Annual Exhibit of Works by Lyme Artists Continues at Lyme Public Hall

ArtShowImage2013The Lyme Artist’s Sale continues today at the Lyme Public Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Nine Lyme artists are featured as follows:

  • Roger Clements, maquettes
  • Steven Evankow, stone bird baths
  • Angie Falstrom, watercolors
  • Don Gerber, woodturning
  • Elin Larson, handweaving
  • Ann Lightfoot, jewelry
  • Diana Lord, pressed botanicals
  • Lina Tuck, felted bags
  • Tina West, handknitting

plus yarn, cards, calendars and more.

This annual event is sponsored by the Lyme Public Hall and is open to the public.  The Hall is located at 249 Hamburg Rd. (Rt. 156) in Lyme.

For more information, contact Angie Falstrom at 860-434-3194.

Musucal Masterworks New Season Continues Today

Julie Albers

Julie Albers

Musical Masterworks opened its 23rd season of chamber music with a concert at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme today and then continues tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 27, with a concert at 3 p.m.  The concerts features a unique program with four acclaimed cellists performing works by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Arvo Part and others arranged for two, three, and four cellos.

The four featured cellists include Julie Albers, Zvi Plesser, David Requiro, and Edward Arron.  Julie Albers made her major orchestral debut in 1998 with the Cleveland Orchestra and since then has performed as soloist with orchestras all over the world.  Israeli cellist Zvi Plesser has performed as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic, the National Symphony in Washington, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and other orchestras worldwide.

David Requiro won first prize in the 2008 Naumburg International Cello Competition and since then has won numerous other prestigious competitions. Edward Arron, Musical Masterworks Artistic Director, made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Earlier that year, he performed Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Cellos with Yo Yo Ma at the opening night gala concert of the Caramoor Festival.  Since then, he has become one of the world’s foremost cellists, acclaimed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Tickets for the Oct. 26 and 27 concerts are $35 with $5 student tickets available at the door.  Subscriptions to the 2013-2014 season are still available, with concerts on Dec. 7 and 8; Feb. 15 and 16; March 15 and 16; and May 3 and 4.
Call 860-434-2252 or visit www.musicalmasterworks.org for tickets and information.  The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme is located at 2 Ferry Road in historic Old Lyme, CT 06371.

Dock & Dine Closing, Reopening Next Year at New Elevation, Public Invited to Sign Dock Planks Thru 10/30

The famous view through the windows of the Dock & Dine restaurant.

The famous view through the windows of the Dock & Dine restaurant.

Dock & Dine Restaurant at Saybrook Point is celebrating their “last hurrah” at an elevation 4.5 ft. above sea-level.  Now through Oct. 30, this family-owned restaurant is open every day at 11:30 a.m. until closing for demolition and construction of a new restaurant at a new elevation of 15 ft. above sea-level.  During these final days, friends and fans are invited to help “dock-u-ment history,” by signing pieces of the old dock that will be proudly displayed in the new Dock & Dine, which has plans to reopen for the 2014 season.

sign“All of our restaurants are comprised of a family of employees, serving customers that feel like family,” explains Jon Kodama, CEO of JTK Management, owners of shoreline restaurants including Dock & Dine, Steak Loft, Ten Clams and Go Fish.  “When considering how to celebrate our history, as well as our future, of course we wanted to include the guests who have stood by us through two hurricanes…and more!”

The public is invited to stop by and sign the historic wood planks, every day from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., beginning Monday Oct. 21 through Oct. 30.  For more information visit http://www.dockdinect.com/ (more)

For those interested in taking home a piece of Dock & Dine history, an onsite auction will be taking place on Nov. 5. Hosted by Adams Auctioneers & Appraisers, this comprehensive auction will make way for new equipment and décor.  A preview of items available will take place in the morning, with the live auction taking place mid day. For more information visit: http://adams-auctions.com/currentauctions.asp

Located at Saybrook Point on 145 College Street in Old Saybrook, Conn., Dock & Dine offers fine cuisine using the freshest local ingredients, paired with spectacular views of Long Island Sound.  Taking its name from convenient, dock-side dining, Dock & Dine is one of four local restaurants operated by JTK Management including Go Fish:  www.GoFishCT.com; Steak Loft: www.SteakLoftCT.com and Ten Clams: www.TenClamsCT.com, all in Mystic, CT.

Dock & Dine, which dates back to the 1940’s, was purchased by Jon Kodama in 1987 and operated year-in/year-out until back-to-back hurricanes Irene and Sandy caused repeat damages, evoking ordinances requiring that the remaining restaurant be demolished and the new structure built to current codes.  Dock & Dine is managed by Mari Kodama, the daughter of Jon Kodama, CEO and Founder of JTK Management.

Lyme Academy College Hosts Exhibition by Famed Illustrator Tim O’Brien

TIME magazine cover by Tim O'Brien

TIME magazine cover by Tim O’Brien

Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts is currently hosting an exhibition by acclaimed illustrator and portrait painter Tim O’Brien.  His exhibit, “Portraits and Illustrations: A Retrospective,” will be on show in the College’s Chauncey Stillman Gallery through Jan. 11, 2014.

