February 11, 2008 For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Dr. Nancy Stula, Deputy Director, Named Interim Director
at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
 Interim Director Dr. Nancy Stula
Photo courtesy Joe Standart The Board of Trustees of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum has named Dr. Nancy Stula as Interim Director to replace departing Director Ronald Crusan.
Dr. Nancy Stula, Deputy Director and Curator of the museum, has been an active and vital member of the museum staff since her arrival in 2003. Through programming and exhibitions, she has continually demonstrated a strong commitment to making the museum’s offerings relevant to the greater New London community. Her most recent exhibition, devoted to the Hudson River School transcendentalist Christopher Pearse Cranch, has been extraordinarily well received in the local and national press. Dr. Stula holds a PhD in American art history from Columbia University. She previously worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and taught at the University of Hartford. She is on the Board of Trustees of the Hartford Art School.
When the Lyman Allyn Art Museum re-emerged as an independent community museum in 2004, after eight years of stewardship by Connecticut College, Ronald Crusan was recruited to rebuild the staff, restructure the museum’s administrative and financial organization and to assist in developing a strong
and functioning Board. During his tenure, he oversaw the implementation and completion of a $1 million Bond Project from the State of Connecticut that
helped update the physical plant, redesign collection storage and beautify the museum grounds.
Ronald Crusan was also very active in strengthening the museum’s collections, acquiring major additions of art, including a fine Gilbert Stuart portrait, Henry Ward Ranger’s 1911 View of New London from the Groton Shipyards, a
number of important contemporary photography folios, works by recognized contemporary artists and a promised gift of over 150 works of modern
American art.
“Ron Crusan joined the museum at a critical time when the institution returned to its former status as a community museum. During his tenure, Crusan brought a special expertise to redirecting the museum’s operations and management. He leaves the Lyman Allyn on a very firm operational foundation for its future growth and development,” said Dr. Sandy Lieber, President of the Board of Trustees.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum has been a center for arts education for children and adults for the past half century and is currently working with the New London Public Schools on a curriculum-based after-school program for elementary school students.
February 1, 2008 For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Lyman Allyn Art Museum opens new exhibition
Just When You Think Art is Dead, Here Comes JED
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition Just When You Think Art is Dead, Here Comes JED, opening on March 1 and on view through April 27, 2008.
JED is a three person collaborative who use the first initial of their birth names to form
a fictitious contemporary lens-based, conceptual photographic artist in the early 21st century. JED represents their collective alter egos, whose identity is a secret.
Borrowing from the Dada and Surrealist’s art movements, which includes stream-of-consciousness to make art and found objects not traditionally used for art making, championed by Marcel Duchamp for example, JED focuses their attention on a selection of photographic images, such as test strips and “bad” prints that were discarded and thrown out by their original picture makers (the unidentified “real” artists).
These found/abandoned images are then re-contextualized and elevated to “high” art with a sense of humor that underscores the absurd, the forgotten, and now serves as documents of the human attempt to make art despite constant failure, what is commonly known as the “artist’s struggle”. This unique and provocative exhibition is guaranteed to stimulate conversation and controversy.
This exhibition is supported in part by the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, Trustee; Pfizer, and with support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.
December 14, 2007 For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Lyman Allyn Art Museum opens new exhibition
Tradition et Innovation
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition Tradition et Innovation: French Art from the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, opening on January 19 and on view throughout 2008.
Presenting French art from the permanent collection, Tradition et Innovation features paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Works on view include J.A.D. Ingres's important pencil study for the portrait of Mme. Moitessier Standing (c.1851), Pierre Auguste Renoir's bronze Maternite' (1916) and Auguste Rodin's sculpture Study of a Crouching Woman. For this exhibition, the museum will also mount 17th century drawings by Nicholas Poussin, Hyacinthe Rigaud and Francois Boucher as well as paintings by Pierre Mignard, Gustave Courbet and Honoré Daumier. Tradition et Innovation offers a rare opportunity to see world-class French art in New London.
 
Pierre Mignard (1612-1695)
Portrait of a Lady
n/d
Oil on canvas Anton Mauve (1838-1888)
Shepherd and Sheep
(n/d)
Watercolor and gouache on paper
Coordinating programming includes the following:
The film A Day in the Country: Impressionism and the French Landscape will be screened in
the Museum's auditorium on selected Saturday and Sunday afternoons throughout the year.
The schedule will be posted on the museum website.
A newly developed program - Café and Conversation – will take place in the museum café and offers an opportunity for viewers to interact with the curator and museum staff to discuss various aspects of the exhibition, as well as broader art historical concepts. Call the museum at 860-443-2545 for a schedule of dates for Café and Conversation.
Tours of the exhibition will be available in French, geared to middle school and high school groups. Call Jane Seney, Education Director, for more information or to schedule tours:
860-443-2545, x 110.
This exhibition is supported in part by the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, Trustee; Pfizer, and with support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.
November 5, 2007 Les Santons de Provence opens at
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces the opening of the family favorite seasonal exhibition
Les Santons de Provence on November 23, 2007, on view through January 20, 2008. Back by popular demand, more than 200 santons, or “little saints” in French, will be on display for the holiday season. The exhibition includes many examples on loan from the personal collection of Edith “Fuzzy” Gipstein as well as santons from the museum’s permanent collection. Mrs. Gipstein is the former Director of Exhibitions at the museum and has organized this show.
Santons are hand-painted clay figurines that populate a miniature replica of a 19th-century village in southern France. Also included is the traditional crèche. Santons are at the center of an important two hundred-year-old tradition that is still maintained today in the area of Provence. Complementing the exhibition are seasonal paintings and sculptures from the museum’s permanent collection.
Fuzzy Gipstein will share her knowledge about Santons and their place in French culture during two slide lectures on Thursday, December 13 at 7:00 pm and Saturday, January 13 at 1:30 pm. Lecture fees are $5 for members and $10 for non-members. Reservations suggested, please call 860-443-2545 x 112.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum is a community-based museum located in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1932 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, the Museum serves the people of Southeastern Connecticut and is free to the residents of New London. The Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is a non-profit organization with 501(c) 3 status.
Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries.
August 13, 2007 Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces major fall 2007 Exhibition
At Home and Abroad
The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch
 Niagara: American Falls: Oil on canvas 1853 17” x 23” Private collection  Transparent Eyeball (from Emerson’s “Nature”) From Cranch’s “Scraps” book, Ink on paper c.1839 9 ¾ x 7 5/8 inches, Private collection  Landscape with Waterfall: Oil on canvas 1851 36” x 54” Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, Delaware Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition, At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch. The exhibition opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum on Friday, October 12, 2007 and runs through February 25, 2008. The show then travels to the Newington-Cropsey Foundation in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where it will be on view March 17 through May 31, 2008.
Despite a fifty-year career as a landscape painter, Christopher Cranch’s paintings are little known. Instead, he is best known for his poetry, his ties to the New England Transcendentalists, and, above all, his playful caricature of Ralph Waldo Emerson as an enormous “transparent” eyeball, perched atop a minuscule body in top hat and tails, optic nerve tied in a pony tail. From his first reading of Emerson’s Nature essay (1836), Cranch was inspired to explore Transcendental concepts through visual means; although ultimately it was painting, not caricature, that provided the ideal vehicle for him. Transcribing nature onto canvas became an act of devotion. Like Thoreau writing of the daily trials of life on Walden Pond, Cranch also attempted, in his landscapes, to express the correspondence between nature and spiritual concepts. His brand of Transcendentalism bypasses the quiet, “transparent” aspect to celebrate a nature that is filled with the flux and continual shifting that Emerson and Thoreau also celebrated in their writings. C. P. Cranch was intimate with some of the most innovative thinkers in America and counted among his friends Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George William Curtis, and James Russell Lowell. This study considers Cranch not only as a Hudson River School artist, but also as a participant in the history of ideas, a multi-faceted individual who merged intellectual and artistic life.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 208-page exhibition catalogue; At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813 – 1892). The Foreword is written by Barbara Novak, Professor Emerita at Columbia University, one of the most influential theorists on American art. Nancy Stula, Curator and Deputy Director of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, and David M. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Oregon State University authored the catalogue essays.
At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch. Is part of the ongoing celebration during 2007 marking the museum’s 75th anniversary. Thanks to the generosity of benefactor Harriet Upson Allyn, Lyman Allyn Art Museum opened in 1932 as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. The museum has always made part of its mission to respond and to appeal to the regional community.
In that spirit, Lyman Allyn Art Museum has planned an exciting schedule of programs to accompany the exhibition. The programs are designed to appeal to and to engage people of all ages and to make the humanities themes of the exhibition easily accessible.
Public Events
October 12, 2007, 6-8 pm
Member Preview, Free for members, $5 for non-members.
October 13, 2007, 1 pm
Transcendental Nature Walk with Glenn Dreyer, Director, Conn. College Arboretum.
