Category Archives: Arts

‘After Alex’ by Boro of Old Lyme Selected for Inaugural ‘New Canaan Sculpture Trail’ Featuring Eight Outdoor Works

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Gilbert Boro’s ‘After Alex 1/14’ has been selected from a large field of entries as one of the eight sculptures comprising the New Canaan Sculpture Trail.

OLD LYME — The New Canaan Land Trust (NCLT) and the Carriage Barn Arts Center recently announced the eight artists whose work has been selected for their ‘first of a kind’ outdoor public art exhibition, the New Canaan Sculpture Trail. One of those selected from the more than 70 submissions made is Gilbert Boro, whose residence and studio are both located on Lyme St. in Old Lyme.

Asked how he felt about his selection, Boro told LymeLine, “We are excited and, of course, honored to be participating in the New Canaan Sculpture Trail. Their goal is to connect audiences in a united call for creativity, innovation, and ambition as a way of recognizing the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.” He added, “Considering the environmental, social and political disorder all about us, I believe that these public art displays bring some semblance of beauty to all of us who take the time to look.”

Sculptor Gilbert V. Boro in his Old Lyme studio.

Boro’s work selected for the Sculpture Trail is After Alex I/14, which Boro describes as, “a hanging, kinetic sculpture made of welded stainless steel and highly-polished stainless steel spheres.”  He notes that the piece is inspired by the works of Alexander Calder and “is one of a series created during a surge of activity titled, “Balls, Beams, and Curves.”

Expanding further on the series, Boro explains that these sculptures were designed and fabricated in his studio over a period of nine to 10 years and can be installed indoors or outdoors.  He points out, “These kinetic sculptures are constructed to take advantage of the principle of equilibrium – a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced,” adding, “The mirrored spheres have many meanings for me as an artist.”

A firm believer that “three-dimensional art should be handled, touched, and experienced in three dimensions,” Boro’s four-and-a-half-acre sculpture grounds adjacent to his studio at 80-1 Lyme Street, known as Studio 80 +Sculpture Grounds, offer free admission to the public year-round and offer the opportunity for all visitors, in Boro’s words, “to not only view my art, but touch and explore it.”  He says with passion, “It brings me great joy to watch people of all ages interacting with my sculptures.”

When asked to comment further on the specific piece chosen for the New Canaan Sculpture Trail, it is therefore no surprise in light of his personal philosophy that Boro says, “Most importantly, the viewers of the sculpture become part of the spheres, and thus, in turn, become a dynamic part of the space and subject material.”

The New Canaan Sculpture Trail will feature the selected outdoor sculptures at six New Canaan Land Trust preserves, the front lawn of the New Canaan Town Hall, and the courtyard of the Carriage Barn Arts Center. The four-month exhibit will run from April 1 through July 31, 2020, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which takes place on April 22. An Opening Celebration for the New Canaan Sculpture Trail will be held Saturday, April 25, at the Carriage Barn Arts Center.

The Exhibition Advisory Committee evaluated the submissions on their ability to respond to the scale, geography, and context of the properties and meet the criteria of being visually engaging, interactive, and distinctive. The committee included Hilary Wittmann, Executive Director of the Carriage Barn Arts Center, Richard Klein, Exhibitions Director at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Thea Lanzisero, President of the Sculptors Guild, and Aaron Lefland, Executive Director of the New Canaan Land Trust.

“We are thrilled by the caliber and number of the submissions that we received,” commented Wittmann. “We believe the Sculpture Trail’s range of works and artists will draw both New Canaan residents and visitors alike to this inaugural exhibition.”

Artists throughout the New York metro area, New England, and as far as Illinois submitted the selected sculptures. The mediums of the planned sculptures range from a series of steel frames holding acrylic sheets, welded steel, wood, rocks, and even a fallen, “upcycled” tree harvested from one of the Land Trust’s preserves.  

Aaron Lefland elaborated: “Connecting audiences to art and nature on our preserves is a wonderful way to recognize the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. We are overwhelmed by the number of submissions and the diversity of the sculptures.”

Apart from Boro, the artists selected to participate are Thomas S. Berntsen of Norwalk, CT; Joe Chirchirillo of North Bennington, VT; Carlos Davila of Bridgeport, CT; Christopher Kaczmarek of New York, NY; Elizabeth Knowles of New York, NY and William Thielesen of Illinois; Anthony Heinz May of Brooklyn, NY; and Matthius Neumann of Brooklyn, NY.

