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If you would like to participate in any
of the following tours, please indicate this on your conference registration form. In order to insure that we are able to
reach the minimum registration levels for each event, tour registration must
be received by October 1st, 2003. Also, each tour is limited to fifty-five people, so please
register early. Tour 1 – Houston Museum Tour ($50.00) This tour
includes visits to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Rothko Chapel, and
the Menil Gallery. The bus for
this tour will depart at 12:30 in Saturday and return at 5:30. A box lunch is included in the price
of the tour. Houston
Museum of Fine Arts The MFAH, with more than 45,000 works of art, is
an exceptional resource for learning about the visual arts from a worldwide perspective.
Each year, the MFAH is privileged to acquire outstanding works of art that
reflect a wide variety of geographic regions and historic periods. A particular strength of American art at the MFAH is 19th-century
landscape painting, with fine examples by Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, and
Frederic Remington, all of which speak to the power of images of the Western
wilderness to effect American cultural history. We are very fortunate that at the time of this year’s WLA
Conference, the MFAH will be offering, as its featured exhibit, The Heroic
Century: The Museum of Modern Art Masterpieces, 200 Painting and Sculptures. The MFAH website describes this
exhibit (which requires the purchase of a ticket that is not included in the
tour price) as follows: This exhibition consists of 209 works from the collection of The
Museum of Modern Art in New York, ranging in date from 1885 to 1998.
Structured chronologically by art-historical movement, the exhibition will
guide the viewer through all the major stylistic developments that define the
Modern era. Vincent van Gogh´s The Starry Night, Claude Monet´s Water
Lilies, and Salvador Dali´s The Persistence of Memory are but a
few of the icons that punctuate this exhibition of the greatest collection of
Modern art ever assembled. The Rothko Chapel The
Rothko Chapel, founded by
John and Dominique de Menil, was dedicated in 1971 as an intimate,
nondenominational sanctuary. The chapel was designed by Howard Barnstone based
on an earlier design by Philip Johnson and houses fourteen Mark Rothko
paintings. The Menil Gallery The
Menil Collection, which
is operated by the Menil Foundation, Inc., opened to the public in June 1987
as the primary repository of John and Dominique de Menil’s private
collection. One of the most significant of the twentieth century, the
collection consists of nearly 15,000 works dating from the Paleolithic era to
the present day. Although historically vast, it uniquely resists the
conventional museum model of the encyclopedia. Instead, within the four areas
that largely define the collection—Antiquity, Byzantine and Medieval, Tribal,
and Twentieth-Century Art (with a concentration in Surrealism)—one finds a
selective approach to acquisition that yields depth with regard to particular
areas and artists. Tour 2 – Galveston Island ($50.00) This tour will include a visit to one of
Galveston’s many public beaches, a brief driving tour of Galveston Island,
and a visit to the Strand. The bus for this tour
will depart at 12:30 in Saturday and return at 6:30. A box lunch is included in the price
of the tour. The Beach The tour will stop at one of Galveston’s
many public beaches, allowing tour goers to walk in the sand and even go for
a swim. We have arranged access
to nearby shower facilities should anyone wish to rinse off after venturing
into the water. Surfing equipment
will also be available by individual arrangement. Driving Tour Galveston, Texas, was the second richest
city in the United States and the leading cotton port in the world until the
devastating hurricane of 1900.
The city made a remarkable recovery and is now a fascinating
combination of old, restored, and new.
The driving tour will pass several of the landmark historical homes in
Galveston, highlighting the glamour and wealth of Galveston in the 1800s. The Strand Tour goers will have an opportunity to
roam around the “Strand” for refreshments and to browse and shop. The Strand National Historic Landmark
is the finest concentration of 19th century iron-front commercial
buildings in the nation. It was
once called the “Wall Street” of the Southwest. In this lively area you will find antiques, galleries,
curios, gifts, and boutiques ranging from an authentic candy factory, to a
military surplus store. There
are discount stores and restaurants galore. Tour 3 –
Houston Museums and Folkart Sites – Tour Provided by the Orange Show
Foundation ($30.00) The bus for
this tour will depart at 12:30 in Saturday and return at 4:30. A box lunch is included in the price
of the tour. The Orange Show Foundation is a non-profit organization, founded in 1980 to preserve, present, promote, and popularize the extraordinary artistic expressions of ordinary people. This is accomplished through the maintenance of The Orange Show monument, an archive and library, and a diverse schedule of cultural and educational programs for children and adults. Workshops and participatory activities provide the opportunity, means, and inspiration to experience the creative process. In McKissack’s hands, the mundane tools of daily life became the means to communicate the truths of his life and times, as he saw them. The Orange Show’s appeal to people of all backgrounds is our strongest contribution to the cultural life of Houston, Texas. Appreciation of The Orange Show and its programs is not dependent on one’s knowledge of art traditions, but on the attention one pays to it; therefore, it speaks to scholar and child, artist and bricklayer, educated collector and troubled adolescent. |