Programs + Events
A Hudson Valley Reckoning: A Conversation About the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in New York
Tuesday, February 11 | 12:00-1:00 PM
During this virtual conversation, author Debra Bruno will detail her experience unearthing her own family’s connection to an often overlooked and violent part of New York history. When Debra realized that her Dutch ancestors had been some of the most entrenched enslavers during 200 years of slavery in New York, she began the process of telling this story, resulting in a deeply personal and nuanced account of the ways America’s complicated history affects us all. During this program, she will be joined in conversation by Lisa Fludd-Smith of the African American Archive of Columbia County.
Debra Bruno is the author of A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family and a lifelong journalist, based in Washington, D.C. Lisa Fludd-Smith is the Deputy Executive Director of the African American Archive of Columbia County which was founded in 2021 to forge a deeper understanding of the lived historical experience of Black people in the Hudson Valley for the benefit of both their descendants and the world at large.
THIRD THURSDAY – Morning Mindfulness in the Gallery
Thursday, February 20 | 9:30-10:30 AM
Start your day looking mindfully at works of art in the Sharp Family Gallery. This hour-long morning session will be led by Shirin Mazdeyasna (MA, ATR-BC, LCAT), an Iranian artist and board certified and registered Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, and will include mindfulness practices to deepen your experience of the two artworks on view.
FREE as part of OLANA Third Thursday/Tercer Jueves in connection with A Closer Look. Day-of, please meet outside the front door of the historic house to check-in. Pre-registration is required. Please email education@olana.org to register. Space is limited.
THIRD THURSDAY – Drop-In Drawing with Pastels
Thursday, February 20 | 2:00-5:00 PM
Stop by the Wagon House Education Center for free drop-in drawing led by The Olana Partnership teaching artists and educators. Each session focuses on a different artist-quality art material! Use inspiration from your visit to Olana State Historic Site to create your own works of art.
All materials, refreshments, and drinks will be provided. FREE. Email education@olana.org for more information.
Family Tours: A Closer Look
Saturday, February 22 | 1:00-2:00 PM
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 1-4 PM.
Designed for families with children ages 3 and up. $15 adults; children under 16 are free. Advanced registration required. Please contact education@olana.org to learn more.
Artmaking in the Afternoon
Saturday, February 22 | 1:00-4:00 PM
Inspired by your time at Olana or looking for family-friendly fun? Participate in free, drop-in artmaking in the Wagon House Education Center from 1-4 PM and learn more about Frederic Church’s artist-designed home and studio on the Hudson.
This drop-in artmaking program is open to all ages and skill levels; all materials and warm beverages (coffee, tea, and hot chocolate) provided. FREE. No advanced registration required. Contact education@olana.org or call (518) 751-6938 for more info.
An Artist’s Perspective: The Process of Plein Air
Wednesday, February 26 | 6:00-7:30 PM
Ever wondered how Frederic Church brought his vision of the natural world to life in his art? During this virtual presentation, artist and educator Shawn Dell Joyce will lead viewers through a special exercise to help see Church’s work anew with an artist’s perspective. After examining Church studies together and exploring ideas such as composition, value, and the rule of thirds, participants will learn how Frederic Church and other “Hudson River School” painters approached landscape painting “en plein air” or outdoors. Discover how painters today draw from Church’s process and try your hand at value sketching using pencil and paper in the comfort of your own home!
Shawn Dell Joyce is a Florida-based plein air painter and founder of the Wallkill River School of Art based in Orange County, NY. As a skilled teacher, she has had a tremendous impact on the art community nationwide, teaching workshops in pastel and plein air techniques across the country. Her work has been featured in publications from the Tampa Bay Magazine to The New York Times, is represented in galleries across the country, and has been widely collected by corporations and families around the world including the Georges Pompidou Museum in France and the Museum of Modern Art in NY.
“Happiness in the Spotlight:” Screening with Camphill Hudson Players
Friday, February 28 | 5:00-7:00 PM
Learn more about Olana’s neighbors and get a “window into Camphill Hudson” during this special free evening community screening. For the first time in the history of Camphill Hudson, a group dedicated to creating community with people of all abilities in the City of Hudson, The Camphill Hudson Players have produced a short film. Edited by Ragnar Freidank and directed by Jody Brookes, this movie celebrates and captures the essence of the Camphill Hudson Players, an inclusive theater company that creates original productions.
This free screening will be held in the Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape; light refreshments will be served. Email education@olana.org for more information.
Expert’s Eye: The Art of Camping with Justin Wexler, Wild Hudson Valley
Saturday, March 1 | 2:00-3:00 PM
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.