The New Canaan Sculpture Trail has been made possible by the generous support of Harlan and Lois Anderson Foundation, who serve as the lead sponsor for the exhibition. Their sponsorship, along with three contributing sponsors — Stuart Higley Family Foundation, AP Construction, and the Town of New Canaan — will help cover the costs of artist stipends, property preparation, maintenance, and promotional expenses.

Editor’s Notes:
For more information about Gil Boro, visit www.gilbertboro.com  For more information about the New Canaan Land Trust, visit www.newcanaanlandtrust.org  For more information about the Carriage Barn Arts Center, visit https://carriagebarn.org

 

 

This Afternoon, Musical Masterworks Hosts Free Lecture in Old Lyme on Beethoven’s Musical Phrases, Meanings, More

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OLD LYME  — On Sunday, Feb. 23,  at 2 p.m., Musical Masterworks presents the second of three lectures in Old Lyme related to their upcoming concerts celebrating the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth.  The six concerts will feature all 18 of Betthoven’s String Quartets — three at each concert — and will be held March 13, 14 and 15, and May 1, 2 and 3.

Sunday’s lecture at the Lyme Art Association will be given by Professor Paul Berry from the Yale School of Music and is titled, What is a Phrase About? Classical Syntax, Biography, and Types of Musical Meaning.

This lecture will address the ever-popular (both vexing and intriguing) question of Beethoven’s biography and its relationship to his music by means of detailed examinations of musical phrases in the repertoire to be performed in March, especially Opus 135; Opus 18, No.1; Opus 18, No.6.  Professor Berry will also help the audience understand how Beethoven constructed musical phrases.

Reserve your free tickets for Sunday’s lecture at this link.

The Lyme Art Association is located at 90 Lyme Street, Old Lyme.

Thethird and final lecture will be presented Sunday, April 26, at 3 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.  It is titled, How Can We Listen? Form, Style, and Musical Expression.

This lecture, also by Professor Berry, will build on the previous two, moving from phrases to larger forms and from specific extra-musical references to general expressive trajectories. The repertoire discussed will be from the upcoming May concerts, especially Opus 18, No.4; Opus 59, No. 3; Opus 131; and Opus 132.

The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme is located at 2 Ferry Rd. in Old Lyme.

Reserve your free tickets for the April 26 lecture at this link.

Essex Winter Series Continues with Concert by Classical Guitar Duo, LINÜ, March 8

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ESSEX – The Essex Winter Series (EWS) season continues March 8 with the classical guitar duo, LINÜ, performing at John Winthrop Middle School, Deep River. The virtuosic and versatile Gulli Bjornsson and JIJI are aspiring young artists searching for new ways to promote classical music. They have received many accolades for their guitar playing and have backgrounds in composition, film, electronic music, visual arts and theater.

Essex Winter Series’ 43rd season concludes on March 29 at Valley Regional High School with BeethovenFest, a celebration of Beethoven’s 250th with seven world-renowned artists: David Shiffrin, clarinet; William Purvis, horn; Marc Goldberg, bassoon; Ida Kavafian, violin; Steven Tenenbom, viola; Peter Wiley, cello; and Timothy Cobb, double bass.

All concerts begin at 3 p.m. and are general admission. For tickets call 860-272-4572 or visit www.essexwinterseries.com.

The 2020 season is generously sponsored by Masonicare at Chester Village with co-sponsors The Clark Group, Essex Meadows, Essex Savings Bank, Jeffrey N. Mehler CFP LLC, Tower Laboratories, and hospitality sponsors Guilford Savings Bank and BrandTech Scientific.

Book Review: ‘Last Day’ by Luanne Rice is ‘a Unique Combination of Psychological Thriller, Cozy Murder Mystery’

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Editor’s Note: We are delighted to welcome Paulette Zander to LymeLine today as an occasional guest book reviewer. Many readers will remember Paulette from her days running ‘The Happy Carrot Bookshop’ in Old Lyme. An accomplished author herself, Paulette has reviewed the latest work by local resident, the acclaimed author Luanne Rice, whose 34th novel has just been published.

Internationally-known local author, Luanne Rice, has just published her 34th novel, Last Day; her first in the mystery/thriller genre. Last Day is also the first pick of The New London Day’s new regional book club, in partnership with Bank Square Books in Mystic. The new book club is the brainchild of Rick Koster, who is the arts and music reporter for the paper.

Last Day was also chosen for the January “First Reads” selection on Amazon and is also touted by such illustrious authors as Lee Child, Tess Gerritson, Lisa Unger, and Lisa Scottoline.

