Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Alumni Exhibition

 Gaelyn by Tom Root

An Opening Reception for the 2013 Alumni Exhibition kicks off the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts Alumni Reunion weekend on Friday, Sept. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m.  All are welcome and refreshments will be served.  The exhibition will be on view in the College’s Chauncey Stillman and Sill House Galleries through Saturday, Sept. 28, Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.


The College welcomes back many of its alumni for the Reunion and Exhibition.  More than 85 alumni are participating in the exhibition ranging from 2012 BFA graduates to artists who studied at the College when it was still an Academy in the 70s and 80s.  Ann de Selding, Director of Alumni and Volunteer Relations, comments, “This exhibition celebrates the foundation skills our alumni mastered here while recognizing the individual paths they‚ve since taken.”  She continues, “Submissions are accepted from all media, not simply the College‚s four majors of Painting, Sculpture, Illustration, and Drawing.  The exhibition is a real snapshot of where our artists are now, in part because they once studied here.”  Although a majority of works in the exhibition are paintings, other media are represented as well, including sculpture, prints, drawing, mixed media, and fiber art.


The 2013 Alumni Exhibition reveals the variety of contrasting career paths students take after graduating from the College.  Professional quilt artist, Barbara Barrick McKie resides in Lyme, Conn. in the solar home she designed and built.  Although McKie has had many careers throughout her life including research microbiologist, bridal gown designer/manufacturer, and personal computer consultant, over the past 15 years she has focused on fiber art and jewelry.  Her art quilts and wearable art have been juried into many national and international quilt and art quilt shows, receiving many awards and honors while her works have been shown in museums, galleries and universities throughout the country.  McKie studied at the College from 1996-98, when it was still an Academy.


Alumnus Ronnie Rysz is now a prosthetic artist traveling across the continental U.S. to create custom silicone prosthetics for civilians and soldiers alike.  After receiving his BFA in Painting from the College in 2006, Rysz initially taught block printing, intaglio and lithography.  His work has been exhibited extensively in Connecticut, and received numerous awards including a Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism grant and a full fellowship from Vermont Studio Center.  Rysz continues to make art and his work is featured in several public and private collections.  He currently lives and works in New Haven, Conn.


Alumna Sherrie Parenteau, who obtained a BFA in Painting in 2009, is currently helping urban youth become successful adults as a creative arts instructor at ‘Our Piece of the Pie,’ a youth development agency in Norwich, Conn.  In addition, Parenteau teaches painting and clay building classes for students with special needs at her Creative Arts Studio.  A busy woman, she is not only President of Connecticut Women Artists Inc., an organization that provides a forum for women‚s artwork while emphasizing the importance of art in today’s society, but also a public school art teacher in Plainfield, Conn
For more information about the 2013 Alumni Exhibition or Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, contact Olwen Logan, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, at 860-434-3571, ext. 135 or ologan@lymeacademy.edu.