‘Juneteenth’ Celebration with Jazz & Poetry Slated for June 22
Witness Stones at the Duck River Cemetery honor Phyllis Tantiphant, Salem Freeman, and Katherine Freeman, three African Americans and one Native American who labored in servitude nearby on Meeting House Hill (today’s Johnny Cake Hill).
OLD LYME – ‘Witness Stones Old Lyme’ will expand its project in 2024 to honor 10 enslaved persons, who labored in the Town of Lyme—historically known as North Lyme.
Ten new Witness Stones—historical plaques commemorating the lives of enslaved African Americans—will be placed in late May at the Lyme Public Library.
In 2021, 2022, and 2023, the Project installed a total of 38 plaques on Lyme Street, McCurdy Rd., and Old Shore Rd. in Old Lyme.
To deepen the untold story of local enslavement, ‘Witness Stones’ this year will honor Dina, Jenny, Pompey, Peter, Bristo, Suberiah, Boston, Cuff Condol, Prince Brown, and Pomp Henry.
To celebrate the town’s newly-installed Witness Stones, the Old Lyme Witness Stones Partnership is holdingevents in May and June. All events are free and open to the public and take place rain or shine.
Poet Rhonda Ward will speak at the Witness Stones installation ceremony on Mary 31.
Witness Stones Installation Ceremony
Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, 2 Library Lane, Old Lyme CT Friday, May 31, 10 a.m.
The community will gather on the lawn of the Old Lyme Library to celebrate the fourth installation of Witness Stones in the Lyme-Old Lyme area. The program offers music, poetry, and words from community partners.
Guest speakers include Rhonda Ward, Witness Stones Old Lyme poet and first New London Poet Laureate; Nikita Waller, soloist; Rick Wyman, saxophone; Martha Shoemaker, Old Lyme First Selectwoman; Melissa Fournier, Lyme librarian; Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School poets and Select Chorus.
Juneteenth Celebration with Jazz & Poetry Florence Griswold Museum—north lawn, 96 Lyme Street, Old Lyme CT. Saturday, June 22, 2 to 4 p.m..
The celebration in honor of Juneteenth—a federal holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans—will take place on the north lawn of the Florence Griswold Museum.
The event features a quartet led by legendary bassist Nat Reeves and new work by Connecticut poets Marilyn Nelson, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward, and Antoinette Brim-Bell, who in 2021 created a tribute in verse to those enslaved in the historic town of Lyme. The jazz quartet includes world-renowned saxophonist Abraham Burton, celebrated pianist James Austin, Jr., and impressive percussionist Michael Ode.
On June 22, bassist Nat Reeves leads a jazz quartet at the Juneteenth Celebration with Jazz and Poetry.
The event has received generous funding from the Connecticut Office of the Arts. In case of rain, the Juneteenth celebration will take place at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, 2 Ferry Road.
Witness Stones Old Lyme joins a growing coalition of Witness Stones Project communities dedicated to restoring history and honoring the humanity and contributions of those formerly enslaved. The Old Lyme initiative was made possible through the support of the Lyme-Old Lyme community, including local institutions and the Lyme-Old Lyme Schools.
The Witness Stones Project in Old Lyme is vital at this time of learning about and engaging with the history of slavery in Connecticut. But this local project also has national reach as America comes to grips with its complicated past regarding the enslavement and indenture of African and Native people.
Each Witness Stone placed on Lyme Street, McCurdy Rd., Old Shore Rd., and at the Lyme Public Library includes the name of an enslaved individual, along with details about their lives and circumstances derived from land records, emancipation certificates, and other available historical documents.
An interpretive sign installed on the lawn of the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library provides a map showing the locations on Lyme Street of the small brass plaques that are installed flush with the ground.
The Old Lyme Witness Stones Partnership
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 our community.
The partnership’s founding members include the Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, the Florence Griswold Museum, the 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.
Lee Dadlalt in 1990. All photos submitted by Mr. Dadalt’s family.
OLD LYME/STONINGTON—Jonathan Wilder of Old Lyme still recalls the typical anxieties and insecurities of adolescence from his time growing up in the late 1970s. He also recalls, however, the one junior high school classroom that was different: a place to explore, create and converse without boundaries.
That place was the art classroom and the teacher was Lee Dadalt.
