An opportunity to learn and create at the University of Wyoming Art Museum for Laramie kids, their families and individuals of all ages is coming up this Saturday, Feb. 3.
The Family Saturday Workshop, which is usually offered the first Saturday of each month, is happening from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and is free of charge. The recurring event attendance averages about fifty people.
“Family Saturday Workshop is a way for us to provide a free program for the community of Laramie and for them to come in and explore our exhibitions on view, and also artistic process and materials,” Education Curator, Katie Christensen said. “We provide materials and guided instruction if people are interested, or it’s kind of an open studio space if they just want to come in and explore on their own.”
The event incorporates currently featured exhibits as a guiding theme and for inspiration. This Saturday’s model, currently on display in one of the museum’s main galleries for the semester, is “This Is Indian Country,” by artist David Bradley.
“It’s an exhibition that’s really worth many trips to come and see,” Christiansen said. “It’s rich and layered in visual imagery, but also its meaning.”
Bradley’s vibrantly colorful and engrossing work explores the culture and experiences of Native Americans and often satirizes related stereotypes and perceptions.
“It’s so full of feeling and political controversy,” Artist Teacher Jessica Beilharz said. “For Family Saturday we’re going to focus more on the aspect of community that his work represents, and identity.”
The workshop is one of several programs that the UW Art Museum offers for the education and enjoyment of Laramie children and their families, with great value for the instructors as well. Beilharz sought a place as an instructor as soon as she saw kids at work in the Afterschool Enrichment Program, which coincided with the Juried Student Art Exhibit that included her own artwork.
“I was in the museum when they had a group in there, and I was like ‘how do I become a part of this?’” Beilharz said. “They didn’t have any job openings for me so I volunteered.”
Beilharz was a quick pick for the museum once a position opened six months later. She has enjoyed working with children since her days of living in Texas, keeping watch over refugee children as a church volunteer while their parents took classes in English and computer skills.
“A lot of their children didn’t speak English so a lot of what we did was draw,” Beilharz said. “For me that was huge because you could still communicate with the children—you could figure out, ‘oh, is that your family?’ There was a sun up here, and a group of people, and a tall one and a small one. It was a way to cross the language barrier.”
That experience fueled a love of art, and of spreading that love, which is shared by other teachers at the museum.
“We express everything we think and know by working to create something beautiful and exciting that tells others a story, or conveys a deep emotion in ways that cannot be done through speech,” Artist Teacher Shaylan Neville said. “Working with parents and children alike to respond to the beautiful artwork in the galleries and to create their own amazing pieces is intensely rewarding.”
Neville, currently a student teacher for his dual majors of art and elementary education, came down a rather different path, and plans to integrate art with math and science in his own classroom.
“I found my way into art, oddly enough, because of my construction background,” Neville said. “The careful, artful masonry work of my father, uncle and grandfather still inspires my own ceramic artwork today.”
In addition to Family Saturday Workshops and its Afterschool Enrichment Program, the UW Art Museum offers other special events for families and individuals of all ages, at no cost to participants. General admission each day is also free of charge.
