The Olana Partnership held its annual 2015 Frederic E. Church Award Gala on Tuesday, November 17 at The Metropolitan Club in New York City. The Frederic E. Church (FEC) Award, named after Olana’s creator and the preeminent American artist of the mid-19th century, recognizes outstanding accomplishment in American art, culture, and landscape design and environmental conservation. Two hundred fifteen guests were in attendance. The event raised more than $500,000 for the non-profit organization. 

This year’s Gala launched Olana’s 50th Anniversary Season, celebrating the preservation and opening to the public of America’s most important artist’s home, studio, and designed landscape in 1966. The 2015 Church Award honorees represent the breadth of this important story – from the 1966 saving of Olana to the exciting plans for its future: Jim Hamilton, Martin Puryear, Professor Jason Rosenfeld Ph.D., Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, M.D., and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NY Parks 2020 Plan. Luminist painter Stephen Hannock, a former FEC Award recipient, served as Honorary Chair. The Gala included cocktails, dinner and a critical initiative led by David Redden, the Chairman of The Olana Partnership and a Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s.

As a young attorney at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, LLP Jim Hamilton wrote the original bill signed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to make Olana a State Historic Site.

Puryear and Rosenfeld were central figures in Olana’s recent acclaimed exhibition, “River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home.” Puryear, who has a home and studio in the Hudson Valley, has been recognized as one of America’s foremost living artists and received the 2011 National Medal of Arts from President Obama.

Rosenfeld is co-curator of “River Crossings” and Professor of Art History at Marymount Manhattan College. He has organized major international exhibitions, including “Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde” at Tate Britain.

Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky, M.D. is one of the greatest champions of wildlife and the environment today and, specifically, of the New York State Parks system. In her role as Chair of the NYS Council of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Dr. Waletzky provides crucial support for Olana’s ongoing restoration, conservation and interpretation as a public property.

The Olana Partnership honored its long-standing partnership with New York State by recognizing Governor Cuomo’s NY Parks 2020: A Vision for Transforming NY Parks. This plan provides a multi-year commitment to leverage $900 million in public and private funding for State Parks from 2012 to 2020.

Attendees included:
Martin Puryear (Contemporary Artist & Honoree), Professor Jason Rosenfeld (Honoree), Jim Hamilton (Honoree), Lucy Rockefeller Waletzky (Honoree), Stephen Hannock (Honorary Chair), David Redden (Chair, Board of Trustees), Sean Sawyer (Washburn & Susan Oberwager President), Douglas Durst (Co-Chair), John Stern (Co-Chair), Rose Harvey (Commissioner of the NY State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation), Bibhu Mohapatra (Designer), Bobby Beard, Frank Stella, Richard Sharp, John Berendt (Author), Kianja Strobert (Artist), Morrison Heckscher (Curator Emeritus of the American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Tim Barringer (Chairman, Dept of the History of Art, Yale University), Fred Osborn III

Olana is the greatest masterpiece of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), the 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 a Persian-inspired house at its summit embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 150,000 visitors annually.

Olana State Historic Site, a historic site administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Taconic Region, is a designated National Historic Landmark and one of the most visited 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 State Historic Site. 2016 will mark the beginning of the 50th anniversary season of this public/private partnership. To learn more about Olana and The Olana Partnership, please visit www.olana.org.