O’Brien’s detailed and imaginative illustrations have been published most notably on the cover of TIME Magazine, as well as magazines such as Rolling Stone, Fortune, Esquire, Business Week, Playboy and the New York Times, to name only a few.

'Hunger Games' motif.

‘Hunger Games’ motif.

His illustrations have been published by every major book publisher and include the book covers of the popular young adult trilogy, The Hunger Games.  In 2006, the U.S. Postal Service issued two postage stamps, Judy Garland and Hattie McDaniel, both created by O’Brien.

O’Brien has received multiple awards and recognitions including ones from the Society of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles, Graphis Inc., Print Magazine, Communication Arts Magazine, the Society of Publication Designers, American Illustration, and the Art Director’s Club.  He has over a dozen painting in the collection of the National Gallery, Washington, DC, and is a winner of the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators.

Tim O'Brien

Tim O’Brien

Currently a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, O’Brien lectures frequently across the country.  His numerous speaking engagements have included the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Society of Illustrators, Syracuse University, School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, and CaliforniaCollege of the Arts.

On Friday, Oct. 18, O’Brien will be giving an “Inside My Studio” lecture at Lyme Academy College.  A reception will be held at 6 p.m. before O’Brien speaks from 7 to 8 p.m.  Reservations are required at $10 per person or $35 for the series of four lectures.  Reservations should be made by contacting Ann de Selding at 860.434.3571 ext. 117 oradeselding@lymeacademy.edu

The Tim O’Brien exhibition, “Portraits and Illustrations: A Retrospective” runs from its opening on Oct. 11 through Jan. 11, 2014. The gallery is open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information about the exhibition or Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, contact the Director of Marketing and Public Relations at 860-434-3571, ext. 135 or ologan@lymeacademy.edu

Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts continues the academic tradition of figurative and representational fine art while preparing students for a lifetime of contemporary creative practice.  The College offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drawing, Illustration, Painting, and Sculpture (full- and part-time study); Certificates in Painting and Sculpture, a Post-Baccalaureate program; Continuing Education for adults; and a Pre-College Program for students aged 15-18.  The College is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the National Association of the Schools of Art and Design, and the Connecticut Department of Higher Education.  The College is located at 84 Lyme Street, Old Lyme CT 06371.

For more information about the College, call 860-434-5232 or visit www.lymeacademy.edu.

100 … and Counting: Mann Completes a Century of Book Reviews

The amazing Jen Petty Mann continues her book review journey today with her 100th review!  So this is a good time to look back on her previous 99 — and if you see her about town or on Facebook (or anywhere else for that matter), take a minute to say a huge thank you to her for always delightful, witty and incisive reviews, which have graced these pages for many years.

The Good Nurse
A True Story of Medicine, Madness and Murder
By Charles Graeber

The Good Nurse_2Two questions.  If someone doesn’t see you commit the actual murder but turns a blind eye to the smoking gun are they culpable? If an institutions hands you the gun are they culpable?

Corporate America and organized healthcare have a lot to reckon for with regard to taking health care from personal aid, medicine and bedside  reassurance to a money making enterprise with the dollar as God.  In doing so they have opened the door to people like Charles Cullen.  People with a rage and a desire to hurt others and themselves but lacking the will to walk up to a stranger and shoot them in the face.  Murder is murder but a step or so removed may be easier to digest.

Charles Cullen was handed the means to exercise his demons and the means to keep on developing them by a network of people more concerned with personal culpability than the Hippocratic Oath*

The devil’s advocacy aside, there is a murderer who was allowed to operate in a multitude of hospitals with the ultimate outcome being the deaths of hundreds of patients.  Human resources ignored or removed evidence of suspicion and likely outright illegal activity to escape responsibility.  Subsequently Cullen was free to move on as he chose.

Charles Graeber is the only journalist he would talk to.  He is the only man who was given a firsthand view into the dangerously coherent psyche of a mass murderer.  Over 16 years, Charles Cullen murdered up to 300 patients in multiple hospitals.  He was investigated, he was terminated, he was promoted and demoted and scrutinized and in every case, until the very end, he was free to go.  To acknowledge his crimes was to admit fault in the system.  Clearly no one wanted to do that.

Graeber meticulously details the 16-year rampage.  He presents a mostly lucid, clever, occasionally compassionate father, son and boyfriend.  Many, many people turned a blind eye to something they surely suspected.  In frighteningly simple ways, Cullen administered fatal doses of easily stolen medicine to any patient he deemed fit.  Possibly his inability to kill himself manifested itself in the murder of hundreds of others.

Graeber does an excellent job analyzing not only the psychotic machinations of Cullen but the horrific culpability of these medical institutions. Criminal on all counts.  If it were not for a few brave people who fought tooth and nail to unveil the truth who know how much more Charles Cullen would have done.

An excellent book with a fascinating premise and a very clearly stated summation of event, The Good Nurse is a book you need to read.**

*  The Hippocratic Oath( or the updated declaration of Geneva)  is an oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine honestly.There isn’t a legal obligation to take the oath but still as many as 98% of American medical students do.

** and personally, my next illness will be treated by a shaman and a bunch of squirrels out in my yard rather than some of these hospitals. ( I know, I know, im getting letters) sigh.