August Free First Saturday features Acrobats, Giant Bubbles, and Chalk Art
Free First Saturday: Stomping Ground
Saturday, August 3
10am–3pm
Local circus artists fly through the air and mesmerize, a medieval baron makes giant bubbles, and shadows come alive in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Local artist Nicole M. Smith presents a day full of magical surprises and art exploration.
Nicole M. Smith is a radical healing artist who works through lectures, performances, and teachings as well as workshop/residency design and partnership. She has recently partnered with the Rondo Community for an intergenerational storytelling project. Smith is a graduate and recent faculty of the Creative Community Leadership Institute and is recognized by Intermedia Arts as a Changemaking Artist.
Free First Saturdays feature free gallery admission on the first Saturday of every month, plus performances, games, art-making, and kids’ films from 10 am to 3 pm. Family friendly food options are available or bring something from home to snack on in the museum’s public spaces.
SCHEDULE
Performance: Aerial Acrobats
11 am, 12 noon, 1 pm
It’s a first ever for Free First Saturday: be mesmerized by a circus act in the Cowles Pavilion. Watch acrobats Nicolas Collard and Elena Garner (a.k.a. the Tortellini Cousins) fly through air on silk fabrics in this picnic-themed performance!
Playtime: Baron of the Bubble
11 am–1 pm
Join us for a magical playtime with Minneapolis’ very own Baron of the Bubble, Sir Sydney Soapington! You will be wowed by the giant bubbles that he can make–jump through them, learn his tricks, and blow your own giant bubbles.
Art-Making Activity: Shadow Tracing
10 am–3 pm
Kids and families are taking over the Garden with chalk! Search the for all seven parts of the Garden’s newest installation, Ta-coumba Aiken and Seitu Jones’s Shadows at the Crossroads. Be inspired by these unique sculptures, then use chalk to trace and design your own from the shadows that fall across the sidewalks. Led by teaching artist Katrina Knutson.
Katrina Knutson designs and teaches workshops and classes to youth across the Twin Cities at galleries, art centers, libraries, and schools. She is an active community muralist and studio artist. The connection between justice, creating, building, teaching, learning, and sharing is central Knutson’s work.
Playing with chalk. Photo by Max Haynes, courtesy Walker Art Center.
Art-Making Activity: Bubble Painting
10 am–3 pm
You know how to blow bubbles—did you know that you can also paint with them?! Bubble paintings are fun, messy, and the perfect outdoor summer activity. Come prepared to roll up your sleeves and make your own bubble paintings with teaching artist Roman Feldhahn.
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Tour
Discover a new favorite artwork in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden on a participatory tour for kids with a Walker-trained educator. Meet at the Main Entrance to the Walker Art Center.
English, 12 noon
Spanish, 1 pm
Art making on Sensory Friendly Sunday. Photo by Galen Fletcher, courtesy Walker Art Center.
Sensory Friendly Sunday
Sunday August 11, 8–11 am, Free
Join us at Sensory Friendly Sunday in July and August for a unique participatory sensory workshop presented by School of Fish.
School of Fish invites you and your loved ones to play along in an interactive ambient experience. Small groups can learn together the ways in which sound acts in an improvised context and enjoy the free coalescence of form, much like the natural magic of fish swimming together and apart in water.
School of Fish is the collaborative work of composer and sound artist Michael Legan (Saint, Paul, MN) and electrical engineer and artist Jaak Jensen (Minneapolis, MN).
Sensory Friendly Sunday is a monthly event designed for kids, teens, and adults with sensory processing differences, autism spectrum disorder, or developmental disabilities. The galleries will be closed to the general public, allowing visitors to enjoy the museum in a calm environment with accommodations such as quiet spaces, noise-canceling headphones, and sunglasses available.
While walk-ins are welcome, we encourage you to reserve your space ahead of time. Register online.
Out and About: Third Saturdays
Saturday August 17, 4pm, Free
Cedar Riverside Opportunity Center
505 15th Avenue, Minneapolis
The Walker is breaking out of the museum to host family friendly art-making workshops at community organizations around the Twin Cities! On the third Saturday of each month this summer, Hennepin County Library will host us at the Cedar Riverside Opportunity Center. Swing by with your family to experience workshops and activities in a new setting.