OLD LYME — The public is invited to a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony celebrating The Stumble Inne on Thursday, March 17, at 3 p.m. The ceremony will mark the opening of the restaurant’s new pool room. All are welcome.
The Town’s Economic Development Commission (EDC) is kickstarting its new ribbon-cutting program with The Stumble Inne, which opened last summer but has unveiled a new pool room this week.
“We have several new businesses we are offering a ribbon-cutting program to, but wanted to begin with The Stumble Inne, even though they opened several months ago,” said EDC Chair Cheryl Poirier. “The Caramante family has invested in Old Lyme, and we wish to support them in this endeavor.”
Jim and Cyndi Caramante, who also owned The Hideaway, opened The Stumble Inne in the summer of 2022 to capture a younger audience. The Stumble Inne features live music on the weekends, trivia and karaoke nights, and the new game room complete with a pool table.
In addition to the EDC commissioners and barring urgent cancellations to schedules, Old Lyme’s three selectpersons and State Representative Devin Carney will be on hand to commend The Stumble Inne on its investment in Old Lyme.
Special for St Patrick’s Day, The Stumble Inne will be open from noon to midnight with menu additions including a corned beef dinner.
The Stumble Inne is located at 90 Halls Rd. in the Old Lyme Marketplace and can be reached by phone at 860-434-2342.
For more information about the venue, follow The Stumble Inne on Facebook.
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.
The Easter Bunny will be dropping by The Bowerbird on Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Stop in and say hello!
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 — 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.
Yevshan Ukrainian Vocal Ensemble of CT will perform at the Sill House at 1 pm
OLD LYME — On Sunday, June 12, the newly-created ‘Welcome’ mural at Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School (LOLMS) will be dedicated at a ceremony starting at 1:30 p.m. and running through 2:30 p.m.
All are welcome to attend the ceremony and view the mural.
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 murals have now been completed in Old Lyme and New London.The lead artists for the Old Lyme mural is Jasmine Oyola-Blumenthal, who is an alumna of Lyme Academy College of Fine ArtThe Old Lyme Sister Mural has been installed inside Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School, adjacent to the gymnasium.
In addition to her role as lead artist, Oyola-Blumenthal worked with school faculty to develop student workshops, which coordinated with the project.
Oyola-Blumenthal and her counterpart for the New London mural, Marvin Espy, 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.”
OLD LYME — Two new exhibitions are on view at Lyme Art Association (LAA), Ship to Shore and Renaissance in Pastel. An opening reception and award presentation for both exhibitions is being held Friday, June 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. Admission is free and all are welcome.
Celebrating all aspects of sea and shoreline life, Ship to Shore is a member’s exhibition, which features a broad range of styles and mediums including paintings, drawings and sculptures. The exhibit is juried by Anthony Tomaselli, who is a painter based in Providence, R.I. He apprenticed with Gene Tonoff and Joseph Rotundo and is represented by a variety of galleries.
Lyme Art Association Gallery Manager Paul Michael says, “Our coastal communities are a vital part of New England life. This show acts as a survey of contemporary maritime artwork, celebrating the seas that connect us.”
Concurrent with Ship to Shore, the Connecticut Pastel Society will display Renaissance in Pastel. The exhibition includes the finest pastel work from the Connecticut Pastel Society member artists. Lyme Art Association is delighted to welcome back the Connecticut Pastel Society for this always impressive show.
The exhibition’s awards are juried by Eileen Casey. Casey is a member of the International Association of Pastel Societies Master Circle and graduated from Emmanuel College in Boston.
In addition to these two exhibitions, Lyme Art Association’s youth exhibition, Water All Around Us, will be on display in the Mile Brook Gallery.
The shows run through Aug. 4, 2022.
Lyme Art Association is located in a building designed by Charles Adams Platt and located within the national historic district at 90 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.
Ship to Shore is made possible by the generous support of the LAA’s premier sponsor, Essex Savings Bank.
The LAA was founded in 1914 by the American Impressionists and continues the tradition of exhibiting and selling representational artwork by its members and invited artists, as well as offering art instruction and lectures to the community. Admission is free with contributions appreciated.
Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10 to 5 p.m.
For more information on exhibits, purchase of art, art classes, or becoming a member, visit the LAA website or call (860) 434-7802.
OLD LYME – The Witness Stones Poets will join the Nat Reeves Quartet in a Juneteenth celebration of jazz and poetry on the lawn of the Florence Griswold Museum on Saturday afternoon, June 18, at 2 p.m.
The acclaimed Connecticut poets – Marilyn Nelson, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward and Antoinette Brim-Bell – will read a verse cycle written in collaboration with the Old Lyme Witness Stones Partnership. The poems commemorate 14 African-descended persons once enslaved in Old Lyme.
The internationally-renowned bassist and bandleader Nat Reeves will offer a musical tribute to those once held in bondage in the community.
Juneteenth is a federal holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. The celebration takes place outdoors from 2 to 4 p.m., rain or shine. Limited seating is offered. Lawn chairs or blankets for additional outdoor seating are recommended.
Admission is free.
The event has received generous support from the Side Door Jazz Club and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, which also receives support from the federal ARPA program.
The Old Lyme Witness Stones Partnership’s goal is to expand the understanding of local history and honor the humanity and the contributions of those formerly enslaved in the community.
The partnership’s founding members include the Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, the Florence Griswold Museum, Lyme-Old Lyme Schools, and the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.
Community partners include the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center, St. Ann’s Episcopal Church, Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau, and the Old Lyme Historical Society.
The Partnership has received generous support from a Health Improvement Collaborative of Southeastern Connecticut (HIC) Partnership Grant for Racial Equity.
Witness Stones Old Lyme partnered with The Witness Stones Project, an organization that seeks to restore the history and honor the humanity of the enslaved individuals who helped build our communities.
For further information, visit https://www.witnessstonesoldlyme.org.
Editor’s Note: The Florence Griswold Museum is at 96 Lyme St. in Old Lyme, CT.
OLD LYME — Studio 80 + Sculpture Grounds on Lyme St. in Old Lyme offer a vibrant, artistic environment owned and managed by acclaimed international sculptor Gil Boro, who lives on the property.
Dedicated to arts education and appreciation, Boro vigorously pursues his mission to create a bond between art, nature and community by inspiring and promoting participation in the arts.
Studio 80 + Sculpture Grounds’ 8th annual Summer Sculpture Showcase exhibition provides a unique opportunity for artists to showcase their sculptures in a stunning environment specifically designed to nurture the creative arts. This year, the Showcase features a variety of sculptures from 15 national artists, who represent a broad range of artistic communities, which, in turn, creates an exhibition of diverse sculpture.
All works on the grounds are available for sale.
On Saturday, June 18, an Opening Reception is being held from 5 to 7 p.m. to celebrate the 2022 Summer Sculpture Showcase. It will feature live music by Ramblin’ Dan Stevens, light refreshments, and the opportunity to tour the ground and view the artwork at leisure. All are welcome.
Boro comments, “I’m delighted to be able to open my grounds to these exceptional sculptors whose work intrigues me. Each one offers original creative thinking resulting in a combination of contrasting conceptual designs in a variety of media. I think any visitor to the exhibition is going to be thoroughly engaged by what he or she sees – including children.”
Boro is somewhat unusual as a professional sculptor in that he loves to see folk of all ages directly interacting with his sculptures, noting that he has a strong aversion to exhibitions, “… where people can’t touch my work.”
The Sculpture Grounds are thoroughly invested in the vibrant Old Lyme arts scene and anticipate this exhibition will attract art-loving visitors from near and far. Boro is committed to the important public mission to enrich the cultural life of the region for the education, enrichment, and enjoyment of the community. In previous years, the exhibition has drawn over 7000 viewers to the 4.5-acre sculpture garden located on the Connecticut shoreline.
Studio 80 + Sculpture Grounds is located at 80-1 Lyme St., less than a minute from Exit 70 on I- 95. The Sculpture Grounds are open 365 days a year from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is free. Children, field trips and group visits are all welcome.
For further information, visit the Sculpture Grounds website or call 860-434-5957.