"Canvassing the Country" - an art oriented trip 'cross the US - input needed!

[TheWombatOfDoom]

The Mission: So I'm planning on going on a roadtrip around the United States, and staying with people I know in most of the major cities and landmarks along the way in a big "circle". The plan of this trip is to on this trip, take lots of pictures, paint and sketch at the places I visit, learn from some artistic outlet at each location, and do a video documentary of the whole experience, doing episodes traveling to each location. In an ideal situation, I wanted to contact the Travel Channel or the History Channel and make a show about this, because I was planning on making it either way, I could just make it BETTER with a professional film crew and budget.

The problem: I'm running into issues in finding out what or where I could learn art from or places to visit when I'm at these locations, or along the way. I wanted to get a sense of the cultural influence to the art at each location, or historical things, or some arts related organization that's there that I might be able to visit (such as Disney in Florida for animation or Bungie in seattle for video game design). Any suggestion you Playgrounders have would be awesome!

Once I have the entire trip planned, I'm going to start a Kickstarter to help out on funding and see where I land. Any ideas or suggestions any of you might have for rewards for the kickstarter I would love to hear


The Trip List:
(tentative locations are in brackets. Help me find something to do there or in an unlisted location and I'll add them to the trip!)
(H) = Place I can have a place to stay

1. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (where I live)
[Baltimore, Maryland]
2. Washington, DC
3. Lexington, Kentucky (H)
4. Nashville, Tennessee
5. Atlanta, Georgia (H)
6. Orlando, Florida (H)
7. New Orleans, Louisiana
8. Houston, Texas (H)
[Albuquerque, New Mexico]
9. Phoenix, Arizona (H)
-Visit the Grand Canyon
-Visit Native American Reservation
10. Las Vegas, Nevada (visit only)
11. Los Angeles, California (H)
12. San Francisco, California
13. Crescent City, California (H)
-Visit the Redwood Forest
14. Cottage Grove, Oregon (H)
15. Seattle, Washington (H)
16. Bozeman, Montana (H)
-Visit Yellowstone Park
17. Salt Lake City, Utah
18. Denver, Colorado (H)
19.Kansas City, Missouri
20. Saint Louis, Missouri
21. Chicago, Illinois
22. Detroit, Michigan
23. Buffalo, New York (H)
-Visit Niagara Falls (Canada side also)
24. Boston, Massachusetts (H)
25. New York City, New York (H)
END. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (H)

If this trip is successful, I'm planning on making a sequel where I go to Europe and do a similar kind of trip. But first things first!

[Morph Bark]

Too bad you live in Philadelphia. It's the only one I coulda helped with since I've got family there.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Too bad you live in Philadelphia. It's the only one I coulda helped with since I've got family there.

An interesting coincidence! Haha. Let me know if you ever visit them!

[BRC]

If I may speak on behalf of St. Louis, it's worth a visit.
We've got some normal City Stuff (An awesome zoo, a couple good museums, ect), but I'll skip that in favor of the Unique Stuff.

The Arch, obviously. I grew up here, so it's not a big deal to me, but It's pretty cool.

Cahokia Mounds, the site of an ancient pre-columbian city that dwarfed many European cities at the time. If you're into history, archeology, pre-columbian society, or walking up giant hills, this is a must-see.
The City Museum It's called a "Museum", because "Old Shoe Factory Turned Into A Playground That Looks Like The Dreams Of a Mad Sculptor on LSD" wouldn't fit on the sign.
Have you ever wanted to climb around a network of McDonalds Playpen style tubes until you found your way inside a massive barrel, which contained a secret passage that emerged out the mouth of a frog statue into a complex of artificial caves? Have you ever wanted to climb a massive structure that included a stone tower, a disused Airplane, and a Ballpit? Have you ever wanted to go down a five story slide? How about A schoolbus pearched on the roof of a building? Have you ever wanted to play with Giant Rock'em, Sock'em Robots? Have you ever wanted to climb into the belly of a massive stone and plaster whale?

