A rare grouping of paintings and sketches from American Impressionist masters highlights the summer season at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. The exhibition showcases groundbreaking artists including Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, Mary Cassatt, Theodore Robinson, John Henry Twachtman, and others.  These adaptors of the French Impressionist style revolutionized the American art scene in the late 19^th century and ultimately paved way to a uniquely American style of painting.

American Impressionism: Paintings of Light and Life features 26 paintings, dating from 1881 to 1920, representing nearly every noted American Impressionist from the period.

“The paint, the color, and the light in these works separated them from anything that had been done in this country before,” said Museum President and CEO, Dr. Paul S. D’Ambrosio.  “They can truly be called some of the first, modern American paintings.” 

Impressionism was a painting style imported to America after the 1880s.  The major catalyst was Paris-based art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel’s 1886 exhibition of French Impressionist paintings in New York. Comprising nearly 300 paintings by Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, and others, the exhibition marked the beginning of serious interest in Impressionist art on behalf not only of American collectors, but also American painters. 

The artists represented in American Impressionism: Paintings of Light and Life were among the first generation of American painters to utilize the techniques of their French counterparts, such as a brighter palette and the use of broken brushwork. While using innovative techniques, they were traditional in their selection of subject matter, seeking out and painting colorful landscapes, beach scenes, urban views, and perspectives of small town life.  The artists had a particular interest in the way light could be captured on canvas.

“The Impressionists believed there was a lot more going on with the play of light on various surfaces than people realized, and that’s what they wanted to express in their painting,” D’Ambrosio added.

These works will be on loan from several sources, including The Arkell Museum (Canajoharie, NY), The Florence Griswold Museum (Old Lyme, CT), The Parrish Museum (Southampton, NY), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY).  The exhibition will also feature Bridge at Dolceacqua (1884) by Claude Monet (Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA), an excellent example of French Impressionism that inspired and influenced these American artists.

For more information about this exhibition, please visit FenimoreArtMuseum.org.

 American Impressionism: Paintings of Light and Life is sponsored in part by Fenimore Asset Management and Golden Artist Colors.

9:00 am., rain or shine. Admission is free for the general public.

Spectators will delight as equestrians test their horsemanship skills – traversing a beautifully designed course featuring handcrafted jumps representing local Cooperstown landmarks.

For information on the horse show, please contact Meg Preston at (607) 547-1452 or visit our web site at FarmersMuseum.org/horseshow.  Food and drinks will be available for purchase throughout the day.

Coming to town during the Iroquois Cultural Festival held at the Fenimore Art Museum, Shenandoah sings in her native Iroquois tongue. “Shenandoah’s music is like a lullaby with a touch of pain and longing lingering beneath the surface. Sometimes called the Native American Enya, Shenandoah actually has a deeper, more powerful voice than the Irish thrush,” in the words of John Diliberto on Amazon.

A Grammy award winner, Shenandoah has won over 40 music awards, including 13 Native American music awards.

Tickets are $20 each and available at the Fenimore Art Museum shop, The Farmers’ Museum store, and online at FenimoreArtMuseum.org/museumshop.

On Memorial Day weekend, May 26–27, the Iroquois Cultural Festival spreads its wings on the expansive lakefront lawn of the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. A remarkable gathering of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) artisans, dancers, interpreters, and Native American scholars, this first-ever festival can’t be missed. Storytellers Perry Ground, Kay Olan, and Mike Tarbell reflect the importance of Iroquois oral tradition, in which stories are told to teach as well as provide enjoyment.

With admission to the festival, visitors can explore the extraordinary Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, a collection of over 800 objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures. Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place and its Seneca Log House and Mohawk Bark House are also part of the festival. 

The festival is hosted by the New York State Historical Association, in partnership with the Iroquois Indian Museum. The festival is made possible through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and a contribution from Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation.

Festival admission: adults and juniors (13-64) is $12.00; seniors (65+): $10.50; and free for children (12 and under). Admission is always free for NYSHA members, active military, and retired career military personnel. Please become a member and enjoy free admission all year.

For more information, visit FenimoreArtMuseum.org.

8:30 AM – 02:00 PM

A tradition for families and friends featuring historic and contemporary maple-sugaring demonstrations, children’s activities and more. A full pancake breakfast is served from 8:30 am to 1 pm.

Children’s activities take place in the Filer’s Corners Schoolhouse throughout the day and maple cooking demonstrations are held in the More House. Visitors have a taste of jack wax, hot maple syrup poured over snow! The blacksmith is also working in his shop: stop in to watch a true craftsman.

In addition, the Empire State Carousel, a favorite attraction at The Museum, is open from 9 am – 2 pm. You can find spring items, unique gifts, crafts, and books at The Farmers’ Museum Store and Todd’s General Store open 9 am – 2 pm. Delicious local maple products will also be for sale.

