ONGOING

Capturing the Cosmos: Frederic Church Painting Humboldt’s Vision of Nature

May 15-October 30, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-4pm

Capturing the Cosmos, the 2016 exhibition in the Sharp Family Gallery, explores the influence of the great German Naturalist Alexander von Humboldt on Frederic Church.  Acclaimed and revered during his own lifetime, Humboldt is currently enjoying a renaissance due to the recent award-winning bio The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. Humboldt’s writings inspired Church’s South American adventures and the resulting masterpieces that made him internationally famous, and informed Church’s later trips to Germany’s Bavarian Lakes and Mexico.  Sketches, diaries and artifacts from these trips trace Church’s daring escapades to capture Humboldt’s Cosmos.  To book your tour visit: http://www.olana.org/book-a-tour/

Historic Landscape and Viewshed Tours

May 20-November 6

Tuesdays & Sundays: 11am and 1pm-Landscape Walking Tours

Fridays & Saturdays: 11am and 1pm-Landscape GEM Driving Tours

Daily/All Season: Download the self-guided audio tour app

The Olana Partnership will offer regular public tours of Olana’s 250-acre designed landscape as a parallel and complementary offering alongside tours of the main house.  The restoration of Frederic Church’s picturesque landscape and stewardship of its dramatic 360 degree views has been a primary focus of the Partnership’s work, and now, in Olana’s 50^th Anniversary year, visitors will have the opportunity to experience first-hand the full breadth of Church’s vision for Olana on hour-long tours by foot and electric vehicle.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Follies, Function & Form: Imagining Olana’s Summer House

August 14-November 13, Coachman’s House Gallery, Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm

The historic 1886 Plan of Olana is largely accurate, yet it contains one mystery: a structure labeled “Summer House”.  Summer houses were common in early American gardens and public landscapes, yet there is no documentary evidence about the style or form of this structure at Olana.  Designers will present summer house concept sketches in response to Olana. This exhibition is organized by The Olana Partnership, in collaboration with the New York Chapters of The American Institute of Architects (AIANY) and the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA-NY).   For more information visit www.olana.org.

OCTOBER

Free! The Art of Storytelling: Family Tours of Olana

Saturday, October 1, 10am, Free, Ages 5 and up. Space is limited/reservations required

Calling all families! This will not be a traditional house tour; instead storyteller Tom Lee engages with Olana’s collection to invent stories. Tom Lee works in museums all over the country including The MET, and heads artsVOYAGE, the arts-in-education program at Spencertown Academy.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Treetorial: Foliage Tour of Olana

Saturday, October 1, 3-5pm, Member $15, Non-Member: $20, All Ages

Frederic Church planted thousands of trees while living at Olana.  In the autumn months, the trees change into brilliant oranges, yellows, and reds. Join us on a hike with our Environmental Educator, Fran Martino, to learn all about these native and foreign species and learn why leaves change colors while strolling through our carriage roads.   For more information visit www.olana.org.

Preserving Olana: Stories from the Field

Sunday, October 2, 3-5pm, Free, Ages 10+

Learn about the series of steps NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Taconic Region has taken to protect Olana’s viewshed and restore our grounds. Guests are invited to join a landscape tour on our carriage roads guided by the leading officials of this vital work.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

5th Annual Plein Air Celebration

Friday, October 7 – Sunday, October 9

Reception: October 8, 4-6pm

Join us for Olana’s Fifth Annual Plein Air Celebration in collaboration with Columbia County Council of the Arts. Interact with competively selected artists on Friday-Saturday in Olana’s artist-designed landscape.  Join us Saturday night for a free meet the artist reception, impromptu exhibition, and artist awards along with the opening of Wayfinding: Image History with (Our)story. The event     concludes with a tent sale in downtown Hudson on Sunday from 11am-8pm.  Over the weekend Olana will also offer a number of participatory programs to encourage painting outdoors, landscape tours, and viewing artists at work.  Proceeds support education programs at Olana and the Columbia County Council on the Arts.  This event is free and open to all ages.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Artful Hike: 19^th Century Letters & Ballads

Saturday, October 8, 3-4:40pm; Member: $15, Non-Member: $20, All Ages

As you stroll along the roads designed by Frederic Church, contemplate his words and the words of his family and contemporaries. Artist and musician Brian Dewan does a dramatic reading of F.E. Church’s significant letters from Olana’s collection.  This tour is between 1 hour and 1.5 hours in length and will travel no more than 1 mile. What better way to learn than through primary sources in a stunning landscape?  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Wayfinding: Imaging History with (Our)story

Opening Reception with Plein Air Celebration: October 8, 5-7pm  

A Community Engagement Art Project by Dawn Breeze

This project is a socially engaged artwork attempting to bridge ancient history with the 21st century.  It does this through encouraging mass visitor artistry as individuals use their cell phones, tablets, and computers to upload their unique experiences with the natural environment at Olana. This project creates a participatory online gallery based on Olana’s geography. It is our hope that this visitor exhibit will provide a key and map to time and place, and where we have come from in relationship to landscapes and each other.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Frederic Church Award Gala

