Through a Painter’s Eyes - Insomania goes on a field trip!!

[Layil]

The esteemed William Whittaker has offered to take those of you who are ready and willing on a special tour of San Francisco’s Legion Of Honor Fine Arts Museum (http://www.thinker.org/legion/).

The Legion of Honor's rich collection (http://www.thinker.org/legion/collections/collection.asp?collectionkey=44) of European paintings includes masterworks from the 14th through the 20th centuries. Paintings on display include works by Fra Angelico, El Greco, Rubens, Rembrandt, Watteau, Gainsborough, Monet, Bouguereau, Matisse, and Picasso.

We are pleased that William has offered to take this very special tour as a Pre-Workshop warm up for those of you arriving early enough. He will be speaking from his considerable knowledge of painting, paying special attention to the fine examples of portraiture available in the collection.

Details are forthcoming, but we are planning to meet at the HI hostel at 1PM and traveling to the museum as a group, meeting at the Museums front entrance around 2 PM on Friday 15th, with plenty of time to get to the workshop in time for the 6PM sign in!

How to get there (http://www.thinker.org/legion/visiting/subpage.asp?subpagekey=31) with public transport. it takes at least an hour from downtown!

Please address questions here, and let me know how many of you are interested in going so I can nail down the details and arrange a group rate.

EDIT: hrm, well two phone calls and 3 emails later, i still dont get anything back from the museum.
Admission is only $10, so i guess we'll just show up and crash the party!
more updates soon!

EDIT 2: PLEASE NOTE!! There has been concern expressed as to the possiblity of a large crowd of students and non-workshop attendees crashing the tour. My reasons for leaving the tour open to everyone can be found in a post below, but i will ask this:

1. Please do not advertise the Whitaker Legion Field Trip outside the CA forums, as we do not want to encourage outside attendance.
2. You are welcome to being a guest or two, but please make sure that they are aware of proper museum decorum and have a genuine interest in the lecture. Your guests are your responsibility! if they act inappropriately, you will both be asked to leave.
3. Since this is a free event focussed on the Insomania Workshop attendees, We ask a $5 donation from guest attending the lecture. Your money will go towards the workshop production costs.


:yayca:


Thanks!

[Idiot Apathy]

Wow, I'm in! I'd like to bring 2 others who are traveling with me if that's alright too.

[timpaatkins]

Im down for that! What a treat!

[Craig D]

I'll go for sure.
That was on my list of places to see already so this will be perfect.
Craig

[romance]

sounds great, im in

[Unbreakable]

I'm game!!!

[Atlantis]

Sounds awesome; I'd love to go, too.

[Jska]

I'm in- sounds lovely! :)

[silvestri99]

Damn, I'm so in!!!

[Layil]

cool, im glad youre all into the idea.. im trying to negotiate a group rate with the museum so its cheaper for everyone to get in. ill keep you posted.

:)

[sweetoblivion314]

im in like flyn!

[escape2mars]

I'll definately go. I'm arriving early (13th) so I'm still looking for other things to do.

-alex

[William Whitaker]

My museum commentary will be fine tuned for artists - not a docent style tour. In other words, I will talk about techniques rather than what the painting means. There are some head paintings in that museum that are as good as anything ever painted and will remain so until you young'uns achieve your full artist potential in another decade or two. I fully expect some of you will eventually do better painting than has ever been done before in the history of the world.

I will point out things for you to see, observe, study, absorb, match and exceed. I intend to make this very useful for both computer painters and those using old fashioned paints.

I will also show you the best way for an artist to see a museum and how to get the most from your museum visits. Art museums are the very best places to learn painting. Nothing like seeing the originals on the wall.

[max xiantu]

Sounds like the museum tour I've always wanted.
I got my plane ticket to come in for the day before, so I can join you.
Thank you for this opportunity :.

[Layil]

this is gonna be so awesome, thanks william!!!!!

[Idiot Apathy]

Looking forward to it Mr. Whitaker.

[El Ruco]

Sounds excellent. I'll attend, and will bring a friend too.

[hp]

omg i'm soooooooooo excited ^^

i'm in!

[dorian]

*damn* >:{ :dad:

[archnemesis dbal]

I'm a museum newb, but plz tell me that photography is allowed.

[chaosrocks]

damn I arriave in SF on the 18th..This is Killing Meee!!!!!!!
I wanna go!

chaos

[zao75231]

I'm down

[hawaiianpunch]

Hey all,

I live here in SF and was just at the Legion of Honor for my Anatomy class. If you live here and have a fast pass the rate gets cut to $8. Just FYI.

I was wondering if the field trip is open to anyone. I would love to go to hear the Whitaker speak, but I'm not sure I can pay for the whole Insomania deal. It would be nice to be a part of this somehow.

