Insider Perspective

  • A New View of Olana

    Published On: April 21, 2016

    “Because I have always enjoyed the juxtaposition of architecture and landscape, I see Olana’s carriage roads as architecture. They function the way the windows in Olana’s house do by arranging your position and relationship to the landscape. What is revealed from each window or turn in the road — the window framing, the road...Read More

  • A Taste of History

    Published On: April 7, 2016

    Elizabeth Schanz, Education Coordinator with Valerie Balint, Associate Curator “We have delicious things all out of our own gardens . . . and wonderful floating islands and such with Mexican dulces with odd names, forms of guava and nougat.” Guest and author Susan Hale writing from Olana, 1884 We are what we eat. Cliché...Read More

  • Olana’s Best Friends

    Published On: March 24, 2016

    By Paul Banks, Interpretive Program Assistant Photo by Amy Hufnagel Did you take a tour of the house at Olana last year? If so, you’re in good company. Last year nearly 28,000 people toured the house. That’s rather impressive when you consider that’s roughly equal to all the other tours given by New...Read More

  • With a Little Help From Our Friends: Olana’s National Advisory Committee

    Published On: February 25, 2016

    By Sean Sawyer, Washburn and Susan Oberwager President Members of The Olana Partnership Board and National Advisory Committee gather for lunch on Olana’s Ridge Road in May 2015. It’s great to have good friends, especially when they are brilliant, worldly, and well-placed AND willing to share their experience and expertise freely. Olana has...Read More

  • Teaching AWE and WONDER

    Published On: February 11, 2016

    Amy Hufnagel, Director of Education “Thank you for showing us Frederic Church’s estate Olana. I liked it when Mark showed us the stone wall and what it looked like before it was fixed. Ms. Amy I really liked the house tour, Church’s art, the views, and the activity when we got to make a...Read More

  • Blooms in the Rooms

    Published On: January 14, 2016

    Valerie Balint, Associate Curator Visitors who venture in from the grey and cold for a house tour during these winter months are greeted by the warmth and cheer of a large variety of replica floral arrangements on display throughout the furnished interiors— a touchstone back to the lush, vibrant and fragrant landscape which lies...Read More

  • Frederic Church: Collector and Shopper

    Published On: December 10, 2015

    Rachel Tice, Manager, The Olana Museum Shop “I took Mrs. C. to New York on Tuesday . . . I bought some Persian brass work two rugs a three-tined spear, Persian, an Arabian coffee pot, an Arabian Table, a piece of Persian Embroidery, a Persian Battle Axe, a silk Turban, a Moorish plate, et...Read More

  • A YEAR IN PICTURES: The Transformation of Olana’s Landscape in 2015

    Published On: December 1, 2015

    Mark Prezorski, Landscape Curator It’s rare that construction for an Olana landscape restoration project fits so perfectly within one calendar year, but Olana’s Main House Environs project demonstrates what a difference 12 short months can make. The Olana Partnership had been awarded a $343,000 New York State Environmental Protection fund grant for this project, and...Read More

  • Celebrating Olana’s Genii at a Gala Evening in the City

    Published On: November 11, 2015

    Sean E. Sawyer, Ph.D., Washburn and Susan Oberwager President, The Olana Partnership Next Tuesday evening, November 17, The Olana Partnership will host the Frederic E. Church Award Gala at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. This event has been a year in the planning and requires an extraordinary amount of my time and that...Read More

  • Proof that Church’s “Moon in Crepuscular Rays” Actually Was Done From Olana Hill, And Is a Record Setting Sighting of an Old Moon

    Published On: October 21, 2015

    Amy Hufnagel, Director of Education What does that title mean? If you are unsure, like me, then here is an insider view of how I learned more about Frederic Church’s 1866 moon sketches, paintings, old moons, and Crepuscular Rays with the help of my colleagues and the general public! Few celestial sights are as arresting...Read More

  • Following in Frederic’s Footsteps

    Published On: October 7, 2015

    Kimberly Flook, Historic Site Manager, Olana State Historic Site When I joined as the new director, I had no questions about the artistry of Olana, but my major interests were focused on the less obvious aspects and objects of the site. Trained as a Mesoamerican archaeologist, it was the Aztec and Toltec figures in the...Read More

  • Jervis McEntee and Church–Reflections on a Forty-Year Friendship

    Published On: September 24, 2015

    Valerie Balint, Associate Curator Napoleon Sarony, Jervis McEntee ((1828-1891), c. 1867, albumen silver print, The Century Association, New York This year Hudson River School devotees have the pleasure of attending two retrospective exhibitions about Rondout/Kingston native Jervis McEntee (1828-1891)—Jervis McEntee: Kingston’s Hudson River School Artist (Friends of Historic Kingston) and Jervis McEntee:...Read More