Just google "City Museum St. Louis" and look at the images.

If you're interested in Art, the Saint Louis Art Museum is excellent. It's located near the Zoo in Forest Park, which is a great park just in general. They've got some good paintings, plus a Sarcophagus. It's also one of the few buildings still standing from the 1904 World's Fair.

While you're in town, if you're in the mood for a movie, see what's playing at a place called the Moolah Theater. It's a one-screen movie theater/bowling alley built out of an old Shriner Temple. The Theater itself is just one massive room with a huge screen. They've got a balcony full of traditional movie-theater seats, but most of the floor is taken up by really comfortable couches and armchairs. They can only show one movie at a time, but it's probably my favorite theater.
While you're here, you should make sure to eat at a place called Pi Pizza, there are (I think) Three locations, one in The Loop, one in a neighborhood called the Central West End, and one downtown.
To give you an idea of how good this stuff is, when Obama was here in 2008 for a rally, he tried some. When he was elected, he had the chefs flown out to DC to prepare (I think) his family's first meal in the White House.

You'll need to go to a place called Ted Drewes (Two locations), and get frozen custard (I'm a fan of the Banana personally). You're not allowed to leave the city until you do. I think it's a law or something. What's that, it's cold out? Too Bad. Get Ted Drewes anyway.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

If I may speak on behalf of St. Louis, it's worth a visit.
*SNIP*

This is exactly why I put this up in the forums. This is perfect. Thank you, BRC! Is there any specific form of art that is unique to that area at all as well?

[BRC]

This is exactly why I put this up in the forums. This is perfect. Thank you, BRC! Is there any specific form of art that is unique to that area at all as well?

Not sure about Unique, the city has a reputation for music (Though I don't know how vibrant that scene still is), and we lay claim to some pretty significant Literary figures (Mark Twain and Tennessee Williams to name a few), but I'm not sure how well that would work for your purposes, unless you want to just walk around the Central West End talking about writers that used to live here.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Not sure about Unique, the city has a reputation for music (Though I don't know how vibrant that scene still is), and we lay claim to some pretty significant Literary figures (Mark Twain and Tennessee Williams to name a few), but I'm not sure how well that would work for your purposes, unless you want to just walk around the Central West End talking about writers that used to live here.

Perfect. I'll think on that but you're probably on to something. :)

[BRC]

Perfect. I'll think on that but you're probably on to something. :)

Visually, Cahokia, the Arch, or the City Museum (Though you might need special permission to film in there, depending on the nature of your show/tarvelvlog) would make for the most stunning footage.

Also, I just remembered something. If aging rock stars are relevant to you
There is a famous restaurant in the Loop called Blueberry Hill. Chuck Berry still plays there on the third Wednesday of every month. The Loop also has the St. Louis Walk of Fame, which has some local notables on it.


Edit: Can't Belive I forgot, The Missouri Botanical Garden. Spent too much time on these posts already, but it's worth a visit if you're looking for things to sketch.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

It might be nice to contact the cities I visit themselves and see if they'd be interested in advertising the attractions and interests of the cities I visit. Or perhaps the Tourism centers of each city or something. If they are interested or want to get involved in the project, things might be a bit easier, especially if they are keen on assisting me.

Either way, the botanical gardens sound cool. All of your suggestions are very helpful.

[TaiLiu]

Well, if you're visiting New York City, I have a few places to recommend.

In the borough of Manhattan exists a Chinatown (I believe there's one in California as well); if you take time to look on the streets, you'll notice people selling various items: Hong Kong mini cakes (Usually roughly one dollar for twenty), coconuts (They cut a hole in it and jam a straw for drinking), and fruits. Nearby bakeries and restaurants offer steamed buns and dim sum.

Occasionally, you may be able to see people on the streets making Chinese dough sculptures or calligraphy.

Grimaldi's (Pizzeria) is popular enough to have waiting lines that take an hour or more.

There are a number of art museums.