Walk starts at the Museum, free with Museum admission.
Lectures:
October 25, 2007, 6 pm
Nancy Stula, Curator & Deputy Director, Lyman Allyn Art Museum
“Before the silent smile of Nature’s God”: C.P. Cranch’s Transcendental Paintings”
December 1, 2007, 6 pm
James Cook, Assoc. Professor of History, University of Michigan
“P.T. Barnum's American Museum: The Nation's First Institution of Mass Culture”
January 24, 2008, 6 pm
David Robinson, Distinguished Professor of American Literature,
Oregon State University
“Cranch and New England Transcendentalism”
February 9, 2008, 6 pm
Linda Ferber, Vice President & Museum Director, New-York Historical Society
"’An enthusiastic lover of art’: Christopher Cranch, Asher B. Durand, and mid-19th-century American Landscape Painting”
February 24, 2008, 2 pm
Suzanne Smeaton, Gallery Director, Eli Wilner & Company
“The Art of the Edge: 19th-Century American Frames.”
**Reception at 3:00 pm.
All lectures are preceded with a wine and cheese reception at 5:00 pm. **
Reservations suggested. Call 860.443.2545 x112. $5 members, $10 non-members.
Musical Performances
November 17, 2007, 6 pm
Neely Bruce performs Ralph Waldo Emerson: Ives and the Musical Transcendental
February 16, 2008, 6 pm
Neely Bruce performs Henry David Thoreau: Ives and the Musical Transcendental
Performances held in the Museum’s Library, preceded by a reception at 5:00 pm. Reservations required, call 860.443.2545 x112.
$15 for members and $22 for non-members.
Children’s Programs
October 13, 2007, 2 pm
Children’s Nature Scavenger Hunt
Free with Museum admission.
October 20, 2007 1-3 pm
Caricatures Workshop
Free for Members, $2 for non-members.
November 3, 2007 1-3 pm
Caricatures Workshop
Free for Members, $2 for non-members.
November 4, 2007, 1-4 pm
CT Storytellers’ Telebration
February 3, 2008, 1-4 pm
First Sunday! Free Family Day. Make landscape dioramas.
Films
October 13, 2007 and February 9, 2008, 3:30 pm
“The New England Transcendentalists”
November 25, 2007 and January 26, 2008, 1:30 p
“Hudson River School and Its Painters”
October 28, 2007, 1:30 pm
“Henry David Thoreau: Speaking for Nature”
All films are free with Museum admission.
For more information, or to receive images and a checklist of the artworks in
At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch has been made possible by generous grants from the Connecticut Humanities Council and the Henry Luce Foundation.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum exhibitions are supported in part by the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund,
Bank of America, Trustee, and with support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.
Eli Wilner & Company Period Frames, New York has provided numerous frames.
Connecticut Humanities Council (CHC) is a statewide non-profit institution located in Middletown, Connecticut that focuses its work on two time-honored traditions in the humanities—reflective reading of literature and exploration of history. CHC reading programs like Motheread/Fatheread and Book Voyagers help parents and children strengthen family bonds by reading together while encouraging children to become lifelong, avid readers on their own. CHC heritage programs, often conducted in partnership with state and regional cultural organizations, fund exhibits, walking tours, cultural festivals, and community humanities projects that explore Connecticut’s diverse local heritage, as well as American and world history. This year, the CHC will produce or fund over $2,000,000 in cultural programming that enriches the lives of state residents and visitors statewide. For more information on the Connecticut Humanities Council and its programs, please visit www.ctculture.org or call 860.685-2260.
The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by the late Henry R. Luce, co-founder and editor in chief of Time Inc. The Luce Foundation supports projects in American art, higher education, Asian affairs, theology, women in science and engineering, and public policy and the environment. Through the Program in American Art, begun in 1982, the Foundation has distributed over $110 million to some 250 museums, universities, and service organizations in 47 states and the District of Columbia. For more information on the Henry Luce Foundation and its programs, please visit www.hluce.org.
August 20, 2007 Barbara Roux: Evidence from Nature
opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
 The Woodsman Must Travel by Sea
sand, plant material, plastic,
photo, pen, paper
10” x 12” x 1” Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition, Barbara Roux: Evidence from Nature, opening on Friday, October 12, 2007 and on view through February 25, 2008.
Barbara Roux is an environmentalist, a conservationist and an artist. The three converge when she wanders the woods and fields in search of tiny bits of nature that will convey her important message. She creates “bags” which tell a story about a location or an environmental issue. These “evidence bags” may contain tree bark and dirt or plant materials from a dying forest or water from a neglected pond. Whatever the contents, the resulting artform raises the awareness of the viewer about that piece of Nature.
Roux comments about her work:
“As an artist dealing with issues of ecology, I am a hybrid. My installation projects are influenced by my conservation projects to protect habitats and record incidents in natural history. My conservation efforts stem from my respect and fascination for the natural world.
It is my belief that the environment of the forest, meadow, seashore and wetland are a powerful and little appreciated resource to understanding our human world. Like all structured communities, the wilderness is in a search for survival. It is my hope, that through my work, people may become interested in the mysteries that are inherent in wild places. From interest, a desire to protect
may follow.”
This unique exhibition is visually intriguing as well as inspirational and is the perfect complement to the Museum’s major fall exhibition At Home and Abroad:
The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch, which deals with the glory of Nature as interpreted by the artist.
Barbara Roux: Evidence from Nature is part of the ongoing celebration during 2007 that marks the museum’s 75th anniversary. Thanks to the generosity of benefactor Harriet Upson Allyn, Lyman Allyn Art Museum opened in 1932 as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. The museum has always made part of its mission to respond and to appeal to the regional community. In that spirit, Lyman Allyn presents the following events coordinating with this exhibition:
Saturday, October 13 from 1:00 pm:
Transcendental Nature Walk with Glenn Dreyer, Director, Conn. College Arboretum. Walk starts at the Museum, free with Museum admission.
Children’s Nature Scavenger Hunt at 2 pm
Free with Museum admission.
Saturdays at 1:00 pm on October 27 and December 1
Earthworms, Doodlebugs, and Dirt
What is a Doodlebug? Students will learn and sing participatory songs about creatures that wiggle, crawl, creep, and fly in the environment they inhabit! Contemporary Folk Music with Mike Kachuba - perfect for children ages 2-6. Free for Members and $3 for non-members.
Funded in part by Pfizer and with the support of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.
For more information about Barbara Roux: Evidence from Nature, or to receive images and a checklist of the artworks, please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
June 19, 2007 Guido Garaycochea
Painted Boxes - Echoes of the Past
Cajas Pintadas - Ecos del pasado
opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition, Guido Garaycochea: Painted Boxes - Echoes of the Past, Cajas Pintadas - Ecos del pasado, opening on Friday, July 27, 2007 and on view through November 4, 2007.
Garaycochea, a Peruvian painter now working in New York and Connecticut, creates a compelling installation that deals with the political turmoil and personal loss that has plagued his native country for many years. The exhibition includes a video component and encourages audience interaction with the boxes, or “cajas” in his native Spanish.
Guido Garaycochea is best known as a painter. His training and background are evident as one views these boxes that are painted both exterior and interior with soft, beautifully muted pastels. The “cajas” begin as small, jewel-like paintings that open to become dimensional sculpture. The delicate coloration covering the box surfaces contradicts the intellectual content. Each box contains letters, mementos and personal reflections on acquaintances of the artist, those who may have been “disappeared.” Viewers may open some of the boxes, read the materials and reflect on the sad but virtual contents. As the various boxes are viewed and then opened, one finds miniature sculptural additions that seem to reference aspects of residence: clothes on lines hung high over the boxes/abodes, ladders to rudimentary sleeping areas, and what could be trees. Upon closer inspection, the viewer questions whether the scene is a home or perhaps
a cell.
Garaycochea comments about his work: “These wooden boxes to me are the result of an intimate reflection, of thoughts, of life. These wooden boxes are the result of my travels through countries I feel as home, as today America is home to me. These wooden boxes represent an ambitious on-going project and my desire to live in peace. These wooden boxes are inspired by what I saw, heard and read about what happens when intolerance abounds.” May visitors also be inspired by Garaycochea’s “Cajas” project.
Guido Garaycochea: Painted Boxes - Echoes of the Past, Cajas Pintadas - Ecos del pasado is part of the ongoing celebration during 2007 that marks the museum’s 75th anniversary. Thanks to the generosity of benefactor Harriet Upson Allyn, Lyman Allyn Art Museum opened in 1932 as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. The museum has always made part of its mission to respond and to appeal to the regional community. In that spirit, Lyman Allyn presents the following event coordinating with this exhibition:
Sunday, August 5, from 1:00 – 4:00 pm: First Sunday!
Families, art lovers and kids of all ages are invited to join in the fun.
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the Latin Network for the Visual Arts and the Griffis Art Center
Painters’ Mark Lecture Series at 2:00 pm
Guido Garaycochea will speak about his work in the current exhibition.
Special Art Activity: Box It Up!
Construct and decorate your own boxes, inspired by the work of Guido Garaycochea! Learn how to make a print and decorate paper with your designs and then explore the art of origami box making. Take you project home with you.
Partial funding for these programs is generously provided by the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Pfizer Inc., the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, and the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut.
For more information about Guido Garaycochea: Painted Boxes – Echoes of the Past, Cajas Pintadas - Ecos del pasado, or to receive images and a checklist of the artworks, please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
June 4, 2007 Larry Dinkin: Painting to Silkscreen, an Interpretive Process
& The New York School: Works from a Private Collection
open at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces two new exhibitions, Larry Dinkin: Painting to Silkscreen, an Interpretive Process and The New York School: Works from a Private Collection, both opening on Friday, July 13, 2007 and on view through September 23, 2007.
Larry Dinkin: Painting to Silkscreen, an Interpretive Process
 Landscape of Structure from a Dream
Oil on linen ¦ 1992
36¼ x 40” Born in 1943, Larry Dinkin expressed interest in art at an early age, taking drawing classes at Pratt Institute in his teens, graduating from City College of New York in 1965 and continuing his art education at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Master teacher Frederick Taubes’ painting techniques were influential in Dinkin’s artistic development.
As a student, Dinkin had studied figurative painting. In his early thirties, he began to explore landscape and in 1992, with the painting Landscape of Structure from a Dream, he created an image that used a landscape format but was constructed with abstract elements. From this point forward Dinkin’s oeuvre would be non-objective realism. His paintings would have elements of realism -- space, light and color -- but would no longer be derivative. His paintings form the basis for his silkscreens for which an elaborate process is employed, using over 90 separate screens and transparent oil-based inks.
Larry Dinkin: Painting to Silkscreen, an Interpretive Process takes the viewer on a visual journey between the two media. The vividly bold paintings and prints seem familiar and yet distant; perhaps a memory from a dream when one is jarred awake. Within the brilliant colors and dense brushstrokes, one can almost see a structure, a landform, something recognizable, but not then quite.
Dinkin says of his work, “The images depict a personal universe—distilled landscapes bound only by their own reality. They strive for the flickering ambiguity of paint to dreamy vision, held fast within a structure that is both descriptive and dimensional.”
 Turandot
Silkscreen ¦
Edition of 120 ¦ 2005
42” x 45½" originally opened at the Flint Institute of Art in Flint, Michigan and then traveled to the Dayton Art Institute in Dayton, Ohiobefore showing at Lyman Allyn Art Museum. His paintings and silkscreens are in the collections of more than forty museums and are represented in many private and corporate collections.
Dinkin’s paintings and works on paper owe a debt to the groundwork laid by the abstract artists of the “New York School.”
The New York School: Works from a Private Collection
Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell coined the term “New York School” in 1949. He intended the term to describe the non-representational works created by his fellow artists who were working in New York City at the time and experimenting with a new style that featured abstracted forms and expressionistic paint application.
The works on viewrange in date from 1936 to contemporary works created in the last five years. All relate to, or are derived from, the abstraction of the 1950’s. The earliest work in the show predates Abstract Expressionism by decades, other works represent the wide variety of responses to Abstract Expressionism by mid-century artists, while another group of works date from the 1960’s and 1970’s and respond to the society and culture surrounding the events of those decades—feminism, civil rights, foreign war movements.
The artists represented in The New York School: Works from a Private Collection were part of a circle that interacted. The relationships between these artists and the resulting inspiration will be evident to viewers: Jasper Johns inspired Frank Stella; Helen Frankenthaler was married to Robert Motherwell and had studied with Hans Hoffman. These works continue to question the boundaries and parameters of art.
Larry Dinkin: Painting to Silkscreen, an Interpretive Process and The New York School: Works from a Private Collection are part of the ongoing celebration during 2007 marking the museum’s 75th anniversary. Thanks to the generosity of benefactor Harriet Upson Allyn, Lyman Allyn Art Museum opened in 1932 as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. The museum has always made part of its mission to respond and to appeal to the regional community.
In that spirit, Lyman Allyn presents the following events coordinating with these exhibitions.
How’d They Do That? The Artist’s Process: Printmaking
Hands-on workshops that explore the artistic process
Saturday, July 21, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Saturday, August 18, 1:00 – 3:00 pm
Free for Museum Family Members
$2 for non-members
Pre-registration required.
Please call 860-443-2545 x 110 to register.
Film: Jasper Johns
Saturday, August 11 at 1:00 pm
Free with museum admission
Lecture: Modernism
Barbara Zabel, Professor of Art History at Connecticut College
Thursday, August 16, 2007 at 6:00 p.m.
Reception immediately following the lecture
$5 Members and $10 Non-members.
Reservations suggested, please call 860-443-2545 x 112.
Film: David Hockney
Saturday, August 25 at 1:00 pm
Free with museum admission
Partial funding for these programs is generously provided by the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Pfizer Inc., the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism and the Community Foundation of Southeastern Connecticut.
For more information about Larry Dinkin: Painting to Silkscreen, an Interpretive Process and The New York School: Works from a Private Collection, or to receive images and a checklist of the artworks, please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm and Sunday 1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on the web at http://lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum Celebrates 75th Anniversary Year With Hidden Treasures Exhibition
WINSLOW HOMER ¦
1836-1910 ¦
American
Shepherdess ¦
ceramic tile
HENRY C. WHITE ¦
1861-1952 ¦
American
New London Harbor, 1924 ¦
oil on board
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition H idden
Treasures: Celebrating 75 Years on view through July 15, 2007.
Mounted to commemorate the 75th Anniversary, this exhibit will feature highlights from the permanent collection and tell the story of the history of collecting at the Museum since it opened in 1932. Such treasures as Winslow Homer’s painted tile The
Shepherdess and a one-of-kind Tiffany glass goblet are on display. The objects in Hidden
Treasures: Celebrating 75 Years celebrate the donor as well as the actual object given to the museum. It is through the generosity of its supporters that Lyman Allyn Art Museum has been able to develop such a remarkable collection of art from many periods of art history.
Among other works on view are Henry C. White’s painting of New
London Harbor, a gift from his son Nelson C. White; an oil painting View
of Stifford from 1858 by Jasper Cropsey, a gift of Mrs. Ralph A. Powers for whose family one of the museum’s galleries is named; an actual fire bucket used by Captain Lyman Allyn when he was a volunteer fireman in New London; a wonderful aquatint Freight
Yards done in1936 by local artist and early feminist Beatrice Cuming, a gift of Winslow Ames, the museum’s first Director; and exceptional examples of more contemporary American artworks by Andrew Wyeth, Dale Chihuly, Cleve Gray and William McCloy.
Please check the website for details about additional programs and events celebrating the 75th Anniversary.
For more information or to receive images, please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm and Sunday1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on the web at http://lymanallyn.org.January 22, 2007 For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks, Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Lyman Allyn Art Museum Celebrating 75 Years!
Gas in Glass:
The Light Sculptures of Mundy Hepburn
Opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition, Gas in Glass: The Light Sculptures of Mundy Hepburn, opening on Friday, February 23, 2007 and on view through June 24, 2007.
Gas in Glass: The Light Sculptures of Mundy Hepburn presents large-scale, whimsical blown glass sculptures filled with gas mixtures such as xenon, argon, neon, and krypton, among others. The resulting light sculptures are a vibrant visual cross between fantasy objects from the artist’s mind and flowers and forms seemingly from another planet. Hepburn activates the glass with high frequency static electricity causing the light sculptures to come “alive” with a kaleidoscope of changing colors, depending on what gas is in which glass form.
The science behind the art that Mundy Hepburn creates is based on the same principle as a simple florescent light. Because so little electricity is used to light the works, only about thirty watts of power, the sculptures will operate for a very long time. Some examples of Hepburn’s work have been running for as long as fifteen years.
Gas in Glass: The Light Sculptures of Mundy Hepburn reveals the fascination of a youngster captivated by science. Hepburn became interested in glass blowing in 1963 when he was eight years old, after seeing Paul Geyer blow glass animals at the Guildford Fair. He went home and melted down light bulbs on the kitchen stove after making sure that his parents had gone upstairs. Years of practice with glass and fire led him to the level of expertise that we see today. Hepburn has developed his own style of torches and glass compositions and has experimented with various gas mixtures to achieve the dazzling color combinations that manifest when the electricity is turned on. For the past decade, Mundy Hepburn has worked exclusively with his own furnace design
and other homemade equipment to create his unique style of luminous glass sculpture.
Mundy Hepburn lives and works from his glass studio in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. His light sculptures are collected by private individuals as well as public institutions. And for those curious about his name, yes, Mundy is the nephew of the late Katharine Hepburn.
