
OLD LYME — Did you know Connecticut has a ‘Buried River’? It is the Hog River, which was buried under the City of Hartford in the 1940’s.
On Wednesday, Jan. 26, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., enjoy a conversation with Dick Shriver, publisher of the local Estuary magazine, and Elizabeth Normen, publisher of Connecticut Explored, and also the author of “My Ride Down the Hog River,” which is published in Estuary’s winter issue.
They will discuss stories about the environmental history of the state’s iconic “Great River,” and, in contrast, the little, buried Hog River.
Register here for a link to this virtual program. All are welcome and the program is free.
Stop by the library and pick-up free, complimentary winter issues of Connecticut Explored and/or Estuary magazine.
Join using this Zoom link: https://b
‘Port of Pecceto’ in acrylics by Len Swec is one of the featured works in the ‘Wanderlust’ show.
OLD LYME — Four new exhibitions, each with a different theme, will be on view in the Lyme Art Association’s beautiful historic galleries from March 4 through April 7. ‘Poetry of Motion’, ‘Black and White’, ‘Wanderlust’, and ‘Renewal: Visions of Spring’ will run concurrently, each in a separate room.
An Opening Reception for the show will be held Sunday, March 5, from 2 to 4 p.m. All are welcome.
The Exhibition in Four Acts is one of the LAA’s most dynamic and exciting exhibitions, bringing together four distinct types of representational art.
Poetry of Motion showcases the work of talented artist members, who set out to capture the fleeting gestures of action and movement within their artwork.
Black and White features work of all themes in black and white and all the greys in between.
Wanderlust will take visitors on vacation with the artists.
‘Speckled Eggs’ in watercolor by Liz McGee is one of the signature works in the ‘Renewal: Visions of Spring’ show.
Renewal: Visions of Spring focuses on uplifting imagery of springtime and rebirth.
Four Acts is generously sponsored by Guilford Savings Bank in partnership with the Community Foundation of Middlesex County.
“A visit to the Lyme Art Association to see the Exhibition in Four Acts feels like visiting four different galleries. There is a variety and a shift in mood as you move from one gallery to the next,” states gallery manager, Jocelyn Zallinger.
She adds, “This show also allows a visitor to focus on each genre in a way that is not possible in other exhibitions.”

ESSEX/LYME/OLD LYME – On Sunday, March 20, Essex Winter Series (EWS) will bring the Resurgam Quartet to the stage for its third concert of the season, the annual Fenton Brown Emerging Artists Concert. These young, talented, Hartford-based musicians will offer an exciting repertoire of music by Borne, Piazzolla, Schumann and Schubert arranged for saxophone.
The concert is scheduled to take place at Valley Regional High School in Deep River, Conn.
The EWS 2022 season will conclude on Dec. 18 with January 2022’s rescheduled concert featuring the world-renowned Brentano String Quartet and Mihae Lee, piano.
Concerts begin at 3 p.m. and are general admission. For tickets visit www.essexwinterseries.com or call 860-272-4572.
As a precaution for our audience, artists and staff, health guidelines will be followed and may include, among other safety measures, the presentation of vaccination proof and mask wearing.
The EWS 2022 season – its 45th – is generously sponsored by The Clark Group, Essex Meadows, Essex Savings Bank, Jeffrey N. Mehler CFP LLC, Tower Laboratories Ltd., BrandTech Scientific, Inc., Masonicare at Chester Village and WSHU Radio. Funding also comes from the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA), the Connecticut Office of the Humanities (CTH) and Community Foundation of Middlesex County.
OLD LYME — On Wednesday, March 23, at 6:30 p.m., the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library hosts local author and artist, Spencer Reece, who will present, All the Beauty that is Still Left: A Poet’s Painted Book of Hours, via Zoom. All are welcome to this free presentation.
Devotional poet, priest, and National Book Award nominee Spencer Reece found himself with family in Old Lyme to wait out the pandemic.
Seeking happiness amid the difficulties of this new situation, he channeled change into art; producing 50 vibrant watercolors inspired by his life journeys and his reflections of faith. Each painting faces a quote from an acclaimed writer or spokesperson that has inspired him, becoming a poet’s painted “Book of Hours”.
Register here to receive the Zoom link for the presentation.
For more information about the library, visit www.oldlymelibrary.org or call (860)-434-1684.
This evening, Friday, April 8, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., Peter Drake, Provost of New York Academy of Art, will present an Artist Talk and Live Drawing Demonstration at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. The event is free and all are welcome.
Drake was appointed Provost in January 2018 and previously served as the Dean of Academic Affairs since 2010 at the New York Academy of Art.
Drake continues to be a Thesis Advisor having previously taught at Parsons the New School for Design, the School of Visual Arts, and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
As a visual artist his work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the US, China and Europe, including solo shows at Linda Warren Projects (Chicago) and District & Co. (Dominican Republic) and group shows at Bernarducci Gallery (New York), Sloan Fine Art (New York / LA) and the Phoenix Museum of Art.
He has curated exhibitions for the New York Academy of Art, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Parsons and the Drawing Center. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a National Endowment for the Arts Award and a MTA Arts for Transit Public Art Commission.
His work is the public collections of the Whitney Museum, the Phoenix Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Achenbach Collection and the Los Angeles County Art Museum.
Drake maintains a studio in DUMBO, Brooklyn through the Two Trees Cultural Space Program and is represented by Bernarducci Gallery, New York and Linda Warren Projects, Chicago.
This artist talk is made possible by the generous support of the Robert Lehman Foundation.
Guests will be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts has removed the mask mandate for students, staff, faculty, models, and visitors inside its buildings.
The health and safety of guests are of the utmost importance. CDC guidelines are regularly monitored and the Academy’s policies adjusted accordingly.