The Statue of Liberty is a famous tourist attraction, though I've never been there personally. The New York Water Taxi brings you there, along with many other locations.

(If you visit Chinatown during the lunar new year, you'll be greeted with performers performing the lion dance. Don't forget to give them a red envelope!)

[Amidus Drexel]

All of these are hours or days away from where I live, so...

D.C., huh? I imagine you'll visit the Smithsonian (they are some rather interesting museums), and I remember there being a rather good WWII/Holocaust museum in D.C. as well. It might not be quite what you're looking for, but the Library of Congress has an impressive selection of books on pretty much everything. Oh, and you should visit all of the war memorials there too.

There are a lot of good places to eat around Fairfax and Alexandria, if you make it out that far. I don't think I've ever eaten downtown, so I can't really help you there.

If you're looking for music, the 9:30 Club gets a lot of good bands. I wouldn't call it "local art" or anything, though.

[Coidzor]

Hmm, I'm surprised to see a place in Kentucky that's not Louisville. What got you to plan on heading there?

[Killer Angel]

21. Chicago, Illinois

Once you're in Illinois, in the south Winsconsin there's the House on the Rock.
It's amazing, it's like a trip in wonderland.

[OracleofWuffing]

18. Denver, Colorado
19.Kansas City, Missouri

Depending on how you're traveling, you could stop off at Omaha, Nebraska, the current gallary-home of Ceramicist Jun Kaneko.* As far as museums go, there's the Joslyn, the Durham (I expect that one to be dwarfed by some of the others you'll visit, though), and the Strategic Air and Space Museum if you want something a bit oddball. There's also a notable zoo there that's probably the biggest reason anyone goes to Nebraska shy of football.

*I hear he's actually a bit... Pompous, but I've never met him in person.

[Karoht]

Once I have the entire trip planned, I'm going to start a Kickstarter to help out on funding and see where I land. Any ideas or suggestions any of you might have for rewards for the kickstarter I would love to hear

Kickstarter suggestions:
1-For locations. Your upper tier of donations get to help you pick where you are going. Randomly. They hop on a webcam, and roll dice to randomly determine where you are headed. This in addition to the other tier's goodies.
2-Another tier gets a postcard, from you, from each location. Postcards are cheap, so this is a pretty reasonable reward. Possibly make this the second lowest tier. Plus, getting the postcards and sending them will be good stuff for the production/behind the scenes reel, trust me.
And the people who receive this? They get postcards in the mail randomly over the course of the production. Very cool.
3-Free DVD copy of the show when it is done. Mid Tier of some sort.
4-Free photobook of production stills and various photos taken during the trip. They're also reasonably cheap to produce, but naturally you probably want to source that out before you promise it. Cafepress and Fabler are pretty good places to check out if you want to make it as effortless as possible, and cheap too. Possibly our second-last tier.
5-I don't get the appeal, but anyone who donates gets name in credits, separated by tier. Cost and effort level is next to zero, lots of productions who use kickstarter are doing this. Race to World First and The Raid (both documentaries are about World of Warcraft raiding) did this, and I've seen it pretty frequently since.

Just some ideas.

[BRC]

Kickstarter suggestions:
1-For locations. Your upper tier of donations get to help you pick where you are going. Randomly. They hop on a webcam, and roll dice to randomly determine where you are headed. This in addition to the other tier's goodies.
2-Another tier gets a postcard, from you, from each location. Postcards are cheap, so this is a pretty reasonable reward. Possibly make this the second lowest tier. Plus, getting the postcards and sending them will be good stuff for the production/behind the scenes reel, trust me.
And the people who receive this? They get postcards in the mail randomly over the course of the production. Very cool.
3-Free DVD copy of the show when it is done. Mid Tier of some sort.
4-Free photobook of production stills and various photos taken during the trip. They're also reasonably cheap to produce, but naturally you probably want to source that out before you promise it. Cafepress and Fabler are pretty good places to check out if you want to make it as effortless as possible, and cheap too. Possibly our second-last tier.
5-I don't get the appeal, but anyone who donates gets name in credits, separated by tier. Cost and effort level is next to zero, lots of productions who use kickstarter are doing this. Race to World First and The Raid (both documentaries are about World of Warcraft raiding) did this, and I've seen it pretty frequently since.

