Olana Third Thursdays

The Olana Partnership will hold its February FREE Third Thursday on February 15 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm at Olana State Historic Site. Olana Third Thursdays are monthly days of free tours and programs for all ages.

On February 15 at 11:00 am, join a special free Lunch & Learn celebrating Black History Month, led by Paul and Mary Liz Stewart from the Underground Railroad Education Center.  During this talk, participants will learn more about the history of the Underground Railroad in the Capital Region and the Center’s current research.

At 1:00 pm the Kingston Cacao Lab will be on site for a special demonstration and workshop all about chocolate!  This hands-on, drop-in event will teach participants about the process of making chocolate, the history of cacao ceremonies, and the bean’s origins before widespread popularity in the 19th century. Experiment peeling cacao seeds by hand, sample chocolate, and have your questions answered.

Visitors are also invited to attend free tours of the historic landscape, Main House, and special exhibition “SPECTACLE: Frederic Church and the Business of Art.”  Space is limited.  Participants are required to have a ticket to attend a tour. Tickets can be reserved online in advance, and a limited number of tickets will be made available for purchase that day, on-site at the Visitor Center.

Drop-in programs take place in the Wagon House Education Center and include refreshments. Tours and programs will be offered in both Spanish and English.

Looking ahead to March, we will celebrate Women’s History month by hosting a Lunch & Learn titled “The Women of Olana” with Associate Curator, Allegra Davis as well as a drop-in printmaking workshop.

Generous support for Olana Third Thursdays is provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.  To learn more about each month and upcoming events and programs or to secure your free tickets visit, OLANA.org/ThirdThursdays or call 518-751-0344.

###

About Olana and The Olana Partnership: Olana is the greatest masterwork of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), the most famous American landscape artist of the mid-19th century and the most important artist’s home, studio, and designed landscape in the United States. Church designed Olana as a holistic environment integrating his advanced ideas about art, architecture, landscape design, and environmental conservation. Olana’s 250-acre artist-designed landscape with five miles of carriage roads and a Persian-inspired house at its summit embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually. The landscape is open for guided touring, and reservations are highly recommended. The landscape is open daily 8 AM-sunset.

Olana State Historic Site, administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, is a designated National Historic Landmark and one of the most visited sites in the state. The Olana Partnership is the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit cooperative partner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation at Olana State Historic Site.

About Art Bridges Foundation

Art Bridges Foundation is the vision of philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton. The mission of Art Bridges is to expand access to American art in all regions across the United States. Since 2017, Art Bridges has been creating and supporting programs that bring outstanding works of American art out of storage and into communities. Art Bridges partners with a growing network of over 220 museums of all sizes and locations on nearly 700 projects across the nation, impacting over 4.1 million people, to provide financial and strategic support for exhibition development, loans from the Art Bridges Collection, and programs designed to educate, inspire, and deepen engagement with local audiences. The Art Bridges Collection represents an expanding vision of American art from the 19th century to present day and encompasses multiple media and voices. For more information, visit artbridgesfoundation.org