Norfolk nonprofit launches fresh start with new name
Lisa Atkin, co-president, and Libby Borden, president of The Norfolk Hub.
Jennifer Almquist
Norfolk Hub’s new logo.Latest News
Artists and patrons gather for Stissing Center auction preview
Natalia Zukerman
Jun 03, 2026
Artists Yael Meridan Schori and Talya Baharal at Mad Rose Gallery’s preview of Stissing Center’s Art Auction.
Natalia Zukerman
The upstairs room at Mad Rose Gallery in Millerton was filled with paintings, photographs, drawings, sculpture and ceramics on Saturday, May 30, as artists, collectors and supporters gathered for a reception previewing Stissing Center’s 2nd Annual Art Auction Fundraiser.
The exhibition offers an early look at nearly 60 works donated by artists from the Hudson Valley and beyond, all to benefit Stissing Center’s year-round programming, including music, theater, dance, film, children’s events and community gatherings. The auction itself will take place at Stissing Center in Pine Plains on June 13 from 5 to 7 p.m.
The preview showcased a wide range of artistic styles and media, from Leora Armstrong’s atmospheric “Shape of Water XII” to Talya Baharal’s richly layered mixed-media painting “Shifting Boundaries.” Visitors also viewed works by internationally recognized artists including installation pioneer Judy Pfaff, photographer Ray Mortenson, painter Kit White and glass sculptor Natalie Tyler.
Several pieces reflect the Hudson Valley’s enduring influence on artists, including Shane Neufeld’s landscape “View Towards Stissing from Hill Top Road” and Brett McCormack’s pastoral “Orchard.” Other highlights included a wood-fired ceramic vessel by Paul Chaleff, dark and surreal drawings by Bob Dob, John Greene’s layered surfaces, Eadweard Muybridge inspired “Climberscape” by Gail Rothschild and photographs by Kerry Madigan, founder of Mad Rose Gallery.
The fundraiser is organized by an auction committee chaired by Neal Rosenthal of Mad Rose Gallery and including Jack Banning, Didi Barrett, Gwen Greene, Yael Meridan Schori, L. Parker Stephenson, Dorit Straus, Natalie Tyler and Douglas Walla.
“We love creating opportunities for people to connect through the arts,” said Patrick Trettenero, executive director of Stissing Center. “This event is a celebration of great art, generous artists and collectors, and a community that values creativity. We’re thrilled to partner with Mad Rose Gallery for an evening that supports the programs that bring people together at Stissing Center all year long.”
The preview exhibition will be on view at Mad Rose Gallery ahead of the June 13 auction. Mad Rose is open Thursday-Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m. Proceeds will support Stissing Center’s cultural programming throughout the year. For more information, contact Amy Jelenko, director of advancement, at advancement@thestissingcenter.org.
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Bobby’s chicken enchiladas
Bobby Graham & Matthew Marden
Jun 03, 2026
Bobby’s chicken enchiladas
Bobby Graham
Each month, Dugazon owners Bobby Graham and Matthew Marden share a recipe inspired by the traditions, stories and sense of welcome at the heart of their shop in Sharon, Connecticut. Visit Dugazon at 19 W. Main St. Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and online at dugazonshop.com.
We share a love of Mexican food, and these chicken enchiladas have become a favorite at our table. Creamy, comforting and reliably crowd-pleasing, they’re equally at home on a busy weeknight or at a casual gathering with friends. The creamy chicken filling, green chilies and generous layer of melted cheese make it the sort of dish that disappears quickly and is requested often.Best of all, the dish can be assembled a day ahead and baked just before serving, making it a welcome option when you’d rather spend time with guests than in the kitchen.
Adapted from Courtney’s Chicken Enchilada Casserole, Sallier’s Seasonings, Imperial Calcasieu Museum, Lake Charles, Louisiana
Ingredients
•12 small corn tortillas
•2 cans enchilada sauce
•1 (8-ounce) can tomato paste
•1 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
•1 onion, halved
•1 tablespoon whole peppercorns (optional)
•1 teaspoon salt
•2½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
•1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
•4 (4-ounce) cans diced green chilies
•1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
•1 pound shredded Monterey Jack-Cheddar cheese blend
Equipment
•9-by-12-inch casserole dish
Preparation
•Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add the onion cut in half, salt and peppercorns, if using. Bring to a simmer and cook until the chicken is cooked through, 18 to 25 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and let cool slightly, then chop or shred.
