LEARN: Public Programs
Olana's Wagon House Education Center is celebrating its second year!
The state-of-the-art Education Center is home to public programs that promote The Olana Partnership mission: To inspire the public by preserving and interpreting Olana, Frederic Church's artistic masterpiece. Ongoing programs, classes for all ages, workshops, lectures, special events, meetings, children's summer programs, performances and exhibitions all take place in this amazing space whose large glass windows overlook the Olana landscape. We offer "drop-in" programs as well as formal programming to encourage new visitors as well as the community to come back to Olana again and again. Programs are mostly free (download our current brochure) and are offered to students pre-school to adult, ranging from landscape painting for beginners to an advanced lecture on landscape architecture in a contemporary world.
Public programming at the education center attracts a diverse skill-set and multi-generational audience who are inspired to interpret Olana in many innovative new ways. In the education center's second year, there have been over 250 programs and over 1,800 participants. A sampling of new programs that have already called the education center home: Olana On the Move Backpacks, Art in the Barn, River School (summer dramatic arts program), From Garden to Table, Senior Visual Arts Workshop, En Plein Air Creative Writing Workshop, Architecture for Kids, Music at the Farm, Making A River, First Friday Afterschool Classes, Herbal Plants in the Landscape, Garden Walk, Teen Oil Painting Workshop and Intensive Landscape Painting Workshop.
The Education Center is located right after the lake with a parking lot adjacent to the barn.
Ongoing Family Programs (April-December)
Olana on the Move Backpacks
Museum Shop (available also at the Wagon House Education Center on weekends)
Thursdays-Sundays 12-4pm
Families
Borrow a backpack and explore the Olana landscape! Backpacks can be signed out at the Wagon House Education Center and contain carriage drive maps and self-guided activities to enrich family visits. Two themed backpacks available: 'Exploration Today: Discover Olana' and 'View it Like an Artist'. Take your sketches home, or donate them to our ongoing public exhibit in the Wagon House Education Center. Please be prepared to leave a photo ID until backpack is returned. Free.
Art in the Barn
Saturdays 12-4pm
Ages 3-5 (and their caregivers)
Young artists and their caregivers/friends are welcome to the Wagon House Education Center for their first exposures to art! Let Olana inspire your little one; meet new friends, get messy, and discover art together. Drop in for open art studio time including music, story-telling, dance and movement. Themes: Architecture; Farm History; Art and Nature; The Hudson River. Free.
Sundays, 1-4pm
ARTlandish!
Wagon House Education Center/Farm Complex
All ages
Free
Create art in the landscape – not such an outlandish idea! Frederic Church sketched outside noting thee details in nature and then went back to the studio to paint. Drop-in to the Education Center for sketch paper, pencils and clipboards. Then head out into Olana's picturesque landscape to sketch yourvery own view. Come back to the "studio" (Education Center) to use colored pencils, oil pastels and watercolors to finish your artwork.
Summer Week Long Programs
Mon., July 12- Fri., July 16 9am-2pm
The Journey (Session 1): Olana's Summer Arts Program
Mon., August 2 – Fri., August 6 9am-2pm
The Journey (Session 2): Olana's Summer Arts Program
Wagon House Education Center/Farm Complex
Ages 6-12
$165/child; $125 members of The Olana Partnership
Children ages 6-12 work in small groups at the picturesque estate of Frederic Church, renowned Hudson River School artist, as they journey to one of the locales visited by Church in the 19th century. Through art, music, movement, history, nature walks, poetry and other hands-on activities in the Wagon House Education Center, children experience the life and travels of this landmark artist. Call (518) 828-1872x109 for more info. Registration forms here:
Mon., August 16-Fri., August 20 9am-2pm
River School: Olana's Summer Dramatic Arts Program
Wagon House Education Center/Farm Complex
Ages 7-14
$165/child; $125 members of The Olana Partnership
Students ages 7-14 will create their own play from soup-to-nuts in this non-competitive program that explores all aspects of story and dramatic arts through the fun and magic of Live Theater. This week-long "full process" experience will include creating original scripts, sets and props. Students will learn about character development, lighting, direction, and other departments in theatrical production.
This year's theme is: The Living Landscape; students will imagine themselves jumping into a Hudson River School landscape painting. Feel comfortable in public speaking and expressing yourself!
A final performance is open to the public Friday, August 20, 2010 at 1pm at the Wagon House Education Center.
Call (518) 828-1872x109 for more info. Registration forms here:
Additional programs and their descriptions can be found on our calendar.
Contact Cheryl O'Donnell, Program Director, for more information on any of our programs or to register at: codonnell@olana.org or (518) 828-1872 x110. Most of the Wagon House Education Center programs are free; any programs requiring a fee includes a discounted fee for members of The Olana Partnership. Please note that there is a grounds fee of $5 per car to enter the Olana State Historic Site on weekends and Monday holidays April-October. This fee is waived if you are a member of The Olana Partnership. Public programs are made possible thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you'd like to know more about how you can support our educational programming or become a member to receive discounts on programming, please visit our Give section.
We look forward to having you at a Wagon House Education Center program to learn about, and be inspired by, Olana!
Feedback from participants:
Absolutely great Visual Arts Workshop-fun-educational-had it all! Thanks.
Olana On the Move Backpacks were phenomenal, unique and exceptional. We had a wonderful day here and we'll come back again and again. It's a really nice thing to do on the weekend with your family.
Art in the Barn was fun, entertaining, thoughtful, healthful and engaging. My daughter enjoyed all the age appropriate activities. We were invited to participate when we came to Olana for a visit. We felt very welcome and enjoyed dancing and finger painting. It was wonderful! We love this beautiful space. You made us feel comfortable and relaxed. Thank you.
We were attracted by the wholeness of the River School dramatic arts summer program: the Hudson River landscape, arts education, dramatic arts exposure, and child development skills including confidence; sense of mastery and achievement; and public speaking training. Thank you for creating and offering so smoothly and effectively this valuable program.
Wagon House Education Center History
Upon completion of Cosy Cottage – the Church family's first home – in the fall of 2005, The Olana Partnership began planning for the next phase of its comprehensive plan – the restoration of Olana's historic farm complex. Work began in the summer of 2007 on the farm complex, including the re-creation of the wagon house, with a project budget of $1.6 million. The new education center significantly enhances "the Olana experience" for the thousands of children who visit each year — many from underserved populations — through their ability to participate in art classes, lectures and other educational and culturally enriching activities. The education center is a year-round space to encourage place-based education and contemporary interpretation.
Its history continues with you – hope to see you at a program soon!
