Art Excursions

Annual Pageant of the Masters Southern California Tour featuring the 75th Anniversary "Pageant," the renovated Getty Villa, and the NEW Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Huntington's newly restored mansion and new Garden of Flowing Fragrance

July 31 - August 4, 2008

Also featuring the Getty Center Museum in Los Angeles - the Huntington Botanical Gardens, Art Collections and Library - the Norton Simon Museum - a day at the "Festival of Arts" in Laguna Beach - and more... Please see below for tour highlights, features, pricing and reservations.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

The 2008 renovation and expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

The most comprehensive museum west of the Mississippi has just unveiled its new expansion and renovation. Architect Renzo Piano has opened up one of LACMA's preexisting pavilions (The Ahmanson Building) into a newly acquired and designed plaza space. Expansive new spaces are defined by several large scale installations such as Chris Burden's "Urban Light," a collection of 202 vintage lampposts displayed in a matrix that invites the viewer to walk among the tall posts as one might walk among tall palm trees elsewhere in L.A. The outstanding permanent collection benefits from both new and redesigned gallery space. These new developments are the most exciting thing to happen to LACMA since the building of its spectacular Japanese pavilion several years ago.

The Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (BCAM at LACMA)

The single biggest component of LACMA's 2008 expansion is a 56 million dollar 60,000 square foot building designed by architect Renzo Piano. Works by artists such as Johns, Koons, Sherman, Serra, Warhol, and many other post WW2 artists fill three floors of new gallery space. The travertine-clad exterior of the museum is wrapped in what Piano calls "the spider," a network of decorative red scaffolding and exterior escalators and stairs that recall his Pompidou Center in Paris. The building's zigzag roof line incorporates an ingenious system that uses and filters natural light into the galleries (see above).

 

The Getty Villa in Malibu - still the hottest museum ticket in the U.S.

Over the past ten years, the original home of the J. Paul Getty museum has become a state of the art center for the study of ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan culture. Our clients love the renovated Getty Villa museum. Personally, we found that the architecture, site and collections at the Villa are placed in such harmony that it took our breath away...and we are admittedly jaded. As with the Richard Meier campus in L.A., the Getty Foundation spared no expense in developing a memorable and educational experience for its visitors to this new facility. We are delighted to feature two distinct Getty experiences on our tour.

 

The Pageant of the Masters 75th Anniversary and the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach

Art Excursions: Pageant of the Masters tour

This tour includes main tier center seats for the 75th anniversary performance of the amazing "Pageant of the Masters" as well as tickets to the "Festival of Arts" exhibition in Laguna Beach.  Presented on an outdoor stage in a beautiful canyon setting, the "Pageant" is a one-of-a-kind, multimedia experience that combines art, music and theater to bring paintings to life. 

Imagine a curtain opening and seeing a painting such as Leonardo's Last Supper!  You'll be certain you're looking at the authentic painting even when you lift your binoculars.  Using live performers in elaborate makeup and painted costume along with state-of-the-art lighting, set design and live symphonic music, the "Pageant" has sold out every one of its sixty annual performances since the first one 75 years ago!

To read a story from Smithsonian Magazine about the Pageant, please click here.

 

The NEW Chinese Garden at The Huntington Art Collections, Library and Botanical Gardens PLUS enjoy the renovated and reopened Huntington mansion.

2008 marks the grand opening of the Huntington's newest garden. Named "Liu Fang Yuan," or "Garden of Flowing Fragrance," the Chinese garden will be the largest of more than a dozen themed gardens at the Huntington. Highlights of the new garden include a 1.5-acre lake bordered by Tai Hu rocks, five hand-carved stone bridges, a stream, and a canyon waterfall connecting to a separate century-old Japanese Garden. Set against a backdrop of mature California oaks retained as integral to the site, plants of China, including camellias, pine, and lotus are displayed in abundance and highlighted for their cultural, symbolic and botanical significance.

True to traditional Chinese practices, the Huntington's garden is carefully situated with a northern orientation to the San Gabriel Mountains. The rocks and carved stone are from China and have been placed and installed by Chinese craftsmen from Suzhou. Master craftsmen from China have also constructed pavilions within the garden.

The Chinese Garden aside, The Huntington is a paradise. For the art lover, its collections showcase British & American painters and Arts and Crafts designers. For the nature-lover, numerous themed gardens spread across vast, meticulously groomed grounds. For the antiquarian, the library displays illuminated manuscripts, rare editions and a collection of European old masters.

Enjoy a private, pre-opening tour led by a horticulturist and a tea luncheon in the Rose Garden Tea Room.

 

The Norton Simon Museum

The Norton Simon is one of the world's best small museums featuring wonderful old masters and a fantastic collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting and sculpture. We will provide a guided tour featuring highlights of the permanent collection including one of only 4 complete sets of Degas sculptures in the world. (Pictured above from left to right are Norton Simon works by Cezanne, Van Gogh, Degas, and Rembrandt.)

 

The Getty Center Museum (Los Angeles)

The Getty Museum's stunning Richard Meier design sets the stage for an unparalleled museum experience...of white architectural harmonies, of outstanding paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Rubens and others, of the nation's best public collection of Illuminated Manuscripts and Photographs, and of beautiful gardens and waterfalls.

 

Accommodations at the Sheraton Pasadena

As a company policy, Art Excursions chooses three and four star properties in great locations for all our tours. We choose locations that enable our clients to walk to theater, music, shopping, dining, galleries and museums. In the Los Angeles area, we base our tours in delightful and chic Old Town Pasadena so that you can walk to a thriving main street with great restaurants, theater, museums and shops. The Sheraton also offers a complimentary shuttle (3 mile radius).

 

EARLY BIRD BOOKING BONUS - Daily full buffet breakfast

If we receive your tour deposit by March 31, 2008, you will receive complimentary vouchers for the daily buffet breakfast served in the hotel's Le Soleil restaurant.

 

TOUR ITINERARY - updated for 2008

Thursday, July 31

Friday, August 1

Saturday, August 2

Sunday, August 3

Monday, August 4

 

TOUR INCLUDES

TOUR DOES NOT INCLUDE

 

TOUR PRICING:

$1,145 per person based on double occupancy / $300 single supplement

Traveling as a single?

Our boutique tours are ideal for single travelers, singles traveling together, or couples. We typically have a mix of these types of travelers. If you wish to know why we charge a single supplement or have any other questions, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions link below or email us.

 

TOUR RESERVATIONS - Use the link at the end of this tour page to sign up

Group size is limited. Reservations accepted first-come, first-served. As our prior tours have sold out, we expect a sell out. For more details please email artexcursions@yahoo.com or call 630/671-9745.

 

TO SIGN UP - CLICK HERE FOR OUR TOUR APPLICATION

FOR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - CLICK HERE

FOR MORE INFORMATION, E-MAIL artexcursions@yahoo.com.

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Art Excursions, Inc., P.O. Box 92, Riverside, IL 60546 - 630/671-9745