Lyme Plein Air Painting Event Results in Two Summer Exhibitions

A Press Release From Lyme Land Conservation Trust

Art lovers who didn’t take in the exhibit of a collection of more than 50 fresh new paintings of Lyme’s landscape at the New London’s Lyman Allyn Art Museum will have another chance when it moves to the Lyme Art Association in Old Lyme.

The exhibition, “Celebrating Lyme’s Beauty” currently on display at the Lyman Allyn’s Glassenberg Gallery until June 30, moves in July to the Lyme Art Association, where it will be open to the public from July 6-Sept 1. There will be a special opening reception on Friday, July 12 from 6-8.

All the paintings in the exhibition were produced by artists who participated in the Annual Lyme Paintout on April 27, which is the result of a special partnership developed between three local organizations that all have strong ties to the landscapes of Southeastern Connecticut.

Every spring since 2011, the Lyme Land Trust has welcomed artists onto one of its preserves for a plein air “paint-out,” inspired by one of the landscape paintings in the Lyman Allyn Art Museum’s permanent collection.

The paint-out artists are then invited to enter their completed works into a juried competition. The winners’ works are displayed first at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, then at the Lyme Art Association, where some are offered for sale to the public.

The paintout idea originated three years ago as a way to link the Lyman Allyn’s Lyme Impressionist paintings with the real landscapes that inspired them a century ago. The project celebrates the region’s history as a mecca for artists, as well as Lyme Land Trust’s efforts to preserve these ecologically and culturally significant landscapes in perpetuity.

This year was the biggest ever for the “Celebrating Lyme’s Beauty” paint-out and exhibition.

The 2013 paint-out attracted dozens of artists from as far away as New Jersey and Massachusetts to paint scenes in Lyme’s Pleasant Valley, where a network of public lands (owned by the Town of Lyme, The Nature Conservancy, and the Lyme Land Trust) allows visitors to hike for miles through woodlands and meadows along the Eight Mile River and up Mount Archer.

Fifty-five artworks were selected by Lyman Allyn Curator Nancy Stula for this year’s exhibition to represent Lyme’s Pleasant Valley.

Please visit LymanAllyn.org, LymeArtAssociation.org, or LymeLandTrust.org for more information.