‘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.
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.
OLD LYME — On Wednesday, April 27, the newly-created ‘Welcome’ mural at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School will be unveiled to the community at a ceremony in the school’s auditorium beginning at 1:30 p.m. and lasting around 30 minutes.
All are welcome to attend the ceremony and view the mural after its ‘unveiling.’
The mural is part of the Sister Murals Project sponsored by Public Art for Racial Justice Education (PARJE), which was officially launched March 1, 2021. The primary mission of PARJE is to utilize the broad appeal of art and education to confront racial injustice.
One mural has already been unveiled in Norwich and now murals are being worked on concurrently in Old Lyme and New London.

The lead artists for the Old Lyme mural is Jasmine Oyola-Blumenthal, pictured left, who is an alumna of Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
The Old Lyme Sister Mural is being installed inside Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, adjacent to the gymnasium.
In addition to her role as lead artist, Oyola-Blumenthal has worked with school faculty to develop student workshops, which coordinate with the project.
Oyola-Blumenthal and her counterpart, Marvin Espy, in New London were selected from a field of nearly 20 applicants.
In her application, Oyola-Blumenthal referred to the ability of art to inspire people to talk to one another, commenting, “Art is a neutral vessel that can bring forth conversations that can be uncomfortable and promote opportunities to open dialogue on racial justice and education.”

LYME — On Wednesday, April 27, from 7 to 9 p.m., Lyme Public Hall will host another Open Jazz Jam session.
All are welcome to come and participate or just listen.
This is a BYOB event and admission is free.
Lyme Public Hall is located at 249 Hamburg Rd. in Lyme.

OLD LYME — On Saturday, May 14, at 4 p.m., Saint Ann’s Episcopal Church will present Ekklesia, a contemporary dance company. The new church entrance terrace and scenic lawn will form a natural backdrop for this experience.
In their piece “Body and Land”, dancers will move through the four seasons using the music of Vivaldi and composer Simonelli with words from poet Blankson. This work uses the arts to embody the challenges our modern earth faces from climate change.
“Saint Ann’s has been named a Level 2 Green House of Worship by the Connecticut Interreligious Eco-Justice Network,” explains The Rev. Dr. Anita Schell. “That’s why it’s so fitting we welcome Old Lyme and all our neighbors to experience Ekklesia’s moving message.”
The suggested donation for this production is $15.00.
Saint Ann’s is located at 82 Shore Rd., Old Lyme.