Webinars
“Living with Pollinators: Biodiversity and Artistic Practice in the Hudson Valley” with Lisa Sanditz, Paula Hayes, and Fox Farm Apiary
September 15, 2021
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site and The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site present a discussion with artists Paula Hayes, Lisa Sanditz, and beekeeper Chris Layman from Fox Apiary. In this webinar, our guests examine the connections between art, ecology, environmental stewardship, and our role in local habitats.
“The Natural Histories of Marianne North and Frederic Church” by Allegra K. Davis
August 24, 2021
Olana’s collection contains two paintings, boldly rendered studies of exotic flowers, that remained unattributed until research published in 2010 connected them to Marianne North (1830-1890). North, an intrepid British botanical artist who traveled the world documenting plant life and landscapes in oil, visited Olana twice and admired the art of Frederic Church. In this webinar, The Olana Partnership’s Curatorial Assistant, Allegra K. Davis, will examine the life and work of Marianne North through the lenses of Victorian gender roles and practices of imperial science, while drawing parallels between Church and North as travelers, painters, and ultimately, collectors on a global scale.
“Fragility and Resilience: Art, Ecology, and our Contemporary Moment” with Sayler/Morris, Rachel Sussman and Dr. Scott Manning Stevens
July 27, 2021
Join artists Sayler/Morris, Rachel Sussman, and Dr. Scott Manning Stevens as they discuss the connections between art, ecology, and climate change. Sussman’s photographic series The Oldest Living Things in the World and Sayler/Morris’s video installation Eclipse are included in “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment,” on view at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana State Historic Site. Through their artwork, both Sayler/Morris and Sussman examine the fragility of life and the question of balance between humans and the natural world. This conversation will aim to bridge the gap between artistic practice and scientific thought, a theme in Cross Pollination. During this conversation, all of the artists will be in conversation with Dr. Scott Manning Stevens, Associate Professor and Director of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Syracuse University.
The panel will be co-moderated by Cross Pollination Co-Curators Kate Menconeri, Curator / Director of Collections & Exhibitions at Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Will Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership.
Rachel Sussman is a Brooklyn-based artist whose critically acclaimed, decade-long project “The Oldest Living Things in the World” combines art, science, and philosophy. Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris (Sayler/Morris) use diverse media to investigate and contribute to the development of ecological consciousness. Sayler/Morris are the founders of Toolshed, housed at Basilica Hudson, and the Canary Project.
a-Historical Landscapes: Olana and the Color of Freedom
June 23, 2021
Join Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, multidisciplinary artist and teaching professional and professor Myra Armstead for a virtual presentation and conversation about the lives of black Americans during the time of Olana’s creation. During this program, Sovak will introduce his series, a- Historical Landscapes, a current project which involves altering 19th century landscape engravings to include contemporaneous images borrowed from Anti-Slavery publications. Through discussion with Professor Myra Armstead, Lyford Paterson Edwards and Helen Gray Edwards and Professor of Historical Studies at Bard College, this conversation will consider how the timeline of Church’s site-specific masterpiece, Olana, runs concurrent to the experiences of men and women born into slavery in the Hudson Valley.
Memento Mori Mandalas and Birds in the Hudson Valley
June 8, 2021
Join artist Portia Munson and conservationist Kathryn Schneider as they discuss Munson’s artwork onsite at Olana, Memento Mori Mandalas. During this presentation, learn more about Munson’s work, which memorializes and honors creatures that have paid the price of humanity’s harsh impact on the land. Through conversation, this webinar will explore Memento Mori Mandalas’ timely ecological connections and the lives of regional bird species highlighted in Munson’s work. Evoking the transitory Buddhist spiritual practice of mandala making, Munson’s work reflects on the passing beauty of earthly things and the costs of climate change with arrangements that center on fallen birds, insects, and creatures she finds on her walks around our region.
Below the Surface: What Scientific Imaging Reveals about Church’s Artistic Process by Maura Lyons
May 18, 2021
While Frederic Church won acclaim during his lifetime for his skills as a painter, a focus solely on Church’s paintings ignores his technical experimentation in multiple media, including drawing and printmaking. In this virtual webinar, Maura Lyons (Drake University) will focus on two Civil War-era works, Our Banner in the Sky and Our Flag, to examine Church’s working process more closely. Lyons will highlight her research using scientific techniques to examine Our Flag while working at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). These techniques allow us to see below the surface layers of paint to detect the presence of other media. Such examinations reveal Church’s working process, which resulted in a flexible visual language that spoke to both the general public and wealthy patrons.
