Seeing San Francisco: Art, Artists, and Private Collections of San Francisco and the Bay Area

October 25–29

Popular tour leader Joan Arenberg leads this artistic adventure through San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Friday, October 25
Arrive in San Francisco on independently arranged flights at the San Francisco Airport. Visit the Asian Art Museum for lunch at the museum’s Café Asia and tour the newly opened exhibition In Grand Style: Celebrations in Korean Art during the Joseon Dynasty. In Grand Style features approximately 150 culturally embedded objects from 13 Korean institutions, with most objects being presented to US audiences for the first time. Continue for cocktails and conversation at the Russian Hill home of gallerists and collectors Dan and Claire Carlevaro. Their collection includes works by Bay Area artists, paintings created in the 1930s and 1940s by a group known as the American Abstract Artists, and a unique installation of artist-made jewelry. Check into the Hotel Palomar San Francisco located in Union Square. This evening, depart for a welcome dinner at nearby Blue Stem Brasserie.

Saturday, October 26
Begin the day with a tour of the diverse and vibrant murals in the Mission District with artist, curator, and author of Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo Annice Jacoby. Next, visit the Workshop Residence, a facility in the up-and-coming Dogpatch neighborhood that engages the worlds of craft, art, and design by pairing visiting artists and designers with local fabricators to create beautiful, useful, and affordable objects. After lunch at local favorite Piccino, continue to the Contemporary Jewish Museum to see the special exhibition Beyond Belief: 100 Years of the Spiritual in Modern Art, a satellite show featuring 48 internationally-known artists from the SFMoMA’s permanent collection. Dinner and the evening are at leisure.

Sunday, October 27
After breakfast, depart for an excursion to Northern California’s wine country. Head to the heart of Sonoma County and the Oliver Ranch, home to 18 remarkable site-specific installations set on a picturesque 100-acre property which was originally bought by Steve and Nancy Oliver in 1981. The site has evolved into a world-renowned private sculpture ranch through a gradual and organic process, a natural convergence of the Olivers' long-standing passion for art and deep connection to the land. The Olivers invite visiting artists to create site-specific works that “respond to the land,” with most artists living on site while they create their commissions. Today we will see works by Ann Hamilton, Andy Goldsworthy, Bruce Nauman, Martin Puryear, Richard Serra, and others. Continue south for a sumptuous brunch at Barndiva and free time in charming downtown Healdsburg. Return to San Francisco and visit a local artist studio. Dinner and the evening are at leisure.

Please note: Tour of Oliver Ranch involves approximately 2.5 miles of slow-paced walking.

Monday, October 28
This morning, tour the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection housed in the Gap’s corporate headquarters. The Fisher Collection, considered one of the world’s finest private collections of modern and contemporary art, features more than 1,100 works by 185 artists, including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Agnes Martin, Chuck Close, and Cy Twombly. The SFMoMA will soon close to begin a four-year, $555 million expansion which will house the Fisher Collection and bring it into public view. Next, visit one of the largest and most outstanding private collections of 20th-century American art in the world. The collection is anchored in the work of Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock and extends to contemporary painters such as Terry Winters and Vija Celmins. Major post-war movements include Color Field Painting, Post-Minimalism, California Funk Art, Bay Area Figurative Art, and contemporary abstract painting. After lunch at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park, visit a significant collection of modern and contemporary Indian art housed in an Arts and Crafts-inspired home in Saratoga. Tonight, our farewell dinner is at San Francisco hotspot Waterbar, situated under the Bay Bridge. Our dramatic backdrop will be The Bay Lights. Inspired by the bridge’s 75th Anniversary, the installation's 25,000 white LED lights are individually programmed by artist Leo Villareal to create a never-repeating, dazzling display across the Bay Bridge.

Tuesday, October 29
Begin the day in Golden Gate Park with a visit to the newly opened exhibition David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibition at the de Young Museum. This will be the artist’s first major U.S. museum exhibition in six years and will highlight Hockney’s use of technological tools to produce monumental and deeply felt representations of the natural world. Head across the Music Concourse to the California Academy of Arts and Sciences, which was reopened in 2008 after an eight-year and nearly half-a-billion dollar transformation by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano. Enjoy lunch at the academy’s award-winning restaurant, the Moss Room, before transferring to the airport for your independently arranged flight home.

Terms and Conditions

Cost: $2,875 per person based on double occupancy; single supplement, add $450. Full payment is due at time of reservation and indicates acceptance of all group arrangements. Cost includes: Four nights’ accommodations at the Hotel Palomar San Francisco; breakfast daily at the hotel, five lunches, two dinners, and one reception; all activities described in the itinerary; transportation by private motor coach; airport transfers in San Francisco for those meeting designated group transfers; all taxes, gratuities, fees, and porterage; services of Joan Arenberg as study leader and local docents and guides. NOT INCLUDED: Airfare to and from San Francisco (contact the Member Travel department at (312) 443-3115 for suggested flights); meals or beverages not specifically mentioned as included; items of a personal nature.

Upon registration, each participant will be provided with an Art Institute of Chicago Waiver and Release form that must be signed and returned to the Member Travel department prior to program departure.

Cancellation Policy

The Art Institute of Chicago (“AIC”) reserves the right to withdraw the tour or any part if it and to make such alterations in the itinerary as it deems necessary and desirable. In the event of the cancellation of the tour prior to departure, a full refund will constitute full settlement between all parties. No refund shall be due from AIC in conjunction with changes in rates or itineraries or substitution of suppliers. No refund will be made for any unused portion of the tour. AIC reserves the right to decline to accept or retain any person as a member of the tour if AIC determines that the participation of that individual is objectionable and, in the event such authority is exercised, the participant waives any right and all claims for damages. Baggage and personal effects are the sole responsibility of owners at all times. Cancellation notification must be in writing. Participants may cancel on or before September 13, 2013, with a cancellation fee of $100 plus any nonrefundable costs and cancellation fees incurred by hotels and other venues at the time of cancellation. After September 13, 2013, there will be no refund, unless canceled space can be filled from an existing waitlist. Trip cancellation insurance is highly recommended; an application will be sent with reservation confirmation.

To register, call (312) 443-3115.