PRESS RELEASES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 14, 2021
The Olana Partnership, Director of Advancement and Marketing
Melanie Hasbrook, mhasbrook@olana.org
Thomas Cole Site, Associate Director
Jennifer Greim, JGreim@thomascole.org
Major Collaborative Exhibition “Cross Pollination” Opens at Olana State Historic Site and Thomas Cole National Historic Site in New York’s Hudson River Skywalk Region
Contemporary Art, Acclaimed 19th-Century Paintings, and Ecology Collide in this Examination of the Artist Martin Johnson Heade’s Series of Hummingbird Paintings, The Gems of Brazil (1863-64), and Their Unique Relationship to the Epic Landscapes of Hudson River School Artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, as well as Their Continued Significance to Contemporary Artists Working Today.
Co-Organized by the two Historic Sites in New York and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, the Exhibition Features Work by Contemporary Artists Including Nick Cave, Mark Dion, Jeffrey Gibson, Paula Hayes, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Dana Sherwood, Jean Shin, Rachel Sussman, and Vik Muniz.
Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment
June 12 - October 31, 2021
Olana State Historic Site and Thomas Cole National Historic Site
Catskill and Hudson, NY – June 14, 2021 – The Olana Partnership, Olana State Historic Site, and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site announced today the opening of “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment” at the two historic sites – the only opportunity to see the unique presentation of the exhibition in New York, in the landscapes and historic spaces that so dramatically influenced and continue to influence the evolution of art in America. For the first time in over two decades, 16 paintings from the influential series of hummingbirds and habitats – The Gems of Brazil (1863-64) – by Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) will be on view in New York for public audiences. The project uses the metaphor of cross-pollination inspired by Heade’s paintings to explore interconnections in art and science, between artists, and across the 19th and 21st centuries. Paintings, sketches, sculpture, and natural history specimens are displayed in provocative juxtapositions.
Artist Martin Johnson Heade has long been associated with the Hudson River School of landscape painting, which is characterized by the epic landscapes of the artists Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and Frederic Church (1826-1900). Heade, though, with his series The Gems of Brazil, was making a different kind of “landscape” that magnified the intricate operations within nature itself. Heade traveled to Brazil in 1863, so he could study the hummingbirds in their natural habitat. Heade’s focus in The Gems and his related writing, which decries the overhunting of bird species, aligns with the proto-environmentalism of Thomas Cole, who wrote against deforestation in his own time. Heade’s Brazilian journey was inspired by Frederic Church’s travels in Latin America. The environmental awareness and advocacy of these 19th-century artists connect thought and conversations taking place today, as concern for preservation and protection of the environment reaches critical urgency.
The exhibition also includes paintings by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, as well as botanical works on both paper and porcelain by Emily Cole, Cole’s daughter, and Isabel Charlotte Church, Church’s daughter, which will be shown together here for the first time. The exhibition highlights natural specimen collections amassed by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, including Cole’s mineral and herbarium collections and a sampling of the Church family’s extensive collection of bird eggs.
“Cross Pollination” positions these 19th-century artists in a call and response with 21st-century American artists, whose works engage contemporary issues related to biodiversity, habitat protection, and environmental sustainability. The contemporary artists are Rachel Berwick, Nick Cave, Mark Dion, Richard Estes, Juan Fontanive, Jeffrey Gibson, Paula Hayes, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Flora C. Mace, Vik Muniz, Portia Munson, Lisa Sanditz, Emily Sartor, Sayler/Morris, Dana Sherwood, Jean Shin, Rachel Sussman, and Jeff Whetstone.
The joint project will be presented simultaneously as one exhibition at both Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, NY, and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY, through October 31, 2021. The two historic sites are connected by the Hudson River Skywalk, a scenic walkway across the Hudson River via the Rip Van Winkle Bridge – with sweeping views of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains – that opened in June 2019. “Cross Pollination” is the second major collaborative project between Olana and the Thomas Cole Site and builds upon the success of the inaugural “River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home” exhibition in 2015.
The “Cross Pollination” exhibition was created by The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. The exhibition was originally scheduled to open in May 2020 at the two historic sites in New York but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The exhibition tour is presented at a total of five venues: Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, FL, Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC, Thomas Cole National Historic Site and The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site in New York’s Hudson Valley, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. The exhibition tour is organized by Crystal Bridges.
The exhibition includes site-specific artwork created expressly for this occasion and inspired by The Gems of Brazil, the natural environment, and the landscapes, historic homes, and studios of Cole and Church. The following artists made new work for these specific settings: Rachel Berwick, Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood, Lisa Sanditz and Emily Sartor, and Jean Shin. In addition, Sayler/Morris, Portia Munson, and Paula Hayes drew from existing works to create new site-specific installations for “Cross Pollination.” The Pollinator Pavilion, for instance, is a major public artwork by Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood created for the exhibition at the Thomas Cole Site; it is designed so that pollinators and humans may share the same space. Nationally renowned artist Jean Shin has created a site-specific installation at Olana titled "FALLEN," a memorial artwork created from a much-beloved hemlock tree that died of natural causes. “FALLEN” creates an opportunity to reflect on the sadness of both this hemlock and the wider history of environmental loss in the Catskills region.
Olana and the Thomas Cole Site interpret and open their landscapes to the community for free as public parks and follow all pandemic protocols laid out by New York State. All guided tour and program participants are required to wear masks covering the mouth and nose and maintain social distancing (six feet at all times). More information, events, programming, and tour details are available at the historic sites’ websites (below). Space is limited, and mid-week visits are typically less crowded.
“Cross Pollination” is curated by Kate Menconeri, Curator & Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site; Julia B. Rosenbaum, Associate Professor and Chair of Art History & Visual Culture, Bard College, and former Director of Research & Publications at The Olana Partnership; Mindy N. Besaw, Curator of American Art & Director of Fellowships and Research at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and William L. Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership. The exhibition was created collaboratively by the partner museums and in conversations with leading American artists, scholars, scientists, and historians.
A richly illustrated companion book – also titled “Cross Pollination” – accompanies the exhibition and features new original essays by the exhibition curators. The book is published by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and The Olana Partnership.
