Lydia Breed & Friends
ART EXHIBIT • OPENS SEPTEMBER 27
Celebrate Lydia Newhall Breed (1925–2019), beloved North Shore artist and founding member of The Boston Printmakers, in a mixed-media exhibit at UUCGL.
Running Sept. 27–Oct. 30, the show features Lydia’s prints and sculptures displayed alongside works by local artists exploring five themes: trees and forests, the sea, the inner light, nature, and social justice.
Opening Reception:
September 27, 4:30-6:30pm
Refreshments will be served
Public Hours (no admission charge):
October 4, 3-5pm
October 13, 6-8pm
October 18, 4-6pm
101 Forest Avenue | Swampscott, MA
About Lydia Breed
ARTIST AND COMMUNITY FIGURE
Lydia Newhall Breed (1925–2019) was a Lynn-born, Swampscott-based artist whose work spanned printmaking, illustration, and sculpture. She was a founding member of the Boston Printmakers in 1947, alongside senior students and faculty from the Massachusetts College of Art and the Boston Museum School. Her career included teaching in the Boston school system, illustrating children’s books, and traveling to Japan to study advanced woodcut techniques.
Breed’s art reflected the Boston Figurative Expressionist style of the 1940s–50s, blending subject matter with expressive abstraction. She created landscapes, religious scenes, and works of activism, often with a distinctive, “sparkling” quality that conveyed emotion and tension. Her woodcuts, such as Motif #2 Rockport (1958) and Neptune (1959), are part of the Boston Public Library Print Collection.
Beyond her art, Breed was a fifth-generation member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn, contributing as an educator and artist, with her sculptures and prints featured in the church building. She was active in the Lynn Historical Society, the Friends of Lynn Woods, and the Marblehead Arts Association, and volunteered at the Lynn Museum & Historical Society.
Her family heritage was deeply tied to Lynn’s history — the Breed family settled there in 1630, and the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on Breed’s Hill in 1775. She took pride in her lineage and community roots, often incorporating historical and local themes into her work.
Lydia Newhall Breed passed away on December 28, 2019, at age 94, after a long illness. Her legacy endures through her art collections and the cultural exhibitions that celebrate her contributions.