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Education & Community Programs

Viewfinder: Kids on Ron Mueck

Posted May 11, 2012 at 10:26 am — Filed under:
by Emma Cohen    
    
At our April Free First Saturday event, we asked kids what they thought about the artworks in the exhibition Lifelike. Here is what Annie, age 6, said about one of her favorites:
   
Ron Mueck, Crouching Boy in Mirror

Pick one word to describe this work of art: Real.

Why did you pick that word? It looks so real because of hands and nails.

Tell us if there is something you don’t like and why.  His underwear is showing.

What does it make you think about?  Going under water.

Make up a story about this work of art… He is sitting like that because he wants to see sea creatures.

 

We’re collecting young people’s thoughts on art all the time. What does your child have to say? Come visit the Walker, pick up an ArtThink worksheet, and let him tell us what he thinks!

 

Viewfinder posts are your opportunity to “show & tell” about the everyday arts happenings, interesting sights and sounds made or as seen by Minnesota artists, because art is where you find it.  Submit your own informal, first-person responses to the art around you to katie(at)mnartists.org, and we may well publish your piece here on the blog. (Guidelines: 300 words or less, not about your own event/work, and please include an image, media, video, or audio file, and one sentence about yourself.)

Getting to Know the Walker’s John Greenwald

Posted May 9, 2012 at 9:30 am — Filed under:

 

 

Courtesy of Courage Center

If you’re a frequent Walker visitor you’ve maybe met John Greenwald. He’s one of our guards and is often poised to greet people as they enter the art center by the Garden Café, or encourage them as they breathlessly but enthusiastically reach the final brick steps that carry one from the 1971 building to the 2005  expansion. When he’s not present in one of the Walker’s public spaces he’s in the galleries to, as he says, “protect the art from overly enthusiastic viewers.” John’s kind and always game for humor.

Something that I learned recently about my colleague is that he’s had a 24-year relationship with Courage Center—participating in the organization’s Transitional Rehabilitation Program and Vocational Services. It was Courage Center that helped link John to Common Sense Building Services, the company that provides the Walker with its great team of guards. Courage Center has also been a great partner to the Walker’s Education and Community Programs department over the years, assessing the work we do and offering suggestions for making it evermore inclusive.

To learn more about John and what lead him to the Walker, take a look at Our Stories: John Greenwald, a recent profile in  Courage Center’s May newsletter. And the next time you’re at the Walker seek out John and chat him up about an artwork you encounter during your visit.

 

Open Field Info Session This Thursday!

Posted May 7, 2012 at 2:45 pm — Filed under:

This Thursday, May 10th programmers Sarah Schultz, Scott Stulen and Lindsay Kaplan host a casual informational session at the Walker for anyone interested in programming an activity on Open Field this summer.  Whether you have already submitted a proposal or are just curious about the project, come down to the Walker to take part.

The evening’s agenda includes discussing tips for creating and marketing a successful program on the field and sharing important guidelines for planning your activity.  The session will take place in the Art Lab at 6pm followed by refreshments in the Open Field grove (weather permitting). This session is free and open to the public, so come on out and see how you can play a role in our summer adventure!

Check out the Open Field website for more information.

Hope to see you Thursday!

Viewfinder: Kids on Vija Celmins

Posted at 10:25 am — Filed under:

by Emma Cohen

At our April Free First Saturday event, we asked kids what they thought about the artworks in the exhibition Lifelike. Here is what Faye, age 10, and Megan, age 11, had to say about one of their favorites:

Vija Celmins, Eggs

Pick one word to describe this work of art: Outstanding

Why did you pick that word? Has different shading and a pop of color.

Tell us if there is something you don’t like and why. It looks like it’s smudged. The yellow is “runny.”

What does it make you think about?  Breakfast at Bakers Square.

Make up a story about this work of art… There was a man and a woman that were in a fight and the man was cooking and on purpose he “popped” [the egg].

 

We’re collecting young people’s thoughts on art all the time. What does your child have to say? Come visit the Walker, pick up an ArtThink worksheet, and let her tell us what she thinks!

 

Viewfinder posts are your opportunity to “show & tell” about the everyday arts happenings, interesting sights and sounds made or as seen by Minnesota artists, because art is where you find it.  Submit your own informal, first-person responses to the art around you to katie(at)mnartists.org, and we may well publish your piece here on the blog. (Guidelines: 300 words or less, not about your own event/work, and please include an image, media, video, or audio file, and one sentence about yourself.)

Viewfinder: Kids on Robert Therrien

Posted May 3, 2012 at 10:25 am — Filed under:

By Emma Cohen

At our April Free First Saturday event, we asked kids what they thought about the artworks in the exhibition Lifelike. Here is what some of them said about one of their favorites:

Robert Therrien, Folding Table and Chairs

Pick one word to describe this work of art:

Huge. Why? It isn’t tiny. –Becca, age 6

Interesting. Why? The artist looked from an interesting perspective, and it made me feel as if I was very small. –Noor, age 10

Giant. Why? I picked giant because the table and the chairs look like a giant could sit on them. –Ahlea, age 7

 

Tell us if there is something you don’t like and why.

I don’t like that we want to sit on it [and aren't allowed to]. Because I think that it would be really fun to sit on it. –Oslbar, age 10

I feel too small. –Niyema, age 7

It reminds me of giants. I do not like giants.—Katherine, age 7

 

Make up a story about this work of art…

One day in a forest far away, two giants had a basket of food and couldn’t find any place to eat. They walked and walked until they found a giant table and 3 chairs. They said that this would be good and sat down to eat. The End. –Oslbar, age 10

Once upon a time there was a table and chairs and then I turned very small and I liked being very small , so I stayed like that. The end.—Jacob, age 6

Once upon a time there was a man named Robert Therrien. Robert Therrien saw a giant crying. He asked him why he was crying and the giant said, “I don’t have any chairs or table.” The man gave him some chairs and a table. –Alhea, age 7

 

We’re collecting young people’s thoughts on art all the time. What does your child have to say? Come visit the Walker, pick up an ArtThink worksheet, and let her tell us what she thinks!