The Farmers Museum
5775 State Hwy 80
Cooperstown, NY 13326
Telephone: 607-547-1450

8:30 AM – 02:00 PM

A tradition for families and friends featuring historic and contemporary maple-sugaring demonstrations, children’s activities and more. A full pancake breakfast is served from 8:30 am to 1 pm.

Children’s activities take place in the Filer’s Corners Schoolhouse throughout the day and maple cooking demonstrations are held in the More House. Visitors have a taste of jack wax, hot maple syrup poured over snow! The blacksmith is also working in his shop: stop in to watch a true craftsman.

In addition, the Empire State Carousel, a favorite attraction at The Museum, is open from 9 am – 2 pm. You can find spring items, unique gifts, crafts, and books at The Farmers’ Museum Store and Todd’s General Store open 9 am – 2 pm. Delicious local maple products will also be for sale.

The Farmers Museum
5775 State Hwy 80
Cooperstown, NY 13326
Telephone: 607-547-1450

8:30 AM – 02:00 PM

A tradition for families and friends featuring historic and contemporary maple-sugaring demonstrations, children’s activities and more. A full pancake breakfast is served from 8:30 am to 1 pm.

Children’s activities take place in the Filer’s Corners Schoolhouse throughout the day and maple cooking demonstrations are held in the More House. Visitors have a taste of jack wax, hot maple syrup poured over snow! The blacksmith is also working in his shop: stop in to watch a true craftsman.

In addition, the Empire State Carousel, a favorite attraction at The Museum, is open from 9 am – 2 pm. You can find spring items, unique gifts, crafts, and books at The Farmers’ Museum Store and Todd’s General Store open 9 am – 2 pm. Delicious local maple products will also be for sale.

The Farmers Museum
5775 State Hwy 80
Cooperstown, NY 13326
Telephone: 607-547-1450

8:30 AM – 02:00 PM

A tradition for families and friends featuring historic and contemporary maple-sugaring demonstrations, children’s activities and more. A full pancake breakfast is served from 8:30 am to 1 pm.

Children’s activities take place in the Filer’s Corners Schoolhouse throughout the day and maple cooking demonstrations are held in the More House. Visitors have a taste of jack wax, hot maple syrup poured over snow! The blacksmith is also working in his shop: stop in to watch a true craftsman.

In addition, the Empire State Carousel, a favorite attraction at The Museum, is open from 9 am – 2 pm. You can find spring items, unique gifts, crafts, and books at The Farmers’ Museum Store and Todd’s General Store open 9 am – 2 pm. Delicious local maple products will also be for sale.

The Farmers Museum
5775 State Hwy 80
Cooperstown, NY 13326
Telephone: 607-547-1450

5:00 – 7:00 PM

An evening of music, food, games and contests sure to keep your feet stomping and your heart pumping.

Come hear live music from local favorite Bourbon & Branch as well as the Cooperstown High School Jazz Band.  Enjoy games and activities such as Hula-Hoop races, face painting, and even a limbo contest.  There will be goody bags with masks to decorate, beads and more. Partake in food and drink with sales to benefit the Cooperstown High School Jazz Band. 

Heat Up the Night takes place in The Farmers’ Museum’s Louis C. Jones Center. Come hear live music, play games, and enjoy an abundance of food and drink.

Tickets are $5.00 (ages 7 and up). Children 6 and under are free!

The Farmers Museum
5775 State Hwy 80
Cooperstown, NY 13326
Telephone: 607-547-1450

It was the day before Induction Sunday, so this moment in the first-base dugout at Doubleday Field was a rare chance to sit down.

One-hundred yards away, the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation was just getting started. On the stage was Terry Cashman, telling the assembled crowd about how he came to write his classic piece of baseball nostalgia “Talkin’ Baseball (Willie, Mickey and The Duke).”

I was tired, I was hot (Saturday featured another day of 90-plus degree temperatures in Cooperstown) and I was thinking about the next item on my to-do list.

And then Terry Cashman started to sing.

The Whiz Kids had won it; Bobby Thomson had done it; and Yogi read the comics all the while…

I have never felt tears well up that quickly.

We’re talking baseball; Kluszewski, Campanella…

Suddenly, it was 1981 all over again. I was 12 years old, in love with this game and its history, and Terry Cashman was singing to me. I decoded each line of the song like it was a treasure.

Talkin’ baseball; The Man and Bobby Feller…

The first time I heard that song, I knew there were kindred spirits out there. Others felt the same love, and Cashman had captured that feeling. In the days before the internet and when ESPN was in its infancy, the song was a unifying force.

The Scooter, The Barber and the Newk; They knew them all from Boston to Dubuque…

All the controversies, trials and quibbling, it’s all just background noise. This game can still be perfect; and the memory of it can still make me cry.

It was all on display this weekend in Cooperstown.

Especially Willie, Mickey and The Duke…

Thank you, Terry, for giving us fans our piece of history. And thank you for coming to Cooperstown.

Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum