School Tours

Kids looking at art

Project Look is the Art Center's field trip program for elementary schools. Students start their visit with a tour of the Art Center's galleries with an educator. Educators lift student voices and opinions by asking open-ended questions. Following the tour, students take part in a hands-on artmaking activity.

Project Look

  • Enriches the art curriculum and provides opportunities for cross-curricular connections and multidisciplinary education.
  • Appeals to a variety of learning styles.
  • Connects the experience of seeing art with making art as a response to the tour.
  • Encourages active participation.
  • Fosters critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication.

LOCATION: Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303

COSTS: Field trips are offered at $275 per class. Need-based scholarships are available upon request. Please contact Heewon Park, Director of School and Teacher Programs, at Heewon.Park@PaloAlto.gov, for more information.

TO REGISTER: Registration opens on August 20, 2026 at 10 a.m.

  1. Register using the “Enjoy Palo Alto” online catalog. If you have participated in Project Look in the past few years, you most likely have an account already linked to your work email.
  2. Check for your account and click “Log In/Create Account” in the upper left, then choose “Log in with email.” You may also create a new account.
  3. Once your account is active, click the “Art-Youth & Teens” tab to find Project Look tours.
  4. Choose the ideal date and time of your tour then add to cart. Payment is due at the time of registration via credit card. You may also register in person with a check at the Palo Alto Art Center.

Fall 2026- "Live the Moment Light"

  • Dates: Tours available September 29–December 11, 2026, Tuesday–Friday at 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. (No tours November 23–27)
  • Duration: 90-minute session
  • Explore how artists use color, shapes, text and material in abstract works to share their experiences and to convey feelings and moods. We’ll slow down to look closely at these artworks and learn about how art can help communicate different states of mind. This exhibition is anchored by the internationally recognized artwork of California artist Corita Kent, who used vibrant color and text in screenprints to convey messages about hope, healing and resilience. Live the moment light also includes artwork by three other contemporary artists creating work in textile, photography and printmaking inspired by Corita’s vision and legacy.
colorful abstract painting on fabric with brightly colored splotches

Soleé Darrell, Men carried to their destiny by stars, 2024, Dye on silk velvet, 68 x 50 in., Courtesy of pt. 2 Gallery, Oakland, CA

Winter 2027- "Big Feelings"

  • Dates: Tours available February 2–April 9, 2027, Tuesday–Friday at 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.
  • Duration: 90-minute session
  • Learn how artists use images of human faces and figures to express a range of emotions in Big Feelings. The foundation of the exhibition is the work of Nathan Oliveira, one of the central figures of the Bay Area Figurative movement and an integral member of the Palo Alto artistic community. In his paintings, prints, and sculptures of the human figure, Oliveira employed color to convey his own moods, including sadness and joy. Additional figurative artworks by Bay Area artists Lynn Hershman Leeson, Koak and Gregory Rick provide examples of ways that artists explore their own frames of mind through figuration, color and material.
    Image of dancers painted in various shades of green on linen.

Koak, The Dancers, 2023-24, Flashe and acrylic on linen, 79 x 118.5 in., Courtesy of the artist, Perrotin, and Jessica Silverman.

 Questions? Please contact Heewon Park at Heewon.Park@paloalto.gov. or (650) 617-3513

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