Former betterArts resident Maggie Fishman recently shared with us photos from her time at Better Farm last summer, which we'd like to now share with you. People often wonder what the scene is like around here, and we think Maggie's done a perfect job of showing just that.
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Boston-based author Gemma Cooper-Novack will host a reading from one of her novels at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at the Lyric Coffee House & Bistro in Clayton, N.Y.
Cooper-Novack has been in the North Country since March 23 through the betterArts Residency Program at Better Farm in Redwood. Her poetry and fiction have been published in more than 20 journals, including Amethyst Arsenic, Ballard Street Poetry Journal (Pushcart Prize nomination), Bellevue Literary Review, Cider Press Review, Hanging Loose, Lyre Lyre, The Saint Ann’s Review, Santa Fe Writers Project, Spry, and Printer’s Devil Review. The writer’s plays have been produced in Chicago and New York.
Cooper-Novack’s articles have appeared on Feminist Review and Elevate Difference, and in NASPA Knowledge Communities as well as on her collaborative diablog, the Sinners Creek Commission. She has been awarded artists’ residencies Can Serrat Centro de Actividades Artísticas in Catalonia, the Betsy Hotel Writer’s Room in Miami Beach, and Wildacres in North Carolina in addition to betterArts. Cooper-Novack enjoys baking cookies and walking on stilts in her spare time. Her work can be viewed at www.gemmacoopernovack.com and at sinnerscreek.com.
For her reading, Cooper-Novack will share excerpts from her new adult novel-in-progress Told You So, in which 19-year-old Maya struggles to reconcile a new relationship with her adolescent fantasies.
The Lyric Coffee House & Bistro is located at 246 James St. in Clayton. The betterArts Residency Program offers artists, writers, performers, and musicians the space and time to work on specific projects against the backdrop of a 65-acre sustainability campus. Learn more at www.betterarts.org.
The snow and ice are sadly not entirely receded from Better Farm's property, but we're thinking Spring as we get plants started in the main house and greenhouses. We're also germinating seeds that will grow into plants exclusively for Redwood's Food Pantry and dispersed to individuals and families in need.
Through a new Working Lands for Wildlife partnership between the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Better Farm has been selected as a host site for conservations efforts to restore habitat that will encourage increased golden-winged warbler population.
Read MoreWriting coach, playwright, author and arts educator Gemma Cooper-Novak is our latest betterArts resident, joining us at Better Farm through April 11 to work on two of her novels.
Read MoreBetter Farm is installing an apple orchard to provide the public with fresh-pressed cider, pick-your-own apples, harvest festivals and much much more in the coming years.
Read MorebetterArts resident Leila Namin will host an artist's reception and gallery showing of her work from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, March 28 at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton, NY.
Read MoreVisiting artist and one-man band The Suitcase Junket will be performing at Savory Downtown in Watertown at 8 p.m. this Friday, March 27.
Read MoreWork is now underway on the North Guide website brought to you by Artists Networks of Upstate New York, Inc., bringing information on the Adirondack Regional Art Trail. This comprehensive platform will highlight the various artistic, cultural and heritage traditions of the Adirondack North Country, as well as other recreational activities aimed at giving visitors and locals the complete "Adirondack experience."
Read MoreFor the third year in a row, betterArts will host the children's room at the North Country Goes Green Irish Festival in Watertown March 14 and 15.
Read MoreLeila Namin is a painter and poet from Iran who came to the United States in 2010. She earned a BFA in painting from the College of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran in 2009, and an MFA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2012. Her work has been shown extensively throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. During her betterArts residency in Redwood this month, she is focusing on studio time to create a large body of small paintings. By the end of the month she expects to have a wall-size installation of works no larger than 20x16 inches. That work will be o n display at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton March 28 and 29, with reception from 4-6 p.m. Saturday, March 28.
Read MoreSpring is coming! Our Better Farm heirlooms have been inventoried, new seeds have been ordered, we're picking out trees for our incoming apple orchard, and 50 white spruces are on their way. That, in addition to new landscape designs over at the Art Barn, expanded strawberry and raspberry patches, and many more surprises!
Here's the list (so far!) of all the organic deliciousness growing at Better Farm in 2015. If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for our CSA program before March 15 in order to lock in last year's rates for a weekly share of fresh, delicious produce.
Read MoreBetterArts brings you a foot-stomping, winter blues-busting party that celebrates the Spring Equinox starting at 7 p.m. Friday, March 20, at Better Farm in Redwood.
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