Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Watercolors of Cornwall views in all seasons

Watercolors of Cornwall views in all seasons

'Jane's Garden' by Robert Adzema

Photo by Alexander Wilburn

Sometimes the title says it all.

“Cornwall Landscapes,” a collection of countryside watercolors by resident Robert Adzema, opened at The Cornwall Library Saturday, Jan. 6, and will remain on display through Saturday, Feb. 17. Painted outdoors without the use of photo references, Adzema’s watercolors on paper highlight the extremes of the changing seasons in the small northwestern Connecticut town and include notable landmarks like the red lattice truss bridge that extends over the Housatonic River. The covered bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Seven of Cornwall’s barns are listed on the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places, and Adzema made sure to include a landscape of a classic red barn and silo, darkened in shadow as a low winter sun illuminates a field shrouded in snow.

The 79-year-old artist, who moved to Cornwall in 2019, is best known for his public sculptures of sundials, including an 18-foot nautical-inspired canary yellow sundial commissioned in 1994 for Port Richmond High School in Staten Island, New York. The freestanding steel sundial uses light to mark high noon in solar time. Adzema also co-authored “The Great Sundual Cutout Book” with his former wife, the late artist and writer Mablen Jones, for Penguin’s Dutton boutique imprint in 1978. His current wife is potter Jane Herold, who has a pottery showroom on Sharon-Goshen Turnpike in West Cornwall. Her handmade dinnerware and bone glaze saucers are used at The Mayflower Inn in Washington, Connecticut, as well as notable New York City restaurants like the seasonal Scandinavian-inspired Aska in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood and the rustic farm-to-table Marc Forgione eatery in Tribeca. Herold’s green thumb is celebrated in one of Adzema’s most charming spring watercolors, “Jane’s Garden.”

“The sundials are challenging and beautiful and mathematical and precise,” Adzema said at the opening reception at Cornwall Library. “My watercolors are loose, and I need that artistic balance. There’s a great challenge in getting the numbers to work when building the sundials, but I come back to painting because it is my real love.”

Adzema’s works are done in the plein air method that many Litchfield County scenic artists are quick to cite (who doesn’t want to draw comparison to Claude Monet?). The style of outdoor painting was made initially possible for artists in the mid-1800s by the invention of portable easels and collapsible paint tubes. His one “cheat” can be seen in his single depiction of fauna — “Coltsfoot Valley with Cows” — in which Adzema relied on some bovine photography to position the farm animals in formation. Cows do not make patient models, Adzema found.

Latest News

Classifieds - August 11, 2026

Classifieds - August 11, 2026

AUTOS FOR SALE

1990 Mazda Miata hard top/soft top. Manufactured Oct. 1989. 64,000 plus miles. 99% original parts. $20,500. 203-215-0729.

HELP WANTED

Garden Help. Looking for an experienced person to weed my acre garden and cut back some plants. In Salisbury. For July and August. Could continue into Fall. naylor99@gmail.com

Keep ReadingShow less

Legal Notices - August 11, 2026

Legal Notices - August 11, 2026

NOTICE TO CREDITORS

ESTATE OF RICHARD A. MCGRIFF, Late of Salisbury (26-00241)

Keep ReadingShow less

Olly Josiah Rea

Olly Josiah Rea

MILLERTON — Our precious Olly Josiah Rea, beloved son, cherished brother, treasured grandson, and dearly loved by so many, went home to be with his Savior, Jesus Christ, on July 25, 2026, at just two years old.

Though his time on earth was far too brief, Olly’s life overflowed with joy, laughter, and unconditional love. He filled every room with his contagious smile, infectious giggle, and endless curiosity. His joyful spirit had a way of drawing people to him, and it was impossible not to smile in his presence.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Samuel Marshall Busselle

Samuel Marshall Busselle

MILLERTON — Sam Busselle, Millerton resident for 50 years who dedicated himself to connecting people and improving life in his community, died peacefully July 31, 2026, at Woodland Pond, New Paltz, New York. Born in 1940, he was the son of architect Alfred Busselle and educator Martha Knapp Busselle. He grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, where he graduated from the Lawrenceville School and then Yale University, which he attended on a swimming scholarship, followed by a master’s degree from the Yale School of Architecture. He then taught high school for several years in the Boston area, where he met his wife, Rebecca.

Sam, Rebecca, and her 7-year-old son Wynne moved to Manhattan, quickly expanding their family with the birth of Katrina and Max, all the while gut-renovating a floor of an abandoned SRO on St. Mark’s Place. Weekdays Sam left the lively East Village neighborhood by bicycle to work uptown on Fifth Avenue for the General Learning Corporation in the environmental services division. On weekends he tore down plaster walls, laid flooring, built bookcases, plumbed a kitchen and bathroom, and cut a door to a sizable outdoor rooftop where the family grew tomatoes, and the kids splashed in a plastic swimming pool. Strapped into kiddie seats on their parents’ bikes, with Wynne in the lead, the family explored New York City and picnicked in its parks.

Keep ReadingShow less

Astrid Daphne Satre

Astrid Daphne Satre

SALISBURY — Astrid Daphne Satre passed away peacefully on July 25, 2026, in Sarasota, Florida, after spending the last year and a half at a rehabilitation center. She was 87 years old.

Born on April 11, 1939, in Salisbury, Connecticut, Astrid was the only daughter of Astri and Magnus Satre. Her parents emigrated from Norway in the early 1900s and settled in Twin Lakes, Connecticut, where she spent her childhood surrounded by the beauty of the Berkshire foothills and the rich Norwegian heritage that remained an important part of her identity throughout her life.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News 2026 interns
Photos by Madi Long

Meet the next generation of community journalists. Eight interns joined The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News this summer. Below, each shares a brief note on their experiences.


Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.