Thomas Cole was not only an iconic 19th-century artist but a conservational visionary whose ideas on the natural world heralded the sense of American identity that we know today. Wild Land: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Landscape Painting, a new exhibition opening this week at Frances Sewell Plamann History Center, City Hall, takes visitors “into the woods” and through Cole’s studio, revealing the ways in which he, and other artists of his time, pioneered cultural conversations that shaped our national landscape—intellectually, physically, and visually. 

 Through a combination of large-scale banner graphics, immersive environments, media features, and other interactive elements, Wild Land takes audiences on a journey with Cole through the story of his creative process. From an itinerant portrait artist to the founder of the Hudson River School, how did this landscape artist transform sketches from nature into a new vision of the wilderness? The exhibition also examines how the meaning of nature has changed over time into a source for creative and intellectual inspiration. And just as Cole did, visitors are invited to explore the concept of preservation and how societies come to value and live in balance with natural resources. They are left to contemplate whether Cole’s premature death may have signified a beginning of an American artistic legacy and an identity as a nation inextricably tied to nature.

The exhibit will be on display starting April 6 and will run until May 24.  Normal hours are Monday-Friday, 9am to 5pm and Saturdays, 10am to 2pm.  We will also have extended hours over Memorial Weekend, Saturday, May 23, 10am to 3pm, and Sunday, May 24, 1pm to 3pm.  The exhibit is free of charge thanks to these local sponsors, Kex Rx, Hiawatha Family Dentistry, Blaise Fitness, Rainbow Communications, and Hiawatha Convention and Visitors Bureau.  For more information you can call Eric Oldham, Historical Society Director, at 620-340-5687.

There will be two programs in conjunction with the exhibit.  The first one will be a speaker program on April 14 at 7pm at the exhibit site.  This program is titled, “Individualizing Nature: the Art and Life of Birger Sandzén,” presented by Ron Michael, Curator at Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery. This talk will examine Sandzén's early years in Sweden, where he studied under Anders Zorn and Richard Berg in Stockholm, and spent time in Paris.  The focus, however, will be on his efforts in America, where he became a distinguished painter and printmaker of Kansas, Rocky Mountain and Southwest landscapes, as well as an honored educator and arts proponent.  The second program will be on Saturday, April 18, from 10am to 2pm at the exhibit site.   Presenter Mike Adams will take us on a journey to meet Blue Hawk, the 'Original Iron-jawed, Brass Mounted Copper-bellied Corpse Maker from the wilds of the Rocky Mountains' as he delights visitors with the 'Life and Times of the Mountain Men'.  Families are encouraged to come out and see how Mountain Men survived on their own and the tools they used to survive.  Visitors will be able to see and touch some of the tools of the mountain men and can talk and ask questions to Blue Hawk.

Wild Land: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Landscape Painting has been made possible by NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The exhibition was organized by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site/Cedar Grove in Catskill, New York and was adapted and toured by Mid-America Arts Alliance through NEH on the Road. NEH on the Road offers an exciting opportunity for communities of all sizes to experience some of the best exhibitions funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Mid-America Arts Alliance was founded in 1972 and is the oldest regional nonprofit arts organization in the United States. For more information, visit www.maaa.org or www.nehontheroad.org.