purchasing something, I just think the experience of coming into a space and not feeling intimidated is valuable.”
For more information, visit jenniferterziangallery.com.
Troy McMullen is a former Wall Street Journal reporter in Berlin and New York and currently an executive editor at ABC News. His arts and culture reporting appears in several New England publications, including Litchfield Magazine, New England Home and Connecticut Magazine. He splits his time between Manhattan and a weekend home in Litchfield, adjacent to the Hauser Nature Preserve.
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