Lee F. Dadalt

During a lifetime of creating artworks across a variety of media, Lee Francis Dadalt always remained true to his philosophy that art - both in the creative process and the completed works - should be fun. An art teacher in the Lyme-Old Lyme school district for more than 30 years, he looked forward to inspiring and encouraging young artists as he lived his classroom philosophy and led by example.

Dadalt found endless inspiration for his artwork in the shoreline scenery of southeastern Connecticut, where he lived and worked throughout his life, creating works ranging from luminescent landscapes to color-drenched still lifes. In addition, he also completed a wide variety of whimsical works. While his favorite medium was watercolor, he also created brilliant and inviting pieces in a vast spectrum of media ranging from pencil and acrylic to oil and tempera wash, the latter of which he called “a dying, lost art.” He also composed and completed etchings, woodcuts, sculptures. posters, pottery, screen prints and lithographs.

One reason he created art across this wide spectrum of media is because he wanted to show his students a myriad of ways they could find their own artistic voices.

As a teacher, Dadalt was playful and fun in the classroom. He did not like to discipline students or give them poor grades – even if they earned those grades – because he did not want to discourage them from their creative pursuits. He instead strove to inspire and encourage their budding talents. 

Lee was born in Stonington Borough in 1948.  When he was just five years old, his family moved to Ocean View Ave in Mystic where he attended local Groton schools and graduated from Fitch Senior High School in 1966.  He studied at Mitchell College in New London before heading to the University of Hartford’s Hartford Art School, where he completed a bachelor’s of fine arts degree in 1972. In 1978, he earned a master’s degree from Wesleyan University in Middletown. 

He began teaching art in 1973 in the Lyme-Old Lyme Public Schools, where he remained for his entire teaching career. He taught high school students until 1978, then was a middle school art teacher in the system until he retired in 2003. He was intensely proud of the many students he helped inspire to further their art educations and pursue careers in the arts.

Dadalt’s work was long beloved by the public who viewed it at the many local and state art shows in which he participated and was acclaimed by judges who oversaw the juried exhibitions in which his works were displayed. Dadalt shunned public sales of his art, however. Instead, he felt such a close affinity to each creation that he kept most in his private collection, or gifted individual pieces to family members and friends. 

Dadalt retired from teaching after 31 years in 2003. He died in 2007 at his home in Mystic, surrounded by the scenes that inspired him professionally throughout his lifetime.