Travel Tips

If art is of interest to you, there is plenty to keep you occupied during your visit to Seattle, Washington. From small galleries to big museums and places where you can create art of your very own, there is a little something that will appeal to almost any art lover.

I could begin by telling you about the various art museums in the area, but I think that is how I will end. I would first like to tell you about some shops that offer unique experiences with art and the processes of creating art. The first of these called Art By Fire. This unique little shop not only displays the artwork of artists but also offers classes in Glass Blowing. The classes are probably not a good choice for those vacationing as they meet once a week for four weeks and each lesson is four hours long. But, regardless of whether you are planning an extended stay or just curious about the offerings, there is great glass artwork to be seen here and I hope you will take me up on my suggestion that you stop by. They also offer bead making classes that are far less intensive and only require two nights effort (usually consecutive nights) that may be of interest to you as well.

The next shop I want to tell you about is called Glazed and Amazed. Slowly we are seeing more shops along these lines crop up across the country, but not everyone has discovered them and they are a great, fun way to bring out the inner artists in you and the rest of your family. You start by choosing a piece of ceramic to paint. You paint your masterpiece, then the kind folks at Glazed and Amazed fire it for you and you get to pick up your finished product in a couple of days. I recommend stopping by this shop early on in your trip as it does take a couple of days for the firing process. I believe you will have a lot of fun here and any children you have should really enjoy the experience as well. I know mine do.

Just a short drive from Seattle, in Tacoma, Washington is the Museum of Glass. While this doesn’t exactly sound like an art museum, it is just that. One of the neatest things about this particular museum is that you can actually watch glass being made in the Hot Shop Amphitheater. This is perhaps the greatest thing about the glass museum, because here, you can actually watch glass become art. This museum is different enough to make it well worth the drive from Seattle to Tacoma and I really hope you will consider the drive if you have a passion for art. I really believe that the experience is one of a kind.

While you are in Tacoma, assuming of course that you visit the Glass Museum, it would probably be a good idea to head on over to the Tacoma Art Museum. You can see more beautiful works of art including more blown glass by Dale Chihuly who is truly is a master of the art.

Whatever your personal interest in art, whether watching it, observing it, or creating it, there is plenty to feed that need in and around Seattle. I hope that you will find this great city to be as much of a home to your artist heart as it is to many other great artists.

With around 65 museums, it’s no wonder that it is quite difficult to narrow down the choices and select the San Francisco museum that you absolutely must visit while vacationing here. The good news is that it is quite possible to narrow down the choices according to your personal preferences. Museums are a great way to discover the history, the art, and the future of a city. If that city gives a great amount of effort into building great places of learning about the art, music, history, and future of said city, then that city has a bright future ahead of it.

Art is something that is becoming more and more often overlooked as budget cuts hit school curriculums and great emphasis is placed on learning specific facts and details rather than the learning process, but art is a vitally important component of societal development. Think about it, the one thing that survives the generations of old and appears in museum today is most often art of some sort. Art is a way of expressing who we are, what we dream, and where we hope we are going. If we take the art from our lives, we are stifling our societies and risking our progeny.

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a little passionate about art and feel that art museums are an integral component not only of preserving our pasts but also of insuring our futures. The first art museum I would like to mention is of particular interest here because not only does it showcases artists that are local to the San Francisco area but it also deals with visual arts, performing arts, and film and video. The name of this museum is: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and I seriously recommend that you take a moment or two out of your busy vacation time be devoted to taking a look around this great center for visual and performing arts.

Art comes in many shapes and sizes and few places showcase it as well as the de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. From painting to sculptures to quilts this museum offers some fantastic collections of art as well as offering excellent exhibitions that rotate throughout the year. Give your senses a feast of color, light, and texture by visiting the de Young.

If you have the time, you really should check out The Diego Rivera Mural Project. This project is about the necessity of blending all of the cultures and histories that make Americans American into one unified work of art. By using the historical artistic styles of the Indian, the Eskimo, and the Mexican and blending them a style will emerge that is Pan American Unity. While some may find the ideals behind it a bit lofty (I find them applaudable), it is impossible to deny that the mural itself is an impressive work of art. While this is not a museum, I really feel that this is an important work of art that is definitely worth mentioning.

Whether you have a deep and abiding passion for art or not, it’s hard to deny the power that art has to move and inspire people. For that reason alone I think it is important that we try to cultivate a love of art or at the very least an education about art within our children, museum exhibits are an excellent method of achieving that goal.

Costa Rica has quietly been growing in the art world, but in recent years there has been even more of a developing art community. While this island is located in an area that is heavily influenced by Pre-Columbia art, artists that are indigenous and those that have elected to move to Costa Rica are producing new and exciting works of art. For them it is a world of art where they are breaking new ground.

There are more than enough museums in the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose. But there are no real “art” museums yet. One way of showing what their artist’s have is in the artists themselves displaying there art in their own environments, their homes. There is a tour that takes you to 5 or 6 artist’s homes in a day’s tour, and you get a chance to really experience the their work. You get to actually talk to the artist and find out their process for their art. If you are a creative person this can be a real inspiration.

Another tour is given by a fellow Art Journalist, Jan Yatsko. I have always kept a journal but when I discovered art journaling my creativity bumped up a notch. One type of art journal is a travel journal. Travel journals are also much like scrapbooks but you use the bits and pieces of your trip on you pages and write around them. Photos are used a great deal in travel journaling, of course.

Jan’s tours are quite different. She takes you into the jungle and shows you the beauty of Costa Rica and you make your own art. The flora and fauna of Costa Rica are amazing and slapping paint around in bright colors is great fun. Mind you, this is not for everyone, but for those with an artistic nature this might be right up your alley. Jan teaches you portability in your art journaling kit and she has 8 years of experience in biking in and around Costa Rica. She takes you to beautiful locations to show you amazing things to draw and paint.

If you are not into actually “doing” art yourself, but are and art lover, there are offerings in the way of museums in San Jose. The Costa Rican Art Museum in San Jose is actually housed in the building that used to be the city’s airport. It must make for a very interesting museum. There is also the Museo De Oro Pre-Colombino, which translated means Museum of Pre-Columbian Gold. This has a display of gold sculpted and rendered into beautiful pieces and presented in a fascinating show.

If it interests you there is a coin museum in the INS building, but that doesn’t really float my boat. There is a Contemporary Art Museum showing local artist’s work as well as a Children’s museum that is quite large and will take up a lot of kid time if you need it. There is also an insect museum, a snake exhibit, and finally a crime museum.

There is also wonderful indigenous art. If you go to www.galerianamu.com/map/ you will find a map of all of the tribes indigenous to Costa Rica. This map will show you the tribes local to the area of Costa Rica you will be visiting. I encourage you to look at their art and get your own piece of original Costa Rican Tribal art to take back home with you.

If you are looking to have a truly unique experience, stay for at least a day at the Finca Rosa Blanca. The owners, Glenn and Teri Jampol have created an artful environment. The architecture and dcor is whimsical and the service is remarkable. Glenn is an artist himself and might discuss art with you. Each of the rooms is original and different from the others and comes with Jacuzzis and balconies.

It is said that no window is square in the hotel and art treasures from around the world are to be found everywhere. The food provided is a 4-course dinner and it runs about $37 per person. While this is vastly more expensive than any other dinner venue it seems to be worth it in this environment. Throw caution to the wind and treat yourself to a dinner or two at Finca Rosa Blanca Inn.