Forever Wild

Posted by Meg Gianetti on October 13th 2011 | 0 Comments

Tags: Museum of Art

 

This past weekend I enjoyed a wonderful hike with 24 fellow MWPAI members through the Hudson River School Art Trail and visited the Thomas Cole National Historical Site in Catskill, NY. This great program organized by Barb Kane, MWPAI’s Public Programs Coordinator, allowed us to follow the footsteps of great American artists such as Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Asher Durand, Jasper Cropsey and Sanford Gifford.

In this picture, Sarah, one of our tour guides presented the background information about the Catskill Mountain House. On this site stood a popular 19th century hotel built on the edge of a sheer drop called the Escarpment; a few of us were brave enough to look over the edge.

This is one of the older dates I found carved into one of the rocks at the edge of the house site. Looks like A.M.S 1838 to me.

 

We couldn’t have asked for better weather for our walk and while stopping for a break on Artist’s Rock we happened upon some present day artists capturing the magnificent views.

 

 

The program description of “moderate hike” was joked about throughout our walk as our tour guide, Sarah, laughed and reminded us that “It’s all a matter of perspective” which we understood once we reached our final destination of Sunset Rock. Breathtaking views!

 

 

 

 

Our tour guide explained that many of the trails are “forever wild,” meaning the paths are minimally maintained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally at the end of the hike, we were treated to a tour of Thomas Cole’s Catskill home, ending in the artist’s studio, which took on a familiar air as we were surrounded by prints of the Voyage of Life. The original version in MWPAI’s permanent collection was painted in that very studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To find out more information about the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and the Hudson River School Art Trail please visit their website at http://www.thomascole.org/