Just some ideas.

Eh, #2 may be cheap, but it's also has a chance to be really, really time consuming depending on how many donors you have. Even if you just address them and don't write any messages it can still take a very long time to fill all of them out.

[Telonius]

For Los Angeles, I'd recommend taking a trip on Mulholland Drive. I believe David Hockney did a famous painting of it.

For DC, there's still some of Borf's stuff around.

[Karoht]

Eh, #2 may be cheap, but it's also has a chance to be really, really time consuming depending on how many donors you have. Even if you just address them and don't write any messages it can still take a very long time to fill all of them out.

The cards will take maybe an hour per day. Also, if he's working with anyone else, one addresses, one signs. Heck, bring a printer along with, keep the database entered in an MS Word file all set and ready to print the addresses on each card, throw the stack in the print tray, hit print. That's half the work done.

[Erloas]

The cards will take maybe an hour per day. Also, if he's working with anyone else, one addresses, one signs. Heck, bring a printer along with, keep the database entered in an MS Word file all set and ready to print the addresses on each card, throw the stack in the print tray, hit print. That's half the work done.

Hauling a printer around the country isn't the most practical, but its probably reasonable if you are doing it on your own and don't expect a lot of people to support you.

And "cheap" is relative to quantity. Right now there is an estimated 25 stops, that means 25 post cards and 25 stamps per person that donates. Stamps are 32 cents for postcards (with 23 cents being possible with commercial based shipping) and most postcards are I think about 50 cents each, but lets just say 25 cents for the time being (bulk discount). You are at $0.57 per person per stop, or $14.25 per person just in post cards and stamps. You would be giving away a huge portion of your donation if that wasn't at at least a $50 donation point, and even then thats 28% of what you get in (not counting kickstarter's cut)

[Karoht]

Hauling a printer around the country isn't the most practical, but its probably reasonable if you are doing it on your own and don't expect a lot of people to support you.

He's already hauling camera equipment and probably some editing equipment. Printers aren't that massive these days. I can buy one the size of a tablet computer.

And "cheap" is relative to quantity. Right now there is an estimated 25 stops, that means 25 post cards and 25 stamps per person that donates. Stamps are 32 cents for postcards (with 23 cents being possible with commercial based shipping) and most postcards are I think about 50 cents each, but lets just say 25 cents for the time being (bulk discount). You are at $0.57 per person per stop, or $14.25 per person just in post cards and stamps. You would be giving away a huge portion of your donation if that wasn't at at least a $50 donation point, and even then thats 28% of what you get in (not counting kickstarter's cut)

I would expect a minimum donation per tier in the first place. That's usually how Kickstarter projects and reward structures work.
Also, you can in fact cap the number of people per reward tier.
To reduce the cost of post cards, print them based on pictures taken with digital camera?

Last time I bought a post card the postage was included. Your math just made me sad.

[SarahV]

Places that would be cool to photograph, paint and sketch in the Boston area: Mt. Auburn cemetery (which is historical, beautiful and also an arboretum), the Esplanade, the public gardens, Harvard Yard.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is very cool, and it's small enough to be manageable in a quick visit. The Institute of Contemporary Art has some interesting-looking interactive art workshops. Another idea would be to use architecture as your art theme in Boston because there are a lot of historic sites (similar to Philadelphia that way, I guess). There are also some oddball museums at Harvard and MIT that might be fun to visit and very unique - Harvard has the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, the Warren Anatomical Museum, and the Glass Flowers Collection. The MIT Museum has all kinds of robotics and technology type stuff. And if you're in the MIT area you can check out the "Kendall Band" which is an interactive, musical public art installation in the Kendall Square subway station.

