Museums in the Capital Area
Art Museums
Albany Institute of History and Art
The Albany Institute of History and Art is dedicated to preserving the Upper Hudson Valley's hertiage in the form of historical objects and works of art. A current exhibit "Hudson River Panorama" celebrates the quadricentennial and runs until the beginning of the new year. Located deep into Albany on Washington Avenue.
Arts Center of the Capital Region
Clark Art Institute
The Clark is about an hour and half, scenic trip east from Albany to Williamstown. The collections are exclusively American and European art. If the collections are a little too "stuffy" for one's taste, get a breath of fresh air on a walk around the reflecting pool and trails encompassed in the Clark's 140 acre preservation. The Summer of 2008 featured sketches by Leonardo da Vinci. Exhibits change frequently but the permanent collection is most esteemed for its French impressionists paintings.
Hyde Collection
This Glens Falls art museum features a permanent collection of 2,800 objects ranging from the fourth century BC to the present day. The focus is western art and the pieces include paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Furniture pieces are the major highlight and a tour allows visitors into how the Hyde family lived in their mansion, which is the present day museum's original structure. Recent traveling exhibits have drawn from the collections of museums across the country and even some international museums. A couple of examples are the Degas and Music exhibit and the California Irvine collection of mostly oil on canvas works by impressionist painters who came from Europe to document the California coast between 1900 and 1930. Both traveling exhibits are over but the Hyde is working on plans to borrow other works on a new theme.
MASS MoCA
An extensive warehouse in the industrial section of Western Massachusetts was converted into the present day MASS MoCA, which specialize in large scale installation exhibits requiring a lot of space. The museum is in North Adams, about an hour and a quarter drive from Albany.
Opalka Gallery
Located on Western Avenue in Albany, the Opalka Gallery is part of The Sage Colleges and offers exhibits on a variety of themes. For example, one theme a few years ago involved the portral of suburbia through water colors and included a lecture and discussion by an expert in this area in the adjacent presentation hall. Exhibits are often multidisciplinary and are facilitated by the College's visual arts department and professionals from outside the Albany area.
Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery
The Tang is part of Saratoga's Skidmore College and features mostly contemporary work, which is consistent with the teaching museums post-modern
architecture. Exhibitions rotate frequently and the museum web site states they create about a dozen annually.
University Art Museum (SUNY Albany)
WCMA
History Museums
Albany Institute of History and Art
The Albany Institute of History and Art is dedicated to preserving the Upper Hudson Valley's hertiage in the form of historical objects and works of art. A current exhibit "Hudson River Panorama" celebrates the quadricentennial and runs until the beginning of the new year. Located deep into Albany on Washington Avenue.
New York State Military Museum
The New York State Military Museum preserves and provides access to more than 10,000 artifacts document the state of New York's contributions to military campaigns. Art, flags, weapons, maps, photographs, and a wide range of other types of material constitute the collections. In 2001 the New York State Military Museum found a permanent home in the historic armory in Saratoga Springs. The building serves as an educational piece in itself, it is a perfect example of the armory architecture prevalent in upstate New York during the late 19th century.
New York State Museum
The New York State Museum provides the public with accesss to 12 million artifacts and specimens documenting the state's rich cultural history. Current exhibitions include "This Great Nation Will Endure: (Photographs of the Great Depression)" and "1609," which looks at Hudson's voyage and the Native American and early Dutch settlements that shaped the new world. The NYS Museum also occasionally has traveling exhibitions of a more artistic nature, such as the Alex Katz paintings that were on loan a few years ago.
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