Trustees recently elected are Eric Blair-Joannou, Jennifer Krieger, and Michael Tavano. “I am thrilled to have Eric, Jennifer, and Michael join our board and bring their enthusiasm and expertise to our work to ensure a dynamic and sustainable future for Olana,” Board of Trustees Chair Peter Warwick said. A commercial and industrial landlord, Blair-Joannou is active in historic preservation and serves as a trustee of a number of museums and cultural institutions in New York State, including Historic Hudson Valley, the Columbia County Historical Society; and the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
“I have always had an interest in the rich history of the Hudson Valley” Blair-Joannou said. “I am looking forward to bringing the importance of Frederic Church and Olana to a national level.” He received his BA in history from Cornell University and his MBA in real estate finance and MS in urban planning and design from Columbia University’s Graduate Schools of Business and Architecture, Planning & Preservation.
Krieger has gained recognition as a successful dealer and scholar in the field of American art. She is the founder of Hawthorne Fine Art, LLC, a Manhattan based American Art Gallery focused on 19th and early 20th Century Artists. In addition to assisting in the formation of, and creating research for, numerous American painting collections, she has also written scholarly articles for the American Art Review and Antiques and Fine Art Magazine.
Chosen for her research on 19th century women artists, Jennifer served as the co-curator of the 2010 exhibition, “Remember the Ladies: Women of the Hudson River School at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site,” the first ever exhibition solely dedicated to the work of female Hudson River School artists. “Olana is a physical testament to an artist who could create and contribute in so many different ways,” Krieger said. “To join the board and be a part of the effort to explore, share, preserve and conserve this very special place is truly exhilarating for me.
” Tavano is an interior designer, lifestyle expert, and design influencer. His interiors combine a keen eye for color, scale, lighting, and proportion with a touch of whimsy. His projects range from residential to retail, hospitality, and event design, as well as garden design.
Tavano is also known for his exquisite and surprising jewel-box dining environments which he creates only for small, private VIP dinners, or for charity events. Tavano starred in the BBC’s hit television series “House of the Year” and has appeared in various design segments on NBC and CBS. Tavano has been featured editorially in several publications including The Wall Street Journal, House Beautiful, Forbes.
com , and The New York Times Magazine. He is a sought-after public speaker, spokesperson, a “Design Notable” panelist, a guest benefit auctioneer and serves the design community, participating in charity events, show houses, and advisory boards. “Church’s unique blending of art, architecture, and landscape design at Olana is a testament to his genius, and I look forward to working with the team to continue preserving and share this legacy to future generations” Tavano said.
Over the summer, two new staff members joined TOP. Maggie Dimock is TOP’s new associate curator, taking over from Allegra Davis, who has left to continue her graduate education. At the same time, Clare Fleming joined TOP as research archivist, stepping into a role established by Ida Brier, who retired after 26 years at Olana.
“We are so pleased to have Maggie and Clare join the TOP team at Olana. They bring substantial professional experience to their positions and great enthusiasm for advancing our public-facing mission at Olana,’ TOP’s President Sean Sawyer said. Sawyer also announced the establishment of the Ida Brier Archival Webinar in recognition and appreciation of Brier’s decades of contributions to advancing the knowledge and understanding of Olana and its extensive archival collections.
The first annual webinar will be held this coming winter season. Maggie Dimock joins TOP from the Greenwich Historical Society, where she was curator of exhibitions and collections, where she oversaw art and history exhibitions and interpretation of the ca. 1730 Bush-Holley House, once the center of the Cos Cob Impressionist Art Colony.
She is a curator and art historian, whose primary areas of focus include decorative art, design movements, and social histories of late-19th and early-20th century in the United States. Dimock previously held curatorial positions at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire and Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, in Delaware and has contributed consulting research and curatorial services to museums and historical societies across Connecticut. Clare Flemming joins TOP as research archivist from the New York State Archives.
She earned her MS in archives management from Pratt Institute, and an MA in photographic preservation & collections management from the University of Rochester. Flemming has served as archivist in several cultural-heritage organizations, including the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor in the College of information science at SUNY Albany.
To learn more about Olana State Historic Site and The Olana Partnership, visit OLANA.org . Olana is the greatest masterwork of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), the most famous American landscape 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 five miles of carriage roads and a Persian-inspired house at its summit embraces unrivaled panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains and welcomes more than 170,000 visitors annually. Olana’s landscape is open for guided touring, and reservations are highly recommended.
The park is free and open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset.
Olana State Historic Site, administered and operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, is a designated National Historic Landmark and one of the most visited sites in the state. The Olana Partnership is the 501©(3) not-for-profit cooperative partner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation at Olana State Historic Site, with primary responsibility for visitor engagement, programming, and exhibitions..