I will state at the outset for dedicated fans, that although this book is a departure from her other adult fiction, there’s no need to panic. The themes of love, loss, sisterly devotion, betrayals, and family ties are skillfully interwoven. 

The difference with this novel is that all those wonderful, familiar, lyrical elements are interlaced with a murder mystery that is at times gruesome and gritty. That dark aspect is unexpected, but Rice has found the right balance. She juxtaposes the backstories of the victim’s family and friends with disturbing details about the heinous murder, but she doesn’t dwell overly long on the gruesome and the gritty. This makes for a unique combination of psychological thriller and cozy murder mystery.

The story is set on the Connecticut shoreline and is loosely based on the murder of Ellen Sherman in 1985 in Niantic. That real crime took years to solve. The murder in Last Day doesn’t take quite so long to unravel, but it is as baffling as the case it is based on. A secondary mystery involving the theft of a painting called Moonlight compounds the story.

NYT best-selling author Luanne Rice. File photo

Rice is adept at showing the immediacy of pain and betrayal, and there’s plenty of both in this story. The characters are varied and interesting and they all have a plausible motive. Rice provides plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing until the end. The subtle clues are also there, but like any good mystery, many readers will  have to go back to find them.

As always, for local fans, it is fun to guess or recognize the various locales. Rice has featured the village of Black Hall in many of her novels, so fans familiar with her work know that Black Hall is Old Lyme. One assumes the art gallery on Main Street is the Cooley Art Gallery, and the depictions of the flora and fauna conjures familiar images for anyone who has walked, hiked, or boated in the area. Many New London landmarks make an appearance as well.

Interspersed throughout the story are some disturbing elements that are graphically depicted. However, these passages are relieved by Rice’s excellent pacing. She ratchets down the tension by occasionally segueing into tidbits of art and nautical history and other interesting diversions. She provides just enough intriguing detail to make the reader want to learn more, I often stopped reading long enough to jot down notes to Google after I finished the book. 

I’ve been reading Rice’s novels since the early 1990s, and I’ve always marveled at her exquisite nature prose. She once again doesn’t disappoint in this novel. If Rice wrote an Eyewitness Travel Guide for Old Lyme, the town would be overrun with tourists eager to meander through this hidden gem.

Another aspect of Rice’s writing I’ve always admired is her depiction of women. She portrays strong, capable, independent women. She doesn’t make them super women, though. They have vulnerabilities and flaws. Her female characters aren’t artificial, which makes them believable. The female characters in Last Day are simultaneously fragile and strong.

If I can find any fault with this story, it is that I was initially disappointed when the killer’s identity was revealed. I questioned whether or not the killer’s motive was strong enough. But, after some thought, I had to concede that I don’t understand any killer’s motives.

I’ve read extensively about Ted Bundy, but I still haven’t figured out how he could have committed such vicious murders. I think that’s true for most of us. We aren’t murderers, and we cannot fathom how or why anyone would take another’s life. All murder is incomprehensible, so why would I expect the motive of a fictional character to make any sense to me? In Last Day, the motive is as mysterious as the murder, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Paulette Zander

About the author: Paulette  Zander is the former owner of ‘The Happy Carrot Bookshop’ in Old Lyme. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in library science at St. John’s University in New York City. Her short fiction has appeared in Flash Fiction World, 62nd Stories, Everyday Fiction, Pearce Publications, The Penman Review, The Longridge Review, and Crack the Spine. She splits her time between Niantic, Connecticut and Taos, New Mexico and is currently writing her second novel, but occasionally dispenses writing advice, random observations, and flash fiction on her blog at Ink to You: Rhetoric for the Masses and on Twitter @InktoYou.

Lyme-Old Lyme HS Students Achieve Multiple Honors at 2020 Scholastic Art Awards

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Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) senior Sarah Conley won three major honors at this year’s Scholastic Art Awards. The painting above, ‘Itchy,’ was included in her portfolio.  All of the images in this article show award-winning artwork by other LOLHS students at the same event. All images submitted.

HARTFORD /LYME-OLD LYME — In keeping with a long tradition of success at the Connecticut Scholastic Art Awards, 10 Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) students are being recognized at the event this year. The Awards Celebration is scheduled for this afternoon, Jan. 26, at 2 p.m. in the Hartford Art School’s Lincoln Theater. Visit this link for a full listing of all award winners.

Lyme-Old Lyme High School senior Sarah Conley not only received Gold Keys in both Painting and Printmaking, but also the Connecticut Art Administrators Association prestigious award for Best in Printmaking.

‘Voyeur’ by junior Connie Pan.

