Monthly Archives: September 2019

Lyme Academy Relaunches Itself with Fall Program of 33 Classes

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There will be opportunities to paint ‘en plein air’ for all ages in Lyme Academy’s Fall Program.

OLD LYME – Whether with brushstrokes or keystrokes as their instrument of choice, artists can learn and hone their craft at the renamed Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, which is reinventing itself with the launch of a full slate of courses for the upcoming fall semester. The first classes start Sept. 23.

In an effort to define itself anew while staying true to its core values, the academy will offer 33 courses covering traditional arts curriculum and new digital offerings – the best of art traditions and the newest innovations.

File photo of the Chandler Academic Center, which comprises part of the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts.

Lyme Academy of Fine Arts announced in July that its campus will remain open and a rebuilding initiative is underway in the wake of the school’s disaffiliation from the University of New Haven (UNH). The UNH decision to end its relationship with the academy was made public in August of 2018.

The incorporation of new intensive courses in digital art with a focus on the Adobe Creative Suite is part of efforts to modernize offerings in a world where many use digital programs in their careers and artistic endeavors.

Innovation classes will train students on Adobe programs including Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, InDesign and Premiere to offer those of all generations career advancement training in the Internet age.

These offerings will also include a Social Media for Creatives course taught by Maria Miranda, the Creative Director and Founder of marketing agency Miranda Creative, Inc., who is excited to join the staff as it works to train artists in all mediums including emerging digital ones.

“As principal and creative director of a brand management firm with a degree in fine arts, I have long understood that there is a relationship between the traditional arts and innovative arts,” Miranda said. “As a result, I could not be more excited or honored to be immersed in the best of both worlds in teaching at the Lyme Academy.”

Though art is always evolving and changing, particularly in a computer-driven world, the foundation of art and its teaching remains a guiding force for the academy, which is staying true to its roots by offering comprehensive courses in figurative and representational art.

Fall offerings include core curriculum courses such as Foundations in Drawing, Anatomical Drawing, Figure Drawing to Painting, Figure Sculpture, Printmaking, and weekly classes open to the public including Open Figure Drawing and Watercolor.

In addition, the fall will bring portfolio prep weekends with instructional focus on building skills to develop a body of work. These will be:

  • Drawing: Art of the Cast Sept. 28 & 29 and Oct. 5 & 6
  • Sculpture: The Skull Oct. 19 & 20 and Oct. 26 & 27
  • Value Painting: Shades of Grey Nov. 2 & 3 and Nov. 9 & 10.

Stephen Shaheen, a former faculty member at Lyme Academy College, and Kellie Pereira, a BFA graduate of Lyme Academy College, will teach the stone carving class., which runs from Nov. 7-10.

Masterclass workshops with nationally known artists will be open to both novice and skilled artists and offered in:

  • Animal Sculpture
  • Encaustic
  • Stone Carving
  • Painting the Human Image
  • Large Scale Figure Painting
  • Painting En Plein Air & In-Studio: 4 Steps to Successful Painting
  • Digital Photography for Beginners
  • Photography: Insightful Portraiture
  • The Expressive Photograph and the Landscape.

Registration is open for all fall courses.

For more information or to enroll in a course, visit lymeacademy.org.

Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located at 84 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, Conn.

Friends of Whalebone Cove Finish Project to Clear Invasive Water Chestnut from Selden Cove

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Volunteers display the fruits of their labor after working all morning to remove invasive water chestnut in Whalebone Cove.

LYME — Nine volunteers spent last Saturday morning (Sept. 7) finishing up Friends of Whalebone Cove (FOWC) two-month project of clearing more than 5,000 square feet of invasive water chestnut from Lyme’s Selden Cove.

During July, August and early September FOWC organized 10 separate “paddle & pull” expeditions involving more than 30 volunteers to rid the Cove of thousands of water chestnut plants discovered there in July.

This photo shows the dense invasive water chestnut that was choking Selden Cove prior to its removal.