Support for the exhibition and its national tour is provided by Art Bridges. Additional major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. The exhibition is supported in New York in part by The National Endowment for the Arts; Market New York through I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism as part of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative; New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and the New York State Legislature; the Robert Lehman Foundation; The Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation; Greene County Legislature through the County Initiative Program of the Greene County Council on the Arts; The Olana Partnership’s Novak-Ferber Exhibitions Fund, the Kindred Spirits Society of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Charina Foundation, The Stainman Family Foundation, Anne Miller & Stuart Breslow, Kristin Gamble, and Deedee & Barrie Wigmore. Support for the catalogue is provided by Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.
OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE AND THE OLANA PARTNERSHIP: Olana is the greatest masterpiece of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), a preeminent American 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 embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually. 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 historic sites in the state. The Olana Partnership, a private not-for-profit education corporation, works cooperatively with New York State Parks to support the restoration, conservation, and interpretation of Olana to make it accessible to all.
THE THOMAS COLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE is an international destination presenting the original home and studios of Thomas Cole (1801-1848), founder of the Hudson River School of painting, the nation’s first major art movement. Located on 6 acres in the Hudson Valley, the site includes the 1815 Main House; Cole’s 1839 Old Studio; the reconstructed historic New Studio building; and panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains. It is a National Historic Landmark and an affiliated area of the National Park System. The Thomas Cole Site’s activities include guided tours, special exhibitions of both 19th-century and contemporary art, printed publications, extensive online programs, activities for school groups, free community events, lectures, and innovative public programs such as the Hudson River School Art Trail—a map and website that enable visitors to visit the places that Cole painted. The goal of all programs at the Thomas Cole Site is to enable visitors to find meaning and inspiration in Thomas Cole’s life and work. The themes that Cole explored in his art and writings—such as landscape preservation, our conception of nature as a restorative power and the need for public art museums—are historic and timely, providing the opportunity to connect to audiences with insights that are highly relevant to their own lives. The Thomas Cole Site’s programming and operations are continually evolving under its initiatives for Greening, and Diversity, Equity and Access.
HUDSON RIVER SKYWALK REGION: The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY and Olana – across the Hudson River in Hudson, NY – joined forces with New York State to launch a new initiative to recognize the region as an epicenter of American art where the nation’s first major art movement began. The project – titled the Hudson River Skywalk Region – weaves together the home and studios of Thomas Cole at the Thomas Cole Site and those of his legendary student Frederic Church at Olana with the landscape that inspired it all to create one seamless experience. With support from New York State, a continuous pedestrian scenic walkway – the Hudson River Skywalk – connects the historic sites across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge over the Hudson River. The Region also includes the City of Hudson and the Town of Catskill. For more information, visit www.hudsonriverskywalk.org.
Olana VISITOR INFORMATION: The landscape is free and open to all every day from 8:30 am to sunset. For a current list of tours of the Main House and artist-designed landscape, visit www.olana.org/hours-and-admission. Keep in touch on social media @OlanaSHS.
Thomas Cole VISITOR INFORMATION: Admission to the gardens and grounds is free every day from dawn until dusk. The hours for Thomas Cole’s home, studios and special exhibitions vary by season. For details, see www.thomascole.org/visit. Keep in touch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @thomascolesite.
hudsonriverskywalk.org/crosspollination
#CrossPollinationShow
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 1, 2021
The Olana Partnership, Director of Advancement and Marketing
Melanie Hasbrook, mhasbrook@olana.org
Thomas Cole Site, Associate Director
Jennifer Greim, JGreim@thomascole.org
Contemporary Art, Acclaimed 19th-Century Paintings, and Ecology Collide at the Opening of a Major Collaborative Exhibition “Cross Pollination” in June at both the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana State Historic Site in New York’s Hudson River Skywalk Region
The National Project was Conceived in the Hudson Valley and Stems from the Artist Martin Johnson Heade’s 19th-Century Series of Hummingbird Paintings, The Gems of Brazil, and Their Unique Relationship to the Epic Landscapes of Hudson River School Artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, as well as Their Continued Significance to Contemporary Artists Working Today.
Co-Organized by the two Historic Sites in New York and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, the Exhibition will also Feature Work by Contemporary Artists Including Nick Cave, Mark Dion, Jeffrey Gibson, Paula Hayes, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Dana Sherwood, Jean Shin, Rachel Sussman, and Vik Muniz.
Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment
June 12 - October 31, 2021
Olana State Historic Site and Thomas Cole National Historic Site
Catskill and Hudson, NY – March 1, 2021 – The Olana Partnership, Olana State Historic Site, and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site announced today that “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment” will open on June 12 at the two historic sites – the only opportunity to see the unique presentation of the exhibition in New York, in the landscapes and historic spaces that so dramatically influenced and continue to influence the evolution of art in America. For the first time in over two decades, 16 paintings from the influential series of hummingbirds and habitats – The Gems of Brazil (1863-64) – by Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) will be on view in New York for public audiences. The project uses the metaphor of cross-pollination inspired by Heade’s paintings to explore interconnections in art and science, between artists, and across the 19th and 21st centuries. Paintings, sketches, sculpture, and natural history specimens will be displayed in provocative juxtapositions.
Artist Martin Johnson Heade has long been associated with the Hudson River School of landscape painting, which is characterized by the epic landscapes of the artists Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and Frederic Church (1826-1900). Heade, though, with his series The Gems of Brazil, was making a different kind of “landscape” that magnified the intricate operations within nature itself. Heade traveled to Brazil in 1863, so that he could study the hummingbirds in their natural habitat. Heade’s focus in The Gems and his related writing, which decries the overhunting of bird species, aligns with the proto-environmentalism of Thomas Cole, who wrote against deforestation in his own time. Heade’s own Brazilian journey was inspired by Frederic Church’s travels in Latin America. The environmental awareness and advocacy of these 19th-century artists connect thought and conversations taking place today, as concern for preservation and protection of the environment reaches critical urgency.
The exhibition will also include paintings by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, as well as botanical works on both paper and porcelain by Emily Cole, Cole’s daughter, and Isabel Charlotte Church, Church’s daughter, which will be shown together here for the first time. The exhibition highlights natural specimen collections amassed by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, including Cole’s mineral and herbarium collections and a sampling of the Church family’s extensive collection of bird eggs.
