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Florence Griswold Museum appoints new Executive Director

The Trustees of the Florence Griswold Museum are pleased to announce that Joshua Campbell Torrance of Wethersfield, CT took the reins as Executive Director of the 75-year-old cultural institution as of February 6.⁠

Torrance brings over 22 years of experience as Executive Director to his post. Of his new position Torrance states, “I am honored that the search committee and board have placed their trust in me. The Florence Griswold Museum has a stellar reputation and an outstanding team. I am eager to continue the great progress that has been made over the years and help to advance the Museum’s next chapter.”⁠

Please help us welcome Joshua!

Joshua is eager to meet his new community, so he’s opening his door and breaking out the coffee cups every Wednesday in March and April from 10 to 11am. Find out more here…

Learn more about Joshua Campbell Torrance...

Dreams & Memories

On view October 1—May 14.

Dreams & Memories both manifest and generate ideas, perhaps no more powerfully than in art. This exhibition combines works of historic and contemporary art from the Museum’s permanent collection to explore the themes of dreams and memories as multidimensional drivers of artistic creativity and expressions of powerful forces in American society. Themes include reverie, nostalgia, the creative mind, identity formation, nightmares, and the surreal.

A full slate of exhibition-related programming is available on our Calendar.

Want to prepare for your visit or study exhibition texts in-depth? Take a Virtual Tour!

Learn more about the exhibition...

Garden Luncheon 2023

Save the date for this year’s Garden Luncheon! Tickets on sale soon.

The Museum’s annual Garden Luncheon is one of our most joyful and beloved events as we welcome spring with flowers, food, and fancy hats! Gather your friends and join us Friday, June 9, 2023 for a day of garden-centered delights – including a delectable lunch under the tent, a raffle to please every green thumb, and a dynamic speaker!

We’ll hear from historian Victoria Johnson whose book, American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, was a 2018 finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Ms. Johnson will share the intriguing backstory of the doctor who tended to both Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton after their infamous duel and then went on to found the new nation’s first public botanical garden and New York’s first museum of fine art.

Learn more about the event...

Current and Coming

by artist jackie sumell

Solitary Garden

The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme is collaborating with the New Orleans-based artist jackie sumell to install one of her “Solitary Garden” beds on our grounds, in conjunction with the exhibition Social & Solitary: Reflections on Art, Isolation, and Renewal. The Solitary Garden project comes to life through correspondence between a volunteer and a currently incarcerated “gardener.” Their letters articulate to the Museum what kinds of flowers or plants are grown in the garden bed. Each Solitary Garden is a gesture of hope connecting an isolated person to the outside world through the restorative act of nurturing plants.

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Multiple Sessions, all summer long

Art Camp Returns!

It's time to sign your camper up for a summer of creative fun! Multiple sessions for ages from Kindergarten up through Middle School, starting June 21.

Find your camp & sign up now...

Monthly

Art•Bar / Adult Crafting

Join Julie Garvin Riggs, Director of Youth Education & Outreach monthly for an evening of creativity, light fare, and libations All materials included.

Grab your tickets quickly — these popular events almost always sell out! A fun night out with friends or a perfect solo crafting adventure.

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Friends and Neighbors

Explore Old Lyme

You won’t find a more quaint and inviting arts district than Lyme Street in Old Lyme. Spend your day engaged in the American arts as you walk from the museum to our art galleries, wander through a sculpture garden of imagination, and stop by a coffeehouse where someone just might be strumming their guitar. A renowned Jazz Club joins other inspiring music venues and performance series across town, while special events celebrating the arts happen throughout the year.

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Collections

A New England Identity

Hartford Steam Boiler Collection

The paintings and sculptures in this exhibition are by artists who lived and worked in Connecticut from the late Colonial period to the early 20th century.

More Information

In Situ

The Painted Panels

During the first summers of the Lyme art colony the artists began to paint scenes on the door panels of the boardinghouse.

See the Collection

Race Into the Past

Fox Chase

One of the most celebrated works of art at the Florence Griswold Museum is the frieze-like painting titled The Fox Chase (1905) created by Henry Rankin Poore.

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Museum

Campus

Krieble Gallery

Begin your visit at the Krieble Gallery.

Visit the Gallery

Florence Griswold House

The Late Georgian mansion was transformed from a wealthy sea captain’s home into a boardinghouse for some of the most noted names in American Impressionism.

Visit the House

Gardens and Grounds

The Museum’s grounds invite exploration.

Visit the Grounds

Visit Us

History Blog

Documents: An Illuminated Letter from George Bruestle

Transcribed by Mell Scalzi and Amy Kurtz Lansing In 2019, the Lyme Historical Society Archives at the Florence Griswold Museum...

Read the History Blog