Water chestnut (trapa natans) is an invasive freshwater plant native to Europe, Asia and North Africa that can cover shallow coves and slow moving rivers with a thick carpet of multi-leafed waxy medallion-like rosettes that kill native plants and deplete the oxygen in the water, driving out marine life and making swimming, fishing, and boating impossble.

A volunteer gathers invasive water chestnut in her canoe.

Because it is an annual plant and some seed pods have already dropped off the plants in Selden Cove this year before being removed, water chestnut is likely to reappear in the Cove next year and continue in future years, requiring annual removal to protect the native ecosystems of Selden Cove and nearby Selden Creek from being obliterated by the highly aggressive invasive.
Friends of Whalebone Cove is a community conservation group based in Hadlyme formed three years ago to protect and preserve the native ecosystems and wildlife habitat of Hadlyme’s Whalebone Cove and the surrounding area.

Former Lyme-Old Lyme Superintendent Klein, Now Head of NFA, Appointed President of St. Joseph’s in Trumbull

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David Klein

OLD LYME — The former Superintendent of Lyme-Old Lyme (LOL) Schools, David Klein, will leave his current position as Head of School at Norwich Free Academy (NFA) at the end of the 2019-20 academic year in order to serve as president of the newly independent St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, Conn., a college preparatory Catholic high school.

Klein sent an email to NFA faculty and staff this past Wednesday afternoon announcing his decision to take on ” a new professional opportunity,” and stressing, “This unique professional opportunity found me in July, and I pursued it because it aligns so perfectly with my deep Catholic faith. I was not seeking a new job, and this position is the only one I have sought since I began my NFA tenure in October 2011.”

In his email, Klein also noted, “There is much to accomplish this year, and I will pursue this work with the passion and focus I have demonstrated each day for the past eight years.”

Klein served as superintendent of Lyme-Old Lyme Schools from 2000-2008 and then moved to the same position at Madison Public Schools  through 2011 when he joined NFA. He and his wife Patricia still reside in Old Lyme.

Christopher Wilson, Board of Directors Chairperson for St. Joseph High School, announced the news of Klein’s appointment to both the internal and external St. Joseph’s community in a letter, which described Klein as having, “extraordinary experience in community engagement, student services, college preparatory education, institutional advancement, financial management, and administration will serve St. Joseph High School well.”

Wilson added that Klein’s, “career exemplifies a commitment to creating a vibrant educational community that encourages initiative, creativity, and well-being. He values a supportive school culture that fosters caring relationships between adults and young people. David is a leader of exceptional integrity, respect and accomplishment.”

In the same letter, Wilson quoted Klein as saying, “I am deeply grateful for this extraordinary opportunity, and for the trust and confidence of St. Joseph High School’s Board of Directors … Patricia and I are honored and excited to join this exceptional community.”

Klein’s last day at NFA will be June 30, 2020 and he will take up his new position at St. Joseph’s the following day.

Billy Boyle is Back! Join Jim Benn’s Latest Book in Best-Selling Series is on Sale Now

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LYME — Lyme Public Library hosts local resident and best-selling author James R. Benn on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 2 p.m., when Benn will present “When Hell Struck Twelve: The 14th Billy Boyle Mystery.” This is the latest book in Benn’s series of popular Billy Boyle World War II mystery novels, which the New York Times Book Review has called “spirited wartime storytelling.”

Benn will be on hand to sign and sell copies of his book. This event is free and all are welcome.

In the 14th Billy Boyle mystery, US Army detective Billy Boyle and Lieutenant Kazimierz travel into the heart of Nazi-occupied Paris on a dangerous mission: ensure a traitor to the French Resistance unwittingly carries out a high-stakes deception campaign.

It is August, 1944, and US Army detective Billy Boyle is assigned to track down a French traitor, code-named Atlantik, who is delivering classified Allied plans to German leaders in occupied Paris. The Resistance is also hot on his trail and out for blood, after Atlantik’s previous betrayals led to the death of many of their members.

But the plans Atlantik carries were leaked on purpose, a ruse devised to obscure the Allied army’s real intentions to bypass Paris in a race to the German border.