“Cross Pollination” positions these 19th-century artists in a call and response with 21st-century American artists, whose works engage contemporary issues related to biodiversity, habitat protection, and environmental sustainability. The contemporary artists are Rachel Berwick, Nick Cave, Mark Dion, Richard Estes, Juan Fontanive, Jeffrey Gibson, Paula Hayes, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Flora C. Mace, Vik Muniz, Portia Munson, Lisa Sanditz, Emily Sartor, Sayler/Morris, Dana Sherwood, Jean Shin, Rachel Sussman, and Jeff Whetstone.
The joint project will be presented simultaneously as one exhibition at both Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, NY, and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY, from June 12 to October 31, 2021. The two historic sites are connected by the Hudson River Skywalk, a scenic walkway across the Hudson River – with sweeping views of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains – that opened in June 2019. “Cross Pollination” is the second major collaborative project between Olana and the Thomas Cole Site and builds upon the success of the inaugural “River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home” exhibition in 2015.
The “Cross Pollination” exhibition was created by The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. The exhibition was originally scheduled to open in May 2020 at the two historic sites in New York but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The exhibition tour is presented at a total of five venues: Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, FL, Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC, Thomas Cole National Historic Site and The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site in New York’s Hudson Valley, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. The exhibition tour is organized by Crystal Bridges.
The exhibition will include site-specific artwork created expressly for this occasion and inspired by The Gems of Brazil, the natural environment, and the landscapes, historic homes, and studios of Cole and Church. The following artists made new work for these specific settings: Rachel Berwick, Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood, Lisa Sanditz and Emily Sartor, and Jean Shin. In addition, Sayler/Morris, Portia Munson, and Paula Hayes drew from existing works to create new site-specific installations for “Cross Pollination.” The Pollinator Pavilion, for instance, is a major public artwork by Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood created for the exhibition at the Thomas Cole Site; it is designed so that pollinators and humans may share the same space. Nationally renowned artist Jean Shin will create a site-specific installation at Olana titled "FALLEN," a memorial artwork created from a much-beloved hemlock tree that died of natural causes. “FALLEN” creates an opportunity to reflect on the sadness of both this hemlock and the wider history of environmental loss in the Catskills region. The installation is in process and will open on May 1.
Olana and the Thomas Cole Site interpret and open their landscapes to the community for free as public parks and follow all pandemic protocols laid out by New York State. All guided tour and program participants are required to wear masks covering the mouth and nose and maintain social distancing (six feet at all times). More information and tour details are available at the historic sites’ websites (below).
“Cross Pollination” is curated by Kate Menconeri, Curator & Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site; Julia B. Rosenbaum, Associate Professor and Chair of Art History & Visual Culture, Bard College, and former Director of Research & Publications at The Olana Partnership; Mindy N. Besaw, Curator of American Art & Director of Fellowships and Research at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and William L. Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership. The exhibition was created collaboratively by the partner museums and in conversations with leading American artists, scholars, scientists, and historians.
A richly illustrated companion book – also titled “Cross Pollination” – accompanies the exhibition and features new original essays by the exhibition curators. The book is published by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and The Olana Partnership.
Support for the exhibition and its national tour is provided by Art Bridges. Additional major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. The exhibition is supported in New York in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, Market New York through I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism as part of the Regional Economic Development Council awards, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and the New York State Legislature; the Robert Lehman Foundation; The Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation; Greene County Legislature through the County Initiative Program of the Greene County Council on the Arts; The Olana Partnership’s Novak-Ferber Exhibitions Fund, the Kindred Spirits Society of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Charina Foundation, The Stainman Family Foundation, Anne Miller & Stuart Breslow, Kristin Gamble, and Deedee & Barrie Wigmore. Support for the catalogue is provided by Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.
OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE AND THE OLANA PARTNERSHIP: Olana is the greatest masterpiece of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), a preeminent American 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 embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually. 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 historic sites in the state. The Olana Partnership, a private not-for-profit education corporation, works cooperatively with New York State Parks to support the restoration, conservation, and interpretation of Olana to make it accessible to all.
THE THOMAS COLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE is an international destination presenting the original home and studios of Thomas Cole (1801-1848), founder of the Hudson River School of painting, the nation’s first major art movement. Located on 6 acres in the Hudson Valley, the site includes the 1815 Main House; Cole’s 1839 Old Studio; the reconstructed historic New Studio building; and panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains. It is a National Historic Landmark and an affiliated area of the National Park System. The Thomas Cole Site’s activities include guided tours, special exhibitions of both 19th-century and contemporary art, printed publications, extensive online programs, activities for school groups, free community events, lectures, and innovative public programs such as the Hudson River School Art Trail—a map and website that enable visitors to visit the places that Cole painted. The goal of all programs at the Thomas Cole Site is to enable visitors to find meaning and inspiration in Thomas Cole’s life and work. The themes that Cole explored in his art and writings—such as landscape preservation, our conception of nature as a restorative power and the need for public art museums—are historic and timely, providing the opportunity to connect to audiences with insights that are highly relevant to their own lives. The Thomas Cole Site’s programming and operations are continually evolving under its initiatives for Greening, and Diversity, Equity and Access.
HUDSON RIVER SKYWALK REGION: The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY and Olana – across the Hudson River in Hudson, NY – joined forces with New York State to launch a new initiative to recognize the region as an epicenter of American art where the nation’s first major art movement began. The project – titled the Hudson River Skywalk Region – weaves together the home and studios of Thomas Cole at the Thomas Cole Site and those of his legendary student Frederic Church at Olana with the landscape that inspired it all to create one seamless experience. With support from New York State, a continuous pedestrian scenic walkway – the Hudson River Skywalk – connects the historic sites across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge over the Hudson River. The Region also includes the City of Hudson and the Town of Catskill. For more information, visit www.hudsonriverskywalk.org.
Olana VISITOR INFORMATION: The landscape is free and open to all every day from 8:30 am to sunset. For a current list of tours of the Main House and artist-designed landscape, visit www.olana.org/hours-and-admission. Keep in touch on social media @OlanaSHS.
