Thomas Cole National Historic Site appoints new associate curator

CATSKILL―Maura O’Shea, executive director of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, announced Monday that the site has appointed a new associate curator.

Casey Monroe, PhD will lead the curating of the site’s collection and its exhibitions, both historic and contemporary. He will also continue the site’s successful history of engaging guest curators, which has included scholars from the National Gallery of Art and Yale University.

Monroe will succeed Amanda Malmstrom, who is leaving to pursue her own PhD this fall. He will start on August 3.

Monroe earned his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in Art History and Comparative Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He earned a master’s degree in art history from Tufts University and a PhD in the history of art and architecture from Boston University. While earning his degrees and thereafter, he has gained a wide range of curatorial and related experience, including serving as a senior research cataloguer on Thomas Cole’s student, Frederic Edwin Church, at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. He has also served as a graduate research intern at the National Gallery of Art, a lecturer at Suffolk University, and a teaching fellow at Boston University. He previously served as a Research Fellow at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in 2016 before pursuing his PhD.

“The Thomas Cole Site is delighted to welcome Casey Monroe as our new Associate Curator,” said O’Shea.

“We know Casey well from his work in the field and his having served as a Cole Research Fellow earlier in his career. We are excited that his career path as an American art scholar has brought him back to Thomas Cole’s home and studios,” she added.

The opportunity, O’Shea said, arose because of Malmstrom’s decision to return to academia to pursue her PhD.

“We are enormously grateful to Amanda for all that she has accomplished here, including her extensive research on Emily Cole, the daughter of Thomas Cole, who became a professional artist in her own right. We wish Amanda all the best as she pursues her PhD this fall and look forward to staying in contact, as her career continues to flourish in the years ahead,” O’Shea said.

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site showcases the life and work of Thomas Cole (1801-1848), whose American landscape painting defines an enduring visual identity for the nation. Inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds the site, Cole founded the influential Hudson River School art movement. The site’s six-acre campus in Catskill includes Cole’s home and two studio buildings; the Cole Center, a new visitor center designed by Architectural Digest 100 Stephen Shadley; gardens and grounds with panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains; and a scenic walkway over the Hudson River connecting the site with Olana, the historic home of artist and Cole student Frederic Church.

The Thomas Cole Site hosts exhibitions as well as art-making activities and innovative school and public programs. Visitors experience first-hand the themes that Cole explored, from the power of art to landscape preservation to the restorative properties of nature. The Thomas Cole Site is a National Historic Landmark and an affiliated area of the National Park System, and it operates as an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization.

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site is open year-round, and hours vary by season. For details see thomascole.org/visit. The grounds are open every day for free from dawn to dusk.