RomanceEverAfter is excited to introduce you to Art Excursions, Inc. www.artexcursions.com  Jeff and Michelle are your hosts to a variety of unique travel experiences in the world of art and architecture. Whether you want a day tour in Chicago, winter escape to California, or adventure in Europe, Art Excursions has something for everyone!

The owners of Art Excursions took a few moments to tell us about their all-inclusive travel service.

Art Historian/Professors Jeff Mishur and Michelle Paluch-Mishur began Art Excursions in 1998 to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for the history of art, architecture, and culture with others who have a passion for learning while traveling. They design a variety of packages to bring travelers together with the art treasures of the world.

The criteria for our multi-day tours in cities throughout the United States is pretty simple. We look to lead small groups of travelers on tours to cities that have a lot to offer in terms of art museums, public sculpture, and/or architecture. Most often we try to time our trip with a special exhibition that will be in town for a limited engagement. On all our trips, we provide a slide-based preview of the special exhibition or tour event in the comfort of the hotel before embarking on the tour.

The group size is typically between 8-12. There are times when we have intimate groups of less than 8. We have seen too many large tour groups that follow around a person with an umbrella. Half of the group never catches up in time to hear anything but, "next, we’re on to…"

We tailor our tours to the backgrounds of our clients. For those who already have some prior knowledge, we incorporate exploring new, but related concepts. For the novice, we structure our tour hosting and lectures so we begin with fairly general concepts and build to more sophisticated levels.

Our style of "lecturing" flows like a dialogue or conversation and that makes people comfortable in asking questions if they are unclear about something. It also encourages people to make contributions to the dialogue from their own knowledge base or experience. We can always count on having clients who have some interest in art; otherwise, they wouldn’t be traveling with us.

The first benefit of working with us is the convenience and peace of mind that comes from dealing with a small company where the owners are professional and pay close attention to detail. We plan the tour, communicate from the get go with the clients, follow through on all travel details, host the tour, and provide the lectures throughout the tour itinerary. We don’t let anything fall through the cracks!

We also pride ourselves in our enthusiastic presentation style. Because we are both teachers and regular lecturers at public venues such as libraries, we have found a good balance between maintaining a high energy level while sharing some really potent information to our audience. One of our clients summed up his experience like this, "On your tours, a great deal of information is conveyed in an enthusiastic, easy-to-digest manner."

We specialize in all tours whether held in Chicago or in another city in the United States because they are oriented around areas of our collective expertise. For example, when we did our first tour to the Los Angeles area in 1999, the itinerary we designed focused on our area of expertise: art, architecture and culture. We told our clients, "If you want to take a tour of the homes of the rich and famous or go to Rodeo Drive, you’re welcome to do so during the free time built into the tour or on an extra day you add on."

We have recently developed a schedule of five different types of tours that will be offered every week in Chicago. Information about these weekly tour offerings is available on our Web site.

Great question because this takes us full circle. We both enjoy sharing our enthusiasm for the history of art, architecture, and culture with people who share our enthusiasm and enjoy learning about such things. I am happy to say that this is why we keep doing what we do! We love interacting with people who are interested in the very subjects that have been the focus of so much research, teaching and passion for us. We have what we like best about teaching – the shared energy of a learning dynamic with clients who are akin to ideal students – being there because they want to be there and genuinely appreciative of what we can offer them. And there are never any exams to give or grade!

Art Excursions, Inc. does provide numerous slide lecture presentations at libraries, businesses, and retirement communities throughout the Chicagoland area. A listing of current offerings is available or a custom program can be developed upon request.

Jeff and Michelle would be happy to answer any questions regarding their tour packages and lecture programs. You can contact them in the following ways:

Phone: 630-671-9745