“Syria: Ruins by the Sea” - oil on canvas, 1873 - 1874, by Frederic Church - part of the exhibition “In Nature’s Studio” at the Hunter Museum.(Hunter Museum of American Art)

As this country has evolved over nearly 250 years, so has the painting of its vast and varied landscapes.

That artistic journey is at the heart of “In Nature’s Studio: Two Centuries of American Landscape Painting” - now on display at the Hunter Museum of American Art here in Chattanooga.

Lauren Nye is associate curator at the Hunter.