Olana’s Free Community Day at Olana State Historic Site, the Third Thursday of every month, organized by The Olana Partnership.

Día Comunitario Gratuito al Sitio Estatal Histórico Olana cada tercer jueves del mes, organizado por La Asociación Olana.

Spend your evening looking up at the cosmos in the spirit of Frederic Church’s celestial-inspired paintings! During this free, drop-in program, learn more about the night sky and when viewable planets and deep-sky objects are visible from Olana State Historic Site. Members of the Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association will project real-time astro-images of galaxies and nebulae inside while Saturn, Jupiter, and other objects will be visible with the aid of additional powerful telescopes outdoors. Special star-tours will be held at 7 PM and 9 PM, where an expert guide will point out the evening’s visible constellations.

This program is offered in conjunction with A Closer Look. Light refreshments will be served. FREE; drop-in anytime during the duration of the program. Pre-registration is encouraged to ensure up to date info on viewing conditions. Rain and/or cloud date will be on Saturday, November 23.

Join The Olana Partnership educators for hands-on artmaking using professional materials and a series of prompts to get your creativity flowing.  

Drop in program; FREE. All materials provided. All ages welcome. Located in the Wagon House Education Center.

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Celebrate the New Year with expansive views and your best friend! Channel 19th century artist Frederic Church’s taste for exploration during a special pup-friendly hike of the winter landscape at Olana State Historic Site. Explore Olana’s 250-acres with your furry friend in tow. Please note, all dogs must be kept on a leash during their time at Olana and the site is a carry in carry out facility.

The walk begins at the Wagon House Education Center at the historic farm complex at the bottom of the site and covers about 1 mile with an uphill portion; please wear weather-appropriate apparel and comfortable footwear. Check out other #DogsofOlana on our Instagram at @OlanaFredericChurch. Hot beverages (coffee, tea, and hot chocolate) and sketching materials will be provided in the Wagon House Education Center as part of our First Day Hike celebration. FREE, registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 751-6938.

Celebrate the New Year by exploring expansive views at Olana State Historic Site! Channel 19th century artist Frederic Church’s taste for exploration during this special hike of the winter landscape and explore Olana’s 250-acres.  Hot beverages (coffee, tea, and hot chocolate) and sketching materials will be provided in the Wagon House Education Center as part of our First Day Hike celebration.

Begins at the Wagon House Education Center at the historic farm complex at the bottom of the site and covers about 1 mile with an uphill portion; please wear weather-appropriate apparel and comfortable footwear. FREE, registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 751-6938.

Join experts for a series of dialogues on paintings from OLANA’s collection that are worth a closer look. During each gallery conversation, experts working in fields of science, art education, ecology, and indigenous history will share what they discover within a picture’s frame. This first talk will feature Avis Lang, former senior editor at Natural History magazine and coauthor with Neil deGrasse Tyson, for a conversation on what can be learned from examining Frederic Church’s sky paintings and expanding one’s vision upward.

Avis Lang is a former art history lecturer, essayist, and curator who produced the historic international exhibition Pork Roasts: 250 Feminist Cartoons (1981). She has spent decades recasting other people’s prose, most recently as a senior editor at Natural History magazine. She is the coauthor, with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, of Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military (2018). Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in various literary journals; a speculative tale by her and Tyson appeared in Orca (2021). A collection of her writings, Recast Rethink Reboot: Essays & Tales, is forthcoming in 2025.

Experience learning, looking closely, and conversation as a family during this series of special museum gallery tours at Olana State Historic Site. Each month, The Olana Partnership educators will lead an exploration of two to three works of art on the second floor galleries through family-friendly dialogue and other hands-on activities. After your tour, extend your day at OLANA and head down to the Wagon House Education Center for a free drop-in program, Art Making in the Afternoon from 1-4pm.

Designed for families with children ages 3 and up. $15 adults; children under 12 are free.

Join experts for a series of dialogues on paintings from OLANA’s collection that are worth a closer look. During this program, Dr. Rosanna Flouty will lead a discussion centered on two of Church’s Catskill paintings illuminating dynamics of territorial power. Using deep looking and a short, hands-on activity, participants will examine how Church’s works serve as lenses for interrogating colonial histories and the reclamation of landscape. This conversation will catalyze discussions on the power of land as a contested site of identity, ownership, and cultural memory.

Dr. Rosanna Flouty is the Director of the Program in Museum Studies at New York University. She has worked in and with museums for three decades, including at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. Her work and teaching lie at the intersection of museums, technology, and education.

Experience learning, looking closely, and conversation as a family during this series of special museum gallery tours at Olana State Historic Site. Each month, The Olana Partnership educators will lead an exploration of two to three works of art on the second floor galleries through family-friendly dialogue and other hands-on activities. After your tour, extend your day at OLANA and head down to the Wagon House Education Center for a free drop-in program, Art Making in the Afternoon from 1-4pm.

Designed for families with children ages 3 and up. $15 adults; children under 12 are free.

Join experts for a series of dialogues on paintings from OLANA’s collection that are worth a closer look. During each gallery conversation, experts working in fields of science, art education, ecology, and indigenous history will share what they discover within a picture’s frame. During this talk, Justin Wexler of Wild Hudson Valley will lead a discussion focusing on what we can learn by looking more closely at featured elements of cultural exchange. By investigating two works of art, this conversation will probe what we can learn about the relationship between 19th century outdoorsmen and Indigenous Peoples within the paintings’ frames.

Justin Wexler is a life-long resident of the Hudson Valley and has devoted his life to sharing his love for the natural world and for the region’s original inhabitants. He has studied regional Algonquian languages, history and folklore for over two decades, sharing discoveries with scholars and with tribal language departments. He has a BA in History and Anthropology from Marlboro College in Marlboro, VT; a Professional Certificate in Environmental Policy from Bard College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Bard College.

Experience learning, looking closely, and conversation as a family during this series of special museum gallery tours at Olana State Historic Site. Each month, The Olana Partnership educators will lead an exploration of two to three works of art on the second floor galleries through family-friendly dialogue and other hands-on activities. After your tour, extend your day at OLANA and head down to the Wagon House Education Center for a free drop-in program, Art Making in the Afternoon from 1-4pm.

Designed for families with children ages 3 and up. $15 adults; children under 12 are free.

Join experts for a series of dialogues on paintings from OLANA’s collection that are worth a closer look. During each gallery conversation, experts working in fields of science, art education, ecology, and indigenous history will share what they discover within a picture’s frame. Investigate Church’s intimate forest paintings with Marc Wolf, Director of Horticulture and Environmental Stewardship at Mountain Top Arboretum in the Catskills. During this conversation, Marc will explore Church’s ecological eye in three different forest scenes, illuminating the artist’s observations of humanity’s environmental impact.

Marc Wolf is Director of Horticulture and Environmental Stewardship at Mountain Top Arboretum in Tannersville, NY. Marc received his BA from Williams College, is a graduate of New York Botanical Garden’s School of Professional Horticulture and interned at Chanticleer Garden. Marc studied with the noted landscape architect Darrel Morrison and worked as his field assistant on projects at New York Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and for private clients. As a writer and performer working in theatre, film and television, Marc received OBIE and National Endowment for the Arts Awards, among others.

Get your binoculars ready for this special spring migration bird walk at Olana State Historic Site! Join the Alan Devoe Bird Club and The Olana Partnership on an exploration of Olana’s artist-designed landscape and learn more about visiting birds and the species that call this region home during the peak of spring migration. Open to birders of all levels. This program will take place in the landscape along Olana’s historic carriage roads.

FREE. Advanced registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

Image credit: Suzy Allman