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Thomas Cole Interactive Website

2008 Ford Scholars Project Description

Description of the Project:

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site was recently awarded a $320,000 implementation grant from the NEH to create various educational components for the Visitor’s Center.  As advisor to the Cole Site, I was involved in composing the successful application and helped conceive several important aspects of the project:  a ten-minute film, informative wall panels, and a self-guided tour of the property.  The most exciting component of this effort is a state-of-the-art interactive website, accessible at the site and through the internet, which will inform visitors about Cole’s life, art and cultural context. This resource is modeled on the innovative work done by Historicus for the Rubin Museum of Art in New York (see ExploreArt http://www.exploreart.org/).  Although the Himalayan art at the Rubin Museum is radically different from American landscape painting, the brilliant design by Charles Forcey is very easily converted to our goals for the Cole Site.  I have been able to bring Mr. Forcey on our team for this project.

Website menu options will include “Gallery,” “Map,” and “Narrative Series.”   The “Gallery” menu option will analyze eight key paintings, taking each artwork from pencil sketch to finished work, explaining along the way the significance of each element, whether it be a figure from classical sculpture or a rock formation in the Adirondacks. Included will be links to related artworks and literature, contemporary photographs of the sites that inspired the works, texts that describe key aspects of the works’ history, Cole’s letters regarding the paintings, and other relevant information.
 
The "Map" menu item will provide various options for exploring the regions that inspired Cole’s artistry and gave rise to the Hudson River School.   The interactive map will extend from New York City to the Adirondacks and offer various options for exploration:  favorite painting sites of Hudson River School artists; locations of artists’ homes and studios; the progress of the railroad throughout the nineteenth century; lands designated “Forever Wild,” etc.  

The last menu item--an interactive exploration of Cole's two major narrative series, The Course of Empire and The Voyage of Life, both painted at Cedar Grove--will allow for a “decoding” of the imagery in the canvases.  The user will be able to select numerous details of each painting for an in-depth look at the symbolism of each element for Cole and his audience, augmented by links to sketches, letters, and texts that help explain how the artist intended each work to be understood by the viewer.  We aim to construct an invaluable resource that will engage the user both cognitively and visually.  We hope to use the digital medium in new ways to stimulate creative responses to Thomas Cole and his early 19th c. American cultural context.

Assisted by former and current Vassar students, I have been able to start compiling images and texts for this website.  With the help of a Ford Scholar this summer, I will be able to bring the research side of the project to completion, so that the website can be designed and implemented in 2009.

Anticipated Summer Activities:

The Ford Scholar’s activities during the summer would include extensive research in archives, museum collections, libraries and on the internet to obtain the necessary information for each component of the website.  This will involve travel to repositories of Cole material (in New York City, Albany, and possibly Detroit), although the bulk of the research will be done on campus through our library system.  The scholar will not only compile and organize the material but write first versions of the texts that will appear on the website.  S/he will work closely with me to implement the outline given above.  My hope is to have a proactive scholar who can help realize the potential of this resource, mold the look and feel of the design, and develop the website content.  

Preferred Student Qualifications/Skills:

I am looking for a fully engaged partner in this endeavor, one who can work independently as well as take direction.  The ideal candidate is very organized, web-savvy, has high standards for accuracy and thoroughness in research, excellent writing and editorial skills, with a good background in American art and culture, especially the Hudson River School.  Knowledge of the Hudson River Valley, American social history and the nineteenth-century environmental movement is also highly desirable.  Familiarity with manipulating digital images would be very welcome.   Access to a car is also very important.

Anticipated  Follow-up Teaching/Professional Activity for the Student:  

I would like the Ford Scholar to be present at the launch of the website and give a presentation to Cole Site visitors about its aims and how it was constructed.  The scholar will also be credited as a “co-author” of the website, so the completed project will function as an on-line publication for the student.