Lyme Academy’s Alumni Exhibition showcases cultivated talent
While walking along the grounds of the Lyme Academy College of Fine Art last week, campus dean Todd Jokl explains that one the school’s goals is to inspire a lifelong dedication to art in its students.
“Very few people, even those who are very talented, have the opportunity to live solely off their artwork,” Jokl says. “Though most who graduate from here will go on to pursue careers in the creative economy, we are trying to push for our students to understand that the power of their education extends beyond the arts. But we also hope to inspire our students to engage in a lifelong practice as well.”
The materialization of that very inspiration is currently on display in the college’s “2017 Juried Alumni Exhibition” through a wide variety of artistic mediums ranging from pastel drawings and hot wax paintings to sculpture and watercolor.
The exhibit also highlights the individual talents of each artist — talents that were cultivated in the school’s four-year BFA program.
For example, a sculpture by Stephen Saxenian, with its draping layers of bronze in a depiction of a newborn horse, portrays a sort of raw, intuitive creative process that one can guess was honed while at the college.
“This is sort of typical of what’s expected from a sculpture student at the college,” Jokl says, while looking at Saxenian’s piece.
“For me, and for Lyme Academy College, it would be a tremendous travesty if our students had an idea that they wanted to create with their artwork but weren’t able to execute on it because their abilities weren’t there. So we have a saying: ‘Draw what you see so you can create what you imagine.’”
Jokl explains the traditional training that each student receives in the school’s BFA program, one that places much emphasis on mastering the techniques to draw, paint and sculpt accurately from real life.
“We take a high focus on teaching them representational techniques in their first two years,” he says. “Our curriculum and our college really feel that it’s crucial for our students to understand how to paint, draw and sculpt, so they can make and create what they imagine. There is a lot of value in learning how to create art, so when you move forward into conceptual ideas, it’s informed by a certain understanding of the field.”
Jokl points out a portrait of young man sitting on a porch, depicted with swirling brushstrokes, by Misty Morrison, as one example.
“It is quite striking that (this piece) has a different effect from when you are 15 feet away compared to when you are up close,” Jokl says, taking some steps back to see the work from a different perspective. “When you are up close, the brush strokes are very abstracted. I like that micro macro experience with this, it’s really remarkable.”
Jokl also remarked on a bluehued abstract painting titled “A Little Mischief at the Dance” by Lynn Frink.
“Here is a wonderful example of when something normal becomes extracted. We have a table and these sort of wine glasses in the middle,” Jokl says, pointing to the images that are nearly unrecognizable but somehow striking. “(This piece) represents this formal mastery of color and this balance that takes place even though there isn’t symmetry. You get a great idea for balance just by the weighting and saturation of the various colors that (the artist) is using.”
“There is so much work in this exhibit, and it is widely varied, which I appreciate,” he continues. “I’m really very impressed this year.”
“2017 Juried Alumni Exhibition,” through Jan. 20, Lyme Academy College of Fine Art, 84 Lyme St., Old Lyme; 10 a.m.-4
p.m. Mon.-Sat.; closed New Year’s Day; admission is free; (860) 434-5232, www.lymeacademy.edu.