Contributed photo “Catskill Scenes” of Jay Brooks, like this one, create a startling realism out of patient layers of tone and color.

An ode to the Catskills at Jerico

CALLICOON, NY—There will be an exhibit of the paintings of Jay Brooks, “Catskill Scenes,” at Jerico Fine Arts Gallery from April 29 through May 20. The artist’s reception, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on April 29, will feature plenty of finger food and a large selection of wines.

Brooks documents the Catskill region much as the Hudson School did the Hudson River Valley. He grew up in Sullivan County on an 88-acre farm and expresses his love of the land and nature through his art. He started painting at the age of 14, with his early mentors being Charles Movalli and the British “maestro” John Piesley.

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“Silent Hill” adaptation a confusing mixture of fame and film

In recent years, video games have drawn some criticism for their attempts to be “too cinematic”—essentially sacrificing game play in favor of shoehorning in complexities where they don’t belong. Still, the desire to imitate movies is an understandable one—perhaps if they move closer to motion pictures, they can finally silence concerns that video games will never be seen as an art form, that they will never achieve their own “Citizen Kane.”

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Of stethoscopes and rubber hammers

A remembrance of Dr. Petkus

By CHRISTOPHER FREY

These days it seems like I learn of the passing of old friends and neighbors by email rather than phone calls or newspapers or the urgently whispered “Didyahear’s” in the post office lobby or the grocery aisle.

When I got the email this morning that Dr. John Petkus had passed away, it was impossible not to be reminded of Norman Rockwell’s illustrations of small town general practitioners with black satchels who dotted this country a generation ago. If ever there was a definition of a community institution, it was Dr. Petkus.

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Other stories in this issue:

• Auction to support art and reading at Sullivan West
• Babes in the barn
• Medieval dancing at the sanctuary
• Sister act to close poetry month at Hamish and Henry
• Liberty parks to benefit from poker walk
• Honesdale cafeteria hosts a potpourri of international cuisine
• Wayne-Pike farm bureau to hold first tractor show