Past Exhibitions

Preserving Creative Spaces

  • Coachman’s House Gallery at Olana
  • June 28 - November 2, 2014
Frederic Edwin Church and His Son, Frederic Joseph, in Beirut, 1868 Attributed to Felix Bonfils, Frederic Edwin Church and His Son, Frederic Joseph in Beirut, 1868, carte-de-visite, photograph, 4 7/8 x 3 3/8 in., OL.1984.446, Collection Olana State Historic Site, NYSOPRHP

This documentary installation shines light on the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios (HAHS) program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. HAHS is a consortium of institutions across the United States committed to the conservation, interpretation, and public accessibility of artists’ homes and workspaces. This exhibition features information about the consortium and documentary photographs and personal artists’ quotes from its nearly 40 member sites, including an image of Frederic Church and his son on a camel in Beirut (1868), the trip which inspired the Persian-style house and studio the painter would later build at Olana.

Other photographs range from the paint-splattered barn used by Jackson Pollack and Lee Krasner in East Hampton, Long Island, to the carriage house in which Grant Wood painted American Gothic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to the hand-crafted woodworking shop of Sam Maloof in Alta Loma, California.  In addition to educating audiences about HAHS, the exhibition will place Olana and Church’s studio in a larger discussion about the importance of preserving historically significant places and structures as part of the nation’s cultural heritage.

The Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation is supported by a generous grant from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.