The Original Art Trippers

Our Story

My daughter Meredith started Smith College in 2005, and while exploring campus for the first time, I came upon the Smith College Museum of Art. The collection is world class, and Smith offers a degree in curating. I especially enjoyed the contemporary exhibit, and I was excited to get my friend Duff to come see it.

Let me tell you about Duff. He is a telecommunications engineer, but he has been making assemblage works since he was 14 years old. He spotted a type box in the window of Fornier’s Printing one day and so it began. There is much more to this story, but that will have to be for another time.

That’s Lisa Huebenthal on top, Duff Gallagher in the middle, and that’s me, Michele Murelli at the base.

So I called Duff and we set a date to go to Northampton, see the Museum, eat, drink, and enjoy. Duff invited his friend Lisa to join us and told me I would love her. Lisa and I hit it off immediately, and have been friends ever since.

We saw the Art, lunched at Fitzwilly’s, and headed back home. About 30 minutes into our ride home, Duff declared, “NEW RULES! Every 3 to 4 months the three of us must go see some art.”

At first we just day Art Tripped, spending a Saturday at a new show, or a museum, or a city with a gallery district. Then it extended into a weekend with Saturday for art and cooking dinner and Sunday for cooking breakfast and driving home. Then it evolved into arriving on Friday night, cooking, making art and listening to music all weekend.

When the opportunity to start an arts non-profit presented itself, there was only one name that I considered, and Art Tripping was born.