Film Columbia 2012 will begin

Wed. Oct. 17 th. thru Sunday Oct. 21 st.

time forth coming.

The part that I was involved in was watching the construction, and listening to it. It was very noisy. And Henry and Jon David were busy building tables: much cheaper than buying them. I also remember taking Francis to a closing-down furniture factory to buy, literally, dozens of very sturdy, not bad looking chairs for $20 each.

But the arrival day to me is represented by this picture of Francis. Richild, obviously started working immediately and Francis was a very busy man. In fact when I looked at the painting the first time, I said to Richild, “that is a great painting of Francis, but that is not his hand.” She asked why I said that. I responded, “because it isn’t.” She said “do you know whose hand it is?” I didn’t. She said “It is your son Carl’s. I couldn’t keep Francis still any longer.”

Linda Cross at Omi. She always looked like this, calm and collected

Linda Cross and Henry Schools are a very unlikely pair. But I think that they were each what the other needed for this first workshop to work. It looked like an insurmountable task. Linda was a class act. She was always calm, cool, reassuring and pleasant. Henry, on the other hand, was Henry.

From the minute the artists arrived everybody had questions and everybody wanted things. Some questions could be answered and some things could be provided. Some could not. Linda tried her best to accommodate but occasionally the answer just had to be no. Henry had no problem with that. It was an interesting and sometimes hilarious day and week. It gradually calmed down. Some of the hammering stopped and some of the artists relaxed as there was less noise and activity. They also seemed to find they required less silence. Good thing.

The very first day Richild captured the spirit of the place and Francis’ total commitment and involvement. I was amazed at her ability to capture the very primitive beginning on her 1st day there. In just a very few days she captured Henry’s spirit. This painting is the way his grandchildren remember him.

Henry Schools portrait by Richild Holt, 1992

I have been in the real estate business for what seems like forever, and two very important things that we never forget about are location and foundation. As far as location it couldn’t be beat: it was near the Pink House, an easy ride to the train and absolutely perfect for expansion. Volker Blumkowski from Germany asked me one day if I could take him to see some luxurious properties. I agreed and took several people on a little tour. It just so happened that one of the places was what is now The Ledig House and THE FIELDS and even the Charles B. Benenson Visitor’s Center. So you see, I did not forget what is important as far as real estate is concerned.

We started out with a new concrete floor. We had to have a good foundation. I also believe that Francis, Linda, Henry (where is Ross? He must be at the train station!) all gave so much more to this BIG JOB and BIG IDEA, way beyond what any body could have expected. It was a long time before I realized how much Sandi Slone with her extensive knowledge, experience, connections and talent added behind the scenes. They were the real foundation. Absolutely as sturdy as a rock. They gave this mission a send off as if it were headed for the moon. Maybe it is. It doesn’t show any signs of stopping.

But Art OMI itself is the result of Francis Greenburger’s charitable inclinations, his vision and his ability to recognize the people around him who can espouse it, dig in, and help him do it. He is amazing and if you look at it as it exists today he is obviously still attracting that kind of people. How great a privilege it was for me and my entire family to be a small part of its beginning. I will always remember the total dedication of this diverse foursome Francis, Ross (who did everything that needed to be done), Linda and Henry. It is a picture indelibly imprinted in my mind.

My youngest son Jon and I had been talking to Francis Greenburger (the father of it all) about Triangle, an artists’ colony near Pine Plains. He sounded like he wanted one of those. At that time Jon was in the real estate business with me and, like Francis, once he got an idea in his head he could not let go of it. He and I went down and studied Triangle and came home with Jon’s idea for the perfect place: the old Bozik dairy barn on Omi Road at Letter “S” Road.

Francis bought the barn and we had all kinds of ideas about how this could, and would work. It was a huge two-story Quonset-style barn, 130 feet long and 62 feet wide. The ground floor was filled with stanchions, a milking parlor, and gutters the full length of the barn for removing manure. The first job was taking out the stanchions with jack hammers. Then they worked for 24 hours, day and night pouring and troweling a beautiful new concrete floor (a job you can’t stop in the middle of). That was the biggest expense of the renovation.

