MORRIS, Conn. — The West Cornwall-based Housatonic Valley Association’s 33rd annual Auction for the Environment, held Saturday, Nov. 23, at South Farms, drew a full house as it reached its fundraising goal and provided attendees with a few unexpected surprises.
In a bittersweet moment, HVA President Tony Zunino announced that the association’s long-time Executive Director, Lynn Werner, will be stepping down from the position she has held since 1995.
“We are saying goodbye to Lynn Werner. Her leadership and vision has made an indelible mark on the Housatonic Valley Association,” Zunino said, eliciting thunderous applause and a standing ovation from the crowd of about 100 supporters, environmentalists and staff.
Another twist to tradition came when auction chair Christine Baranski, who has traditionally greeted the crowd with her trademark humor, was called up to Newport for the filming of the movie “The Gilded Age,” and her daughter, Lily Cowles, stepped in to deliver the keynote address as auction co-chair.
The activist, writer and movie producer did her mother proud during her first HVA auction as she spoke of “this sweet valley” where she grew up as a child and returned to as an adult.
From left, Andrew Stathopoulos and Philippa Durrant of Cornwall Bridge, HVA auction co-chair Elyse Harney Morris and Tony Zunino, president of HVA. Photo by Debra A. Aleksinas
“Our Housatonic Valley is sacred ground, and we gather today to honor that,” Cowles said. “I was born and raised here, and recently swam upstream to return to the home of my ancestors. There is no place sweeter than this valley, and there is so much to learn from this land.”
As if on cue, a phone rang nearby.
“It’s Mother Earth calling,” remarked Cowles. “Are you going to take the call?” she asked, without missing a beat, as the crowd erupted in laughter.
Growing up, Cowles said, HVA was a household name.
“It was like Christmas morning the day after the auction, and mom would get all excited wondering how much was raised,” she recalled.
Orchardist Peter Montgomery of Montgomery Gardens in Warren has been a frequent contributor of auction items over the years.Photo by Debra A. Aleksinas
During his speech, Zunino implored the crowd to “think about why we are here today. I hope it’s because you have a place in your heart for the Housatonic River Valley. It has brought a lot of us up here.”
The HVA president noted that his organization has protected 30,000 acres of important conservation land and has protected and restored 220 miles of the Housatonic River, a 41-mile stretch of which has been deemed “Wild and Scenic” by the federal government.
“It has taught school children and families how to keep the water clean and the turtles safe,” said Zunino.
During the silent auction portion of the event, staunch environmentalists and long-time supporters of HVA mingled with folks new to the area, and the organization, to peruse silent auction items as they sipped wine and nibbled hors d’oeuvres.
Peter Montgomery of Warren perused the items. The orchardist drove to the event in a classic red pick-up truck with a decorated Christmas tree in its bed, which he parked just outside the entry to the auction.
“I was trying to recreate a Hallmark moment,” Montgomery said with a chuckle, noting that he has contributed trees, fruit from his orchard and tutorials on orchards and apples as auction items in the past.
Nearby, Margery Feldberg, board president of the Kent-based Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy, had her eye on a Foodie Escape to Mystic, while Cindy Donaldson of Goshen remained in a “competitive hover” over the Exclusive Broadway Experience auction item offering two tickets to the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, “The Book of Mormon.”
Former State Rep. Jim Mahoney and State Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-5), also showed their support for HVA. “They worked very hard on the Housatonic River Wild & Scenic designation,” noted Hayes, who had sponsored the legislation. “I am so deeply committed to the work that they do.”
As of Thursday, Nov. 28, an exact tally of the funds raised from the auction, which drew a near sold-out crowd, was unavailable due to processing difficulties, according to HVA spokeswoman Lara Beckius. However, she noted, “We are thrilled to have hit our goal and for the fantastic attendance,” she said.
Margery Feldberg, far right, board president of the Kent-based Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy, was among bidders for the silent auction items.Photo by Debra A. Aleksinas
HVA officials had expected to match or surpass last year’s auction proceeds, which netted a record $205,000.
The next day, Werner reflected on this year’s Auction for the Environment, which was her last auction as executive director of the organization, as “such a heartwarming tribute, and a fantastic day.”
She said she felt the timing was right to step down from her long-held role.
“I let the board know in 2023 that I was considering it. It’s a good time, because we completed our Strategic Plan 2029 in the fall of 2023, and we have a strong set of strategies reaching into every part of the 2,000 square mile tri-state watershed toward achieving a climate ready Housatonic Valley by 2040.”
Werner praised HVA’s “amazing team of environmental scientists and community advocates on staff and a huge network of partners collaborating with us on land and water protection.”
Laurie Fendrich and Peter Plagens at home in front of one of Plagens’s paintings.
“He was doing critiques with everyone,” Fendrich said of Plagens. “We met at one of those sessions and, well, what can I say. We fell in love instantly.”
Fendrich speaks candidly about the pressures that shaped her early life choices. “We both married the first time at 21, which a good number of women of my generation did without much thought.” Her first husband was a good guy, she says, but “we weren’t suited for each other at all, even though he suited my parents perfectly.” Her decision to get a divorce was seismic. “My mother didn’t speak to me for a year.” Time softened the rupture. “One day she told me, ‘I see now why you left.’”
Fendrich had a rigorous liberal arts education at Mount Holyoke. “I studied painting and drawing, but I also got interested in political philosophy. Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli — Rousseau was my big guy — Tocqueville, everybody. And I still read them.” Plagens’s path was less formal. “I went to USC at 17,” he said, “and declared English as my major. It was a frat school, and I was in one for the first two years. Then I started doing the cartoons for the Daily Trojan, took a couple art classes, and thought, ‘Wait a minute, I like this.’”