[OracleofWuffing]

To reduce the cost of post cards, print them based on pictures taken with digital camera?

Last time I bought a post card the postage was included. Your math just made me sad.

Post cards in my area don't come with free postage...

Having done two thesis lectures, one with full-color post cards done by a print shop and another one with home-made black and white post cards, I would not be surprised if printing one's own cards just turned out to a wash when it comes to savings. Maybe if you used a laser printer (which typically aren't the portable kind and everyone whines about how the colors aren't as bright as they could be) or had a continuous ink supply modification, it'd work out, but my guess would be on going to a print shop or even printing photos at Wal-Mart would be the cheaper alternative.

Obligatory printer joke.

[JoshL]

Houston: you'll want to go here. One of my favorite museums ever. There's a couple related sites, such as the Rothko Chapel, but if I recall, there are brochures/directions from the museum. I hit a few others while I was down there that were nice too, but nothing like the Menil.

If Pittsburgh was on your list, I could give you a few here. I'm particularly fond of the Mattress Factory. But really, if you were to do Pittsburgh on an art tour, you'd want to wait until October, when then next Carnegie International is. I've seen some amazing pieces there.

[Scarlet Knight]

I am confused. Do you wish to sketch cities or sketch great masterpieces in those cities, or learn art at each place or teach people about the art in those cities or the arts created only in those cities?

I mean in NY , for example, tons of documentaries have been done on the Statue of Liberty, but it is one of this nation's most original pieces of art. Do you stop at any of dozens of museums loaded with masterpieces in NY? I mean you can do a documentary on just the museums alone (from the Museum of Art to MOMA to the Cloisters to MOSEX, etc.). Sketch the lansdscape like the Metropolitan Opera House? Or discuss the Hudson River School on the way down from Boston? Or just sketch some musicians at the Apollo in Harlem?

[Inglenook]

I wanna say that 90% of Lexington's art is just … horses. So be prepared for that.

I really don't know too much about the Lexington art scene, sadly; I've been to a couple seedy galleries, but that's probably not what you're looking for. My old roommate's girlfriend is an art student at UK, though, so I could ask her for some recommendations if you'd like?

[razorback]

Well, for San Francisco you have -
The Palace of the Legion of Honor which includes a lot of Rodin, including The Thinker and The Kiss.
SF Museum of Modern Art

And, while not museums, the California Academy of Sciences and The Exploritorium, which to me, are just plain old cool.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Hmm, I'm surprised to see a place in Kentucky that's not Louisville. What got you to plan on heading there?

Well, that's where my God parents live, so that's where I'm staying. I'd be willing to commute to anywhere nearby to get my fill for the area...so it doesn't HAVE to be IN Lexington. I'll see what they think too.

Once you're in Illinois, in the south Winsconsin there's the House on the Rock.
It's amazing, it's like a trip in wonderland.

Note-d.

Depending on how you're traveling, you could stop off at Omaha, Nebraska, the current gallary-home of Ceramicist Jun Kaneko.* As far as museums go, there's the Joslyn, the Durham (I expect that one to be dwarfed by some of the others you'll visit, though), and the Strategic Air and Space Museum if you want something a bit oddball. There's also a notable zoo there that's probably the biggest reason anyone goes to Nebraska shy of football.

*I hear he's actually a bit... Pompous, but I've never met him in person.

I'll likely be dying for some sort of intrigue on that part of the trip. From what I hear its going to be very straight and boring. So I'll likely be able to stop there. Will probably start google mapping this out soon and post it up here.