 

Viewfinder posts are your opportunity to “show & tell” about the everyday arts happenings, interesting sights and sounds made or as seen by Minnesota artists, because art is where you find it.  Submit your own informal, first-person responses to the art around you to katie(at)mnartists.org, and we may well publish your piece here on the blog. (Guidelines: 300 words or less, not about your own event/work, and please include an image, media, video, or audio file, and one sentence about yourself.)

The FlatPak Reopens on May 5

Posted April 25, 2012 at 4:23 pm — Filed under:

On Saturday, May 5 the FlatPak House will begin hosting public hours. The space will be available as an orientation center for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Walker Art Center, and Open Field on Saturdays from 10am-4pm and Sundays from 12pm-4pm. Come and chat with a Walker staff member or simply put your feet up, read a book, or take a cat nap (dreaming about art and prefab architecture of course). Public hours will continue through September. You may see the space animated at different moments throughout the summer, as it’s a popular spot for Open Field and Free First Saturday programming.

FlatPak (interior)

A cozy, green couch for lounging in the FlatPak on those hotter days.

 

The FlatPak House is located near the northwest corner of the Cowles Conservatory.

 

Phenology Report: Know Your Grackle Vernacular

Posted April 20, 2012 at 5:00 pm — Filed under:

Common Grackles, still from YouTube video by NovaScotiaNature

There’s such a flurry of spring phenomena that it can be tricky picking a focus. But bird behavior is as good a place to start as anywhere. Morning visitors to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden will witness the heavy air traffic of Common Grackles frequenting the muddy low waters near Spoonbridge and Cherry. Watch the video below and tell me that soggy clump of plant matter doesn’t look perfect for building a nest!

The grande allée’s arbor vitae and linden trees are abuzz with grackles calling and strutting. And if you’re lucky, you might witness a pair of Common Grackles performing a courtship dance!

In conjunction with Open Field, I’ll be posting a series of reports that examine Open Field and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden through the lens of phenology. The lens of what now? Phenology refers to recurring life cycle stages, such as leafing and flowering, emergence of insects, and migration of birds. As an amateur naturalist and the Open Field Phenologist-in-Residence, it’s my privilege to observe, document, and share the sequence of natural events as it unfolds on the Walker campus.

If you’re interested in more local phenological phenomena, visit openphenology.blogspot.com. Or to learn more about the science of phenology, check out the National Phenology Network and the Minnesota Phenology Network.

April Free First Saturday

Posted April 19, 2012 at 12:49 pm — Filed under:

by Emma Cohen

When was the last time you saw an elephant on a surfboard? Or made teeth with your bare hands? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you must have missed April Free First Saturday. Here’s what happened on that zany day of fun.

The Textile Center created a dazzling hanging garden in the Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab. Kids rolled, smushed, and played with wool fibers and soapy water to make leaves, flowers, bugs, and rocks out of felt. The colorful creations were sewn into a garden on a tie-dyed cloth that will be on display at the Textile center this fall.

Making Felt

The Finished Felt Garden

In Gallery 8, families showed off–and created–their toothy grins. Using modeling clay, paper, and markers, kids made replicas of their teeth and recalled memories of front teeth, cuspids, and molars. Children also made big gaping jaws that could open and close!

 

Making Teeth

Downstairs, the sounds of giggling trickled through the closed Cinema doors. Inside, Chris Monroe and Kevin Kling read their new collaborative book, Big Little Brother. We laughed and sang with Kevin, and he told us stories about his real-life brother on whom the book is based. (Like how people thought his brother was angry because he often clenched his fists, but really he was just clutching bits of donuts!)

Then they read Chris’s book Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Seaside Shenanigans. Kevin’s voices were so funny, Chris had to pause her storytelling because she was laughing too hard! Some kids asked why Chico the monkey had a gumball in his tool belt. Chris figured he could chew the gum and use the wad to plug up a hole in a pipe. “Don’t try that at home,” she said. “Only with supervision,” Kevin added mischievously.

And of course, Kevin and Chris chatted with Walker visitors and signed books after the readings.

Kevin Kling

 

Chris Monroe

We encourage you to read these wonderful picture books, and also to come explore the ideas of reality and fiction at our next Free First Saturday on May 5!

Phenology Report: It’s All about Appearances

Posted April 9, 2012 at 9:06 am — Filed under:

Many of us are especially aware of the natural world come spring, when new things show up every day. It’s apt, then, that the word “phenology” comes from the Greek word phaino, meaning to show or appear. Last week, my friend Rachel and I noticed little pink and yellow cones adorning the boughs of the pine trees. I reached out and was taken by surprise by the appearance of pollen!

In conjunction with Open Field, I’ll be posting a series of reports that examine Open Field and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden through the lens of phenology. The lens of what now? Phenology refers to recurring life cycle stages, such as leafing and flowering, emergence of insects, and migration of birds. As an amateur naturalist and the Open Field Phenologist-in-Residence, it’s my privilege to observe, document, and share the sequence of natural events as it unfolds on the Walker campus.

If you’re interested in more local phenological phenomena, visit openphenology.blogspot.com. Or to learn more about the science of phenology, check out the National Phenology Network and the Minnesota Phenology Network.

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