I’ve always marveled at talented people who elevate their craft into something from another world. I’ve been so fortunate to be in the presence of sheer masters who far exceed their so-called skill. When certain savant-like interior designers can walk into an empty room and know—not suggest or think they have an idea—but absolutely know what that room needs to make it something special or when a top chef opens a refrigerator and sees only eggs and onions and somehow makes a frittata no one who tried will soon forget, these are individuals who were not only born to do…
I’m not an architect—but my ex was. My former partner taught me more about cantilevers, concrete and, er, collecting fees than I ever expected to know as he interpreted his…
When I first moved Upstate years ago, I marveled at how much creativity and arts flowed up the Hudson from New York City into these charming little towns. Each felt…
When The Mountains premiered its first list of what we dubbed (as so many do) “makers”—artists, chefs, designers, photographers, farmers, bakers and other talented artisans—a misconception arose that we were…
So, when I first moved to this corner of the planet, I kept hearing cool, creative people being referred to as “makers.” Makers? Really? Aren’t they simply artists and designers…
Photography by Mike Ruiz Matthew Modine/Madonna. Madonna/Matthew Modine. For those of us in a particular generation, when Matthew Modine’s name comes up for whatever legitimate reason—his winning turn in the…
Back in the early 2000s, few fine art photographers were as influential as Fernando Bengoechea, a handsome and charismatic Argentine whose bold black-and-white images were embraced by both art world…
At just 20 years old, artist and activist Mary Haddad has already put her creative stamp on the Hudson Valley in a very big way. For several years, her provocative,…
Photography by Arielle Ferraro and Eric Petschek In New York, a state that ranks second in the country for the number of breweries (462 and counting), how do you stand…