Thomas Cole VISITOR INFORMATION: Admission to the gardens and grounds is free every day from dawn until dusk. The hours for Thomas Cole’s home, studios and special exhibitions vary by season. For details, see www.thomascole.org/visit. Keep in touch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @thomascolesite.
hudsonriverskywalk.org/crosspollination
#CrossPollinationShow
® I LOVE NEW YORK is a registered trademark and service mark of the New York State Department of Economic Development; used with permission.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, October 23, 2020
The Olana Partnership, Director of Advancement and Marketing
Melanie Hasbrook, mhasbrook@olana.org
Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Associate Director
Jennifer Greim, JGreim@thomascole.org
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Public Relations Director
Beth Bobbitt, Beth.Bobbitt@crystalbridges.org
Four-State Initiative Launches Major Exhibition “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment” – Exploring Cross Pollination in Art and Nature from 19th Century to Today
Thomas Cole National Historic Site in New York, The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site in New York, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas Announce their Collaborative Exhibition and Multiple Events Coinciding with the Opening at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, FL, Followed by Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC
The Exhibition and Accompanying Book Feature Artist Martin Johnson Heade’s 19th-Century Series of Hummingbird and Habitat Paintings, The Gems of Brazil, Related Rarely Seen Paintings by Hudson River School Artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Church and Their Daughters Emily and Isabel, and Major Related Works by Leading Contemporary Artists
Hudson & Catskill, NY and Bentonville, AR – October 22, 2020 – The Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Olana, and Crystal Bridges Museum of Art announced today a four-state initiative to launch the major exhibition “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment,” which will open on October 28 at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens in Jacksonville, FL, before continuing its national tour to the Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC, and the three organizing institutions. The exhibition explores the theme of cross pollination in art and the environment from the 19th century to today. It was created by The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, NY, Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Opening activities include the following:
Opening night virtual events on October 27, 28 and 29 with the exhibition’s curators – from the three organizing institutions as well as Bard College – hosted by the Cummer Museum;
The launch of a companion book, also titled “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment,” illuminating cross pollination through curatorial essays and full-color images;
The major exhibition artwork, The Pollinator Pavilion, by acclaimed artists Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood that is now open at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and featured in the exhibition and publication;
An interactive online experience created by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art that enables individuals to follow Martin Johnson Heade on his journey to Brazil to view hummingbirds in their natural habitat – and to make their own paintings inspired by Heade.
The opportunity to enjoy a socially distanced excursion in the Hudson River Valley by visiting The Pollinator Pavilion at the Thomas Cole Site, walking across the Hudson River Skywalk on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge to Olana, and cherishing its stunning 250-acre landscape and home designed by Frederic Church with unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains.
The exhibition stems from the artist Martin Johnson Heade’s 19th-century series of hummingbird and habitat paintings, The Gems of Brazil, and their unique relationship to the epic landscapes of Hudson River School artists Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and Frederic Church (1826-1900), as well as their continued significance to major contemporary artists working today. For the first time in over two decades, 16 paintings from the influential series, The Gems of Brazil (1863-64), by Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) will be on tour for public audiences.
The project uses the metaphor of “cross pollination” inspired by Heade’s paintings to explore interconnections in art and science, between artists, and across the 19th and 21st centuries. Paintings, sketches, sculpture, and natural history specimens will be displayed in provocative juxtapositions. The artists featured in the exhibition are Martin Johnson Heade, Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Emily Cole, Isabel Charlotte Church, Rachel Berwick, Nick Cave, Mark Dion, Richard Estes, Juan Fontanive, Jeffrey Gibson, Paula Hayes, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Flora C. Mace, Vik Muniz, Portia Munson, Roxy Paine, Lisa Sanditz, Sayler/Morris, Dana Sherwood, Rachel Sussman, and Jeff Whetstone.
The opening of the exhibition begins a national tour organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The schedule is: Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, FL (October 28, 2020 – January 17, 2021), Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (February 19 – May 23, 2021), Thomas Cole National Historic Site & Olana State Historic Site, Catskill and Hudson, NY (June 12 – October 31, 2021), and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (November 20, 2021 – March 23, 2022).
The exhibition opening coincides with the publication of the companion book by the same name – “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment.” The 63-page full-color book features new original essays by the exhibition curators and artwork by the foremost contemporary artists participating in the exhibition. The book is published by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana State Historic Site and includes original essays by the exhibition curators: Kate Menconeri, Curator & Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site; Julia B. Rosenbaum, Associate Professor and Chair of Art History & Visual Culture, Bard College, and former Director of Research & Publications at The Olana Partnership; Mindy N. Besaw, Curator of American Art & Director of Fellowships and Research at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and William L. Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership.
The book is available for $14.95 in the gift shops of the Thomas Cole Site, Olana, Crystal Bridges Museum, and Cummer Museum – and on their websites.
The exhibition curators from Thomas Cole, Olana and Crystal Bridges are participating virtually in three nights of opening events at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. The curators will share their insights and reflect on how the exhibition and book developed collaboratively between the partner museums and in conversations with leading American artists, scholars, scientists, and historians. They will be joined by Cummer Museum officials including Pam Paul, Chair of the Board of Trustees; Kerrie Slattery, Interim Director, and Holly Keris, Delores Barr and J. Wayne Weaver Chief Curator.
The Pollinator Pavilion, a major artwork by Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood featured in the exhibition and publication, is now open at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in advance for the exhibition’s arrival at the Thomas Cole Site and Olana in June of 2021. Inspired by The Gems of Brazil and designed specifically for the Thomas Cole Site, it is a 21½-foot-high, painted wood, architectural confection draped with flowers, plants, and paintings by the artists, designed as much for hummingbirds as for people. Created to attract pollinators and humans to share the same space – with seating for one human guest at a time – the pavilion creates a radical decontextualization in which individuals can see themselves as part of nature and understand their own capacity to foster an environment of ecological balance.
The interactive online experience created by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art enables individuals to embark on their own journey of drawing or painting hummingbirds inspired by Martin Johnson Heade’s travels to Brazil in the 1860s. It presents images of Heade’s paintings and incorporates 21st-century technology to engage children and adults in making their own art inspired, as so many artists have been, by Heade and The Gems of Brazil.