Gas in Glass: The Light Sculptures of Mundy Hepburn will present the following related programming:
Sunday, February 25 at 1:30 pm and Sunday, March 18 at 1:30 pm
Dancing Cereal and Electric Pickles
Electrifying fun! This program features kids’ activities using balloons, cereal, pickles and more to explore the science of electricity. Take part in hands-on experiments and tour the exhibit. This is a free program but space is limited.
Sunday, May 6, 2007: Glass, Color, and Light! 1:00 – 4:00 pm
First Sunday Free Family Day
Create a design for a stained glass window or try painting on glass and then compare to Mundy Hepburn’s beautiful glass works in the Stamm Galleries.
The film Cathedral will be shown at 2 pm in the Lehman Auditorium.
This exhibition has been funded in part by generous grants from the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, Trustee, and Pfizer, Inc.
For more information, or to receive images of artwork in Gas in Glass: The Light Sculptures of Mundy Hepburn, please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm and Sunday 1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on the web at http://lymanallyn.org December 11, 2006 For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks, Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Lyman Allyn Art Museum Celebrating 75 Years!
Expresiones/Expressions: Caribbean and Latin American Art
from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection opens at the museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition, Expresiones/Expressions: Caribbean and Latin American Art from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection, opening on Friday, February 23, 2007 and on view through June 24, 2007. The exhibition is co-curated by art historian Gustavo Valdes and Nancy Stula, museum curator.
A thought-provoking exhibition of Caribbean and Latin American paintings, photographs, and drawings, Expresiones/Expressions: Caribbean and Latin American Art from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection surveys the formation and growth of an art collection and showcases the works of masters as well as other established and emerging artists of the Caribbean and Latin America.
The works on view are part of a collection that spans over three decades. Benjamin Ortiz acquired his first work of art at the age of twelve for seventy-five cents at a Connecticut consignment shop. The little oil painting he felt so passionate about turned out to be, as was later discovered by his mother, a wonderful example of the work of one of Puerto Rico’s most illustrious landscape artists, Don Miguel Pou (1880-1968). This purchase marked the beginning of Ortiz’s ever-growing involvement with the arts.
The work selected for this exhibition, primarily works on paper, represents a fraction of Ortiz’s large collection. The main criterion for selecting work was that it represent the human figure; it includes different styles and pictorial movements, from primitivism in painting to realism in photography and features different mediums, from collage to sculpture. Each work deciphers for the viewer the complexity and beauty of Caribbean and Latin American Art and its continuous development that brings it to the forefront of the arts today.
Expresiones/Expressions: Caribbean and Latin American Art from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection highlights artists and works that have helped to shape Mr. Ortiz’s aesthetics, not only as a collector, but also as a curator and art researcher. As a curator, Ortiz has had the opportunity to meet and to work with several artists who have become important voices and undisputable presences in the Caribbean and Latin American as well as the international art scene. Benjamin Ortiz has collected the work of such renowned masters such as Antonio Frasconi (Argentina), Eduardo Kingman (Ecuador), Roberto Matta (Chile), Alirio Palacios (Venezuela), and Diego Rivera, José Luis Cuevas and Rufino Tamayo (Mexico), just to name a few.
The exhibition will also feature artworks by the following partial list of artists and their respective countries of origin:
Cuba: Wifredo Lam
Rodolfo Abularach: Guatemala
Mexico: Luis Cuevas, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Francisco Toledo and Francesco Zuniga
Puerto Rico: José R. Alicea, Imna Arroyo and Myrna Báez
Dominican Republic: Hochi Asiático and Belkis Ramírez
Expresiones/Expressions: Caribbean and Latin American Art from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection is the first exhibition during 2007 which marks the celebration of the museum’s 75th anniversary. Thanks to the generosity of benefactor Harriet Upson Allyn, Lyman Allyn Art Museum opened in 1932 as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. The museum has always made part of its mission to respond and to appeal to the regional community.
In that spirit, Expresiones/Expressions: Caribbean and Latin American Art
from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection presents coordinating events that will interest everyone.
Sunday, April 1 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm. Families, art lovers and kids of all ages
are invited to join in the fun. All events are free and open to the public.
- Co-Curator and art historian Gustavo Valdes will present a lecture about Expresiones/Expressions: Caribbean and Latin American Art from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection, in both English and Spanish. A great way to practice your Spanish while enjoying the art on view!
- Special Art Activity: Make a Lasting Impression! Referencing Latin Art prints from the exhibit, kids (of all ages!) may experiment with different printmaking techniques. From rubber stamps to block printing to string relief, there will be a variety of media to explore. Take your print project home with you!
This exhibition has been funded in part by Pfizer, with the support of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. Additional support for the exhibition and related programming in part by Centro de la Comunidad.
For more information about Expresiones/Expressions: Caribbean and Latin American Art from the Benjamin Ortiz Collection, or to receive images and a checklist of the artworks, please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm and Sunday 1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on the web at http://lymanallyn.org Contact: Susan Hendricks November 6, 2006
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 136
Les Santons de Provence Opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces the opening of the family favorite seasonal exhibition Les Santons de Provence, on November 24, 2006 and on view through
January 22, 2007. Back by popular demand, more than 200 santons - “little saints” - in French, will be on display for the holiday season. The display features santons from the personal collection of Edith “Fuzzy” Gipstein as well as from the Museum’s permanent collection.
Mrs. Gipstein is the former director of exhibitions at the Museum and has organized this show.
Santons are hand-painted clay figurines, which populate a replica in miniature of a 19th-century village in southern France along with a traditional crèche. Santons are at the center of an important two hundred-year-old tradition that is still maintained today in the area of Provence. Complementing the exhibition are seasonal paintings and sculptures from the museum’s permanent collection.
Fuzzy Gipstein will share her knowledge in two slide lectures, Les Santons de Provence, on Sunday, December 10 at 2:00 p.m. and again on Sunday, January 14, 2007 at 2:00 p.m. All lectures are free with museum admission.
Showing in the Lehman Auditorium will be Fanny, a delightful 1960 film based on one of the stories of the Marseilles Trilogy that has many connections with the Santons on display. Fanny is an Academy Award-winning film and was filmed in Marseilles. The movie will be screened at 2:00 pm on December 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30. There is no charge with museum admission.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm and Sunday1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on the web at www.lymanallyn.org
August 7, 2006
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Melissa Manchester in Concert
Benefit for Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum is pleased to announce that Melissa Manchester
will perform in concert to benefit the museum at 8:00 pm on Saturday, September 16, 2006. The concert will take place at Palmer Auditorium on the Connecticut College campus, adjacent to the museum.
The generosity of lead sponsors Pfizer Inc and People’s Bank has helped to make this event possible, with additional in-kind support from WBMW Radio
and Pot of Green Florists.
Melissa Manchester Background
Melissa Manchester was born in New York where her father was a bassoonist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He introduced her to all the classics and by the age of 15, Melissa was already a published poet. After graduating from the High School of the Performing Arts, where she studied acting, Melissa entered New York University and enrolled in a songwriting class taught by Paul Simon. She landed a staff-writing job at Chappell Music and performed as a solo singer and pianist in the clubs of Greenwich Village and Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where she met Bette Midler. As a back-up singer for Bette, Melissa fulfilled her childhood fantasy of playing New York’s Carnegie Hall. Six months later, she had a recording contract, and shortly thereafter was headlining Carnegie Hall and performing for sold-out audiences.
Melissa Manchester’s albums have established her as one of the most compelling singer-songwriters in contemporary music. Her album Melissa (1975) launched the smash hit single “Midnight Blue,” and in 1976, Melissa and Kenny Loggins co-wrote “Whenever I Call You Friend,” which has become a radio classic. Melissa was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1978 and 1979; she received the Grammy Award in 1982 for Best Female Vocalist for “You Should Hear How She Talks About You” from her Hey Ricky LP, produced by Arif Mardin. In 1980, she became the first artist in the history of the Academy Awards to have two nominated movie themes in a given year: for Ice Castles and The Promise. Melissa went on to make Oscar history by performing both of these works in their entirety during the show.
Melissa combined her acting and singing talents in starring roles in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Song And Dance and Music Of The Night; on the television series Blossom; and in the film For The Boys. She wrote the musical I Sent A Letter To My Love (2002), based on the acclaimed Bernice Rubens novel of the same name, and performed the leading role in a National Public Radio broadcast. Melissa Manchester recently received the Governor’s Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for her contributions to the music
and the recording arts.
Melissa Manchester Benefit Concert at Lyman Allyn
The benefit concert at Lyman Allyn Art Museum will offer a unique evening for everyone, starting with a 6:00 pm cocktail buffet at the museum. The concert follows at 8:00 pm, after which guests will meet Melissa at a post-concert champagne and dessert reception. Tickets for the full evening are $150.
For those wishing to attend only the concert at 8:00 pm, tickets are $50.
Please call 860.443.2545 ext. 135 for ticket reservations or more information.