[ndp]

I am definitely in for this. I am staying at the Adelaide so can I just meet everyone at the HI hostel at 1 pm?

Are we getting transportation as a group?

[Layil]

yes, the field trip is open to everyone, so bring your artsy friends along!

we'll be meeting at the HI, so people staying elsewhere should head on over.

this is gonna be SO cool!

L

[Craig D]

Layil
hoping not to sound snotty but should we not limit this to workshop participants? It would be hard to hear William if 100 people show up.

[Jessica Hook]

Layil
hoping not to sound snotty but should we not limit this to workshop participants? It would be hard to hear William if 100 people show up. I share this concern as well. I think there is enough interest amoung the workshop participants to bring a BIG crowd. If it's open to everyone, I fear the word will spread like wild fire through the local art schools, and a ton of students will flood the place. :/ I'd really like to be able hear Mr. Whittaker, and/or get close without having to muscle strangers around... but that's just me.

[Layil]

-This event isnt being advertised beyond the forums, so im not too worried about a lot of students showing up.

-Relatively few people really have an interest in oil painting, so i feel the ones that bother to show up should be allowed to attend.

-Id also like the workshop attendees to be able to bring along a friend or two, especially if those people have a serious interest in art and cannot attend the workshop.

-Part of the mission of CA is to spread the interest and knowledge of art to the masses. the forums and museums dont turn anyone away.

-Lastly, for practical purposes, its too much work to make everyone sign in for the event, since this will be before the workshop bracelets are handed out. Charging admission is also additional work.

That said, i will modify the initial post to mention that we do not encourage more than 2 guests and donations are encouraged from people not attending the workshop. how does that sound?

[Adam l Ward]

This sounds wonderful. Can we get any more details about meeting up at the hostel? Do we need money for the transportation, or tokens or passcards? I've never been to SF before, so I am thin on details of what to do, and where to go.

[Layil]

The bus is $1.50 per ride, and comes with a transfer good for several more hours of travel on all muni public transport. It's a long ride, we have to cross the whole city, so expect to be traveling for about an hour each way.

Those who want to spend the cab money, can get there for about $25 a cabful= 4 people. it will take a lot less time too.

Any local CAers who have cars and want to coordinate a car pool, that would be awesome. in fact, i think ill open a thread about it....

We're meeting in front of the HI Hostel at 1PM on Friday. We have to be back at the workshop venue by 6. I think thats plenty of time. Theres probably time for you to swing by your rooms and pick up you gear for the workshop and grab a bite to eat before sign ups.

[Zord]

Definitely going to this, the workshop draws nearer and nearer... :)

[Alex the Red]

Well, hey, it's the first official part of the worshop, and we get back in time for the rest of the festivities, right? I'm in. I'm staying with a friend, though . . . think I can drive to the Hostel where the initial meet-up is, park there, and travel with the group to the museum?

[Layil]

yeah, or even better, pick up some kids and drive to the museum.
:)

[William Whitaker]

I’ll be at the HI Hostel shortly before 1:00 p.m. Friday to meet those of you who show up. I plan to take the long slow bus ride. I expect many of you who drive or take a taxi will get to the museum sooner. If you do, soak up your favorite art. Last time I was there, photography was allowed. If you take digital pictures, take a lot! Be sure you over-and-under expose and then later dump the ones that don’t work. A good digital shot on your computer can be better than a reproduction in a book. Besides, you can expect that the ones you like best won’t be in books.

When you get close to a painting, hold your hands behind your back. This keeps the guards from getting too nervous.

I believe the best way for an artist to see a museum is to run through it fast and locate those few pieces that will mean something to you personally. Then go back and quietly and slowly absorb them. If the museum store has postcards of your favorites, buy them and return to the originals and make color reference notes on the back of the cards for future reference. The cards are always glitzier and subtleties in values are often lost. Your notes can remind you of what you were really seeing.

It is better to quietly spend time with those few paintings that cause you to buzz rather than walk through like a tourist and see everything for a set amount of time. You can only absorb so much at once and you don’t want to wear out your inner eye.

When I arrive, let’s gather around and I’ll share what I know. Meanwhile, be sure to pay attention to frames, to canvas weave (usually much finer and more filled than you expect), and brush texture.

[LittleDedder]

I'll in.

I will be at the Hi Hostel at 1 to figure out how to get to around.

[Caledonian]

Instructions on how to get there from their website
http://www.legionofhonor.org/legion/visiting/subpage.asp?subpagekey=31
Hours
Open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, 9:30 a.m.–5:15 p.m.
http://www.legionofhonor.org/legion/visiting/index.asp

[BludHund]

I'll not risk being square. Instead, I shall be there.

A long slow bus ride sounds like just the thing to chat it up and take photoz.

Seeyuz at 1300 PST.