Donor Doubles Down on Lyme Academy with $1M Endowed Chair

Plaster casts in the Chandler Sculpture Studio at The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts (Photo: Lyme Academy of Fine Arts)

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OLD LYME — A benefactor and former student of Lyme Academy of Fine Arts has established her second endowed chair at the school — this one for instruction in sculpture.

With a $1 million personal donation, the donor has established the Charlotte Colby Danly Sculpture Chair in her name for education in figurative sculpture.

Danly studied at Lyme Academy in 1988 with sculptors Elisabeth Gordon Chandler, the founder of the school, and her husband, Laci de Gerenday.

“The time that I spent with the founders of Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in the sculpture program was transformative for me, personally and creatively,” Danly said in a release. “It is with great pride and appreciation for Lyme Academy that I endow a new sculpture chair, in my name, that will allow the academy to continue to help others learn to sculpt in the figurative tradition.”

In 2001, Danly endowed the academy’s first chair, the Deane G. Keller Chair in Classical Drawing and Figurative Art, which supports the school’s co-artistic directors Jordan Sokol and Amaya Gurpide.

“As with drawing and painting, Lyme Academy is committed to building the leading figurative sculpture program in the United States,” said Sokol in a release. “Sculpture is a part of Lyme Academy’s DNA – our campus was literally built by and for it.”

Danly joined the school’s board of trustees in 1999 and was appointed as trustee emeritus in 2021. She resided in Lyme for 30 years and now lives out of state.

“Charlotte came to the Academy to study sculpture as an act of personal transformation when she was at a crossroads in her life. The gift that she has made will ensure that others can follow her path in what promises to be the country’s premier sculpture program,” said Michael Duffy, chair of the board of trustees, in a release.

The school is currently calling for applications for the new position. For more information, visit lymeacademy.edu/opportunities.