Art lovers living in or traveling to New York’s Hudson River Valley this fall can visit the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana, the homes of Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. The two sites are just two miles apart on either side of the Hudson River and are connected by the Hudson River Skywalk, a pedestrian walkway on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, with stunning views of the Hudson River Valley and the Great Northern Catskills. Both sites are offering in-person programming now. Visitor information for both sites is shown below. All tour and program participants are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose and maintain social distance (six feet) at all times. Please be aware that the Olana and Thomas Cole sites are public parks and follow protocols laid out by New York State.
Support for the exhibition and its national tour is provided by Art Bridges. Additional major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
The exhibition is also supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art. In New York, the project is supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts; Empire State Development’s I LOVE NY program through the Market New York initiative; and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and the New York State Legislature.
In New York, the project is also supported by the Robert Lehman Foundation; The Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation; the Greene County Legislature through the County Initiative Program of the Greene County Council on the Arts; The Olana Partnership’s Novak-Ferber Exhibitions Fund; and the Kindred Spirits Society of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.
Support for the book is provided by Furthermore, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.
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OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE AND THE OLANA PARTNERSHIP: Olana is the greatest masterpiece of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), a preeminent American 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 embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually. The house is open for guided tours, and reservations are highly recommended. The landscape is free and open to all daily 8:30 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 historic sites in the state. The Olana Partnership, a private not-for-profit education corporation, works cooperatively with New York State to support the restoration, conservation, and interpretation of Olana. The Olana Partnership operates Olana State Historic Site in a cooperative agreement with New York State Parks.
THE THOMAS COLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE is an international destination presenting the original home and studios of Thomas Cole (1801-1848), founder of the Hudson River School of painting, the nation’s first major art movement. Located on 6 acres in the Hudson Valley, the site includes the 1815 Main House; Cole’s 1839 Old Studio; the reconstructed New Studio building; and panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains. It is a National Historic Landmark and an affiliated area of the National Park System. The Thomas Cole Site’s activities include guided tours, special exhibitions of both 19th-century and contemporary art, printed publications, extensive online programs, activities for school groups, free community events, lectures, and innovative public programs such as the Hudson River School Art Trail—a map and website that enable visitors to visit the places that Cole painted. The goal of all programs at the Thomas Cole Site is to enable visitors to find meaning and inspiration in Thomas Cole’s life and work. The themes that Cole explored in his art and writings—such as landscape preservation, the need for public art museums, and our conception of nature as a restorative power—are historic and timely, providing the opportunity to connect to audiences with insights that are highly relevant to their own lives.
CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
The mission of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is to welcome all to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of nature. Since opening in 2011, the museum has welcomed 4.9 million visitors, with no cost for admission. The collection spans five centuries of American masterworks from colonial to current day and is enhanced by temporary exhibitions. The museum is nestled on 120 acres of Ozark landscape and was designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie. A rare Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house was preserved and relocated to the museum grounds in 2015. Crystal Bridges offers public programs including lectures, performances, classes, and teacher development opportunities. Some 265,000 school children have participated in the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit program, which provides educational experiences for school groups at no cost to the schools. Additional museum amenities include a restaurant, gift store, library, and 5 miles of art and walking trails. For more information, visit CrystalBridges.org.
Olana VISITOR INFORMATION: The landscape is free and open daily 8:30 am to sunset. For a current list of tours of OLANA, visit www.olana.org/hours-and-admission. Keep in touch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @OlanaSHS.
Thomas Cole VISITOR INFORMATION: Visit thomascole.org/events for outdoor guided tours and other extensive programming available now. The grounds are open daily from dawn to dusk. Keep in touch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @thomascolesite.
Crystal Bridges VISITOR INFORMATION: for updates, visit here and follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
® I LOVE NEW YORK is a registered trademark and service mark of the New York State Department of Economic Development; used with permission.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, May 27, 2020
The Olana Partnership, Director of Advancement and Marketing
Melanie Hasbrook, mhasbrook@olana.org
Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Director of External Relations
Jennifer Greim, JGreim@thomascole.org
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Public Relations Director
Beth Bobbitt, Beth.Bobbitt@crystalbridges.org
Major Collaborative Exhibition Organized by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site in New York and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas Rescheduled to September 2020 through March 2022. It Will Show at a Total of Five National Venues.
The Exhibition Explores the Theme of “Cross Pollination” and Communities Working Together in Art and Nature from the 19th Century to the Contemporary Moment.
The National Project Stems from the Artist Martin Johnson Heade’s 19th-Century Series of Hummingbird and Habitat Paintings, The Gems of Brazil, and their Unique Relationship to the Epic Landscapes of Hudson River School Artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, as well as their Continued Significance to Contemporary Artists Working Today.
Hudson & Catskill, NY, and Bentonville, AR: Olana, Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announced today the new dates for the major exhibition, “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment” in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The exhibition will culminate at the organizing museums in 2021 and 2022.
Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Jacksonville, FL
September 5, 2020 – January 17, 2021
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC
February 19 – May 23, 2021
Thomas Cole National Historic Site & Olana State Historic Site, Catskill and Hudson, NY
June 12 – October 31, 2021
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
November 20, 2021 – March 23, 2022
The “Cross Pollination” exhibition was created by The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. The exhibition tour is organized by Crystal Bridges.
For the first time in over two decades, 16 paintings from the influential series of hummingbirds and habitats – The Gems of Brazil (1863-64) – by Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) from the collection of Crystal Bridges will be on tour in New York, Florida and North Carolina for public audiences. The project uses the metaphor of cross-pollination inspired by Heade’s paintings to explore community interconnections in art and science, between artists, and across the 19th and 21st centuries. Paintings, sketches, sculpture and natural history specimens will be displayed in provocative juxtapositions.
Artist Martin Johnson Heade has long been associated with the Hudson River School of landscape painting that is characterized by the epic landscapes of the artists Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and Frederic Church (1826-1900). Heade, though, was making a different kind of “landscape” that magnified the intricate operations within nature itself. Heade traveled to Brazil in 1863, so that he could study the hummingbirds in their natural habitat. Heade’s focus in The Gems of Brazil and his related writing, which decries the overhunting of bird species, aligns with the proto-environmentalism of Thomas Cole, who wrote against deforestation in his own time. Heade’s own Brazilian journey was inspired by Frederic Church’s travels in Latin America. The ecological awareness and advocacy of these 19th-century artists connect thought and conversation taking place today as concern for preservation and protection of the environment has reached a new urgency.