From the Hand of the Composer: The Art of Melissa Manchester, an exhibit of original musical compositions penned by Melissa Manchester, opens to the public on Thursday, September 14. Those attending the full evening event of the concert and both receptions may stroll through the museum to enjoy this unique experience. This exhibit highlights and makes visual the creative process,
linking music with visual art forms. Her compositions will offer viewers insight into the composer’s creative process just as brushstrokes enable viewers to retrace a painter’s labor trail.
Of the forty compositions in From the Hand of the Composer: The Art of Melissa Manchester, none has ever been on view. The work includes the initial renderings of her hit songs “Midnight Blue” and “Just You and I,” as well as some tunes that were never recorded.
After the benefit concert, From the Hand of the Composer: The Art of Melissa Manchester, will remain on view at the museum through February 4, 2007.
For more information, or to receive images, please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm and Sunday1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on the web at http://lymanallyn.org.
June 26, 2006
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
femme brut(e)
Opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition, femme brut(e), opening on Thursday, September 14, 2006 and on view through February 4, 2007.
femme brut(e) features works by significant women artists in a range of media. The focus is on those artists who demonstrate an interest in pushing the limits of their medium whether it is photography, drawing, or painting as well as those who challenge traditional expectations of women’s subject matter. Included are works by May Stevens, Nancy Graves, Nancy Spero, June Wayne, Barbara Kruger; Louise Nevelson, Alice Neel; and Miriam Schapiro.
On view simultaneously with femme brut(e) will be Moires Blinks Monochromes Stops Starts Mixes, an installation of new work by contemporary lens-based artist Ellen Carey. Carey’s work explores the photographic process using large-format Polaroid cameras. Her monumental images are abstract—they do not record images seen through a camera lens—but rather the chemical process. The resulting images are brightly colored shapes: the “pulls” resemble surfboards and the moirés, a type of fabric. Ellen Carey’s unique work has been exhibited extensively throughout the U.S., including solo exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut and the International Center of Photography in New York City. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Chicago Art Institute, among others.
Complementing femme brut(e) will be From the Hand of the Composer: The Art of Melissa Manchester, an exhibit of original musical compositions penned by Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester. This exhibit aims to highlight and make visual the creative process and to link music with visual art forms. Text as image will offer the viewer insight into the composer’s creative process just as brushstrokes allow the viewer to retrace a painter’s labor trail. Approximately fifty of Manchester’s compositions will be featured in this exhibition, none of which have ever been shown before, including the initial renderings of her hit songs “Midnight Blue” and “Just You and I,” as well as songs which were never recorded. From the Hand of the Composer: The Art of Melissa Manchester is presented in conjunction with femme brut(e) as it also addresses the limits of artistic disciplines.
Melissa Manchester will perform a concert to benefit Lyman Allyn Art Museum at Palmer Auditorium on Saturday, September 16, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. Please call 860.443.2545 ext. 135 for ticket reservations and/or more information.
femme brut(e) will present a coordinating lecture program beginning several weeks after the exhibitions open. Each lecture takes place at 6:00 pm and includes a wine and cheese reception that begins at 5:00 pm. Lectures are $5 for members and $10 for the general public. Reservations are strongly recommended; please call 860.443.2545, ext. 112.
On Thursday, September 28, Artist Ellen Carey will give a Gallery Talk in Glassenberg Gallery where her Moires Blinks Monochromes Stops Starts Mixes is installed.
Sherry Buckberrough, Professor of Art History and Women’s Studies at the University of Hartford, will present a lecture on femme brut(e) on Thursday, October 26. Buckberrough has curated exhibitions on women artists and has authored books and articles on artists including Sonia Delaunay and Mierle Ukeles.
Ann Hoy, Professor of Art History at New York University and former curator at the International Center of Photography in New York, will lecture on photography in the context of the femme brut(e)exhibition on Thursday, November 2. Hoy is the author of National Geographic Society’s The Book of Photography (2005).
Art historian Susan Fillin-Yeh, Visiting Professor of Art History at Connecticut College and author of several books on American art, will speak about the femme brut(e)exhibition, thatdate to be announced.
For more information, or to receive images and a checklist of the artworks in femme brut(e), please contact Susan Hendricks, at 860.443.2545, ext 130 or at hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm and Sunday1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on the web at http://lymanallyn.org.
April 10, 2006 For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Subject Opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled
(Self Portrait), 1985, acrylic and oilstick on canvas,
60" x 49"
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition – Subject -
opening to the public on May 14 and on view through August 14,
2006. Steven Holmes is the Guest Curator.
This exciting new exhibition, culled from the renowned
Cartin collection based in Hartford, Connecticut, of which Holmes
is the resident Curator, introduces contemporary approaches to
portraiture ranging from traditional oil on canvas portraits
to enhanced photographs to three-dimensional assemblages referencing
childhood memories. The works on view, by artists including Jean-Michel
Basquiat, R. Crumb, David Hammons, Glenn Ligon and John Waters
, explore--visually, socially, politically, and psychologically—the
nature of portraiture.
It is not often that museums in this region have
the opportunity to present an exhibition that offers the public
a comprehensive look at the type of cutting-edge, avant-garde
contemporary art on view in Subject.
The exhibition will simultaneously provoke and
stimulate viewers to explore their own reactions to what they
see. For example, Jean-Michel Basquiat, in his large self-portrait
painted in broad strokes of acrylic and oilstick on canvas, peers
out at us from an oddly disjointed sitting position. The portrait
seems to ask us what we see. Basquiat’s execution of his
body and face brings to mind the label of “primitive”
so frequently attached to both the artist and to his work.
R. Crumb’s 1996 pencil and “white-out” rendering
of Bukowski in His Car brilliantly reflects the angst
of Beat Poet and novelist Charles Bukowski, a writer long admired
by the reclusive Crumb.
There are a variety of programs coordinating with
the Subject exhibition. From gallery
talks to free family days to a fancy-dress gala, the public is
invited to share in this opportunity to learn more about contemporary
art.
Related Programs
Gallery Talk:
Thursday, May 18, 6:00 pm
Steven Holmes, Guest Curator of Subject, speaks about the exhibition
and the collection. Wine and cheese reception at 5:00 pm
Reservations suggested: $10 Non-members; $5 Members. Call 860.443.2545,
x112.
First Sunday Free Family Day
Sunday, June 4, 1 – 4 pm
Families are invited to explore the galleries and participate
in interesting art activities.
Children’s art activity: Create a unique self-portrait,
using the new exhibition Subject as your guide. A complementing
film on one of the contemporary artists featured in Subject will
be shown in the Lehman Auditorium at 2 pm.
Subject Gala
Saturday, May 13, 6:00 – 10:00 pm
The exhibition preview of Subject IS the gala, an extraordinary
event is not to be missed. This artful and art-filled evening
includes cocktails and a sumptuous sit-down dinner. A silent
auction during the cocktail hour will feature a variety of artworks
and services to tempt every bidder. The Fine Art Live Auction
will be hosted by Geraldine Nager-Griffin, Senior Vice-President
of Sotheby’s. Dancing to Sugar Ray Norcia and the Big Band
will round out the evening under the tent, under the stars.
For more information or to purchase tickets or tables, please
call Alicia Kuranda, Director of Development at 860-443-2545,
ext. 136.
This exhibition has been funded in part by generous
grants from the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, Trustee,
and Pfizer, Inc.
For more information about Subject or to receive
images, please contact: Susan Hendricks, Director of Public Relations,
at 860.443.2545 ext. 130, or e-mail to hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson
Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for
local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a
handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt,
the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture,
drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis
on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum
is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut,
06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage
signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00
am-5:00 pm and Sunday1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and
major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on
the web at http://lymanallyn.org.
April 25, 2006 For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks, Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Portrait of a City: The New London Project
opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition, Portrait of a City: The New London Project , opening Friday, June 23 and on view through August 14.
The arts community of New London joins artist Joe Standart to present Portrait of a City:
The New London Project , a monumental public art event that will bring a vibrant exhibition of photographs to throughout the summer of 2006. Portrait of a City: The New London Project comes to life with prints ranging from life-sized to 20 ft. murals go on view at cultural institutions, work places, and galleries as collaborators and visitors alike share the exhibition and the creative arena. Celebrating the city and its people and inviting community engagement, Portrait of a City: The New London Project brings together art and community development to enrich the cultural experience of New London and invigorate the city, inspiring, informing, and challenging us to see our neighbor and our environment in new ways.
Joe Standart opened his photographic studio in New London several years ago. Compelled to photograph New Londoners of all ages, he literally pulled them in off the street, still sipping coffees and writing traffic tickets or riding their motorcycles and bikes. Standart's work contemplates the individuals' spirit and the universality of the dignity we all share. The diversity he reveals shares a common ground of humanity and creates opportunity for understanding. Through its uniqueness and monumentality, the exhibition creates public engagement in a thriving arts community that is playing a powerful role in the rejuvenation of the Downtown. Through its breadth and experience, Portrait of a City: The New London Project seeks to unify and promote the art community, including musicians, artists, and photographers and those with a passion for the arts.