“We had never met anyone like him,” Wilder recalls, referring to him and his classmates. Classroom conversations encompassed topics from music to contemporary politics. “We talked while creating art. When we were younger, we were told ‘don’t color outside the lines,’ now, there were no lines.”
Dadalt painted “Mailbox #155” in watercolor, 21″x15 “, in 2007.
Wilder is one of many of Dadalt’s former Lyme-Old Lyme art students, who recall with deep fondness the teacher whose classroom philosophy was to always make art fun and to strive to foster creativity without restrictions. Former students, eager to recall their days in Dadalt’s classroom, said they remember a place that was always safe for artistic experimentation and a teacher who took them at face value, was generous with his praise and who didn’t talk down to them.
“I have few fond memories of junior high school, except for that class,” Wilder said.
Wilder and many other former students shared memories of Dadalt after learning that Dadalt’s family is planning an exhibition of his artwork in May and June at Stonington’s LaGrua Center. Dadalt, who was born in Stonington Borough in 1948 and grew up in Mystic, was a public school art teacher for more than 30 years in the Lyme-Old Lyme School Dstrict. He taught at the high school from 1973 to 1978 before moving to the middle school. He taught middle school art until he retired in 2003.
Educated in Groton public schools, Mitchell College, the University of Hartford’s Hartford Art School and Wesleyan University, Dadalt also was a prolific professional artist who worked across a broad spectrum of media. While his artwork was popular with the public and he gained artistic recognition in local and regional art shows, Dadalt seldom sold his work. When he died in 2007 at his home in Mystic, he left behind a vast collection of paintings and drawings, prints and posters.
Dadalt painted “Flowers in Striped Vase”, 17″ x 23″ , in 1987 using tempera resist.
The LaGrua exhibition will be the first time the public will have the opportunity to view a large selection of Dadalt’s work spanning many decades and encompassing a variety of subject matter and media from acrylic to watercolors, from seascapes to still lifes.
Dadalt’s sister and brother-in-law, Denise and Steve McGuire of Mystic and New Hampshire, have been busy for months categorizing, sorting and preparing the vast artwork collection for the upcoming exhibition. Dadalt’s still lifes bursting with bright colors, watercolors of seascapes from a variety of locations in shoreline Connecticut and Block Island, along with acrylic paintings of one of his favorite subjects — the Stonington fishing fleet — adorn the walls throughout Dadalt’s Mystic home and fill shelves and storage spaces in the garage.
Dadalt’s sister recalled how fond her brother was of his students and how he shied away from giving any student a poor grade in art.
His former students also recall their fondness of Dadalt and many used the phrase “safe space” to describe his classroom. It was a place where there was no judging, no cliques and everyone’s ideas and artistic creations were valued, they said. His classroom resounded with the rhythms of rock music from the likes of The Doors and Marshall Tucker Band and the music also helped foster the creative process.
“I was being given a green light to be myself,” Wilder said.
Aimee Passarella recalled that Dadalt also was willing to allow students to use equipment that other teachers might have reserved for older students. For example, she got her first chance to use a potter’s wheel while Dadalt’s student. The experience began her love for ceramics, she said.
“Just to be allowed to use a wheel at that age was a big deal,” said Passarella, who now is a special education teacher in Florida.
Susan Way, who had Dadalt as a teacher when she was in high school, recalls that Dadalt was friendly and easy to talk to, even for shy teenagers.
“I loved art and music, but otherwise was not a stellar student,” she said. “He accepted everybody where they were. He would help all students, regardless of the level of their talent.”
Another former student, Alison Turrell, said Dadalt is one of the few teachers she even remembers from her junior high school years.
“He was a non-judgmental person,” she said. “He never dismissed us or patronized us.”
This whimsical “Flower Cat” 18″ x12″ print was created by Dadalt in 1985.
Turrell, who now lives in Austin, Texas and works in film post production, recalls that Dadalt was the only teacher who privately offered to listen if she needed to talk to someone about her brother, who was killed in a motorcycle accident when she was in seventh grade.
All the while Dadalt was fostering a love of art in his students, he was producing artwork professionally himself. He participated in many local, regional and state art shows and his work often won judges’ acclaim. Because he felt an emotional attachment to his work, however, he generally shunned offering it for sale. Instead, he kept most of his work or gifted some pieces to family members and special friends.
