The Foster Museum — Attraction in Palo Alto

A magnificent, free art museum that is too little known and still only a few years old, The Foster should be on everyone in the bay areas list of museums to visit. You could spend a quick hour or several hours of more in depth reading and listening to the guided self-tour. The paintings are all by one artist, Tony Foster, who does a plein art watercolor style on site at locations from his home in Cornwall to the U.S. Southwest to Chile to underwater Coral Reefs to the Arctic to Nepal and the U.S. New England area. There is a diversity of journeys and adventures that have gone into each of these paintings, which are some of the best curated I've seen, including at much larger and more well known museums.

There are audio tours available on headset and you can download the link on a cell phone; I highly recommend this as you can listen to the artist themselves talk about the experience of painting each piece. There is linked YouTube videos for further information. If you prefer to read, do read the packet prepared for self-guided tours and the information below the pictures as it adds much to the experience of understanding not just the picture, but the context of when, where, how it was created as part of a larger exploration of a wild place.

The staff are friendly and well informed and ready to provide information. The facilities are clean; it's accessible and there are regular places for rest and contemplation with benches scattered about. There's smart lighting that goes on and off in sections as you approach and leave areas. There's frequent events offered for both children and adults and tours can be arranged. Free and fairly easy street parking is available. Honestly, there is nothing I could critique here and only encourage...

What a wonderful museum. My wife and I were mesmerized after studying the watercolors by Tim Foster. This destination is a gem.

First of all, admission is free. Just make a reservation online ahead of your visit.

You are greeted by name and given a tour of the lobby displays which introduce you to Tim Foster. He is a naturalist and world traveler who paints with water color "plein air" [outdoors].

So what sets Foster apart from other artists? Well, hei back packs, hiking to very remote locations to capture just the right view of Earth's most beautiful locations, often camping in freezing temperatures and painting in extreme heat. His trips are remarkable and you can share his journeys in a unique way.

His paintings contain samples of items he gathers on location along with notes he writes in pencil at the bottom of each piece. The notes and comments are available in the free audio tour you download onto your iphone. Be sure to take your ear buds so you can get the full impact of Tim Fosters paintings.

You do not want to miss this museum, located in an industrial area of Palo Alto California. We visited on...

Genuinely wonderful. What a way to spend a quiet hour and a half. The artist's work is a marvel, even before you consider that almost everything was done on location. The underwater sketches particularly showed the kind of dedication to authenticity and realism that should inspire all artists. I sat in front of two or three works for a long time - a couple of the larger-scale paintings bringing an unexpected welling up of emotion - and I was grateful for the solitude! The portable seats were such a thoughtful addition too, for those of us who like to spend time with a piece. The informative timelines, stories, quotes, writing excerpts and photography really enhanced the experience. As an Englishman living in CA, I throughly appreciated finding the work of a man from Cornwall in the bustle of Palo Alto, especially one with such impressive dedication to documenting the beauty of places on his travels in that thoroughly intimate and unpretentious way of his. I have since written a poem inspired by Tony's work at the Grand Canyon. Art inspiring art, hopefully exactly as Mr Foster would encourage. Thank you to...