A professional photographer for 30 years, Joe Standart is acclaimed for capturing the ever-changing subtleties of light and mood. His award-winning photographs have been included in individual and group shows nationwide and his work is included in many private collections and museums. Recently, his work has been on view at New York's Beadleston Gallery, The Williams College Art Center, The Cooley Gallery, and The Duggal Art Space. His commercial work includes assigments for Architectural Digest, House & Garden, General Electric, Viking Range Corporation, and The Cindy Crawford Collection. Standart has published two books, The Scented Room and Passion for Detail , and he has contributed to many more.
Citywide opening night festivities include receptions at:
5:00 – 7:00 pm at Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams Street
6:00 - 8:00 pm at ALVA Gallery, 54 State Street
6:00 - 9:00 pm at Golden Street Gallery, 94 Golden Street
7:00 - 10:00 pm at Hygienic Art Gallery, 79 Bank Street
Musicians will be at multiple venues and roaming the streets.
Portrait of a City: The New London Project will be on view throughout New London from June 23, 2006 through early August. Exhibiting venues include: Lyman Allyn Art Museum, ALVA Gallery, Hygienic Art Gallery, Golden Street Gallery. Union Train Station, Mitchell College and Muddy Waters Café.
Portrait of a City: The New London Project at Lyman Allyn Art Museum has been funded in part by generous grants from the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, Trustee, and Pfizer, Inc.
The New London Project is being produced with the generous support of the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Cummings & Good, Tyler Cooper & Alcorn, LLP, and The Kitchings Foundation, and is sponsored by Hygienic Art, Inc. and The New York Foundation for the Arts.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American art from the 18 th through 20 th centuries. The museum is located at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm and Sunday1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on the web at http://lymanallyn.org .
For Immediate Release- March
16, 2006
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
After William Meredith
Opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition, After
William Meredith, opening to the public on April 15 and
on view through May 15, 2006.
William Meredith is one of America’s most respected poets.
He was a Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress and
is a Chancellor Emeritus of The Academy of American Poets as
well as the U.S. Poet Laureate Emeritus. Meredith was born in
New York City in 1919. He graduated from Princeton University
with an A.B. in English, Magna Cum Laude, writing his senior
thesis on fellow American Poet Robert Frost.
The author of nine books of poetry and, Meredith’s Effort
at Speech won the 1997 National Book Award. In 1987, Partial
Accounts: New and Selected Poems. won the Pulitzer Prize.
He has received many distinguished awards including the Loines
Award and a grant from the American Academy and Institute of
Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, the Harriet
Monroe Memorial Prize, the International Vaptsarov Prize in
Poetry, a grant and senior fellowship from the National Endowment
for the Arts, and two Rockefeller Foundation grants.
William Meredith taught at Connecticut College from 1955-1983,
when he suffered a stroke that left him unable to speak clearly
and affected his ability to use language at all.
In After William Meredith, the Meredith poems will
be presented in both his original English and a French translation,
juxtaposing the text with images rendered by contemporary French
artist, and friend of Meredith, Sooky Maniquant. After William
Meredith has placed artwork and poems side by side, allowing
the viewer to experience Meredith’s work from two different
perspectives, including Maniquant’s striking visual interpretations.
Related Program
First Sunday Free Family Day
Sunday, May 7, 1 – 4 pm
Celebrate the poetry of William Meredith and the art of Sooky
Maniquant by creating your own Poem Collages. See the exhibition
After William Meredith on your visit.
A complementing film will be shown in the Lehman Auditorium
at 2 pm.
This exhibition has been funded in part by generous grants
from the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, Trustee,
and Pfizer, Inc.
For more information, please contact: Susan Hendricks, Director
of Public Relations, at 860.443.2545 ext. 130, or e-mail to
hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum was established in 1926 by Harriet Upson
Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place for local
citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in a handsome
Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent
collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture, drawings,
prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis on American
art from the 18th through 20th centuries. The museum is located
at 625 Williams Street, New London, Connecticut, 06320. Take
exit 83 off of I-95 and follow brown cultural heritage signage.
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am-5:00 pm
and Sunday1:00 –5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, please call 860.443.2545 or visit us on
the web at http://lymanallyn.org.
New London architectural exhibition
wins award from Connecticut
League of History Organizations
State Street exhibition was created by Connecticut College
professor and students, currently being shown at Lyman Allyn
Art Museum
NEW LONDON, Conn. — An exhibition spearheaded by a Connecticut
College professor to document the architectural and social development
of New London’s major commercial avenue has been awarded
an Award of Merit from the Connecticut League of History Organizations
(CLHO).
The exhibition, “Commerce and Culture: Architecture and
Society on New London’s State Street,” is on display
at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, located at 625 Williams Street
in New London, through April 10.
Abigail Van Slyck, the Dayton Associate Professor of Art History
and Director of Architectural Studies Program, coordinated and
served as guest curator of the exhibition. The exhibition grew
out of a project in Van Slyck’s senior seminar last year
and relates the specific details of New London architecture
to larger trends in American architecture and urbanism.
The exhibition features period photographs, historic maps, postcards,
paintings and architectural drawings.
According to a recent article about the exhibition in the Hartford
Courant newspaper: “The only thing missing is the honking
of horns, the sound and smells of the sea, and the clatter of
streetside conversations by the throngs once drawn to this richly
compelling place.”
In addition, Van Slyck’s students have conducted walking
tours of State Street, based on the information from the exhibition.
Future student-led walking tours will be held on March 4 and
March 5, at 3 p.m., starting at Union Station.
The award will be presented at the CLHO annual meeting, to be
held in June. The CLHO, based in Hamden, presents Awards of
Merit in recognition of outstanding institutional and individual
contributions, in keeping with current professional standards,
that enhance and further the knowledge and understanding of
Connecticut history. The purpose of the Awards of Merit is to
recognize the care, thought and effort invested in these contributions
and to inspire and encourage others by acknowledging exceptional
contributions to state and local history.
The CLHO presents Awards of Merit in four categories: project;
publication; educational program; and, individual comprehensive
work.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10
a.m.- 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. It is closed Mondays
and major holidays. The museum was established in 1926 by Harriet
Upson Allyn in memory of her father, Lyman Allyn, as a place
for local citizens to learn about art and culture. Housed in
a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt,
the permanent collection includes over 10,000 paintings, sculpture,
drawings, prints, furniture and decorative arts, with an emphasis
on American art from the 18th through 20th centuries. For more
information, please call 860-443-2545 or visit the museum on
the web at http://lymanallyn.org.
Ranked among the most selective private liberal arts colleges
in the nation, Connecticut College enrolls 1,900 men and women
from 42 states and 41 countries. The college is known for putting
the liberal arts into action through interdisciplinary studies,
international programs, funded internships, student-faculty
research and service learning. Founded in 1911, the college
operates under an 84-year-old honor code. The college is located
at 270 Mohegan Ave, New London, about two hours by car from
Boston and New York. The 750-acre campus is an arboretum overlooking
Long Island Sound. For more information, visit www.connecticutcollege.edu.
January
25, 2006 For
Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
Lyman
Allyn Art Museum receives
Connecticut Humanities Council grant
Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut
has received a planning grant of $16,159 from the Connecticut
Humanities Council’s Cultural Heritage Development Fund
to plan and develop the exhibition At Home and Abroad:
The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch. The
exhibition opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum on October 12, 2007
and runs through February 25, 2008. The exhibition is curated
by Nancy Stula, Curator and Deputy Director of the museum, who
wrote her doctoral thesis on Cranch at Columbia University under
the direction of Dr. Barbara Novak.
Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813-1892) was a poet, art theorist,
Transcendentalist, and Hudson River School painter. While his
letters and journals are frequently cited in publications on
19th century American culture, Cranch’s work as an artist
has been neglected and his paintings have never been exhibited.
This exhibition will serve to introduce Cranch as an artist
as well as provide an opportunity to explore his work within
the larger context of American culture, and more specifically,
in terms of the Transcendental philosophy which informed so
much of his work.
Christopher Cranch began his career as a Unitarian minister
but turned to landscape painting when his radical Transcendentalist
views made preaching in Unitarian churches impossible. Ultimately,
painting replaced preaching as an act of devotion. Cranch’s
visual response to New England Transcendentalism was unique:
no other American painter can be documented as having had direct
involvement with this religious philosophy. Cranch not only
participated in the movement but produced landscapes that reflect
the tenets of Transcendentalism.
