Curators: Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor in the History of Art at Yale, Jennifer Raab, Associate Professor in the History of Art at Yale, Sophie Lynford, Ph.D. candidate at Yale and Nicholas Robbins, Ph.D. candidate at Yale

May 1 – Nov 4, 2018

Curator: Kate Menconeri

Aug 14 – Nov 18, 2018

Join us for a light paddle up Catskill Creek! The creek was a hot subject for the Hudson River School Artists and especially Thomas Cole. Stop to swim and admire your surroundings on this leisurely canoe trip.

The Thomas Cole Site and the Albany International Airport present a new multidisciplinary exhibition that features 10 contemporary visual artists and 7 writers whose works explore our relationship to the natural world, and share common ground with Thomas Cole’s greatest written work, Essay on American Scenery. The gallery is open daily from 7 am to 11 pm.

Lisa Sanditz, Fumigation Tents, 2016, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 54 x 70”, photograph courtesy the artist

Join the fun at the 2^nd annual Hudson River Skywalk Arts Festival in conjunction with our Community Day and the Postcards from the Trail Open Call exhibition. The Skywalk Arts Festival is presented by the Thomas Cole Site, Olana State Historic Site, and the New York State Bridge Authority at both historic sites and the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.

Photo by Devin Pickering

Sun, Sept 30, 2018

1 pm – 4 pm

Come see our 7th annual Postcards from the Trail Exhibition! For this call, we invited all artists to walk in the footsteps of Cole and to visit one of the 23 sites along the Art Trail to make their own postcard size artwork of the same spots.

Join us to celebrate the opening of this new special exhibition.

Lisa Sanditz, Fumigation Tents, 2016, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 54 x 70”, photograph courtesy the artist

Join us at Joe’s Garage in the Village of Catskill for the 13th annual Raymond Beecher Lecture! Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson, will speak to the transformative impacts of the forthcoming Hudson River Skywalk initiative.

Hike alongside Carey Russell, a noteworthy artist, writer, and photographer, as you marvel at the views that 19th century artists Thomas Cole and Jasper Cropsey painted. The hike begins on rugged terrain through gorgeous forest, peaking at Sunset Rock/ Bear’s Den, an iconic view featured in Cole’s Catskill Mountain House: The Four Elements, now on view in Cole’s New Studio.

Now open 

Visit The Parlors, an immersive experience in the first floor of the Main House where historic restoration meets multimedia technology. The carefully researched restoration has transformed the first floor of Cole’s home to the artist’s original design, just as visitors in his day would have experienced it. It features recently discovered hand-painted decorative borders by Thomas Cole himself, representing the earliest-known interior decorative painting by an American artist. Photo © Peter Aaron/OTTO

Now open

Explore Thomas Cole’s working process and ideas through an array of original sketches and paintings made by Cole, alongside the books and objects that inspired him. Discover the pigments and materials he used to realize his influential paintings. This special exhibition is located upstairs in the Main House and is comprised of original objects, ninety percent of which are from the Cole Site collection.

Painting: Diagram of Kontrasts, 1834, Thomas Cole. Courtesy of Collection Richard Sharp.

Now open

Join a seasonal guided tour with a friendly Cole Site Educator to explore the 1815 Main House where Thomas Cole lived and worked. The experience features the multimedia installation The Parlors and the exhibition Thomas Cole’s Creative Process, which includes original works by the artist.

Open Year-Round

Take in magnificent views of the landscape that so inspired Thomas Cole from the new Hudson River Skywalk viewing platforms along The Rip Van Winkle Bridge, located just a quick walk from the Thomas Cole Site. Learn more about the Skywalk initiative and the pedestrian connection from our site to Olana.

Curator: Kate Menconeri, Thomas Cole Site Curator

Aug 12 – Nov 19, 2017

Curator: Kevin J. Avery, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Apr 30 – Oct 29, 2017 

Photo © Peter Aaron/OTTO

Curator: Annette Blaugrund, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Author and Curator, and former Director of the National Academy Museum & School of Fine Arts    

May 1 – Oct 30, 2016

Curators: Stephen Hannock, Contemporary Artist and Jason Rosenfeld, Ph.D., Distinguished Chair and Professor of Art History at Marymount Manhattan College and Senior Writer and Editor-at-Large for the Brooklyn Rail

May 3-Nov 1, 2015

Photo © Peter Aaron/OTTO

Curator: Kate Menconeri, Thomas Cole Site Curator

July 26- Oct 2, 2014

Curator: Annette Blaugrund, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Author and Curator, and former Director of the National Academy Museum & School of Fine Arts

May 1 – Nov 3, 2013

Curator: Katherine E. Manthorne, Ph.D., Professor of American and Latin American Art at the CUNY Graduate Center, and former Research Center Head at the Smithsonian American Art Museum  

Apr 29 – Oct 28, 2012

Curator: Nancy Siegal, Ph.D., Professor of Art History at Towson University    

May 2- Oct 31, 2010

Curator: Elizabeth B. Jacks, Thomas Cole Site Executive Director

May 3 – Oct 26, 2008

Curator: Elizabeth Stevens, former Thomas Cole Site Curator    

May 7 – Oct 29, 2006

Curator: Elizabeth Stevens, former Thomas Cole Site Curator    

May 1 – Oct 30, 2005