For 13 developmentally disabled artists from Art Explorers in Fort Bragg, their day-long visit to DeYoung Museum in San Francisco today was an adventure in art education.
“The trip was designed for both pleasure and to help expand the horizons of our artists,” explained Joan Early, an Art Explorers coordinator. “We had visited the old DeYoung, but not the new one, and the artists really wanted to see it.”
The group arrived at DeYoung shortly after noon and had lunch in the museum café.
“Through the museum’s Access Program, our artists were allowed free entrance,” explained Early. “After lunch, we broke into small groups with museum docent guides to more effectively talk about the paintings with our students. Then we visited the sculpture garden.”
The group finished off the trip with a visit to the rooftop observation area for a 360-degree view of the City, then headed to Healdsburg for dinner at a Mexican restaurant before returning to Fort Bragg.
The field trip was made possible by a $1,000 grant from Redwoods Investments in Fort Bragg. Partners Dan Catone and Brad Gardner rented two 10-passenger vans to transport the artists and staff to San Francisco, helped with driving and paid for lunch and dinner. The remainder of the grant goes to the Art Explorers for operations.