Kickstarter suggestions:
1-For locations. Your upper tier of donations get to help you pick where you are going. Randomly. They hop on a webcam, and roll dice to randomly determine where you are headed. This in addition to the other tier's goodies.
2-Another tier gets a postcard, from you, from each location. Postcards are cheap, so this is a pretty reasonable reward. Possibly make this the second lowest tier. Plus, getting the postcards and sending them will be good stuff for the production/behind the scenes reel, trust me.
And the people who receive this? They get postcards in the mail randomly over the course of the production. Very cool.
3-Free DVD copy of the show when it is done. Mid Tier of some sort.
4-Free photobook of production stills and various photos taken during the trip. They're also reasonably cheap to produce, but naturally you probably want to source that out before you promise it. Cafepress and Fabler are pretty good places to check out if you want to make it as effortless as possible, and cheap too. Possibly our second-last tier.
5-I don't get the appeal, but anyone who donates gets name in credits, separated by tier. Cost and effort level is next to zero, lots of productions who use kickstarter are doing this. Race to World First and The Raid (both documentaries are about World of Warcraft raiding) did this, and I've seen it pretty frequently since.

Just some ideas.

Some great ideas! I think providing the entire season would be tricky as a gift as it would be a long wait if I were editing it myself. As for the photobook, perhaps that could be included in a special version of the dvd? Also, if I do the show through a company, then they will have legal rights to how I distribute my show. They might not be ok with it, so I'll leave that as an option for if I don't get signed.

I'd say 1st teir would be credited as a donor, and anyone higher also gets this as well. I was thinking one teir could get the donor access to my travel vlog/blog which will be updated during the trip and will have footage that might or might not be included in the documentary.

I could see getting one postcard from me at some point in my travels, but not from every place. I like the idea, and maybe we can find some others like it...

Your idea on donors picking where I go - could you expand on that a bit. Locations at each place I go? Cities in general? So on?

Eh, #2 may be cheap, but it's also has a chance to be really, really time consuming depending on how many donors you have. Even if you just address them and don't write any messages it can still take a very long time to fill all of them out.

Yeah, I might have to put a cap on this one, and have an alternative prize for when the run out.

Houston: you'll want to go here. One of my favorite museums ever. There's a couple related sites, such as the Rothko Chapel, but if I recall, there are brochures/directions from the museum. I hit a few others while I was down there that were nice too, but nothing like the Menil.

If Pittsburgh was on your list, I could give you a few here. I'm particularly fond of the Mattress Factory. But really, if you were to do Pittsburgh on an art tour, you'd want to wait until October, when then next Carnegie International is. I've seen some amazing pieces there.

I looooove Pittsburgh. Sadly, I'd have to go pretty far out of my way for it to be included.

I am confused. Do you wish to sketch cities or sketch great masterpieces in those cities, or learn art at each place or teach people about the art in those cities or the arts created only in those cities?

I mean in NY , for example, tons of documentaries have been done on the Statue of Liberty, but it is one of this nation's most original pieces of art. Do you stop at any of dozens of museums loaded with masterpieces in NY? I mean you can do a documentary on just the museums alone (from the Museum of Art to MOMA to the Cloisters to MOSEX, etc.). Sketch the lansdscape like the Metropolitan Opera House? Or discuss the Hudson River School on the way down from Boston? Or just sketch some musicians at the Apollo in Harlem?

I wish to learn a form of art at each place (I graduated with an art degree, so its more broadening my horizons) in any way I can. Some places that's going to be perhaps an art form that's attributed to that area. Others where I don't find anything of the sort or are just beautiful areas, I'll be doing paintings of, and taking pictures to do additional paintings later. Honestly, I won't likely be able to do video documentary things inside museums, so I'll likely sketch and learn in those as well, and discover what different museums in different areas have in common/in difference, and so on.

In any case, while there will be sketches, I mainly am planning on creating a whole new bulk of work during or in result of the trip, based off what I learn and discover. The muse for these things is likely to vary, so I don't want to be narrow minded about the whole thing.

I wanna say that 90% of Lexington's art is just … horses. So be prepared for that.

I really don't know too much about the Lexington art scene, sadly; I've been to a couple seedy galleries, but that's probably not what you're looking for. My old roommate's girlfriend is an art student at UK, though, so I could ask her for some recommendations if you'd like?

Sure! I'm open to hear from anyone.

