NIU’s Art Museum is offering students a variety of ways to experience the world of art and architecture through its Get on the Bus program.

The program takes students to art venues all over the region, including trips to Chicago and Wisconsin.

Jo Burke said, the assistant director at the museum, the trips range from studio tours to visits to archeological sites, art museums and fairs.

“This is something we’ve been doing for a number of years, and we keep adding new trips every year,” she said.

The first trip of the year is a sketching and photo trip Saturday to the Sandwich County Fair. The museum also is planning its annual Gallery District Season Opener on Friday, Sept. 13, in the River North area of Chicago.

“The season opener is always a lot of fun,” Burke said. “There are probably between 30 and 40 galleries opening in that neighborhood on that night. There are people sort of spilling out into the street. It’s very festive.”

NIU’s Chicago Gallery will open a photography exhibition on Sept. 13 entitled, “Jane Calvin: A Decade of Work, 1992-2002.” In the past few years, the art museum has had two full busloads of people attend the season opener, with about 50 people per bus.

The opener – nicknamed “First Friday” – is only one of the first of a number of upcoming trips, including a trip to Chicago’s Navy Pier on Oct. 25, a tentative two-day trip to Minneapolis, Minn., art museums on Nov. 15 and 16 and a trip to Chicago’s Art Institute on Nov. 24.

“I’ll probably attend a couple of them,” said Mimi Mitrious, a sophomore art education major.

The trip to Navy Pier will take students to the Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art expo and the opening of the “French Design” exhibition at NIU’s Chicago Gallery.

Dominick Sherry, a freshman art illustration major, said he will most likely go on the trip to the Art Institute, which will present Medici, Michelangelo and “Art of Late Renaissance Florence.”

“I’m all about the whole Art Institute of Chicago thing,” he said. “I like Michelangelo.”

Burke said a lot of the work to be shown at the Art Institute never before has left Italy.

Get on the Bus also is planning a trip to Galena in October, which will be limited to students in the ceramics departments of NIU, Kishwaukee College and Waubonsee Community College. The students will take a tour, called “Twenty Dirty Hands,” of ceramics studios in Galena.

For additional information, pricing or to register for trips, call the NIU Art Museum at 753-1936. Students who wish to attend the season opener will need to register by Sept. 10.

Payment can be made by cash, credit card or a check made out to NIU. Members of the NIU Art Museum will receive discounts. For information on how to become a member, call the museum.