Mystic Country, Connecticut

This fall marks the return of one of the most highly anticipated family events in recent years. The grounds and gardens of the Museum become a wondrous site for creativity through Wee Faerie Village: In the Land of Picture Making. Over 30 artists transform the Museum’s eleven acres into a magical land featuring faerie dwellings that represent subject matter found in landscape paintings, including trees, flowers, sunlight, and wind. Children will delight in the fun and whimsical creations while adults marvel at the creatively conceived and handcrafted works of art. The Museum will be open seven days a week to accommodate the public demand for this outdoor exhibition.

Like the original Wee Faerie Village, held to great acclaim in 2009, this year’s presentation features charming and imaginative faerie dwellings nestled allover the Museum’s riverfront campus. The faeries represent different aspects of nature – the hallmark of what the artists of the Lyme Art Colony came to paint. Visitors will be invited to imagine that the flower faeries, river faeries, tree faeries, and others inspired the artists to fill their landscape paintings with gardens, marshes, and forests. For example, Lori Lenz, an art teacher at Chester Elementary, and her son Edward chose to create a house for the faeries of light. “Natural light is an important component of Impressionist art,” states Lenz. “Sunny summer days inspired trips to the river to collect rocks, marsh grasses, and mosses to add the perfect bits of nature to our faeries' Manor House.”

Wee Faerie Village is generously supported by Don and Sue Joffray, The Platner Family Foundation, and an anonymous donor.