The exhibition will also include paintings by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, as well as botanical works on paper by Cole’s daughter, Emily Cole, and Church’s daughter, Isabel Charlotte Church, shown together here for the first time. The exhibition highlights natural specimen collections amassed by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, including Cole’s never-before-exhibited herbariums and a sampling of the Church family’s extensive collection of bird eggs.
“Cross Pollination” positions these 19th-century artists in a call and response with 21st-century American artists, whose works engage current issues related to biodiversity, habitat protection, and environmental sustainability. The contemporary artists vary by venue. The artists included in the New York presentation are Rachel Berwick, Nick Cave, Mark Dion, Richard Estes, Juan Fontanive, Jeffrey Gibson, Paula Hayes, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Flora C. Mace, Vik Muniz, Portia Munson, Lisa Sanditz, Sayler/Morris, Dana Sherwood, Rachel Sussman, and Jeff Whetstone. Thematically resonant projects include works in the Crystal Bridges Collection by Jeff Whetstone, Flora C. Mace, Richard Estes, and Patrick Jacobs. Additional work by contemporary artists includes Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood’s outdoor pollinator pavilion designed to attract ruby-throated hummingbirds, Rachel Sussman’s series The Oldest Living Things in the World, Maya Lin’s interactive site What is Missing, and Sayler/Morris' Eclipse, among others.
“Martin Johnson Heade’s delicate hummingbird and habitat paintings are absolutely enthralling to see in person, particularly alongside landscape paintings by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church,” said Elizabeth B. Jacks, Executive Director of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. “The exhibition’s theme, ‘Cross Pollination,’ presents an important and positive vision, that by interacting with diverse factions and welcoming diverse viewpoints we are strengthened. It is our hope that this ambitious project will contribute to a renewed openness to unexpected sources of ideas and inspiration.”
“Following the success of ‘River Crossings’ in 2015, The Olana Partnership is thrilled to once again partner with the Thomas Cole National Historic Site on a joint exhibition that links these two founding sites of American Art,” said Sean Sawyer, President of The Olana Partnership. “Cross Pollination will encourage visitors to move back and forth along the new Hudson River Skywalk to immerse themselves in the landscapes and art of Cole and Church, which influenced colleagues like Heade and which continue to inspire the leading contemporary artists represented in our exhibition.”
“This exhibition ties together two important historic sites linked by the Hudson River Skywalk and celebrates the vibrant cultural heritage of this region,” said Amy Hausmann, Director, Olana State Historic Site. “Artists of the 19th century, just like contemporary artists working today, often serve as advocates and instigators, inspired to protect, preserve, and understand the world that surrounds them. ‘Cross Pollination’ offers us the opportunity to explore these timeless ideas of art and ecology and highlights our connection to one another.”
“Integral to the exhibition is an exploration of how ideas in science and art cross-pollinate and the importance of both in our contemporary moment,” said two of the co-curators, Kate Menconeri, Curator & Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Julia B. Rosenbaum, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Bard College; former Director of Research and Publications at The Olana Partnership. “With The Gems of Brazil, Heade was inspired by the symbiotic relationships he witnessed within nature. New ideas and issues in science continue to change the way we understand ecological systems today, and artists continue to wrestle with what is at stake, from the impact of pollinator loss to imagining new strategies for resiliency in the 21st century.”
William L. Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership, said, “The works in this exhibition, historic and contemporary, show the fraught transmission of ideas between artists and the unexpected afterlives of 19th-century American landscape art. Visitors will see masterworks from around the country on view in the family homes of Frederic Church and Thomas Cole, unique contexts that were once and still remain vital sites of contemporary creativity, where new forms and ideas encourage a reckoning with the fragile rhythms of the natural world.”
“It is remarkable to see how one series of paintings, The Gems of Brazil, can inspire cross-disciplinary dialogue and thinking more than 150 years after their creation,” said Mindy N. Besaw, Curator, American Art and Director of Fellowships and Research, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. “Further, all the partner and venue museums hosting the exhibition are uniquely positioned within landscape. Through new ideas on historic and contemporary art, viewed while nestled within the natural environment, we hope all are called to be good stewards of nature.”
“Cross Pollination” is curated by Kate Menconeri, Curator & Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site; Julia B. Rosenbaum, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Bard College; former Director of Research and Publications at The Olana Partnership; William L. Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership; and Mindy N. Besaw, Curator, American Art and Director of Fellowships and Research, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. “Cross Pollination” was developed collaboratively between the partner museums and in conversations with leading American artists, scholars, scientists, and historians. The project is accompanied by a full-color catalogue with essays by the curators.
Support for this exhibition and its national tour is provided by Art Bridges. Additional major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
The exhibition is also supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art. In New York the project is supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts; Empire State Development’s I LOVE NEW YORK program under the Market NY initiative; and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and the New York State Legislature.
In New York the project is also supported by the Robert Lehman Foundation; The Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation; the Greene County Legislature through the County Initiative Program of the Greene County Council on the Arts; The Olana Partnership’s Novak-Ferber Exhibitions Fund; and the Kindred Spirits Society of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.
Support for the catalogue is provided by Furthermore, a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.
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OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE AND THE OLANA PARTNERSHIP: Olana is the greatest masterpiece of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), a preeminent American 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 embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually. The house is open for guided tours, and reservations are highly recommended. The landscape is free and open to all daily 8:30 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 historic sites in the state. The Olana Partnership, a private not-for-profit education corporation, works cooperatively with New York State to support the restoration, conservation, and interpretation of Olana. The Olana Partnership operates Olana State Historic Site in a cooperative agreement with New York State Parks.
