LAKEVILLE — To most people, cardboard is a bland material that is used to ship packages. To Millerton-based Henry Klimowicz, it’s a medium that allows him to create breathtaking works of art while sharing the message that “all things can be redeemed.”His pieces are currently on display at The Hotchkiss School’s Tremaine Gallery through Feb. 2, with an artist’s reception scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 7, from 4 to 6 p.m.Klimowicz has worked exclusively with cardboard since 1986, when his small Brooklyn apartment and lack of tools forced him to take a creative turn with his art.“How could I still be a sculptor? A glue gun and a utility knife were two things I had, and access to cardboard was available,” he said. “I started to draw people sleeping on the subway as I headed to the Museum of Natural History, where I would draw dioramas. I’d then go back to my tiny bedroom and make these sculptures to combine the two.”Almost three decades later, Klimowicz is still using a glue gun and utility knife to create his pieces. The only addition he’s made to his toolbox are pieces of wire, which he occasionally uses as a supportive element.“In my early work, wire was important for formality,” he said. “I think of the pieces as schoolchildren who need to sit up straight. If they were all wiggly, it seemed to me the viewer wouldn’t give it enough respect. But now I’m losing that. I don’t have that rigidity anymore; but I haven’t lost the formality.”Klimowicz started working in 2007 on the series of pieces that are on display in the Tremaine Gallery. He had taken a break from sculpting to raise his daughter until then. He decided to stick with cardboard upon his return to the art world, and said he enjoys the “personal experience” the material allows viewers to have with his creations.“The work is inviting because it’s a simple material; there’s nothing off-putting,” he said. “I don’t think it pushes people away. They can move into the work and find something in it for themselves.”He generally starts his process by building small models of forms to test shapes and see how they would fit into larger patterns. Some of the shapes vary in size, while others are uniform. As these puzzle pieces come together, they organically become a sculpture.“I don’t do drawings beforehand. I don’t have preconceived ideas of what it’s going to look like,” he said. “I’m usually pretty happy with the surprises of it. That’s important to me. It keeps me interested.”Many of his sculptures are quite large, including a site-specific installation at Tremaine that is comprised of long cardboard tubes hanging from the gallery’s ceiling. Klimowicz was inspired by the space; he based the sculpture on the ceiling’s rectangles and is using the gallery’s windows to shine sunlight through the tubes. “I can see the piece going somewhere else,” he said. “But it’s quite unique to this space.” Also unique to Hotchkiss is a spiral that descends three stories from a cupola at the top of the building.Much of Klimowicz’s cardboard comes from Herrington’s in Millerton. In fact, most of the cardboard used for the sticks in the site-specific installation was obtained from the lumber supplier/hardware store. Klimowicz also likes to work with the boxes that are recycled from Millerton’s Irving Farm Coffee House, as well as the lettuce boxes from Sky Farm, which is located on the artist’s Millerton property.“I could buy cardboard, but it wouldn’t have the ultimate transformation that I’m looking for. I want it to go from nothing to something. If a piece is here, it’s because of what I’ve done to it,” he said.Klimowicz will also be artist-in-residence at Hotchkiss this month, conducting workshops and creating artwork with students. He expects to have three levels of interaction with the students, ranging from smaller projects that act as an introduction to sculpture to working one-on-one with independent art students who will learn new techniques for their own work.In addition to his work with cardboard, Klimowicz runs a gallery called The Re Institute out of the former dairy barn on his property, which he transformed into a studio space. The shows are held during the summer. According to his mission statement, “the primary goal of The Re Institute is to promote and enrich new perspectives, understandings and insights in the arts within this unique and historical rural landscape.”The Tremaine Gallery at The Hotchkiss School is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, call 860-435-3663 or visit www.hotchkiss.org/arts.
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One systemic consequence of slavery is the loss and obscuring of the histories of those who were enslaved. Records were often not kept about where Africans had been stolen from or who they were related to. Families were torn apart, leaving nothing but the faintest traces of the past. The delineation point, where genealogists can no longer trace histories back, is refered to this as the “document wall.”
Today, 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and more than 160 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, there is a growing effort to restore some of the history stripped from enslaved people and their descendants. Among the leaders of these efforts is Mills, president of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a nonprofit organization that works to identify previously anonymous Black Americans from history and connect them with their living relatives.
The work began with Mills’ sister, who started digging into their family’s past in the 1990’s and introduced him to this emerging world of genealogy. Through that process, the Mills family discovered their great-great-grandfather, Ned Mills, who had been enslaved in Texas. His last name came from his final enslaver and remains the family surname. Through their research, they found that the document wall directly affected their ancestor, who learned of his liberation on June 19, 1865, now commemorated as Juneteenth.
“For the first time,” Mills writes on his website, “American slavery wasn’t something that had happened to anonymous people in a history book. It had happened to my family.”
The discovery gave Mills a familial pride he had been missing for years. That pride fueled his desire to help others find their own history. In 2023, Mills received his certificate in genealogical research from Boston University. He has used his expertise to help descendants of enslaved people uncover histories they never dreamed of learning.