Now Billy and Kaz are assigned to the Resistance with orders to not let them capture the traitor: the deception campaign is too important. Playing a delicate game, the chase must be close enough to spur the traitor on and visible enough to ensure the Germans trust Atlantik.

The outcome of the war may well depend on it …

James R. Benn

Critics have given extremely positive reviews of Benn’s latest book.

The Publisher’s Weekly said,“Stellar … The author makes the most of the tense and dramatic backdrop to this high-stakes whodunit. Benn has surpassed himself with this installment,” while BookPage noted, “I’ve read every book in James R. Benn‘s series, reviewed most of them, loved all of them, and this is the best one yet.”

Booklist wrote, “This consistently strong series has jumped to another level, with this volume clearly the hands-down best so far . . . Benn’s portrayal of the gallimaufry of competing Resistance groups, whose bullets, Billy learns, kill you just as dead as the Germans’ more powerful weaponry, adds a fascinating dimension to this exciting story of the sometimes-deadly chaos that accompanied the liberation of Paris.”

If you cannot attend on Saturday but would like to order a signed copy of the book, email Benn at jrb@jamesrbenn.com. Visit this link to order a copy online.

East Haddam Celebrates Venture Smith’s Life This Afternoon with a Variety of Festivities

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Keynote speaker will be Maisa L. Tisdale, President and CEO of The Mary & Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She will present “Audacity! Bridgeport CT’s Little Liberia – A Free Black Settlement in This Slave State.”

EAST HADDAM, CT – The 23rd annual Venture Smith Day Festivities will be held on Saturday, Sept. 7, from 1 to 4 p.m. in the First Church Cemetery, 499 Town Street (RT. 151), East Haddam, Conn., where Venture Smith (1729-1805) is buried.

Son of an African king, Venture Smith became the first black man to document his capture from Africa and life as an American slave and successful black freeman in Connecticut. Well known and respected, Venture Smith spent the majority of his freedom years in East Haddam and Haddam Neck, Connecticut.  His grave is one of the original sites on the Connecticut Freedom Trail.

The keynote speaker will be Maisa L. Tisdale, President and CEO of The Mary & Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She will talk about “Audacity! Bridgeport CT’s Little Liberia – A Free Black Settlement in This Slave State.”

Other speakers will include Beth Moore, Museum Curator, Stonington Historical Society; State of Connecticut Representative Bobby Gibson; Weymouth Eustis, Connecticut Historical Wood Sculptor; and Dr. Karl P. Stofko, E. Haddam Town Historian/Venture Smith researcher.

Beth Moore, Museum Curator at the Stonington Historical Society located in Stonington, Connecticut, will talk about a recent grant awarded to the Stonington Historical Society to create a permanent “Life of Venture Smith Exhibit” at the Old Lighthouse Museum. Venture Smith, a slave of Oliver Smith of Stonington, was allowed to purchase his freedom in 1765. Venture took the name Smith as his last name and lived a freeman in Stonington until 1774 before moving to East Haddam.

Beth Moore, Museum Curator at the Stonington Historical Society will talk about “Venture’s Place in Stonington, Connecticut.”

The exhibit will also explore the history of slavery in New England while focusing on slavery in Southeastern Connecticut.Moore will also give an update about the status of a grant application to add the 26 – acreVenture Smith Home Site on Barn Island (Stonington, Connecticut) to the Connecticut Freedom Trail.

(photo caption) State of Connecticut Representative Bobby Gibson will present “From Kingdom to Kingdom, How Venture Smith’s Life Proves Why African American History Must Be Taught in Our Schools.”

In March 2019, State of Connecticut Representative Bobby Gibson submitted written testimony in support of HB 7082, an Act Concerning the Inclusion of African American Studies in the Public School Curriculum to the Chairman Senator McCrory, Chairman Representative Sanchez, and esteemed members of the Education Committee.Representative Gibson will present “From Kingdom to Kingdom, How Venture Smith’s Life Proves Why African American History Must Be Taught in Our Schools.”