OLD LYME — Lyme Youth Service Bureau (LYSB)’s annual Youth Art Show, which is now in its 36th year, celebrates the artistic achievements of K through 12 students, who attend Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools. The show includes many pieces that have recently won impressive awards in state and local competitions.
The show is a collaboration between LYSB, LOL Schools, and Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. The show features drawings, paintings, graphic, and ceramic arts and is held in the Academy’s Sill House Gallery.
The show opens on Thursday, April 7, with a reception from 4 to 5:30 p.m. for Grades K to 5, followed immediately by one for Grades 6 to 12 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
The show will be on view from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for the next two days, Friday April 8, and Saturday April 9, and also on Saturday, April 16.
All are welcome and admission is free.
The Sill House Gallery at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located at 84 Lyme St. in Old Lyme.
For more information, contact Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau at 860-434-7208 or visit www.lysb.org.

LYME — On Sunday, April 10, at 2 p.m., the Lyme Land Trust hosts a presentation about the Old Growth Forest Network with Professor Joan Maloof at Lyme Public Hall.
Professor Maloof, who is Professor Emeritus at Salisbury University, founded the Old Growth Forest Network in order to preserve, protect and promote the country’s few remaining stands of old-growth forests.
This program is of particular importance to regional residents as the Town of Lyme now plays an important role in the United States’ biospheric health as a holder of one of three such designated forests in the state of Connecticut. Lyme’s Johnston Preserve was designated a future Old Growth Forest in 2021.
Joan Maloof is the author of Treepedia: A Brief Compendium of Arboreal Lore, The Living Forest: A Visual Journey into the Heart of the Woods, Nature’s Temples: The Complex World of Old-Growth Forests, and Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest and other publications.
Books will not be available for purchase at the talk, but if attendees bring your pre-purchased book(s), Joan Maloof will sign the book(s) after the talk. All books are available from the usual outlets, such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble or by ordering from your local bookstore.
To register for this event, email [email protected] with subject: “Old Growth Forest.”
This program is made possible be a generous co-sponsoring project between estuary magazine, the Friends of the Lyme Public Library, and the Lyme Land Trust in collaboration with the Town of Lyme.
OLD LYME — At a time when war is on many minds, looking back to 1796, a time when Austria feared war and invasion, is sadly relevant.
On Sunday, April 10 at 4 p.m. at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme, Con Brio Choral Society will perform Haydn’s Mass in Time of War (Missa in Tempore Belli) written in recognition of that unsettled time. The work is also known as the Pauken Messe (Timpani mass) because of Haydn’s use of warlike timpani and trumpet calls in the last movements of the piece.
But now is also a time to look forward with hope, to spring and to renewal. And to Easter, the most joyous holiday in the church calendar. In that spirit, Con Brio’s singers will lift their voices in the joyous Hallelujah, from Beethoven’s Mount of Olives and, with soloist Patricia Schuman, the Easter Hymn from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana.
And for sheer joy, what can match the rousing opera favorite, the Toreador Song from Bizet’s Carmen, which soloist David Pittsinger will perform with Con Brio.
Con Brio Choral Society is a classical chorus of 55 singers selected by audition. The group will perform on April 10 with the Con Brio Festival Orchestra and professional soloists under the baton of Dr. Stephen Bruce in this, the second concert of Con Brio’s 25th season.

OLD LYME — Lyme Youth Service Bureau (LYSB)’s annual Youth Art Show, which is now in its 36th year, celebrates the artistic achievements of K through 12 students, who attend Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools. The show includes many pieces that have recently won impressive awards in state and local competitions.
The show is a collaboration between LYSB, LOL Schools, and Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. The show features drawings, paintings, graphic, and ceramic arts and is held in the Academy’s Sill House Gallery.
The show opens on Thursday, April 7, with a reception from 4 to 5:30 p.m. for Grades K to 5, followed immediately by one for Grades 6 to 12 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
The show will be on view from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for the next two days, Friday April 8, and Saturday April 9, and also on Saturday, April 16.
All are welcome and admission is free.
The Sill House Gallery at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located at 84 Lyme St. in Old Lyme.
For more information, contact Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau at 860-434-7208 or visit www.lysb.org.

OLD LYME — Lyme Youth Service Bureau (LYSB)’s annual Youth Art Show, which is now in its 36th year, celebrates the artistic achievements of K through 12 students, who attend Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools. The show includes many pieces that have recently won impressive awards in state and local competitions.
The show is a collaboration between LYSB, LOL Schools, and Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. The show features drawings, paintings, graphic, and ceramic arts and is held in the Academy’s Sill House Gallery.
The show opens on Thursday, April 7, with a reception from 4 to 5:30 p.m. for Grades K to 5, followed immediately by one for Grades 6 to 12 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
The show will be on view from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for the next two days, Friday April 8, and Saturday April 9, and also on Saturday, April 16.
All are welcome and admission is free.
The Sill House Gallery at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located at 84 Lyme St. in Old Lyme.
For more information, contact Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau at 860-434-7208 or visit www.lysb.org.