Now, many of his former students say they are eager to attend the LaGrua exhibit where they, along with other members of the public, at last will experience the totality of Dadalt’s artistic genius.
Editor’s Note (i): The LaGrua exhibition of Lee Dadalt’s artwork is scheduled to open May 10, from 5 to 7 p.m. Denise and Steve will also host a special Lyme/Old Lyme day on May 19, from 1 to 4 p.m. and again on June 2, from 1 to 4 p.m. The exhibition is scheduled to run through the end of June. The LaGrua Center is located at 32 Water St., Stonington Borough. Details of the exhibition also can be found at this link. For more information, visit LaGruaCenter.org.
Editor’s Note (ii): Additional comments about Lee Dadalt from former students that were submitted to LymeLine either in response to this article or on our Facebook page are printed below:
Melissa Curtin McDavitt: This is so beautiful. I have fond memories of him especially supporting my creative endeavors and not just traditional art methods. I remember his fun childlike personality and as a middle school kid feeling honored he chose some crazy 3-D paper popping art piece for an art show at Lyme Academy. He was way ahead of his time in 1985-1988.
Lisa Rose Fatone: This is such a great idea. Mr. Dadalt was quite the catalyst for my creativity (and most likely plenty of others who would rather be in his art room than anywhere else). I got more inspiration, not just from how he tirelessly demonstrated many progressive ways to express one’s creativity…but also by always bringing the best music of the day into the classroom. We heard lots of blues, jazz and straight up rock and roll, as we grew up in the midst of the wealthiest era of music ever. That was mighty conducive to express our freedom to create. Lee Dadalt definitely made a lifetime impression on my education and career path by encouraging students to develop our passion for creating. Wherever you may be, Lee…infinite gratitude to you for what you shared with all of us. You were one of a kind.
Susan Kneen Way: I loved Lee Dadalt! He created a safe space for us to be creative!
Shane Divita: Bob Marley’s ” We jammin.” Was a regular on the tape deck in art class 7th grade with Mr.Dadalt. It wasn’t just a class it was an experience that changed our life’s. I ended up in the art field myself and it’s not easy. Thank you Mr Dadalt for giving us a safe place to create and be expressive during a difficult time for so many of us. Most of all thank you for the memories. We jammin Mr Dadalt we jammin . Love always mr. Shane. Heather Thompson added to Shane’s post: This is exactly how I remember him too. Truly an inspirational man and definitely left an impact on me and my art.
Jenny Thompson: Yes! And he always had the funniest things to say and he’d just be sitting down almost saying them to nobody. I remember he would always say “you could leave every light on in your house and it’ll barely effect your electric bill.” I’m a professional photographer now and his ability to let us roam free in our minds creatively has a lot to do with him. I barely remember anything from middle school but I vividly remember him. And it’s so funny because I was JUST telling my fiancé about him yesterday!
Jenna Rutigliank: Enya Sail Away always reminds me of Mr.. Dadalt. I always loves his artistic direction and he made me want to pursue an art career! Which I did! Loved this guy, can’t wait to get more info about this. I’d love to attend!
Sage: I remember his pipe belt – and his awesome creativity.
Stu Adamson: Great guy. Favorite memory, about 1976, he asked the OLHS administration for wall space where his students could paint a large mural. The principal offered the boys & girls bathrooms. Mr. Dadalt said he didn’t want his student’s art to be accompanied by the smell of pee. Always looking out for the little guy-
Porter McDonald: I am writing this after teaching my fifth grade art class. I have turned down the lights, and begun my standard breathing exercises that have become a daily routine. Having taught middle school art for over 12 years now, I have mad respect for Mr. Dadalt. So here it goes…I have a many hilarious memories of Mr. Dadalt. In particular, I recall making a large clay head with an enormous nose and large…er…bulbous chin. Unintentionally, (I swear!) the sculpture looked more like an enormous representation of male genitalia then a cartoon head. When I brought it to Mr. Dadalt, he did a double-take and could not suppress his laughter. “Porter, I can’t fire that,” he told me carefully. “Why not?” “Because….because it…(sigh) never mind. Put it on the shelf with the others.” It wasn’t until I brought it home, and my parents informed me of its phallic properties that I realized why Mr. Dadalt was chuckling. But the fact that he looked down at me, and genuinely saw that I was completely innocent (maybe a first in my middle school career) says a lot about him as a man and an educator.
