VIEW founder and the woman known as Old Forge's artistic "spark" passed away last week. Miriam "Mirnie" Kashiwa died last Friday, a month shy of her 93rd birthday, at her "Cabin in the Woods" in Thendara. She earned a degree in Fine Arts at Syracuse University in 1947, where she met her husband, Hank. In the 1950s they hosted the first Central Adirondack Art Show on their front lawn, and in the '60s she was a founding member of the Arts Center/Old Forge, which would become VIEW. In 1982, Kashiwa started the renowned Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors, one of the most celebrated watercolor exhibits in the country. Mirnie Kashiwa was an artist, teacher, poet and musician. In her later years, she opened her Adirondack home to accomplished musicians to play her vintage Steinway grand piano during The Cabin in the Woods concert series.In 2005, just before crews broke ground for VIEW, Todd Moe joined Mirnie Kashiwa at her piano to talk about her love for arts and culture in the Adirondacks.