Tip: Strain and freeze the cooking liquid to use later as homemade chicken stock.
•In a medium bowl, combine the enchilada sauce, tomato paste and Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning. Stiruntil smooth.
•Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
•Arrange the tortillas on a baking sheet and warm them in the oven for a few minutes. This helps prevent cracking when they are rolled.
•In a large bowl, combine the chicken, sour cream, green chilies and jalapeño. Stir until evenly mixed.
•Dip each tortilla into the enchilada sauce, coating both sides. Spoon some of the chicken mixture into the center, roll tightly and place seam-side down in the casserole dish.
•Repeat with the remaining tortillas, arranging them snugly in the dish. If any filling remains, spread it evenly over the top.
•Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the enchiladas and sprinkle generously with the cheese.
•Bake uncovered until hot and bubbling and the cheese is melted and lightly golden, 30 to 35 minutes.
•Let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve with shredded lettuce and tortilla chips, if desired.
Make-Ahead Tip
Assemble the enchiladas up to 1 day in advance. Cover and refrigerate, then bake just before serving.
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Yale Norfolk School of Art returns for another summer of creativity
Patricia Platt
Jun 03, 2026
The Yale Norfolk summer art program hosts open community drawing classes on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings.
Sok Songa
For more than 80 years, the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust has endowed Yale University’s summer music and art programs in Norfolk. The renowned Yale Norfolk School of Art opened the 2026 summer season May 23, sharing its final week with Yale’s new music workshop. The art school is held in the historic Alfredo Taylor-designed Art Barn, located on a trail behind the 70-acre estate’s Whitehouse on the village green.
“Yale Norfolk brings together a diverse group of students who have demonstrated passion in artmaking and are exemplary community members,” explained the program’s co-director, Lisa Sigal. The student body is composed of 26 rising college seniors selected from more than 200 applicants. Participants come from across the country and from a growing number of international locations.Students live in dormitories on the estate alongside faculty and staff.
The faculty includes co-directors Sigal and Byron Kim, who will lead seminars with Yale professor Ayham Ghraowi and four teaching fellows.
“We cultivate the next generation of artists by providing immersive, community-driven residencies,” Sigal said. “It ends up being six transformative weeks.Students leave with a deepened creative practice and lifelong friendships. Teaching fellows leave knowing how to structure a class and inspire young artists. And everyone leaves the estate in tears.”
The public is invited to view student work during Open Studios at the Art Barn on June 28 from 1 to 6 p.m.
Each summer, students create a series of community art installations around Norfolk. Six to eight proposals are selected and then presented to the town’s selectmen for approval. Some projects are installed during the last weekend of June, others remain for weeks, and a few have earned permanent places in the Norfolk landscape.
This summer’s theme, “Seeing Through,” draws inspiration from the French philosopher Édouard Glissant, who wrote about opacity and its inverse, transparency, observing that “The opaque is not the obscure; rather, it is that which cannot be reduced.”
Visiting fellows and faculty will present free lectures exploring the theme over five Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in the Art Barn. For a schedule of speakers, visit norfolkart.yale.edu
The art program also offers free community drawing classes throughout the summer. These began Saturday, May 30, and continue through the end of the music program on Aug. 23. The classes focus on life drawing with a live model. Drawing materials and paper are provided, and participants of all experience levels are welcome. Classes meet on the second floor of the Art Barn on Tuesdays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon.
In addition to the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Trust, the Yale Norfolk School of Art is supported by the Yale School of Art, the Norfolk Hub, the Battell Arts Foundation and the Low Road Foundation. For more information, visit norfolkart.yale.edu.
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The brief, beloved bloom of the ‘King of Flowers’
Debra A. Aleksinas
Jun 03, 2026
Herbaceous peonies in full bloom.
Debra A. Aleksinas
At Salisbury Garden Center, potted peonies are beginning their brief but anticipated spring performance — heavy blossoms unfolding in shades of soft pink, crimson, magenta and white. Soon, the flowers will fill the air with fragrance as Northwest Corner gardeners admire the blooms many wait all year to see.
“We’re all a sucker for a peony plant,” Garden Center staff member Irene Cmuchowski said with a laugh, describing the enduring appeal of the flower’s oversized blooms, lush texture and unmistakable scent.
Despite changing gardening trends, peonies remain a longtime favorite in the region,
she said, not only for their beauty but for the emotional connection they often carry.