Culturally, they diverged just as sharply. “I came from a fairly puritanical family that didn’t even go to the movies,” Fendrich said. Plagens, by contrast, grew up immersed in pop culture. “My father was an omnivorous reader,” he said, “and a jazz fan, and he shared these passions with me.” In 1966, Plagens walked into Artforum’s LA office and said, “I want to write reviews.” He was paid five dollars per piece. “Gasoline was 23 cents a gallon, so it went a long way.”
Over time, the couple slowly fused their educations. “He taught me jazz, I taught him Mozart,” Fendrich said with a laugh. “I’ve had a movie education from him; he read Jane Austen because of me.”
Plagens and Fendrich at home in front of some of Fendrich’s paintings. Natalia Zukerman
During their early years in LA, Plagens taught at USC, and Fendrich at Art Center College of Design. In 1985, they decided “our kind of abstraction would do better in New York,” as Fendrich put it. “So, we up and moved to Tribeca with $10,000 and a toddler.”
Both artists grounded their artistic careers in teaching and writing. “Teaching, which I loved, gave me the financial stability to be an artist,” Fendrich said, reflecting on her 27 years as a professor at Hofstra. “It meant that being an artist didn’t require I make money from every show. I didn’t start writing until 1999, but though I write for publication frequently, I make hardly any money at it.”
Artistically, they guard each other’s independence. “We have unspoken rules,” Plagens said. “You don’t comment on someone’s work while they’re in the middle of creating it.” Critique comes by invitation only. “He’s not mean, just direct,” said Fendrich. Over time, their aesthetics have subtly converged. “My work has gotten cleaner from looking at his,” she said. “He’s gotten more colorful because of me.”
The two have had several two-person exhibitions. At a recent duo show at the Texas Gallery in Houston “Laurie’s paintings flew off the wall,” Plagens recalled. “Me, well, not so much.”
Plagens’s parallel career in journalism shaped their lives in tangible ways. He worked as art critic at Newsweek from 1989 until 2003 and currently contributes reviews of museum exhibitions to The Wall Street Journal. “Being at Newsweek was one of the luckiest breaks I ever had,” he said. “They paid me to see things I would gladly pay to see.”
Their creative processes mirror their personalities. “I start with a specific idea,” Fendrich said, “and then modify things as I paint.” Plagens laughed. “I start with complete mush, just blurting it out and spending the rest of the time fixing it.”
In 2019, they made what Fendrich calls “a decision of contraction.” They left the TriBeCa loft they had lived in for three decades, sold their Catskills home with its large studio, and moved full-time to a former auto repair shop in Lakeville, now a house where each has a studio, and the ground floor retains the open feel of a loft.
What sustains them in life, art and love, decades in, are endless conversations — and arguments — about art, history, exhibitions, books and movies. That exchange, ongoing and rigorous, may just be the masterpiece of their shared life.
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Exterior of the Linde Center for Music and Learning.
“We have been thrilled and humbled to see the Tanglewood Learning Institute embraced as a year-round destination for a breadth of exceptional programming, including classical, jazz and family-friendly events,” said BSO President and CEO Chad Smith. “Our 2025–26 fall, winter and spring season reflects our deepening commitment to engaging the vibrant, year-round Berkshires community and to fully exploring the potential of TLI as a space where BSO programs make thought-provoking connections between music, art and society.”
TLI is once again presenting its Chamber Concerts series on Sunday afternoons, with small ensembles of BSO musicians performing familiar favorites and classic mainstays, as well as new music by contemporary composers. There are upcoming chamber concerts scheduled for Feb. 22, March 8 and March 15.
Interior of the Linde Center for Music and Learning.Hilary Scott, courtesy of the BSO
New this season is the TLI Jazz series, which continues March 20 with the Sullivan Fortner Trio, led by Grammy Award-winning artist and educator Sullivan Fortner, whose eponymous ensemble won the 2024 DownBeat Critics Poll for Rising Jazz Group. “Soul-sax sensation” Nick Hemp brings his free-blowing blend of “barroom excitement and modern jazz finesse” for a rousing night of soul jazz April 10. Rounding out the jazz series, and back by popular demand, is Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and singer Jumaane Smith, who brings his repertoire of jazz and American Songbook standards to the Linde Center on May 9.
Another season highlight comes April 12 with an animated live concert screening of the 3D stop-motion adventure film “Magic Piano.” Produced by the Academy Award-winning BreakThru Films production company in Poland, the film will be accompanied by a screening of “The Chopin Shorts,” a collection of animated films set to Chopin’s etudes, performed by pianist Derek Wang.
All performances take place in Studio E, the Linde Center’s 4,000-square-foot multiuse room that serves as TLI’s main performance and event space. It features retractable seating, acoustic and technical systems, flexible configurations, and is accessible and comfortable for all patrons.
The entire Linde Center for Music and Learning is worth a visit in itself. The complex, which also includes the informal Cindy’s Cafe (seasonal) for a quick bite, is conceived not as a single building but as a cluster of pavilion-like spaces connected by an outdoor covered walkway and arranged around a century-old red oak tree. The center promotes a welcoming and serene sense of place and continuity with the rolling Tanglewood lawn and surrounding woodlands.
Smith said, “This ongoing work is also a passion project for our musicians, who form deep ties to the area and are eager to remain active in the Berkshires beyond the summer months. We look forward to welcoming new and returning audiences to experience all that TLI offers — all year long.”
The Tanglewood Learning Institute is located at 3 W. Hawthorne Road, Lenox, Mass. For more information and to purchase tickets,
visit bso.org/tli.
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