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The Nod Goes to Art Expeditions & the “Art of Seeing”

Written by Helen Nodland, Adventure and Exotic Travel

          I met Stuart and Stacey Morse of Art Expeditions while working the aisles at the annual International Adventure Travel Show in Chicago (my personal version of a candy store).   In perusal mode, I was navigating the center of the aisle, avoiding conversations and eye contact, casting my gaze from booth to booth.  What was different?  What was new?  I waited for my imagination to be captured.  Then I spotted a wooden tripod with one of those old-fashioned box cameras on top.  The kind with the black cape off the back.  Turn of the century Ansel Adams- type camera.  Hmmm.  I approach, staying mid-aisle.  A topographic map serves as the booth background. (I’m a sucker for maps.)  A compass with the words “Creative Thinking” is bold against that backdrop. (I’ve turned my body and now have my hand against my chin.)  What is this?  I look up to read the name of this company.  Art Expeditions.  Art Expeditions?  Never heard of them.  I read more.  “Master Art Guides lead Explorers to Navigate the Landscape of Creative Thinking.  Diversity Mountains, Risk-taking Ridge, Left & Right Brain Peaks.”  My curiosity is piqued.   I’m engaged.  I take the two steps from mid-aisle to booth-side.   “OK,” I said, “you got me.  Tell me about Art Expeditions.”

Stuart and Stacey are professional artists (he a painter, she a photographer) with a vision beyond their successful St. Louis Fine Art Gallery and expressive careers.  Having fallen in love with the world they capture on film and in paint, they invented an “in the field” experience for the stuck-in-our-left-brain-gotta-get-things-done-grown-up-types.  An experience to unleash the creative right-brain, remarry it with its old left-brain friend, and get out of the way as the results of this happy amalgam start pouring from their Art Expeditions’ participants.  They do their magic with corporate groups, with students, and with travelers on Art Expeditions tours.  And they did it for travel agents attending my Travel Specialist Retreat on Walking in March 2002 at Red Mountain Adventure Spa in SW Utah. 

In a few short hours, Stuart had moved our group from conventional thinking to creative personal expression.  Quickly and expertly, he encouraged our travelers’ hearts (and our business brains) to move from words that captured our feelings about the Spa and dramatic red rock surroundings to images that expressed those feelings.  The results were stunning – and we were elated!  Our digitally photographed images were printed, mounted, and displayed at the Spa the next day.  Other guests immediately wanted to know if they were for sale!  (Right brain kicks in again.  “Well, as a matter of fact…”). 

Imagine this experience in Africa.  Or Greece.  Take this idea to sketch pad and watercolors.  Add in journaling that captures the thought process, the texture of the wind, the cobalt of the sky, the smell of the Savannah.  These are not photography trips.  Yes, you’ll learn about cameras, lighting and angles (and drawing/painting). But more importantly, you’ll learn the "Art of Seeing." 

Art Expeditions are self-enlightening adventures that celebrate the environments and cultures of the world, and the creative spirit within.  Stuart and Stacey are artists, teachers and delightful, quick-witted, creative, thoughtful, bright, inspiring human beings.  Their Art Expeditions caught my eye and opened new windows to my traveler’s soul.  And that’s why I give them The Nod.

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Stuart Morse.
Copyright © 1998 [Morse Fine Art Studios]. All rights reserved.
Revised: January 22, 2007.