Lyme Academy of Fine Arts

Last updated
The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts
Lyme Academy logo.png
TypePrivate Art School
Established1976
Academic staff
Jordan Sokol & Amaya Gurpide, Artistic Directors
Students35 full-time (Winter 2024)
Location,
U.S.
Campus4 acres (1.6 ha)
Nickname Lyme Academy
Website www.lymeacademy.edu

The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is an art school in Old Lyme, Connecticut. The mission of the Academy is to teach the foundational skills of drawing, painting, and sculpture in the figurative tradition. By its commitment to training students in these skills and an engagement with contemporary discourse, the Academy will empower a new generation of artists. Through its programs, the Academy is committed to enriching the cultural life of the community.

Contents

History

The Lyme Academy was founded in 1976 by Elisabeth Gordon Chandler as a figurative academy for the teaching of sculpture, figure drawing, Illustration and painting dedicated to the fine arts. [1] The school offered a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the disciplines of painting, sculpture, illustration and drawing, as well as post-baccalaureate and a three-year certificate programs.

1992-2019

BFA degrees were first awarded in 1992, and between 2014 and 2019 the academy was affiliated with the University of New Haven. [2] Under that agreement, Lyme kept ownership of the campus and its own Board of Trustees; New Haven acquired the academic degree programs. [3] The business plan underlying that cooperation was that 200 students would enroll at the academy, a goal that was never reached; according the Michael Thomas Duffy, chair of the academy's board in 2021, the academy enrolled about 120 students at most. [2] In 2019, "the University of New Haven discontinued degree-granting academic offerings". [4] New Haven president Steven H. Kaplan said that at the time the affiliation with Lyme Academy would add a fine arts degree to the university, but the academy struggled to get enrollment figures up (with 139 students for the fall of 2017, and 122 in August 2018) [3]

Since 2019

After a few difficult years, the academy hired new staff and a new artistic director Jordan Sokol, and saw about 120 students enroll for the summer term of 2021. At the time it had a budget of $1.657 million. [5] The board planned to return to the earlier goals of the academy and adopted a manifesto for its reboot, including "adhering to the philosophy of Chandler, who believed artists needed to learn the fundamentals of figurative art ... in small classes with a high teacher to student ratio." They hoped to enroll 10 full-time students in the fall of 2021, and possibly 15 in the spring of 2022. Tuition for full-time core students was set at $9,600 per year. In addition, the academy planned to offer perhaps two dozen workshops annually, as well as four weekly part-time classes. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Lyme, Connecticut</span> Town in Connecticut, United States

Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, bounded on the west by the Connecticut River, on the south by the Long Island Sound, on the east by the town of East Lyme, and on the north by the town of Lyme. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of New Haven</span> Private university in West Haven, Connecticut, US

The University of New Haven (UNH) is a private university in West Haven, Connecticut. Between its main campus in West Haven and its graduate school campus in Orange, Connecticut, the university grounds cover about 122 acres of land. The university also operates a satellite campus in Prato, Italy. The university is a member of the Northeast-10 Conference and its mascot is a charger, a medieval war horse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Alden Weir</span> American painter (1852–1919)

Julian Alden Weir was an American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony near Greenwich, Connecticut. Weir was also one of the founding members of "The Ten", a loosely allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a stylistically unified group.

The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer a major in comic art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts</span> Museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the first and oldest art museum and art school in the United States.

Philip Martin Pearlstein was an American painter best known for Modernist Realist nudes. Cited by critics as the preeminent figure painter of the 1960s to 2000s, he led a revival in realist art.

Edmund William Greacen (1876–1949) was an American Impressionist painter. His active career extended from 1905 to 1935, during which he created many colorful works in oil on canvas and board. One of his works, a reproduction of which is at the Smithsonian Institution, was awarded the Salmagundi Club's Samuel T. Shaw Prize in 1922. In addition to his work as an artist, Greacen also founded, ran and taught in New York City's Grand Central School of Art for more than 20 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank DuMond</span> American painter

Frank Vincent DuMond was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teacher who instructed thousands of art students throughout a career spanning over fifty years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale School of Art</span> Art school in New Haven, Connecticut

The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painting/printmaking, photography, or sculpture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy C. Wiggins</span> American painter

Guy Carleton Wiggins NA was an American impressionist painter. He was the president of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, and a member of the Old Lyme Art Colony. He did many paintings of New York City's snowy streets, landmarks and towering skyscrapers during winter.

