Dutchess County Fair 2007

I’m finally getting around to sorting through my photos from last summer’s Dutchess County fair. Even though I finished my book on the fair, I’m looking for material for the second edition!

Heard lots of great stories at the book signings and events I was invited to attend. One senior told me that she took a ferry with her friends from Kingston to Rhinecliff and then walked those long uphill miles to the fairgrounds. They spent the day enjoying themselves only to have to race back to catch the last ferry home—and face the uphill climb back to their house.

The Dutchess County Fair got a new manager in 2007 - congratulations Bob! He brought some new events which we loved. I wasn't sure how they were going to fit the bull riding event into the small area between the grandstands and the stage, but they did, and it was exciting. There wasn't an empty seat; in fact, we were packed in tight as sardines. I didn't realize that we had so many cowboys locally. The other event that was sheer fun was the ESPN dogs. I have a whole series of happy pups shaking the water off as they proudly dropped the sodden frisbee or ball or duck at their trainer's feet.

Bad habits die hard, so once again I find myself in the position of not having gotten releases from some people. If anyone knows the husband caller, please let me know. The kid photos that I don’t have releases for I’ll have to share at a later date.

Let me know what you think of the photos or tell me a fair story by leaving me a comment after this blog entry.

Creative Inspiration: Martin Puryear at the MOMA

Sunday, I toured sculptor Martin Puryear’s life retrospective at the MOMA. What a find. Though he lives in nearby High Falls and served in the same Peace Corps program in Sierra Leone as my husband, we have never crossed paths.

Since this was a life retrospective, works using a broad variety of media and time were on display. Ladder for Booker T. Washington was breathtaking in its 60-foot or so unsteady climb to a heavenward horizon point and very beautifully lit. AdAstra is the name of the piece pictured that looks kind of like a trebuget base with a 100-foot or so branch.








I was only able to photograph the pieces on display in the lobby areas, so that’s all I can share. Take a few minutes to experience the full MOMA exhibition. My favorite, Lever #1, has a rounded base made of think strips of red cedar, cypress, poplar and ash, with a very tall, beaver tail-looking neck. Nadine’s favorite was Some Lines for Jim Beckwourth, seven multi-colored strips of twisted rawhide with little tufts of fur(?) popping up. Beckwourth apparently influenced Puryear greatly. He was born a slave in 1798, son of a white man and a black slave, who had quite a colorful life—was head of the Crow nation at one time. A truly amazing piece, Alien Huddle, is 3 round wooden orbs intertwined in a family-like composition. The precision of each slat is so perfect, each orb comes together without a gap. Ryley liked Dowager, a piece of tar-covered mesh that looked remarkably like a white shark’s dorsal fin.

My only disappointment in the show was the number of pieces that remain untitled— dinosaur with the ball on the string is one of these—since his titles are so intriguing.