Connecticut Sculptor Weymouth Eustis of Chester, Connecticut will unveil his historically correct life-like carving of Venture Smith.

Weymouth Eustis, a Connecticut Wood Sculptor, who enjoys carving famous life-like figures from history, will unveil his historically correct life-like wooden statue of Venture Smith. Venture, who was often referred to as the “The Black Paul Bunyan” when he was alive, stood over six and one-half feet tall, weighed over 300 pounds, and was often seen carrying a 9-pound axe for cutting down trees.

Dr. Karl P. Stofko, East Haddam’s Municipal Historian and Venture Smith family genealogist since the 1970s, will talk about “New Information about Tamar Loomis, Solomon Smith’s (son of Venture) first wife.

Venture Smith’s family genealogy and artifacts and crafts from Ghana and other regions of Africa will be on display. A town proclamation will be presented and wreath-laying ceremony by the descendants of Venture Smith and the annual Venture family reunion photograph will take place in the cemetery by Venture’s grave.

In addition, the ladies of “Sisters In Stitches Joined by the Cloth” of eastern Massachusetts will return this year with their magnificent African American quilts and copies of Elizabeth J. Normen’s new book “Venture Smith’s Colonial Connecticut” will be on sale.

The ladies of “Sisters In Stitches” joined by the Cloth” of eastern Massachusetts will return this year with their magnificent African American quilts on display.

Adults and children, who are interested in learning more about Connecticut history in the 1700 and 1800s, are encouraged to attend. Please bring lawn chairs or a blanket. In case of inclement weather the celebration will move into the First Church sanctuary. There will be plenty of time to renew old friendships, talk with the speakers and Venture’s descendants, as well as enjoy light refreshments in the Parish Hall next to the cemetery.

Dr. Karl P. Stofko, E. Haddam Town Historian/Venture Smith researcher will be a speaker at the event.

For questions, call (860) 873-9375.

To review the original Venture Smith autobiography, visit  www.docsouth.unc.edu/neh/venture2/menu.html

Brief Biography of Venture Smith

Born around 1729, Venture Smith’s African birth name was Broteer; and he was the eldest son of King Saungm Furro of the tribe of Dukandarra in Guinea, West Africa. He was captured about 1736 when he was seven years old and was sold for “4 gallons of rum and some calico” at Anamabo on Africa’s Gold Coast to Robinson Mumford, the steward of a Rhode Island slave ship. Broteer was renamed Venture because he was purchased by Mumford’s own private venture. Venture grew up as a slave on Fishers Island, New York, which was being leased by the Mumford family at that time.

Around 1750 he married Meg, another Mumford slave, and they had four children. After a failed escape attempt in 1754, Venture was sold to Thomas Stanton of Stonington Point, Connecticut. In 1760, he was purchased for the last time by Oliver Smith, of Stonington. Smith allowed Venture to purchase his freedom in 1765 and in return Venture took the name Smith as his surname.

Venture then lived and worked on Long Island to raise money to purchase the freedom of his wife and children. During these years he cut wood, farmed, fished, and spent seven months on a whaling voyage. In 1774, Venture sold all his land on Long Island and in Stonington and moved his family to East Haddam. He then began purchasing land on Haddam Neck along the Salmon River Cove from Abel Bingham and others. His farm grew 134 acres with three houses; twenty boats, canoes and sailing vessels; two fishing businesses and a commercial orchard. His entrepreneurial ventures included river trafficking, lumberjacking, carpentry  and farming. All this he accomplished without the ability to either read or write.

In 1798, Venture dictated his autobiography to teacher Elisha Niles; it was then published in pamphlet form by Charles Holt, editor of the New London Bee. It has been reprinted many times. It is the only slave narrative of the 18th century that recounts life in Africa. His life story has been an inspiration to many over the years. Venture died on September 19, 1805, a highly respected man by all in the Haddams. His wife, two sons, Cuff and Solomon, and several grandchildren survived him. Several of his descendants still live in Connecticut.