THE THOMAS COLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE is an international destination presenting the original home and studios of Thomas Cole (1801-1848), founder of the Hudson River School of painting, the nation’s first major art movement. Located on 6 acres in the Hudson Valley, the site includes the 1815 Main House; Cole’s 1839 Old Studio; the recently reconstructed New Studio building; and panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains. It is a National Historic Landmark and an affiliated area of the National Park System. The Thomas Cole Site’s activities include guided tours, special exhibitions of both 19th-century and contemporary art, printed publications, extensive online programs, activities for school groups, free community events, lectures, and innovative public programs such as the Hudson River School Art Trail—a map and website that enable visitors to visit the places that Cole painted. The goal of all programs at the Thomas Cole Site is to enable visitors to find meaning and inspiration in Thomas Cole’s life and work. The themes that Cole explored in his art and writings—such as landscape preservation and our conception of nature as a restorative power—are historic and timely, providing the opportunity to connect to audiences with insights that are highly relevant to their own lives.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
The mission of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is to welcome all to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of nature. Since opening in 2011, the museum has welcomed 4.9 million visitors, with no cost for admission. The collection spans five centuries of American masterworks from colonial to current day and is enhanced by temporary exhibitions. The museum is nestled on 120 acres of Ozark landscape and was designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie. A rare Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house was preserved and relocated to the museum grounds in 2015. Crystal Bridges offers public programs including lectures, performances, classes, and teacher development opportunities. Some 265,000 school children have participated in the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit program, which provides educational experiences for school groups at no cost to the schools. Additional museum amenities include a restaurant, gift store, library, and 5 miles of art and walking trails. For more information, visit CrystalBridges.org.
Olana VISITOR INFORMATION: The landscape is free and open daily 8:30 am to sunset. For a current list of tours of OLANA, visit www.olana.org/hours-and-admission. Keep in touch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @OlanaSHS.
Thomas Cole VISITOR INFORMATION: Visit thomascole.org/events for digital content and outdoor experiences that you can enjoy now. The grounds are open daily from dawn to dusk. We are evaluating our 2020 touring schedule on an ongoing basis in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Keep in touch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @thomascolesite.
Crystal Bridges VISITOR INFORMATION: for updates, visit here and follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
® I LOVE NEW YORK is a registered trademark and service mark of the New York State Department of Economic Development; used with permission.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 27, 2020
The Olana Partnership, Director of Advancement and Marketing, Melanie Hasbrook, mhasbrook@olana.org
Thomas Cole Site, Director of External Relations, Jennifer Greim, JGreim@thomascole.org
Major Collaborative Exhibition to Open in May at Olana State Historic Site and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Exploring the Theme of “Cross Pollination” in Art and the Environment from the 19th Century to the Contemporary Moment.
The National Project Stems from the Artist Martin Johnson Heade’s 19th-Century Series of Hummingbird and Habitat Paintings, The Gems of Brazil, and their Unique Relationship to the Epic Landscapes of Hudson River School Artists Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, as well as their Continued Significance to Contemporary Artists Working Today.
Co-Organized by the Two Historic Sites in New York and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, the Major Exhibition Will Also Feature Work by Contemporary Artists Including Nick Cave, Mark Dion, Jeffrey Gibson, Paula Hayes, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Dana Sherwood, Rachel Sussman, and Vik Muniz.
Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment
May 9-November 1, 2020
Olana State Historic Site and Thomas Cole National Historic Site
Catskill and Hudson, NY— February 27, 2020 — Olana and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site announced today that they will co-host a major exhibition, “Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment,” opening at the two sites in May. For the first time in over two decades, 16 paintings from the influential series of hummingbirds and habitats – The Gems of Brazil (1863-64) – by Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) will be on tour in New York for public audiences. The project uses the metaphor of cross-pollination inspired by Heade’s paintings to explore interconnections in art and science, between artists, and across the 19th and 21st centuries. Paintings, sketches, sculpture and natural history specimens will be displayed in provocative juxtapositions within the historic spaces. After the exhibition’s debut in New York, the show will travel to three additional museums, ending at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Artist Martin Johnson Heade has long been associated with the Hudson River School of landscape painting that is characterized by the epic landscapes of the artists Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and Frederic Church (1826-1900). Heade, though, was making a different kind of “landscape” that magnified the intricate operations within nature itself. Heade traveled to Brazil in 1863, so that he could study the hummingbirds in their natural habitat. Heade’s focus in The Gems of Brazil and his related writing, which decries the overhunting of bird species, aligns with the proto-environmentalism of Thomas Cole, who wrote against deforestation in his own time. Heade’s own Brazilian journey was inspired by Frederic Church’s travels in Latin America. The ecological awareness and advocacy of these 19th-century artists connect thought and conversation taking place today as concern for preservation and protection of the environment has reached a new urgency.
The exhibition will also include paintings by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, as well as botanical works on paper by Cole’s daughter, Emily Cole, and Church’s daughter, Isabel Charlotte Church, shown together here for the first time. The exhibition highlights natural specimen collections amassed by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, including Cole’s never-before-exhibited herbariums and a sampling of the Church family’s extensive collection of bird eggs.
“Cross Pollination” positions these 19th-century artists in a call and response with 21st-century American artists, whose works engage current issues related to biodiversity, habitat protection, and environmental sustainability. The contemporary artists are Rachel Berwick, Nick Cave, Mark Dion, Richard Estes, Juan Fontanive, Jeffrey Gibson, Paula Hayes, Patrick Jacobs, Maya Lin, Flora C. Mace, Vik Muniz, Portia Munson, Lisa Sanditz, Sayler/Morris, Dana Sherwood, Rachel Sussman, and Jeff Whetstone. Thematically resonant projects include works in the Crystal Bridges Collection by Jeff Whetstone, Flora C. Mace, Richard Estes, and Patrick Jacobs. Additional work by contemporary artists includes Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood’s outdoor pollinator pavilion designed to attract ruby-throated hummingbirds, Rachel Sussman’s series The Oldest Living Things in the World, Maya Lin’s interactive site What is Missing, and Sayler/Morris' Eclipse, among others.
The joint project will be presented simultaneously as one exhibition at both the Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, NY, and the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY, from May 9 to November 1, 2020. The two historic sites are connected by the Hudson River Skywalk, a scenic walkway across the Hudson River – with sweeping views of the Hudson Valley and the Catskill Mountains – that opened in June 2019. “Cross Pollination” is the second major collaborative project between Olana and the Cole Site and builds upon the success of the inaugural “River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home” exhibition which took place in 2015.
The “Cross Pollination” exhibition was created by The Olana Partnership at Olana State Historic Site, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. The exhibition tour is organized by Crystal Bridges. The project will subsequently travel to The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, FL, Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, NC, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR.
