To truly understand a work of art, you need to see it in person. Pictures are not good enough to convey the size, true colors or texture of artworks. Whenever possible, seeing a work of art in its original location also helps understand its intended meaning or use. Visiting Ireland to study medieval Irish Crosses in their original monastery settings, for example, helped me discover that the crosses were all oriented toward the rising sun. (See below for what that means.) Or, by visiting Paleolithic caves, decorated with animal paintings around 18,000 BCE,  I could actually "hear" that many of these mysterious pictures appear in areas of the caves where sound resonates.  And, when the lights went out,  I found myself in the darkest, most remote place I had ever been.

By visiting museums and sites around the world,  I learn about the art objects I teach. Here are some of the monuments I have visited. If you are an art major, you should start visiting local museums in America--you must see the object-- and thinking about travel abroad to visit major museums and monuments.

Here are some of the places I have been recently, camera in one hand and notebook in the other.

Cahokia, Collinsville, Il., May 2004
Victoria, B.C., Feb. 2004
Stonehenge, England, Jan. 2004
Ireland, Jan. 2004
Serpent Mound, Ohio, Oct. 2003
Fallingwater, Pennsylvania, Oct. 2003
France, Paris and The Dordogne (Paleolithic caves and Medieval churches), July 2003
The Alhambra, Granada, Spain, January 2003
The First Emperor's Army, China, May 2002
Rome, January 2002
Mexico City and Copan, Honduras, June 2001
Egypt,  January, 2001
Southern Mexico (Bonampak, Palenque, Villahermosa), July 2000
Greece, March 2000
Machu Picchu, Peru, July 1999
Paris and the South of France, March 1999
Tikal, Guatemala, July 1998