Cynthia “Cindy” Fecher I also have some awesome memories with Lee!! He was solely responsible for getting me into his Alma Mater, Hartford Art School, without having to do their entrance portfolio! I went on to own my gallery, The Hidden Gallery, in Old Lyme, CT. We used to drive Lee CRAZY the second we all landed in homeroom. (I was so lucky to have him for my homeroom!!!) Senior year I took only English and 5 art courses, so the majority of my senior year was spent with Lee!!! Very anxious to help with this TERRIFIC project!
Jerry Seinfeld’s Unfrosted, a non-canonical biopic of the invention of the pop-tart, contains a star-studded cast (led by Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, and Jim Gaffigan … along with cameo after cameo from A-list entertainers) that goes full-on ridiculous in this outrageous campy satire of The Sixties, and guarantees constant laughs throughout.
For the record, I doubt this will be considered for film festivals or award shows (just check out the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes of IMDb, after all.) But simply: it is amusing, captivating, entertaining and worth the watch.
The story is predictable: rival corporations (Kellogg’s and Post) fight to be the first to put a simple breakfast treat in grocery stores (mirroring the Space Race.) It involves secrets, betrayal, mafia-like tactics, cameos from iconic performers … but Unfrosted goes farther than any business rivalry could go, adding acts of treason and the loss of lives.
A predictable plot line, but fun jokes layered throughout its duration. To be truthful, it reminds me a great deal of the movies by Mel Brooks (Spaceballs in particular.)
What makes a satire great is pointing out social issues that we have subconsciously conditioned ourselves to and pointing out the absurdities that we have gone along with for years. Unfrosted contains joke after joke directed at the ideas of The Sixties that clearly did not age well (the Vietnam War, high fructose corn syrup, and above all: the Cold War).
But this satire is completely unrealistic. How so?
An award show that demonstrates the rivalry between Kellogg’s and Post is held at a local Holiday Inn, milkmen imitate the Teamsters, and the creation of Kellogg’s products mirrors that of a top-secret science lab. In fact, there is almost a cartoonish fantasy element to its storytelling.
But what is most appealing about this movie is not its jokes, but its length: only an hour and a half. The time will fly by and will be over before you know it.
It’s clear the creator of the show about nothing heeded the wisdom of the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, who quipped that a film’s length should match the endurance of the human bladder. And in this case, since it has been released through Netflix, one can conveniently stop and continue this quick film at one’s own pace anyway.
Again, this is not a groundbreaking film that will redefine cinema and comedy, as we know it. But it is a fun watch filled with entertainers that have been amusing us for decades, and makes a nice way to spend an hour and a half of our time.
Not all movies worth watching push the limits of art and define a generation.
It is no secret that I am a fan of the Criterion Collection/Channel, and can often recommend movies that could be considered “dry” by my peers … but I also consider Billy Madison and The Waterboy to be among my favorite movies (with no disrespect to Adam Sandler, who has always been lionized for how he has never given into his ego in pursuit of celebrity-status.)
About the Author: Though no longer a resident of Lyme, Kevin knows he can never sever his roots to the tree of his identity. When not attending to his job in Boston, he is committed to ensuring a better grasp of current (and past) releases of cinema to his home community as he strives to leave his own mark in the same field that has always been his guide to understanding life. If you enjoy his published reviews here on LymeLine.com, follow him on his website at ‘The City of Cinema‘ and read more of his unique insights into entertainment.
OLD LYME – The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts announces the opening on May 19 of Beyond the Figure: A Student and Faculty Exhibition. The exhibition will be on view to the public until Sept. 1, 2024.
‘Study of Alama-Tadema’s ‘Between Hope and Fear’ by first-year Core Drawing student Jude Dutton is the signature work for the upcoming ‘Beyond the Figure’ exhibition at Lyme Academy.
In 2021, with fresh leadership at its helm, the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts reopened its doors to students and welcomed a new generation of artists to its Core Programs. Beyond the Figure: A Student and Faculty Exhibition is the first opportunity to witness the results of this rebirth, through the work of its faculty and their students.
Lyme Academy is quickly being recognized nationally and internationally for its innovative arts curriculum and as an epicenter for drawing, painting, and sculpture in the figurative tradition. This exhibition is an invitation to learn more about the Lyme Academy’s uniqueness and impact today, as it trains the success stories of tomorrow.