“Martin Johnson Heade’s delicate hummingbird and habitat paintings are absolutely enthralling to see in person, particularly alongside landscape paintings by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church,” said Elizabeth B. Jacks, Executive Director of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. “The exhibition’s theme, ‘Cross Pollination,’ presents an important and positive vision, that by interacting with diverse factions and welcoming diverse viewpoints we are strengthened. It is our hope that this ambitious project will contribute to a renewed openness to unexpected sources of ideas and inspiration.”
“Following the success of ‘River Crossings’ in 2015, The Olana Partnership is thrilled to once again partner with the Thomas Cole National Historic Site on a joint exhibition that links these two founding sites of American Art,” said Sean Sawyer, President of The Olana Partnership. “Cross Pollination will encourage visitors to move back and forth along the new Hudson River Skywalk to immerse themselves in the landscapes and art of Cole and Church, which influenced colleagues like Heade and which continue to inspire the leading contemporary artists represented in our exhibition.”
“This exhibition ties together two important historic sites linked by the Hudson River Skywalk and celebrates the vibrant cultural heritage of this region,” said Amy Hausmann, Director, Olana State Historic Site. “Artists of the 19th century, just like contemporary artists working today, often serve as advocates and instigators, inspired to protect, preserve, and understand the world that surrounds them. ‘Cross Pollination’ offers us the opportunity to explore these timeless ideas of art and ecology and highlights our connection to one another.”
“Integral to the exhibition is an exploration of how ideas in science and art cross-pollinate and the importance of both in our contemporary moment,” said two of the co-curators, Kate Menconeri, Curator & Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Julia B. Rosenbaum, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Bard College; former Director of Research and Publications at The Olana Partnership. “With The Gems of Brazil, Heade was inspired by the symbiotic relationships he witnessed within nature. New ideas and issues in science continue to change the way we understand ecological systems today, and artists continue to wrestle with what is at stake, from the impact of pollinator loss to imagining new strategies for resiliency in the 21st century.”
William L. Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership, said, “The works in this exhibition, historic and contemporary, show the fraught transmission of ideas between artists and the unexpected afterlives of 19th-century American landscape art. Visitors will see masterworks from around the country on view in the family homes of Frederic Church and Thomas Cole, unique contexts that were once and still remain vital sites of contemporary creativity, where new forms and ideas encourage a reckoning with the fragile rhythms of the natural world.”
“It is remarkable to see how one series of paintings, The Gems of Brazil, can inspire cross-disciplinary dialogue and thinking more than 150 years after their creation,” said Mindy N. Besaw, Curator, American Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. “Further, all the partner and venue museums hosting the exhibition are uniquely positioned within landscape. Through new ideas on historic and contemporary art, viewed while nestled within the natural environment, we hope all are called to be good stewards of nature.”
“Cross Pollination” is curated by Kate Menconeri, Curator & Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site; Julia B. Rosenbaum, Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Bard College; former Director of Research and Publications at The Olana Partnership; William L. Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership; and Mindy N. Besaw, Curator, American Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. “Cross Pollination” was developed collaboratively between the partner museums and in conversations with leading American artists, scholars, scientists, and historians. The project is accompanied by a full-color catalogue with essays by the curators.
Support for this exhibition and its national tour is provided by Art Bridges.
Additional major support is provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. The exhibition is supported in New York in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, and Market New York through I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism as part of the Regional Economic Development Council awards, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and the New York State Legislature; the Robert Lehman Foundation; The Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation; Greene County Legislature through the County Initiative Program of the Greene County Council on the Arts; The Olana Partnership’s Novak-Ferber Exhibitions Fund, and the Kindred Spirits Society of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.
Support for the catalogue is provided by Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund.
###
OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE AND THE OLANA PARTNERSHIP: Olana is the greatest masterpiece of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), a preeminent American 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 embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually. The house is open for guided tours, and reservations are highly recommended. The landscape is free and open to all daily 8:30 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 historic sites in the state. The Olana Partnership, a private not-for-profit education corporation, works cooperatively with New York State to support the restoration, conservation, and interpretation of Olana. The Olana Partnership operates Olana State Historic Site in a cooperative agreement with New York State Parks.
THE THOMAS COLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE is an international destination presenting the original home and studios of Thomas Cole (1801-1848), founder of the Hudson River School of painting, the nation’s first major art movement. Located on 6 acres in the Hudson Valley, the site includes the 1815 Main House; Cole’s 1839 Old Studio; the recently reconstructed New Studio building; and panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains. It is a National Historic Landmark and an affiliated area of the National Park System. The Thomas Cole Site’s activities include guided tours, special exhibitions of both 19th-century and contemporary art, printed publications, extensive online programs, activities for school groups, free community events, lectures, and innovative public programs such as the Hudson River School Art Trail—a map and website that enable visitors to visit the places that Cole painted. The goal of all programs at the Thomas Cole Site is to enable visitors to find meaning and inspiration in Thomas Cole’s life and work. The themes that Cole explored in his art and writings—such as landscape preservation and our conception of nature as a restorative power—are historic and timely, providing the opportunity to connect to audiences with insights that are highly relevant to their own lives.
HUDSON RIVER SKYWALK REGION: The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY and Olana – across the Hudson River in Hudson, NY – have joined forces with New York State to launch a new initiative to promote the region as an epicenter of American art where the nation’s first major art movement began. The project – titled the Hudson River Skywalk Region – weaves together the home and studios of Thomas Cole at the Thomas Cole Site and those of his legendary student Frederic Church at Olana with the landscape that inspired it all to create one seamless experience. With support from New York State, a continuous pedestrian walkway – the Hudson River Skywalk – connects the historic sites across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge over the Hudson River. The Region also includes the City of Hudson and the Town of Catskill. For more information, visit www.hudsonriverskywalk.org.
Olana VISITOR INFORMATION: The landscape is free and open daily 8:30 am to sunset. For a current list of tours of the Main House and artist-designed landscape, visit www.olana.org/hours-and-admission. Keep in touch on social media @OlanaSHS.
Thomas Cole VISITOR INFORMATION: The hours for Thomas Cole’s home, studios and special exhibitions vary by season. For details, see www.thomascole.org/visit. Keep in touch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @thomascolesite.
#CrossPollinationShow
® I LOVE NEW YORK is a registered trademark and service mark of the New York State Department of Economic Development; used with permission.