NEH on the Road: Wild Land

FAIN: MR-249674-16

Ypsilanti District Library (Ypsilanti, MI 48197-9752)
John Connaghan (Project Director: November 2015 to October 2025)

A mix of programs to appeal to the broadest range of potential attendees, including lectures, reading/discussions, film discussions, and off-site tours in support of the NEH On the Road traveling exhibit, Wild Land: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Landscape Painting. Topics and ideas we hope to explore include Romanticism and Naturalism in American art and literature, the tools and techniques of the landscape painter, celebration of the local landscape, and environmental stewardship. We hope visitors to the exhibition and its programs will develop an appreciation of the art of Cole and artists who celebrate the landscape, as well as develop a sense of Cole's and his contemporaries' place in the story of America. We hope to increase the awareness of our local landscape -- the Huron River -- as a source of artistic expression and encourage this expression in our community.