Thursday, October 13, 7pm

Metropolitan Club, NYC

The Olana Partnership’s 2016 Frederic Church Award Gala will be held on Thursday, October 13 at The Metropolitan Club in New York City. The Frederic Church Award, named after Olana’s creator and the preeminent American artist of the mid-19th century, recognizes outstanding accomplishment in American art, culture, and landscape design and environmental conservation. This year’s honorees are Washburn and Susan Oberwager and the cultural legacy of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller particularly his crucial role in saving Olana. Olana is celebrating its 50th anniversary season of the preservation and opening to the public of America’s most intact and important artist’s home, studio and designed landscape in 1966.  To learn more visit www.olana.org/gala

Art and Ecology: Frederic Church’s Olana: Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing by Jennifer Raab

Saturday, October 15, 3-5pm; Member: $10, Non-Member $15; Ages 12 and up

In designing his estate, Frederic Church turned to the physical environment, a move that allowed the artist to rethink scale and process while engaging with pressing ecological questions. Drawing from her new book, Frederic Church: The Art and Science of Detail, Jennifer Raab, Ph.D from Yale University, will offer a new understanding of this canonical American artist and his home.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Special Twilight Tour of Sharpe Family Gallery’s Capturing the Cosmos Exhibition with Dr. Raab and Olana’s Curators post lecture 5pm; Member: $40, Non-Member $60

In designing his estate, Frederic Church turned to the physical environment, a move that allowed the artist to rethink scale and process while engaging with pressing ecological questions. Drawing from her new book, Frederic Church: The Art and Science of Detail, Jennifer Raab, from Yale University, will offer a new understanding of this canonical American artist and his home.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Pathways to Prevention: Tips for Making Healthy Seasonal Meals from a CMH Nutritionist & Dietitian

Tuesday, October 18, 5:30pm, Free, All Ages

Discover seasonal superfoods that taste great and boost your immune system just as the cooler weather sets in. Join CMH clinical dietitian and nutritionist Sarah Thomsen-Ferreira, MS, RD, CDN, CNSC for a fun and educational presentation.  Participants will enjoy a 25-minute presentation and food demo in the Wagon House Education Center, followed by questions, answers, and conversation all along a short hike on Olana’s moderately easy walking trails.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Artful Hike: 19^th Century Letters & Ballads

Saturday, October 22, Member: $15, Non-Member: $20, All Ages

As you stroll along the roads designed by Frederic Church, contemplate his words and the words of his family and contemporaries. Artist and musician Brian Dewan does a dramatic reading of F.E. Church’s significant letters from Olana’s collection.  This tour is between 1 hour and 1.5 hours in length and will travel no more than about 1 mile. What better way to learn than through primary sources in a stunning landscape? For more information visit www.olana.org.

Art in the Morning for Preschoolers: Leafy Creatures

Wednesday, October 26, 10am-12pm drop-in anytime and stay as long as you wish, $5(adults free), Ages 3-5

Olana had great success with new programs for our littlest visitors last year and so have decided to add new programs for pre-school children and their caregivers. Come anytime within the two-hour block, and add a hike and a picnic lunch.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Late Afternoon/Twilight Horse drawn Carriage Rides

Friday October 28, 4-8pm (October 29 rain date) Every 30 minutes. $75 per couple; or groups of three or more at $25 per person. All Ages. Reservations encouraged.

Olana offers couples, or groups, carriage rides on the 19th century carriage roads. A stunning carriage and draft team saunter Frederic Church’s gravel roads bringing travelers to majestic views and stellar landscapes while the sun sets toward the Catskill Mountains. Meet the carriage 10 minutes before start time at the Olana Visitor Center entrance. For Olana’s 50th Anniversary, we are activating this traditional travel option on the site once a month. Maximum of 6 people.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Owleen Hike

Saturday, October 29, 7pm, Member: Free, Non-Member: $5, All Ages

Listen to a brief talk about owls and meet a live owl. Head out on the carriage drives to hear and try to spot an owl. Wear good walking shoes and bring a flashlight.  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Renowned Photographer Don Freeman “Styling Nature” Book Signing

Saturday, October 29, 3-5pm

The Olana Museum Store

The Olana Museum Store will host renown photographer Don Freeman for a book signing of his latest publication “Styling Nature: A Masterful Approach to Floral Arrangements.”  Freeman will give brief remarks and sign copies of this beautiful publication, the perfect gift just in time for the holidays. To learn more visit www.olana.org.

Sunday Art Studios: Decorative Windows

Sunday, October 30, 11am-1pm drop-in anytime and stay as long as you wish, Free, All Ages, Check online for locations

These Sunday morning programs are designed for local families, heritage and art tourists, and regular visitors who like to make art.  Projects take about 30 minutes and are fun for all ages.  Everyone leaves with a work of art!  For more information visit www.olana.org.

Olana Welcomes You All Year Long

May 15 – October 30: Tuesday – Sunday, first tour 10 am, last tour 4 pm (on weekends, last guided tour at 1pm; self-guided touring 2-4 pm)

October 31 – Winter 2017: Friday-Sunday, first tour 11 am, last tour 3 pm

Start your visit at Olana.org for details of house and landscape tours and our inspiring programs for all ages

Start your visit at www.olana.org for details of house and landscape tours and our inspiring programs for all ages.