Drawing on landscape painting, photography, traveler's accounts, and other sources, this presentation explores the evolution of American attitudes towards nature. Beginning with perceptions of the American landscape as a howling wilderness, a wasteland to be tamed and transformed, the lecture traces the social, cultural and economic forces that led to the perception of wild nature as something of value to be experienced and preserved. Key topics and figures along the way include the sublime, romanticism, Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School, John Muir, Ansel Adams, and the Lorax.

Charles Mitchell has been on the faculty at Elmira College since 1993. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Lynbrook (on Long Island) he still occasionally refers to everything north of Yonkers as “upstate.” He teaches a wide variety of courses in American cultural history, with specific interests in environmental history, the history of ideas about nature, and the representation of the landscape in literature and art.

This program, which is free and open to the public, is made possible through the support of the New York Council for the Humanities’ Speakers in the Humanities program."

Gayle Ross, soprano, Phil Eisenman, basso, Gail E. Exline, flute, and Jerry Exline, piano

A special fundraising concert of American music featuring evocative compositions of Ives, Copland, Bacon, Gershwin, Bernstein, Jones & Schmidt, John Williams and more. The musical program complements the collections with musical portraits from the “golden age” of America’s 1920’s to the end of the century. The program of instrumental, vocal solos, and duets includes such titles as “The Circus Band”, “Lucky to be me”, “Down East”, “A man and a woman”, and includes musical portraits of “Our Town”, and movie music of John Williams.

$8 for members (arrive early to enjoy your member benefit of free admission to the galleries)
$10 for non-members (includes free admission to the galleries prior to the concert)