Past Exhibitions

Terraforming: Olana’s Historic Photography Collection Unearthed  

Through October 29, 2023  Olana State Historic Site  To learn more, click here. The Olana Partnership, in collaboration with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, presents Terraforming: Olana’s Historic Photography Collection Unearthed at Olana State Historic Site. Inspired by Olana’s significant collection of nearly 2,000 19th century international photographic prints,... Read More

Terraforming: Olana’s Historic Photography Collection Unearthed  

Chasing Icebergs: Art and a Disappearing Landscape

November 20 – March 26, 2023  The Olana Partnership, in collaboration with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, presents the first winter exhibition at Olana State Historic Site, Chasing Icebergs: Art and a Disappearing Landscape. The exhibition, shown primarily in the Sharp Family Gallery at Olana, highlights Frederic Church’s iceberg... Read More

Chasing Icebergs: Art and a Disappearing Landscape

Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment

June 12 – October 31, 2021 Presented at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana State Historic Site A new exhibition exploring the theme of “cross pollination” in art and the environment from the 19th century to the contemporary moment. The project stems from the artist Martin Johnson Heade’s 19th century painting series of... Read More

Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment

FALLEN by Jean Shin

  • Olana's East Lawn
  • May 2 - October 31, 2021

FALLEN will invite viewers to reflect on the cultural history of the Hudson Valley region and the life of the eastern hemlock tree that once stood on Olana's East Lawn. Artist Jean Shin will create a site-specific work around the fallen hemlock that will be on view on Olana's East Lawn from May 1 through October 31. This finished work will be part of Olana's larger 2021 collaborative exhibition, "Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment." Please visit Olana as this artwork develops. Read More

FALLEN by Jean Shin

“Memento Mori Mandalas” by Portia Munson

  • Olana's East Lawn
  • May 2 - October 31, 2021

In her flower mandala series, Munson memorializes bird, animal, and insect life that has come into harsh contact with man, highlighting the shifting climate and the associated stresses that pollution and modern, industrialized life have on natural places and wildlife. This finished work will be part of Olana's larger 2021 collaborative exhibition, "Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment." Please visit Olana as this artwork develops. Read More

“Memento Mori Mandalas” by Portia Munson

“What is Missing?” by Maya Lin

  • Virtual
  • May 2 - October 31, 2021

What Is Missing? is a multi-sited memorial created by Maya Lin to raise awareness through science-based artworks about the present sixth mass extinction of species, connect this loss of species to habitat degradation and loss, and emphasize that by protecting and restoring habitat, we can both reduce carbon emissions and protect species. Read More

“What is Missing?” by Maya Lin

Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment

June 12 – October 31, 2021 Presented at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana State Historic Site A new exhibition exploring the theme of “cross pollination” in art and the environment from the 19th century to the contemporary moment. The project stems from the artist Martin Johnson Heade’s 19th century painting series of... Read More

Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment

In Frederic Church’s Ombra: Architecture in Conversation with Nature

  • Sharp Family Gallery, Olana State Historic Site
  • May 12 - November 3, 2019

The first phase of Olana’s main house was collaboratively designed by the artist Frederic Church and the architect Calvert Vaux, and Olana’s main house and its 250-acre landscape were designed to incorporate vast Hudson Valley views. A key space in Olana’s main house design is the “Ombra”, an outdoor room which is a transition zone between the central Court Hall and the surrounding landscape. This and the other main outdoors rooms at Olana (the Piazza, Round Veranda, and Bell Tower) remain unfurnished and have not been fully interpreted to the public.   Read More

In Frederic Church’s Ombra: Architecture in Conversation with Nature

Olana on the road

The Color of the Moon

  • Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY | February 9-May 12, 2019
James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA | June 1-September 8, 2019

Details to follow. Read More

The Color of the Moon

Olana on the road

Once Upon a Time in America: Three Centuries of US-American Art

  • Wallraf-Richartz Museum and Foundation, Cologne, Germany
  • November 23, 2018 - March 24, 2019

In Winter 2018/19 the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum will present a large survey exhibition dedicated to US American art from 1650 to 1950. The show begins with works extending from the colonial era to the masters of American Realism, and ends with examples of Abstract Expressionism. Read More

Once Upon a Time in America: Three Centuries of US-American Art