The Albany Institute of History & Art is set to host Rebecca Bedell, associate Professor of Art at Wellesley College, on Sunday, October 14 at 2 pm for a lecture on the Hudson River School movement and their relation to America’s national parks. The lecture is included with museum admission. Space is limited and attendees will receive a wristband at the admission desk the day of the lecture.

Rebecca Bedell specializes in researching the connection of art and science. In this lecture, Bedell will discuss how art connects to America’s national parks. Traditionally thought of as places of untouched natural beauty, Bedell will talk about how parks are carefully and thoughtfully curated to satisfy visitors and orchestrate their experiences. She will discuss how Hudson River School artists such as Frederick Church and Thomas Moran played a part in determining and defining both the locations of national parks and the ways visitors still experience and respond to their beauties today.

Rebecca Bedell is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale University. Her research specializes in the connection of art and science. She was part of the curatorial team for the international exhibition Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science, and the Visual Arts (2009) and she currently teaches courses in Wellesley College’s art department, as well as the Writing and American Studies Programs.

The Albany Institute of History & Art is located at 125 Washington Avenue in Albany. For more information, visit their website or call (518) 463-4478.

Illustration: Frenchman’s Bay, Mount Desert Island, Maine, Thomas Cole (1801-1848).