Programs + Events

1:00-2:00PM.

During this program, local environmentalists and ecological stewards will lead walking tours of Olana, engaging participants in the work of their organizations and providing new insights into Olana’s 250-acres. By connecting their expertise with Olana’s physical landscape, each visiting environmentalist will provide a deeper understanding of Olana as not only an artist-designed landscape, but a resource for immersive explorations in our environment and appreciation of the natural world.

During this hour-long walking tour, learn more about Olana through Basilica Hudson’s vision as an organization devoted to art and environmentalism. Melissa Auf Der Maur, Co-Founder and Director, will lead this tour, exploring Olana while considering the vital role artists and art organizations can play in environmental advocacy and action.

$15 person, $10 members. Advanced registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

1:00-2:00PM.

During this program, local environmentalists and ecological stewards will lead walking tours of Olana, engaging participants in the work of their organizations and providing new insights into Olana’s 250-acres. By connecting their ecological expertise with Olana’s physical landscape, each visiting environmentalist will provide a deeper understanding of Olana as not only an artist-designed landscape, but a resource for immersive explorations in our environments and appreciation of the natural world.

Claudia Knab-Vispo and Conrad Vispo from Hawthorne Valley’s Farmscape Ecology Program will lead this program, exploring Olana through the lens of meadow plants and their insect visitors. Learn more about Hawthorne Valley’s work cultivating compassion for the ecological and cultural landscape of Columbia County, NY during this hour-long walking tour.

$15 person, $10 members. Advanced registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

8:00-9:00AM.

Get your binoculars ready for this Labor Day Weekend Bird Walk! Join the Alan Devoe Bird Club on an exploration through Olana’s artist-designed landscape while keeping eyes and ears open for local birds. Learn more about local bird species, habitats, and behaviors with Dr. William Cook, Professor Emeritus at Columbia-Greene Community College and the Curator of C-GCC's Natural History Museum.

FREE. Advanced registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

1:00-2:00PM.

Explore Olana’s artist-designed landscape through the perspective of pollinators! Learn about how honeybees and humans can prepare for cold and flu season through a guided outdoor walk and workshop. During this program, beekeepers Chris and Lisa Layman will lead a guided outdoor walk and a short demo about making honey throat spray. Chris and Lisa run Fox Farm Apiary, a honeybee rescue and sanctuary in the Hudson Valley. In partnership with Olana, Fox Farm maintains an apiary onsite at Olana’s farm complex. This program covers approximately 1/4 mile and will be conducted outside.

$20 person/ $15 members (includes a throat spray sample from Fox Farm Apiary). Advanced registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

September 14 - 9:00am-12:00pm

September 15 - 1:00-4:00pm

September 21 - 9:00am-12:00pm

September 22 - 1:00-4:00pm

September 28 - 5:30-8:30pm

September 29 - 1:00-4:00pm

October 5 - 9:00am-12:00pm

October 6 - 1:00-4:00pm

This eight-session course will use Olana’s artist-designed landscape as a source of inspiration for learning about plein air painting. Using pastel, participants ages 55+ will develop a working knowledge of painting, make a finished work and several studies each class, and gain the ability to paint plein air independently.

During this course, esteemed plein air painter Shawn del Joyce will connect students’ developing plein air painting skills with the work of Frederic Church, Martin Johnson Heade, and the Hudson River School to American Art. The course will be held during multiple times of day to give students an opportunity to observe the landscape at different times and explore the ways quality of light affect their plein air creations. Participants will leave with a working knowledge of painting, make a finished painting and several studies each class, and gain the ability to paint plein air independently, as well as a knowledge of the contribution of Frederic Church and the Hudson River School to American Art.

$200 person, $150 members. Limited capacity; Advanced registration required at OLANA.org. Scholarships are available. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

During the COVID-19 crisis, The Olana Partnership will refund registration before this program upon cancellation for any reason. Please note that The Olana Partnership reserves the right to cancel this program due to extreme weather or other dangerous conditions.

Art by Shawn Dell Joyce, Church's View (Olana, Hudson, NY) 2019, Pastel 13x15 Private Collection Plein Air

This course is funded by Aroha Philanthropies.

6:30-8:30pm

Just as acclaimed 19th-century artist Martin Johnson Heade captured visual and aural stimuli on canvas, so are the senses essential to the craft of memoir. In this six-week course, participants will each craft a memoir essay of 1,500 words and will consider such essential topics as: the narrative arc, describing a setting, creating a reliable narrator, and writing dialogue. The course will reference Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment, which highlights Martin Johnson Heade’s 19th century painting series of hummingbird and habitats. By exploring the artist's commitment to the vivid representation of the natural world, participants will be encouraged to explore a similar pursuit in their own writing.

Emily Sachar is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the author of the memoir, Shut Up and Let the Lady Teach (Poseidon Press/Simon & Schuster), which chronicled the author's year teaching public school in one of the most challenging urban New York City districts. Ms. Sachar has also written travel memoir for Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, and Cowboys & Indians, a West Coast lifestyle magazine. Her 15 years' experience as a reporter at Newsday earned her more than 25 writing awards, including two as the prestigious grand prize winner of the Education Writers of America. Ms. Sachar teaches writing and art history through Bard College, NYU and the State University of New York.

$200 person, $150 members. Limited capacity; Advanced registration required at OLANA.org. Scholarships are available. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

During the COVID-19 crisis, The Olana Partnership will refund registration before this program upon cancellation for any reason. Please note that The Olana Partnership reserves the right to cancel this program due to extreme weather or other dangerous conditions.

1:00-2:00PM.

During this program, local environmentalists and ecological stewards will lead walking tours of Olana, engaging participants in the work of their organizations and providing new insights into Olana’s 250-acres. By connecting their ecological expertise with Olana’s physical landscape, each visiting environmentalist will provide a deeper understanding of Olana as not only an artist-designed landscape, but a resource for immersive explorations in our environment and appreciation of the natural world.

Tracey Testo, program coordinator at the Cornell Cooperative Extension, will lead this program, exploring Olana through the lens of agroforestry and examining the history of our forested landscape. The Cornell Cooperative Extension supports ecological sustainability and social well-being in New York State by putting knowledge to work in pursuit of economic vitality, ecological sustainability, and social well-being.

$15 person, $10 members. Advanced registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

2:00PM

Time travel back to Olana’s ice age past! Join geologist Robert Titus for a walking tour showcasing Olana’s artist-designed landscape through science and storytelling. During this program, participants will learn more about the geological history of Olana and the forces that shaped Frederic Church’s masterpiece.

$15 person, $10 members. Advanced registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.

1:00-2:00PM.

During this program, local environmentalists and ecological stewards will lead walking tours of Olana, engaging participants in the work of their organizations and providing new insights into Olana’s 250-acres. By connecting their ecological expertise with Olana’s physical landscape, each visiting environmentalist will provide a deeper understanding of Olana as not only an artist-designed landscape, but a resource for immersive explorations in our environment and appreciation of the natural world.

Join Riverkeeper's Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator Jen Benson for a walking tour of Olana’s artist-designed landscape to learn the history of both the Hudson River, explore historical and current threats to the Hudson River, and learn about Riverkeeper's efforts to advocate for fishable and swimmable waters. Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect and restore the Hudson River from source to sea and safeguard drinking water supplies, through advocacy rooted in community partnerships, science and law.

$15 person, $10 members. Advanced registration required. For more information, please contact education@olana.org or call (518) 567-2170.