Our region offers a rich array of cultural activities within an easy drive from the Lake. What follows is an expanding list of art museums, history and natural history centers, and performing arts opportunities.
This page has been prepared by Allen Farber. Please send him suggestions for additions and revisions: farberas@oneonta.edu.
| Visual Arts | |
| The Arkell Museum, Canajoharie | The Arkell Museum has just reopened with a new building. The museum houses a small but excellent collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century American paintings. The highlights include paintings by Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, Maurice Prendergast, and Georgia O'Keefe. The museum also introduces the history of the Mohawk Valley. Directions |
| The Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown. | The Fenimore Art Museum presents in permanent and changing exhibitions the superb art and history collections of the New York Historical Association. The Association also has a great deal of material associated with James Fenimore Cooper, Cooperstown's most famous native son, and his family. The museum has special collections in American Indian Art and American Folk Art. The collections also includes notable works by significant nineteenth century painters including Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Gilbert Stuart, and William Sidney Mount. View in Google Maps |
| Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica | The Museum of Art is only one part of an institute that includes a performing arts program and art school. The Museum's collection specializes in eighteenth to contemporary European and American art. Of special note is the series of monumental paintings painted by Thomas Cole entitled The Voyage of Life. The museum also has notable examples of Modern and Contemporary Art including works by Maurice Prendergast, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keefe, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol. View in Google Maps |
| The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls | The museum is a product of its founders Louis and Charlotte Hyde. Over a period of fifty years, the Hydes created this collection which spans from the 4th century B.C. to the Twentieth century. They acquired Old Master paintings, drawings and sculpture by such artists as Botticelli, El Greco, Raphael, Rembrandt, and Rubens. The nineteenth century collection includes works by Cézanne, Degas, Picasso, Renoir, Seurat, and van Gogh. View in Google Maps |
| The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA | The Clark's collections focus on European and American painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative art from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. The Institute's greatest strengths lie in nineteenth-century European and American painting, especially the French Impressionists; English silver; master drawings and prints; and, in recent years, the Institute's growing collection of early photography. View in Google Maps |
| The Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA | View in Google Maps |
| MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA | The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is housed in a restored, nineteenth century factory. It is the largest institution in America expressly dedicated to the exhibition of Contemporary Art. View in Google Maps |
| The Everson Museum, Syracuse | Designed by I. M. Pei, the museum includes American paintings, sculpture, drawings, graphics and one of the largest holdings of American ceramics in the nation. View in Google Maps |
| George Eastman House, Rochester | The George Eastman House, the home of the founder of Eastman Kodak, has a world renowned collection of the history of photography and film. The house and gardens are also worth the visit. View in Google Maps |
| Corning Museum of Glass, Corning | View in Google Maps |
| Olana | Olana is the home of Frederick Church, a famous nineteenth century American landscape painter. The Persian style house is a remarkable example of nineteenth century interest in Orientalism. View in Google Maps |
| Storm King Art Center, Mountainville | This remarkable post war collection of sculpture places the works in the natural setting of the rolling hills and fields of the Hudson Highlands. View in Google Maps |
| Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca | View in Google Maps |
| Historical and Natural History Museums | |
| Caroga Historical Association and Museum | |
| Johnson Hall State Historic Site, Johnstown | Directions • In Johnstown, left on E. Main St., right on N. William, right on Hall Ave. View in Google Maps |
| Old Fort Johnson | This the original limestone house built by Sir William Johnson. Directions |
| Fort Klock, St. Johnsville | Directions |
| Fort Plain Museum and Historical Park, Fort Plain | Directions |
| The Adirondack Experience: The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake | View in Google Maps |
| The Wild Center, Tupper Lake | Directions |
| The Farmers' Museums, Cooperstown | Directions |
| National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown | View in Google Maps |
| National Museum of Dance, Saratoga Springs. | "The National Museum of Dance & Hall of Fame was established in 1986 and is the only museum in the nation dedicated to American professional dance. Located in the former Washington Bath House -- a spacious, airy 1918 Arts and Crafts-style building -- in the Saratoga Spa State Park , the Museum houses a growing collection of photographs, videos, artifacts, costumes, biographies and archives comprising a contemporary and retrospective examination of seminal contributions to dance." Directions: 99 South Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY View in Google Maps |
| Iroquois Indian Museum, Howes Caves | View in Google Maps |
| Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA | View in Google Maps |
| The Mount: Edith Wharton's Estate and Gardens, Lenox, MA | View in Google Maps |
| Performing Arts | |
| Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs | View in Google Maps |
| Glimmerglass Festival, Cooperstown | World class opera center Directions View in Google Maps |
| Tanglewood, Lenox, MA | Directions |
| Jacob's Pillow Dance, Becket, MA | View in Google Maps |
| The Mount: Edith Wharton's Estate and Gardens, Lenox, MA | View in Google Maps |