Well, for San Francisco you have -
The Palace of the Legion of Honor which includes a lot of Rodin, including The Thinker and The Kiss.
SF Museum of Modern Art

And, while not museums, the California Academy of Sciences and The Exploritorium, which to me, are just plain old cool.

As with the rest, I appreciate you input!

[Karoht]

Some great ideas! I think providing the entire season would be tricky as a gift as it would be a long wait if I were editing it myself.

Well, that brings up the question, what is your kickstarter actually funding? Editing? Equipment? Travel Budget? Camera Man?

As for the photobook, perhaps that could be included in a special version of the dvd? Also, if I do the show through a company, then they will have legal rights to how I distribute my show. They might not be ok with it, so I'll leave that as an option for if I don't get signed.

You can always self-publish, and then pitch it to a network or something. Thats okay too.

I'd say 1st teir would be credited as a donor, and anyone higher also gets this as well. I was thinking one teir could get the donor access to my travel vlog/blog which will be updated during the trip and will have footage that might or might not be included in the documentary.

Good move, IMO.

I could see getting one postcard from me at some point in my travels, but not from every place. I like the idea, and maybe we can find some others like it...

Well, you can always randomize which people get which postcards. If you have 60 donors and 12 stops, you buy 5 postcards per stop and cross off 5 people from the list. Address and personalize these 5 postcards and send them off. Make sure you get footage of you doing this, as some great emotional moments could pop up, and it could be a good 'recap' per episode too.

Your idea on donors picking where I go - could you expand on that a bit. Locations at each place I go? Cities in general? So on?

I don't have any idea what your budget or plan is. Lets say you could only hit 20 destinations out of 100. Have 20 people roll dice randomly to determine which destinations you go to. Do this over a video chat system (which you can livestream and record, a great kickoff event for the whole trip), and include some select footage from this event in your first episode.
IE-Show person's rolling dice in a bit of a montage, show locations being circled on the list or maybe marking an X on the map to corrispond. It would be about a 30 second to 60 second clip so you can include people rolling and maybe a funny moment or two, toss on a bit of fun music, and there you go.

I wish to learn a form of art at each place (I graduated with an art degree, so its more broadening my horizons) in any way I can.

Oh wow, does this have potential written all over it.
If you plan on doing a lot of art work such as this, your kickstarter could also include this in some way. Or not, because it's your art and it is perhaps more meaningful to you. Up to you.

As with the rest, I appreciate you input!

I appreciate the opportunity to provide input. You have my sincere wish for nothing but the best of luck for this adventure.

[Inglenook]

Okay, I asked about art-oriented stuff in Lexington, and my old roommate's girlfriend recommended the Lexington Art League. They have a nude exhibit coming up that's supposed to be really interesting.

She also mentioned some gallery called "189" that is supposed to be sort of mysterious and hardly ever open, but I have no idea where it is.

Other things I just thought of:

• UK's art gallery usually has some sort of show going on.
• There's a Foucalt pendulum in the public library?
• Third Street coffee shop is sort of a giant mural inside and out, and has a lot of, uh, ecclectic wares.

Hope that's of help!

[OracleofWuffing]

I'll likely be dying for some sort of intrigue on that part of the trip. From what I hear its going to be very straight and boring.

Ah ha ha... heh... heh heh... hee... Ooooh man that stereotype is so true.

Well, from one art degree holder to another, I feel like I'm kind of telling you something you probably already know, but when you hit that area, if you really want to have culture excitement and experience that's unique to that area, you can't rely on the big cities. I mean, there might be some local artists on display, but the big demonstrations of stuff you won't find anywhere else will be in the small, family-owned galleries in the small cities. Big museums want to attract people so they "import" well-known people on display, small galleries make due with what they can. I just didn't suggest it sooner, because, well... It'd be completely out of scope, and take up a disproportionate amount of time to go through them all and sort out what would be worthwhile.

Also, yeah, get ready to see more horses. And also landscapes. And maybe a train or two.