Examining New England farm art at Gunn library

WASHINGTON — David D.J. Rau, Director of Education & Outreach at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, will present Of Bohemians and Bovines: Florence Griswold Museum and “The Art of the New England Farm.” This program will take place on July 19, at 6:30 p.m. at Gunn Memorial Library in Washington, said a news release from organizers.

Rau’s presentation will highlight the current exhibition on display at the museum. Drawing on the agricultural heritage of Florence Griswold’s family estate and of the Lyme region and beyond, the exhibition examines the history and character of New England’s farms in works by artists from the 19th to the 21st century.

Paintings, drawings, and photographs from public and private collections trace the challenges of farming in New England, with its rocky soil, and the pastoral landscapes crafted through intense labor. Landscapes by George Henry Durrie receive special attention as influential representations that translated the New England farmstead into an American icon in the mid-nineteenth century. Works by Ivan Olinsky, Thomas Nason, Martin Lewis, and Walker Evans map the transformation and decline of the New England farm into the 20th century with the pressures of urbanization and suburbanization. The more recent revival of farming, with the enthusiasm for organic produce and farm-to-table cooking, round out the exhibition.

Rau’s presentation will also give a panoramic view of the Florence Griswold Museum, its mission and the broad array of educational programming.

David Rau has been the Director of Education & Outreach at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme since 1998. Most recently, Rau played a key role in the reinterpretation of the Griswold House as a boardinghouse for the Lyme Art Colony as well as the Museum’s new triad of on-line learning resources. Since his arrival at the Florence Griswold Museum, Rau has initiated a broad array of new educational programming at the Museum, including the Wee Faerie Village, Scarecrows at the Museum,, Of Feathers and Fairy Tales: Enchanted Birdhouses, and is currently working on Lettersburg Junction: Faerie Homesteads from A-Z and 1, 2, 3, another creative outdoor event for the fall of 2018. Rau holds a Master’s degree in the History of Art and a Certificate in Museum Practice from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Rau has held positions at Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; and The Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire. He also currently teaches in the Museum Studies program at Connecticut College.

This program is free and open to the public but registration is requested.

Please call 860-8687586 for further information or visit www.gunnlibrary.org. The Gunn Memorial Library is located at 5 Wykeham Road at Route 47 on the Green, in Washington.

Gunn Memorial Library / Contributed photo One of the examples of New England farm art to be discussed at a talk at Gunn Memorial Library.