To do this, he uses a process called “reverse genealogy,” identifying a person from the past and working forward to discover their descendants. Along the way, Mills has found some remarkable people who fought for freedom on American soil, some of whom were never freed.
Pay Bill for Robin Starr’s service in the Continental Army.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
At the Cornwall Historical Society event, Mills will present the stories of four Connecticut families: Job Lathrop of Norwich, the son of Pirmus Armes, about whom Mills has published a book; Prince Mortimer of Middletown, also the subject of a book by Mills;, the three sons of London Wallace of Simsbury; and Robert “Robin” Starr of Danbury, who later lived in Cornwall and Sharon.
A few years ago, Cornwall Consolidated School social studies teacher Will Vincent reached out to Mills for research guidance on a local history project his students were undertaking. Together, they learned about Naomi Freeman of Cornwall. After purchasing an acre of land on Great Hollow Road in 1828, Naomi Freeman became the first Black female landowner in Cornwall.
The students petitioned the town to rename a road after the historic Cornwall resident In April 2025, Great Hollow Road was officially renamed Naomi Freeman Historic Road. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes joined Mills and the Cornwall Consildated School students for a presentation of their research.
Since then, Mills has guided the students in their quest to learn more about Starr’s story. Starr was a Revolutionary War soldier who joined the Continental Army to earn enough money to buy his own freedom, receiving the Badge of Merit in the process. The stories of his descendents’ services are equally worthy of their own books.
In recognition of Mills and the students’ work, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway proclaimed Feb. 8 as Robin Starr Day.
Preregistration is required for the event at the Cornwall Historical Society. To learn more about Mills’ work, visit
alexbreanne.org.
John Mills speaking at Quinnipiac University.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.
Dogs have been at the center of Saetta’s life since childhood. She remembers going to the library to research different breeds and trying to convince her parents the family needed a dog. She had her heart set on an Irish Wolfhound, but she was more than happy when her mom brought home a West Highland terrier.
After college, she adopted Charlie as a puppy from a rescue on Long Island. He was a hound-shepherd-Rottweiler mix who suffered from intense seizures. Some veterinarians recommended euthanasia, but Saetta wasn’t ready to give up on him.
When Charlie would have an episode, she would sit with him, nose to nose, talking him through it. She learned to look for the moment he began to come around — when he could smell her again and his tail started to wag.
“You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor,” Saetta said. “I like to think that all the dogs that come through are going to have that person that they connect with just the same.”
Through a network of women working to rescue animals in Texas, she learned about the desperate situations facing many dogs.
With limited space, some public pounds euthanize even healthy animals to make room. Limited access to veterinary care leaves sick dogs or unvaccinated puppies especially vulnerable.
Saetta saw that reality firsthand with a puppy named Gus, a Labrador mix she fostered who has since been adopted. Gus and his sisters had been dumped beside a road, where they were living under an abandoned car. People would leave food for them, but no one would take them to the pound.
“Even the people who rescue animals down there were like, ‘sadly, the best place for them to be is on the side of the road,’” she said. “That’s safer. Someone might actually help them that way.”
Saetta knows that there are far more dogs than any one person can save, but she also knows that helping one dog means one fewer on the street.
Stephanie Saetta,with her rescue dog George and Blue (left), a shepherd mix awaiting his forever home.Madi Long
Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary operates entirely through foster homes, a model that Saetta believes is best for the dogs and the humans hoping to adopt them.
Rather than moving directly from a difficult environment into a permanent home, the dogs have a chance to settle into a quieter setting. They can learn what it’s like to live with a family, sleep somewhere comfortable and receive affection without fighting for attention. Fostering also allows the rescue to really get to know each dog.
“As fosters, we’re honest,” said Saetta. We’ll tell you everything that’s been bad, everything that’s been good. What their temperament is and how they’ve responded to all the things they’ve experienced.”
A successful adoption is not just about finding a dog a home; it’s about finding the right home where the dog and family can thrive together.
Saetta is looking for more people willing to open their homes to foster dogs. She understands that the thought of growing attached and eventually saying goodbye can feel daunting. But she sees that goodbye a little differently.
Fostering means being part of a dog’s journey, even if only for a short time. It gives dogs a safe place to rest, the chance to trust again and the love they have gone without for much of their lives. And when the time comes for them to leave, it is not really a loss. It is the reward of knowing they are moving on to a forever home.
Blue, Saetta’s current foster, is hoping to find his perfect home.
Blue, a 7 year-old Shepard mix, is waiting for his forever home. Madi Long
Now around 7 years old, Blue spent most of his life wandering the streets of Texas. People sometimes left food out for him, but his mangy, dirty coat kept them from stopping to pet him. Today, he has a chance to experience something different.
Blue is still waiting for his forever home. Saetta believes he would do best as the only dog in a household or alongside another senior dog. He will need someone willing to continue working with him on his training and understand that a dog with his history needs patience.
But what he gives in return is a whole lot of love.
“He’s so enthusiastic, he’s so excited for life, he’s so friendly, and he’s got such a good heart, and he loves to cuddle,” Saetta said. “He’s a good, good, good dog.”
For more information on adopting Blue or how to foster, visit ccbsanctuary.org.
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