This program is $15 per person or $10 for members or Columbia/Greene County residents. To become a member, visit OLANA.org/membership. Advanced registration required. Please contact education@olana.org to learn more.
THIRD THURSDAY – Morning Mindfulness in the Gallery
Thursday, March 20 | 9:30-10:30 AM
Start your day looking mindfully at works of art in the Sharp Family Gallery. This hour-long morning session will be led by three local art therapists and will include mindfulness practices to deepen your experience of one to three artworks on view.
FREE as part of OLANA Third Thursday/Tercer Jueves in connection with A Closer Look. Day-of, please meet outside the front door of the historic house to check-in and register. Day-of, please meet outside the front door of the historic house to check-in. Space is limited, pre-registration is required. Please email education@olana.org to register.
THIRD THURSDAY – Drop-In Drawing with Charcoal
Thursday, March 20 | 2:00-5:00 PM
Stop by the Wagon House Education Center for free drop-in drawing led by The Olana Partnership teaching artists and educators. Each session focuses on a different artist-quality art material! Use inspiration from your visit to Olana State Historic Site to create your own works of art.
All materials, refreshments, and drinks will be provided. FREE. Email education@olana.org for more information.
Family Tours: A Closer Look
Saturday, March 22 | 1:00-2:00 PM
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 1-4 PM.
Designed for families with children ages 3 and up. $15 adults; children under 16 are free. Advanced registration required. Please contact education@olana.org to learn more.
Artmaking in the Afternoon
Saturday, March 22 | 1:00-4:00 PM
Inspired by your time at Olana or looking for family-friendly fun? Participate in free, drop-in artmaking in the Wagon House Education Center from 1-4 PM and learn more about Frederic Church’s artist-designed home and studio on the Hudson.
This drop-in artmaking program is open to all ages and skill levels; all materials and warm beverages (coffee, tea, and hot chocolate) provided. FREE. No advanced registration required. Contact education@olana.org or call (518) 751-6938 for more info.
The Self-Curated Victorian Gallery: Marianne North at Kew Gardens
Thursday, March 27 | 12:00-1:00 PM
Join to learn more about Marianne North, the groundbreaking female botanical painter who travelled extensively across the globe in the late 1800s and even made her way to Olana. During this presentation, Dr. Lynne Howarth-Gladston will focus on North’s self-styled gallery at Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew (United Kingdom) which was designed to house over 800 of her botanical paintings. The Marianne North Gallery depicts more than 900 species of plants, displaying panoramic educational zones North captured during her trailblazing international travels. Dr. Howarth Gladston will discuss how North, assisted by the amateur architect James Fergusson, designed and built this self-styled gallery, making curatorial decisions and devising fashionable interior design troupes to blend aesthetics and scientific observation in one unique space.
Dr. Lynne Howarth Gladston is a writer, curator, designer, artist and independent academic, with numerous publications on the subjects of Chinese Contemporary art, and curatorial practice. Her most recent book, Marianne North: A Victorian Painter for the 21st Century, was published by Lind Humphries and Kew Publishers in 2024. Howarth Gladston is trained as a botanical Illustrator at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and is a practicing artist who has exhibited in the UK, China, and Australia. Her Doctorate was in Critical Theory, at the School of Philosophy, Nottingham University.
Expert’s Eye: Church as Forest Ecologist with Marc Wolf
Saturday, March 29 | 2:00-3:00 PM
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.
This program is $15 per person or $10 for members or Columbia/Greene County residents. To become a member, visit OLANA.org/membership. Advanced registration required. Please contact education@olana.org to learn more.
Artmaking in the Afternoon
Saturday, April 19 | 1:00-4:00 PM
Inspired by your time at Olana or looking for family-friendly fun? Participate in free, drop-in artmaking in the Wagon House Education Center from 1-4 PM and learn more about Frederic Church’s artist-designed home and studio on the Hudson.
This drop-in artmaking program is open to all ages and skill levels; all materials and warm beverages (coffee, tea, and hot chocolate) provided. FREE. No advanced registration required. Contact education@olana.org or call (518) 751-6938 for more info.
Alan Devoe Bird Club Spring Migration Bird Walk
Saturday, May 17 | 8:00 -10:00 AM
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
Artmaking in the Afternoon
Saturday, May 19 | 1:00-4:00 PM
Inspired by your time at Olana or looking for family-friendly fun? Participate in free, drop-in artmaking in the Wagon House Education Center from 1-4 PM and learn more about Frederic Church’s artist-designed home and studio on the Hudson.
This drop-in artmaking program is open to all ages and skill levels; all materials and warm beverages (coffee, tea, and hot chocolate) provided. FREE. No advanced registration required. Contact education@olana.org or call (518) 751-6938 for more info.
The Olana Partnership programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