The huge upstairs was easier to deal with. They put sky lights all over that roof and the light was amazing. Sinks for the artists to use, two bathrooms, and a sort-of kitchen were all the amenities to start. Every year something more was done.

Who knew that every year the artists would fight over the silo for their project. Many beautiful things were accomplished there during the 20 years that followed. One year there was an artist (I think from Australia) who, at sunrise every morning would play music on a didgeridoo in that silo. My husband, who at that time was the studio manager, made me get up and go listen. I am so glad he did. I went often. It was a haunting sound in the stillness of daybreak, and the acoustics of the space made it indescribable. I will always remember it.

There are so many things I will remember. I remember Joanna Przybla from Poland, who wanted to do a huge outdoor sculpture with an enormous dead tree, roots and all. She and I wandered up and down all the streams, brooks, and creeks, looking for exactly what she wanted. It took days, but we finally found it. We talked the Gardina Brothers into bringing heavy equipment over to pull it out of the Kinderhook Creek and haul it over to the barn.

My husband, three sons, a couple of nephews, and anybody else I could find were at the beck and call of the artists. Between them there wasn’t much they couldn’t do. At one point Joanna said to me “how do you expect me to do my work with all of these wild men around?” I said, “get used to them, Joanna, they are the only kind we have.” She learned quickly to appreciate them. They were an interesting group, and so were the artists. They came from all over the world. During their time together they started cautiously, gradually became comfortable and most of them cried at the end, when they parted. I think most of them became diplomats in their own countries. I am sure they learned a lot about “crazy Americans”, country folk, and the cultures of so many other countries.

I realize there is so much to say about the transformation of that old dairy barn into ART OMI International as it exists today. I think I might be tempted to write another installment. One thing I know for sure – when Francis Greenburger takes something on, it works!

I took this photo last week at the Greenport Conservation Area, showing the back of a house off Joslen Boulevard which is among the oldest in Columbia County. It is often referred to as the van Hoesen House, but most people associate that name with the 1729 brick house on Route 66 that is now the sad mascot of the Dutch Village mobile home park.

This house is earlier, from 1700 or before, and built with two-feet thick stone walls and timbers. Owners in the mid or late 1700s extended the length of the house, rebuilding the North wall in brick and adding the dormer windows.

Jan Frans van Hoesen died in 1704, leaving his daughter Catherine and her husband Francis Hardick thousands of acres along the river from the center of Hudson north towards Stockport. Jan Hendricksen van Salsbergen purchased some of this land and may be the original builder of this house. In more recent times it was known as the Julia Black house. Julia bought the house in 1943, but by the late ’60s it was vacant and deteriorating until Ruth de Haan bought and restored it in the late ’80s.

Here are two great houses in need of work:

The first is a Colonial house built in the 1770′s. It’s a large Center Hall of excellent proportions, without the low ceilings and narrow second-floor windows that can make some historic houses feel claustrophobic.

The windows on the first floor, in fact, reach almost from the floor to the ceiling, making this one of the brightest old houses you’ll ever come across.

The Italianate porch was added in the 19th century, along with a single-story kitchen and utility area sometime later.

This property was owned by one family for generations, and no significant updates have been done in decades so the original floorboards and much of the detail is intact. The roof is recent, and the attic is an impressive sight.

It comes with over 5 acres in a beautiful valley in New Lebanon, for only $189,000. Take a look at the listing and see if you are up to the task of bringing this gem back to life.

The second house is a very attractive cottage from the 1880s – too early to properly be called an Arts & Crafts home, though that’s what it looks like from the outside.

This is a entirely different project from the Colonial above, as a quality renovation is already underway. The inside is completely gutted and reframed. Brand new electric lines are in.

The roof is new and there are new cedar shingles on three sides of the house (but not the front).

All the rooms need to be refinished and the plumbing needs to be installed. Much of the materials and fixtures are already on the site, just waiting for the right person to finish the job. It’s located in an attractive section of Philmont, and the land goes way back with some beautiful mountain views, especially in the winter.

Offered at $110,000. View the listing on our site for more information.