Cranch may be best known for his caricature of Ralph Waldo
Emerson as an enormous "transparent" eyeball, perched
atop a minuscule body in top hat and tails. Yet Cranch was
also a noted artist who worked and exhibited with the Hudson
River School painters. During his forty-five year career as
a landscape painter, he met with success. He was elected Academician--the
highest rank an artist could attain--at the National Academy
of Design and, along with fellow Hudson River School artists,
contributed to major American exhibitions, very often to critical
acclaim. At two distinct periods in his career Cranch belonged
to the American community of artists, writers, and intellectuals
who settled abroad in the mid-nineteenth century. The fact
that he spent several years in Europe--or perhaps because of
his absence from America during the heyday of the Hudson River
School--has given rise to misconceptions that Cranch remained
abroad for most of his life.
In preparation for this exhibition and scholarly catalogue,
Lyman Allyn Art Museum wishes to locate paintings, letters,
diaries, and photographs related to Christopher Pearse Cranch.
The exhibition’s curator Dr. Nancy Stula can be reached
at 860.443.2545, ext. 113 and by email: stula@lymanallyn.org.
The Connecticut Humanities Council (CHC) is a statewide non-profit
institution located in Middletown, Connecticut that focuses
its work on two time-honored traditions in the humanities—reflective
reading of literature and exploration of history. CHC reading
programs like Motheread/Fatheread and Book Voyagers help parents
and children strengthen family bonds by reading together while
encouraging children to become lifelong, avid readers on their
own. CHC heritage programs, often conducted in partnership
with state and regional cultural organizations, fund exhibits,
walking tours, cultural festivals, and community humanities
projects that explore Connecticut’s diverse local heritage,
as well as American and world history. This year, the CHC will
produce or fund over $2.8 million in cultural programming that
enriches the lives of state residents and visitors statewide.
For more information on the Connecticut Humanities Council
and its programs, please visit www.ctculture.org or call
(860) 685-2260.
August 29, 2005 For
Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Hendricks
Public Relations
860.443.2545 ext. 130
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Commerce
and Culture:
Architecture and Society on New London’s State Street
Opens at Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Lyman
Allyn Art Museum announces a new exhibition Commerce
and Culture: Architecture and Society on New London’s
State Street opening to the public on October 7, 2005 and on view through
April 10, 2006. Abigail A. Van Slyck, Dayton Associate Professor
of Art History and Architectural Studies, Connecticut College
is the Guest Curator. The Connecticut Humanities Council’s
Cultural Heritage Development Fund awarded $19,387 to the museum
in support of the exhibition and its related programming.
Featuring period photographs, historic maps, postcards, paintings,
and architectural drawings, Commerce and Culture:
Architecture and Society on New London’s State Street documents and
interprets the architectural and social development of New
London’s major commercial avenue. This exhibition will
relate the specific details of New London architecture
to larger trends in American architecture and urbanism. As
in many other small American cities, New London’s downtown
is largely the product of a building boom that began in the
Victorian era and lasted — with some ups and downs — until
the Great Depression of the 1930s. During the postwar era,
when the suburban landscape was in full bloom, these downtowns
experienced little new building, although merchants engaged
in multiple cycles of modernization that transformed the ground-floor
facades of many historic buildings in an attempt to retain
customers who increasingly patronized new indoor shopping malls.
Commerce and Culture: Architecture and Society
on New London’s
State Street is predicated on the idea that we can “read” the
cultural landscape — vernacular structures, architect-designed
buildings, and everything in between — as a three-dimensional
textbook of social history. Instead of interpreting buildings
solely in light of the architect’s interests, the exhibition
and related programming consider the cultural aspirations and
institutional priorities that informed the physical evolution
of one particular—but in many respects typical—downtown
thoroughfare. It will also suggest the ways in which this cultural
landscape shaped the experiences of the people who lived and
worked, shopped and played there.
Commerce and Culture: Architecture and Society
on New London’s
State Street is not just an exhibition of architects’ drawings and
period photographs, although it includes wonderful examples
of both. It will offer a rich range of objects that speak to
the ways that New Londoners inhabited State Street and what
the street meant to them. The show is very much about local
involvement. Not only does it take the local community as its
subject matter, it is also very much dependent on local collections
and expertise. Ephemera from the permanent collection of the
Lyman Allyn will be on view along with a wide range of objects
borrowed from the New London Public Library, the New London
County Historical Society, Special Collections at Connecticut
College’s Shain Library and private collections.
The exhibition Commerce and Culture: Architecture
and Society on New London’s State Street is organized into six sections:
-
A Century of Change: An historical
overview of the physical evolution of State Street, highlighting
the
wholesale reorganization
of urban space that started in the middle of the 19th century
- The Parade: The area at the foot of
State Street that had once served as New London’s market square, but which became
the city’s transportation hub in the 19th century. As
such, its meaning and use were hotly contested.
- State and Main: Considers the commercial zone
that centered on the intersection of State and Main Streets
and documents
the 18th-century houses that were torn down to make way for
commercial development
- Upper State Street: Shaped by Victorian notions
about separate spheres for men and women, the men’s sphere
of commerce helped determine the character of the lower end
while upper
State Street was associated with the feminine sphere - domesticity,
culture, leisure, and nature.
- Captain’s Walk: A bold attempt to revitalize
State Street by transforming most of its length into a pedestrian
mall.
Installed in the 1973, Captain’s Walk is widely perceived
as having “killed” State Street.
- State Street Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: The
final section of the exhibition encourages visitors to contribute
their own
memories and perceptions of State Street,
as well as their hopes for its future
Commerce and Culture: Architecture and Society
on New London’s
State Street presents a full schedule of coordinating events
that will interest everyone. Family activities, walking tours
and a community symposium are just some of the highlights.
Related Programs
Lecture:
“
New Perspectives on the History of State Street’s Architecture,”
Thursday, October 20, 2005, 6:00 pm; Wine and cheese reception
at 5:00 pm
Guest Curator Abigail A. Van Slyck, Dayton Associate Professor
of Art History, Connecticut College. Reservations suggested:
$10 Non-members; $5 Members. Call 860.443.2545, x112.
First Sunday Free Family Day
Sunday, November 6, 2005, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Reverse Gallery Talk - 2:00 pm: Visitors to share their memories
Walking Tour of State Street - 3:00 pm. Meet at Union Station
Children’s art activities: Create a coloring book of
State Street; Go on a tricky scavenger hunt
Film: The Rescue of Mr. Richardson’s Last Station;
1:00 pm in the Auditorium
Symposium:
Looking Back to Move Forward: Understanding Downtown and its
Architecture in Historical Perspective
Saturday, November 12, 2005, 9:30 am – 4:00 pm. At
Weller Center, Mitchell College.
$25 non-members; $15 members; Free to the students, faculty
and staff of Mitchell College and Connecticut College. AIA
members continuing education credit available.
Co-sponsored by Mitchell College
Guided Walking Tours of State Street
Saturday, October 15 and Sunday, October 16, 2005
Saturday, November 5 and Sunday, November 6, 2005
Saturday, March 4 and Sunday, March 5, 2006
3:00 pm – Meet at Union Station First Sunday Free Family Day
Sunday, February 5, 2006, 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Reverse Gallery Talk - 2:00 pm. Visitors to share their memories.
Children’s art activities: Create unique 3-D monument
and scavenger hunt
Film: The Rescue of Mr. Richardson’s Last Station; 1:00
pm in the Auditorium
For more information about Commerce and Culture: Architecture
and Society on New London’s State Street or to receive
images, please contact: Susan Hendricks, Director of Public
Relations, at 860.443.2545 ext. 130, or e-mail to hendricks@lymanallyn.org.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the financial
support of The Connecticut Humanities Council (CHC), a statewide
non-profit institution that focuses its work on two time-honored
traditions in the humanities—reflective reading of literature
and exploration of history. CHC reading programs like Motheread
and Book Voyagers help parents and children strengthen family
bonds by reading together while encouraging children to become
lifelong, avid readers on their own. CHC heritage programs,
often conducted in partnership with state and regional cultural
organizations, fund exhibits, walking tours, cultural festivals,
and community humanities projects that explore Connecticut’s
amazingly diverse local heritage, as well as American and world
history. Each year, the CHC produces and funds nearly $1.8
million in cultural programming that enriches the lives of
over 600,000 state residents and visitors.
For more information about the Connecticut Humanities Council,
please call (860) 685-2260 or visit www.ctculture.org.
|
Nut
Collector Tashjian Back In The Spotlight
Her Work Is On Exhibit
At Lyman Allyn Museum
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|
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| Tim
Cook |
| Elizabeth
Tashjian talks to her fans at the
opening of a new exhibit of her work at
the Lyman Allyn Museum. |
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By KARIN
CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
Published on 2/14/2004
New London — Elizabeth Tashjian stands barely four
feet tall, her shoulders hunched, her gait slowed.
It would have taken great effort Friday for Tashjian, 91, to
circle the room in the Lyman Allyn Art Museum that houses her
artwork for an exhibit titled, “The Nut Museum: Visionary Art
of Elizabeth Tashjian.”
That didn't matter. Tashjian didn't have to circle.