Juniors Connie Pan, Aidan Powers and Marina Melluzo received Gold Keys in Painting, Digital Art and Drawing respectively, while another junior, Jack Conley, received a Silver Key in Drawing.

Honorable Mentions included seniors Summer Siefken and Sam Dushin for Drawing, junior Olivia Bartlett in Mixed Media, junior Sonia Bair in Drawing, and sophomore Olivia Shaedler in both Drawing and Ceramics.

This triptych titled, ‘Pilot’ is by junior Aidan Powers.

All Scholastic Art Award accepted works are on display at the Hartford Art School’s Silpe Gallery through Jan. 31. Gold Key works will also go on to be juried at the national level.

Year after year, students from Lyme-Old Lyme High School bring home major awards from this contest so, one must ask, why is the art program at LOLHS so successful?

‘Self-portrait’ by junior Jack Conley.

Adam Raiti, who teaches digital and three-dimensional art at LOLHS, suggests there are a number of reasons. First and foremost, he believes that the fact, “Lyme-Old Lyme Schools hire teachers who are artists” represents a major difference over many other high school art programs. Apart from being a teacher, Raiti, who is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), is an extremely successful freelance illustrator and designer.

Similarly, LOLHS Art Department Head William Allik, a Wesleyan University graduate, is a highly respected artist, whose work has been featured in numerous exhibitions around the country. Raiti explains, “We can both bring our real world experiences to the table,” noting that sometimes he sets tasks for his students drawn from work commissioned by his business clients.

‘Turning Out The Light’ by junior Sonia Bair.

Both teachers are classically-trained artists, but Allik, in keeping with the trends of those times, focused on abstract painting during his undergraduate years. After graduation, he continued his art career on the West coast of the US and, in his words, soon “figured out I didn’t want to be an abstract painter.” He returned to the East and was admitted to the élite New York Academy, where his studies included anatomy and cast-drawing.

Allik thus learned what were then perceived as the old-fashioned and outdated skills of the Renaissance Great Masters, which he describes as having been “flushed out in the 70s” with the meteoric rise of modern art. He developed a passion for realism and representational art, which were not then in vogue, but ultimately have stood the test of time, and enabled him to teach his students – in the simplest of terms –“to draw well.”

‘Containment’ by junior Maria Melluzo.

Allik points out that all the top art schools in the country are now looking again for the “traditional skills” and the fact that every year LOLHS graduates are being admitted to schools like RISD, Pratt Institute, Savannah School of Art and Design (SCAD), Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and Parsons is testament to his focus on teaching students, in his words, “to learn to speak the language of drawing.”

Allik still insists his students take mechanical drawing working by hand with a T-square and triangle on a drafting board, rather than, as would happen in most high schools, using a computer. He emphasizes that, “being able to draw well is a very versatile talent,” citing the professions of architecture, interior and industrial design, and engineering as examples in which, “drawing is the language millions use in their daily lives.”

‘Reflecting the Light’ by junior Olivia Bartlett.

Apart from the tremendous length, depth and breadth of experience of the faculty, Raiti notes another reason the Art Department thrives at Lyme-Old Lyme is the “phenomenal support from the administration and the community.” He comments that the department is “treated with respect” in a community with a history rooted in the arts, asking rhetorically, “Where else can you be [at high school] within walking distance of a remarkable art college [Lyme Academy], the oldest art association in the country [Lyme Art Association] and a nationally-acclaimed art gallery {Florence Griswold Museum]?

‘Portait #3’ by senior Summer Siefken.

Rick Lacey, who graduated from LOLHS in 2007, went on to receive a BFA from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, and is now an instructor at the college, has nothing but praise for both Allik (Lacey graduated before Raiti joined the high school) and the program at his high school. Now an acclaimed artist himself, Lacey says, “The program at the high school is truly unique in the state and perhaps even the country. Will [Allik] shows that the teaching of classical drawing methods is still extremely important … he finds ways for students to begin to understand the concepts of perspective, proportion, and composition … he really has had many years of great success at all levels.”

‘Coil Pot’ by sophomore Olivia Schaedler.

Lacey recalls that when Allik joined the high school, “There were only six of us in the whole program,” but now Allik has “Full classes all day long,” noting enthusiastically, “He is really on to something and the students pick up on that.” Lacey describes Allik as, “… an incredible teacher that can work with any student,” adding on a personal note, while simultaneously giving a resounding endorsement of the art program at LOLHS, “I’m so proud I went there.”

‘Driveway’ by senior Sam Dushin.

Editor’s Note: Parts of this article were previously published in the summer 2019 edition of ‘The Day Education Guide.’