“People have them for decades, handed down from their parents and grandparents,” Cmuchowski said. In a sense, they become living heirlooms, she noted.
Under optimal conditions, peonies bloom for only about three weeks, leaving the delicate flowers vulnerable to torrential downpours, extreme heat or drought.
The Garden Center carries both traditional herbaceous peonies and woody peonies, also known as Chinese tree peonies, in colors ranging from delicate pinks and whites to deep reds and vivid magentas.
For centuries, Chinese tree peonies have occupied a celebrated place in Chinese culture, art and garden design. Often depicted in paintings, silk embroidery and poetry, the flowers became symbols of prosperity, beauty, nobility and honor. Their lavish blossoms — sometimes reaching nearly dinner-plate size — earned them the title “King of Flowers.”
Unlike herbaceous peonies, which die back to the ground each winter, tree peonies are woody shrubs that can live for generations, producing increasingly spectacular blooms as they mature.
Dan Furman of Cricket Hill Garden in Thomaston, Connecticut, a 7-acre specialty plant nursery known for its rare and unusual peonies, said tree peonies have long stood at the center of classical Chinese spring gardens.
“There are five flowering plants of the classical Chinese garden,” Furman explained. “Plum blossom in winter, tree peonies in spring, lotus in summer and chrysanthemum in the autumn. Of these, tree peonies certainly have the most impressive flowers.”
For Furman, the fascination with Chinese tree peonies runs much deeper than horticulture alone.
His parents, Kasha and David, established Cricket Hill Garden in 1989 and earned a reputation as being the most respected growers of Chinese tree peonies in the country.
“What first drew my family to Chinese tree peonies was their centuries-long cultivation
history,” Furman said. “There is a lot of culture there beyond just the horticultural.”
“Tree peony is a misnomer,” he added. “A better name would be woody peonies.”
The plants are deciduous shrubs that typically grow about 3 feet tall and wide, returning each year from permanent woody stems rather than dying back to the ground.
At Cricket Hill, enthusiasts travel from across the country seeking unusual and historic varieties prized for enormous blooms, nuanced fragrance and painterly colors.
Yet despite their reputation for elegance and rarity, peonies remain deeply personal flowers for many Northwest Corner gardeners — reminders of old homesteads, family gardens and spring traditions passed down through generations.
Their bloom may be fleeting, Cmuchowski noted, but their emotional hold endures.
“People wait all year for them.”
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Music Mountain Summer Festival’s opening Benefit Concert and Reception
Lakeville Journal
Jun 03, 2026
Photo by Omri Ben David.
Pianist Benjamin Hochman joins principal players from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for Music Mountain Summer Festival’s opening Benefit Concert and Reception on June 7 at 3 p.m. The program features works by Bach, Brahms and Fauré. Concerts at Music Mountain are in Gordon Hall, at 225 Music Mountain Road, in Falls Village. Tickets are now on sale, online at musicmountain.org or by calling the Box Office at (860) 824-7126.
Little League season winds down in Northwest Connecticut
Riley Klein
Jun 03, 2026
Charles Smith
Photo by Riley Klein
TORRINGTON – The Canaan Pirates took on the Torrington Orioles Saturday, May 30, in a late-season Little League showdown.
The Orioles prevailed 14-1 over the Pirates. The game was played amid gloomy conditions, about 47 degrees and rainy.
The Pirates are a team of 10- to 12-year-olds from Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, Norfolk, North Canaan, Salisbury and Sharon that play in the Northwest Connecticut Steve Blass Little League.
Pitcher Charles Smith started on the mound for the Pirates. Quinlan Bryant relieved him later in the game.
The Orioles racked up runs early on and opened up an eight-point lead. Canaan got on the board in the second inning with a run by Lane Brooks. Torrington responded with two runs in the second inning and four more in the third inning.
Hunter LyonPhoto by Riley Klein
The Pirates collected four hits as a team with strong at-bats by Brooks, Bryant, Berkley Karcheski and Quinn McNiff. Catcher Colby Hosier was a wall at the backstop and Myles Shippa, Hunter Lyon and Ben Ryan performed strongly in the field.
With the end of the season in sight, coach Matt Hosier reflected on what he described as a rebuilding year for the Pirates.
"We had a young team this year," Hosier said, and there was an emphasis on establishing fundamental skills with the players. "We've definitely progressed, played better as a team and been pretty upbeat all year."
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