The 350 people who visited the museum for an opening
reception flocked to her, pressing in for a closer look at the
woman who ran the Nut Museum out of her home in Old Lyme for
nearly 30 years. They stood on tiptoes at the back of the crowd
to get a peek and leaned in to catch snippets of Tashjian's
theories on life, art, nuts, and her crusade to escape a nursing
home.
It was Tashjian's first major public appearance in years,
coordinated by the museum's interim director, Christopher
Steiner. For many in attendance, it was an appearance they never
would have thought possible almost two years ago. Tashjian
collapsed at her home and was discovered by social workers May
2, 2002. She spent a month at Middlesex Hospital before being
transferred to the Gladeview Healthcare Center in Old Saybrook.
“I take this as a temporary pause,” Tashjian said of her
current living arrangement. “Rest assured, I take this as a
temporary pause.”
Tashjian fought unsuccessfully to return to the 17-room
mansion on Ferry Road where she had lived since 1950. A mountain
of debt and concerns about her health prevented her from
convincing the town's probate judge that she should return.
Tashjian now spends her days in what she describes as
“Studio 326,” a reference to her room number at Gladeview.
She happily reports that she has the room to herself.
It was Steiner who rescued Tashjian's artwork and famed nut
collection, convincing the town that it should go to Connecticut
College. The exhibit runs through June 6.
The show is a combination of Tashjian's serious artwork —
she studied at the National Academy of Design — and her
whimsical nut collection.
“My opinion as an art historian is that this is a
significant body of work,” said Steiner, who also teaches
museum studies at Connecticut College. “All across America we
have these quirky, odd museums that have become part of the
American landscape. If we take a serious look at it, we can
begin to see how her museum relates to the origins of museums,
which started as cabinets of curiosities.”
Friday's reception began at 5 p.m., and Tashjian was
scheduled to give a speech at 6. At 5:30, she began a tour
around the room with a couple of reporters, advancing just a few
feet into the room because she was too engrossed in storytelling
to focus on the artwork on the walls.
She flatly refused a chair offered to her. “No!” she
said, slightly irritated at the interruption. At 6, when Steiner
asked her to deliver her speech, she already considered her
lecture almost over. She reluctantly spoke into a microphone for
five minutes.
Soon after, Tashjian accepted a chair and entertained
visitors. They snapped photos, brought gifts and asked for her
autograph.
Mary Alapa of New London knelt in front of Tashjian and gave
her a small white box with a golden ribbon. Inside was a golden
acorn from the Florence Griswold Museum –– a tribute to the
days when Tashjian charged a one-nut admission to her museum.
“I just came to honor her,” said Alapa, who said she
first saw Tashjian when she appeared on “The Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson.”
Katarina Jaeger of Waterford told Tashjian how she and her
grown son had visited the nut museum regularly from the time he
was 10 years old. Jaeger said she was not sure Tashjian was even
alive before reading an article about her in The Day on
Thursday, and then knew immediately that she had to attend the
reception.
“I expected to see an older person,” Jaeger said, “But
then, why? She's always been an exception to the rule.”
k.crompton@theday.com 
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The Artist Of
The Nut
A New Exhibition Reveals The
Paintings Of ‘The Nut Lady'
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|
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| The Portrait
of a Nut Artist-- Lyman Allyn
spotlights paintings by 'Nut Lady'
Elizabeth Tashjian |
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| “Self-Portrait
in Red Hat,” 1948 |
|
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| A detail of
“Quote Me, Never Dwarf the Little
Man,” 1975. |
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By KATHLEEN
EDGECOMB
Day Staff Columnist, Arts
Published on 2/12/2004
Elizabeth Tashjian wants to do for nuts what Cezanne did for
apples.
That's the assessment of Lyman Allyn Art Museum interim
director Christopher Steiner, who has put together a new show at
the museum called “The Nut Museum: Visionary Art of Elizabeth
Tashjian.'' The exhibition opens Friday, and Tashjian will talk
about her art that day at 6 p.m.
The show follows Tashjian's journey from traditionally
trained visual artist to avant-garde performance artist.
“It's an incredibly interesting American story,'' says
Steiner, who rescued Tashjian's artwork and the contents of the
former Nut Museum in Old Lyme after Tashjian fell ill and went
to live in a nursing home in 2002.
Tashjian, now 91, studied art at the National Academy of
Design in New York City and had a studio in Carnegie Hall.
In 1938, she saw a human face in a Brazil nut. Her painting
“The Speaker'' foreshadows her obsession with nuts. In the
piece, a cracked nut with a human face inside sits atop a podium
and a glass of water waits nearby.
Tashjian moved to Old Lyme in 1950 and became active in the
Lyme Art Association. In 1972, opened the Nut Museum. She became
known as “The Nut Lady.” Her eccentric flair and unusual
subject matter made her a media celebrity, with appearances on
“The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,” among other shows.
The Lyman Allyn show features three rooms of Tashjian's art
and other paraphernalia, including a one-hour loop of her
appearances on TV and a re-creation of the dining room in her
Old Lyme home, complete with a table with special-ordered legs
shaped like nutcracker handles.
Some of her early works on view include “Self Portrait with
Red Hat,'' an oil painting done in 1940, and “Nutcracker
Suite” painted in 1937. “Nutcracker Suite” is a pleasant
still-life of nuts and nutcrackers engulfed in pretty Armenian
silk. She also painted still-lifes of nuts, nutcracker and nut
memorabilia. She painted nuts, she says, because they were
around the house.
She switched to acrylic paints and created pieces with more
vibrant colors, similar to “outsider art,'' according to
Steiner. “Outsider art'' generally describes works by artists
who have no formal training and a unique style.
“Anyone who knows art can't dismiss her as having no
talent,'' says Steiner. “There's a lot of complexity and a lot
of talent here. And she's very aware of what she's doing.''
Steiner, who retrieved from Tashjian's house 100 paintings, a
dozen sculptures and 50 files boxes of newspaper clippings and
notes, says that Tashjian made nut masks, which she hung in her
living room. She also created paintings to go along with a song
she wrote, “Nuts are Beautiful.''
“She is an original,'' Steiner says.
The opening reception for “The Nut Museum: Visionary Art
of Elizabeth Tashjian'' is from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Lyman
Allyn Art Museum, 625 William St., New London. The show runs
through June 6. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. and
1-5 p.m. Sunday. Call 443-2545.
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December 28, 2003,
Sunday
CONNECTICUT WEEKLY DESK
ART REVIEW; A Painter's Embrace Of Impressionism
By BENJAMIN GENOCCHIO
THE late Gregory and Anna Smith of Old Lyme had a modest art
collection. But it included many fine paintings and drawings by
the American Impressionist J. Alden Weir. Ms. Smith, it turns
out, was his granddaughter.
These works are on view at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New
London, which has been temporary custodian of the collection
while the Smiths's estate is being settled. Among these pieces
are some great portraits, as well as rarely seen watercolors and
pencil sketches, and even an unfinished portrait of Weir by John
Singer Sargent.
Weir (1852-1919) is commonly regarded as an Impressionist.
But it is a term he never cared for. Nor, at least initially,
did he care for Impressionism, reacting badly to the first
Impressionist exhibition in Paris in 1877. It was, he wrote at
the time, ''worse than a chamber of horrors,'' and he left after
a short interval ''with a headache.''
Weir began to paint in an Impressionist style around 1890. By
then he was back in the United States, dividing his time between
New York City, where he taught painting, and his rural home and
studio in Wilton. The property, known as Weir Farm, is now a
national historic site. Life in Wilton inspired much of his art,
including finely executed portraits of his daughter Caroline and
his two wives, Anna, and, after her death during childbirth, her
sister Ella.
Portraiture accounts for the most substantial works here.
Among them is ''Portrait of Caro'' (1887), a life-sized portrait
of the 3-year-old Caroline in a frilly white dress holding an
orange. It is an odd painting, as much for the uncertain
expression on the child's face as for its murky mixture of
17th-century Spanish and Dutch influences. But there are some
beautiful passages of painting, especially around the dress.
It is curious to contrast ''Portrait of Caro'' with a
portrait of Ella, hanging on the wall opposite. Probably painted
around 1894 (they were married in 1893), ''Portrait of Ella''
(no date) is completely different. First, it is set outdoors,
suggesting that Weir had begun to work en plein air. The palette
is lighter and it is not as finely finished. Weir, it seems, had
finally come around to Impressionism.
The most memorable painting in the show, however, is
''Against the Window'' (1884). It shows his wife Anna, dressed
in black and sitting against a window, a New York skyline in the
distance. On the windowsill is a glass filled with flowers, both
beautifully painted. Everything is lovely, and yet Anna's
expression is weary, even pained. Something is not quite right,
and I think I know what. Anna is pregnant with Caroline.
''J. Alden Weir: Selections from a Private Collection'' is at
the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams Street, New London,
through Jan. 18. Information: (860)443-2545.
Published: 12 - 28 - 2003 , Late Edition - Final , Section
14CN , Column 1 , Page 11
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