Elisabeth Gordon Chandler was an American sculptor and educator, and the founder of the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuel Neri</span> American sculptor (1930–2021)

Manuel John Neri Jr. was an American sculptor who is recognized for his life-size figurative sculptures in plaster, bronze, and marble. In Neri's work with the figure, he conveys an emotional inner state that is revealed through body language and gesture. Since 1965 his studio was in Benicia, California; in 1981 he purchased a studio in Carrara, Italy, for working in marble. Over four decades, beginning in the early 1970s, Neri worked primarily with the same model, Mary Julia Klimenko, creating drawings and sculptures that merge contemporary concerns with Modernist sculptural forms.

Harvey Dinnerstein was an American figurative artist and educator. A draftsman and painter in the realistic tradition, his work included genre paintings, contemporary narratives, complex figurative compositions, portraits, and intimate images of his family and friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classical Realism</span> 20-21st century artistic movement that values skill and beauty

Classical Realism is an artistic movement in the late-20th and early 21st century in which drawing and painting place a high value upon skill and beauty, combining elements of 19th-century neoclassicism and realism.

Deane Galloway Keller was an American artist, academic and author. Keller was a draftsman, painter, sculptor, and teacher who instructed students in the visual arts for forty years, most notably in figure drawing and the artistic application of human anatomy. He is credited with explaining that "drawing offers a unique record of an encounter with a culture, of experience transformed from fleeting moment to lasting resonance."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy of Fine Arts, Prague</span> Art college in Prague, Czech Republic

The Academy of Fine Arts, Prague is an art college in Prague, Czech Republic. Founded in 1799, it is the oldest art college in the country. The school offers twelve master's degree programs and one doctoral program.

Susanna J. Coffey is an American artist and educator. She is the F. H. Sellers Professor in Painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and lives and works in New York City. She was elected a member the National Academy of Design in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Weiss (artist)</span> American painter

Jerry Weiss is an American figurative, landscape, and portrait painter and a writer. He studied classical drawing, and his career has centered on both the figure, and landscape. He says he is "intrigued by the portrait and figure as a most sacred subject."

Lennart Anderson was an American painter. His work has been featured at several major museums, including his first major show at the Delaware Art Museum in 1992. He taught on the art faculties of several universities, including Brooklyn College, the Pratt Institute, Yale University, Princeton University, and Columbia University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyme Art Association</span> Art organization in Old Lyme, Connecticut, USA

Lyme Art Association (LAA) is a nonprofit art organization established in 1914, with roots going back to 1902. The LAA maintains a historic art gallery located at 90 Lyme Street in the Old Lyme Historic District, Old Lyme, Connecticut. The gallery was built in 1921 to a design prepared by the architect and artist Charles A. Platt. The association holds exhibitions throughout the year, featuring the work of member artists as well as visiting ones, with an emphasis on representational art The building has a north-light studio, where the association conducts classes year-round.

References

  1. Lampos, Jim; Pearson, Michaelle (2020). Hidden History of Old Lyme, Lyme & East Lyme Hidden History. Arcadia. p. 80. ISBN   9781467143400.
  2. 1 2 Hewitt, Cate (February 9, 2021). "Lyme Academy of Fine Arts Hires Leadership, Plans to Welcome New Class in Fall". Connecticut Examiner . Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Seltzer, Rick (August 15, 2018). "New Haven Ending Programs at Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts". Chronicle of Higher Education . Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  4. "Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts". University of New Haven . Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Hewitt, Cate (July 5, 2021). "Lyme Academy of Fine Arts Gets Back to its Roots, Offers New Classes". Connecticut Examiner . Retrieved July 11, 2022.