The Academy’s Co-Artistic Director Jordan Sokol comments, “The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is forging a new educational model, one that bucks the current trend of deskilling in art education. We’re thrilled to see such a surge of interest among aspiring artists in our mission to reintroduce time-honored traditions in a modern idiom. This exhibition is an exciting opportunity to learn more about the students, who are coming from all over the country to study here, as well as the world-renowned faculty that is instructing them.”
Faculty members that are represented in the exhibition include: Todd Casey, Hollis Dunlap, Chad Fisher, Michael Grimaldi, Amaya Gurpide, Zachary Kainz, Rick Lacey, Thomas Lapine, Mina Mohtasham, Alicia Ponzio, Edmond Rochat, Alex Venezia, Gary Weisman, and Treacy Ziegler.
The events begin at 4 p.m. with In Conversation with the WSJ’s Lance Esplund, which will take place in the Academy’s Cole Studio. This will be followed by an exhibition preview and reception in the Academy’s Chauncey-Stillman Gallery from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Note that select artworks from this exhibition will be offered for sale throughout the evening.
Lance Esplund writes about art forThe Wall Street Journal. Previously, he was US art critic for Bloomberg News and chief art critic for the New York Sun.
He has taught studio art and art history at the Parsons School of Design and Rider University, and has served as visiting MFA critic at the New York Studio School. His essays have appeared in Art in America, Harper’s, Modern Painters, and The New Republic, among others.
Esplund lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Emily Weeks received her Ph.D. from the Department of the History of Art at Yale University in December 2004. Currently she is an independent art historian and consultant for museums, academic institutions, auction houses, private collectors, and multimedia organizations in America, Britain, Europe, and the Middle East.
She also serves as Principal Lecturer in the Histories of Art at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Conn. Dr. Weeks is a leading expert on Orientalism and 19th-century British and European visual culture; she is also the acknowledged expert on the artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, about whom she is curating a major exhibition in Doha, Qatar.
‘Into the Marsh,’ in oil by Jacqueline Jones is one of the signature works in the ‘Ship to Shore’ show on view at the Lyme Art Association in Old Lyme.
OLD LYME —This spring, the Lyme Art Association (LAA) presents three new shows: Ship to Shore: A Marine Show; art by the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club;and John Caggiano’s solo show, Then & Now.
The LAA will also welcome spring on May 3at the Sea & Sky Soiree, an evening of fine art, music, and entertainment.
The LAA members’ show Ship to Shore is a favorite of gallery guests. This marine show, juried by Karen Blackwood, celebrates all aspects of the sea and shore with a wide array of paintings and sculptures.
‘Provincetown Summer‘ in acrylic by Morgan Brec is featured in the ‘Ship to SHore’ show.
The LAA also welcomes back the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club (CLWAC) for its associate and members show. Founded in 1896, CLWAC is a national organization that showcases the works of professional women artists.
Finally, noted artist John Caggiano presents “Then & Now”, a solo show of his colorful Impressionistic-realism landscape paintings.
During Ship to Shore, LAA is proud to highlight ‘Save the Sound’ in its Partner Wall Program. The non-profit ‘Save the Sound’ works to save endangered lands, protect Long Island Sound and its rivers, and restore ecosystems. Proceeds from a sale of featured art will benefit ‘Save the Sound’.
All three shows run from April 19 -May19.
Ship to Shore is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor Essex Savings Bank.
On Friday, May 3, LAA welcomes spring with the Sea & Sky Soiree, a fun-filled cocktail party to celebrate the beauty of Old Lyme’s “American Giverny”. This special evening will feature hors d’oeuvres by Flanders Fish Market, “Dueling Painters” Howard Park & Lisa Miceli, live jazz by the JHunter Group, and a silent auction of beautiful art, exceptional items, and unique experiences.
All proceeds will benefit LAA’s educational programs and special projects. A special thank you to Gold Level event sponsor Hamilton Point Investments.
About Lyme Art Association:
Founded in 1914 by the American Impressionists, the Lyme Art Association continues the tradition of exhibiting and selling representational artwork, while offering educational art programming for the community. Lyme Art Association is located at 90 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, CT within the national historic district. Admission is free. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10 – 5pm. Families are always welcome. For information, visit www.lymeartassociation.orgor call (860) 434-7802.
