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.

Art is one of many cultural draws in New York City. There are art galleries in abundance in this great city and almost certainly an artist to fit almost any taste. Art has always been to some degree in the eyes of the beholder and beauty in the city of New York is in abundant supply.

Whether you consider yourself an enthusiastic supporter of art and the arts, it’s hard to deny the fact that New York has a great deal of art to offer those who are willing to seek it. From the graffiti that is so artfully rendered along bridges, buildings, busses, and signs throughout the city to murals and store windows that are so wonderfully made art comes in this city in many forms. You will find artists, sketchers, painters, and those seeking muses wandering around various parts of the city that may be particularly lovely, inspiring, or even forlorn.

The art doesn’t end with sketches, drawings, or paintings. It goes well beyond that. In this great city you will see sculptors with magnificent works that might be inspiring to you and might be utterly and completely unintelligible and you might find art that touches your heart and simply won’t let go. For whatever reason, art for most of us is purely emotional. This isn’t only true for the painter but also for those who witness the beauty of the art that has been created.

There is also pottery, blown glass, metal works, wood works, and literally dozens of other works of art within this city. You can stroll through the many galleries of the city or walk along the streets and through the parks seeking art and the artists that create these wonderful works. You might find the grandest work of art in the hands of the slightest of creatures or in the most unlikely of places. New York is full of surprises that go far beyond the beaten paths.

If you are truly seeking art to bring home from your trip to New York, the best place to look is in second hand or consignment shops. You can generally find nice pieces of art at unbelievably low prices. This is one of the best ways to begin building your collection and there are some second hand shops that specialize in artwork or ‘junk art’. Of course there are galleries that deal with rare second hand art and it is highly unlikely that you’ll find a discount there. Stick to the consignment shops, flea markets and used furniture stores if you are truly seeking some nice pieces that are seriously undervalued.

Keep in mind that the art you choose only needs to speak to you (and hopefully match your dcor to some degree, unless of course you are searching for an excuse to redecorate) and doesn’t have to really mean anything at all. When you do find a piece of art that you feel you must own, price is often not a consideration. This makes the fact that you’re looking in a second hand store a much better way to shop. At least in this instance you won’t have to deal with sticker shock from the massively over inflated price tags you will find in most galleries. Of course that is because they are recovering their commissions off the top so you’re automatically knocking off that much of a discount by shopping second hand and off the beaten path.