Shel Horowitz's Monthly Frugal Fun Tip for April, 2005

No one should be without art in our lives. But art is often expensive, not only to own, but also just to look at.

Fortunately, there are many alternatives to high-priced museums. A few possibilities:

* Galleries. Most don't charge, and when there's an opening, even provide snacks. They make their revenue on the sale of artwork, not on admission fees.

* Colleges: Not only the exhibits by faculty and students, but often, no-cost or very inexpensive campus museums with surprisingly strong collections.

* Open-air art festivals.

* Craft fairs.

* Bookstores and libraries with good art collections.

* Libraries, stores and restaurants that exhibit local artists (I actually own a really fun painting that I bought off the wall of a local restaurant, for $35)

* Public art: murals, sculptures, paintings in downtown office buildings, and so forth.

* Used art books that you can purchase for a few dollars at bookstores, or almost nothing at flea markets, etc. (I've gotten many for 25 cents to a dollar).

More on this subject at https://www.frugalfun.com/f6-9.html and https://www.frugalfun.com/f4-6.html