SPEED EXHIBITION

This summer the UMFA is showcasing Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile, an exhibition featuring 19 of the world’s finest and fastest racecars from the past century. Kids and parents can have a blast exploring Speed with a family gallery guide brochure designed just for them. The fancy racecars on display can’t be touched, so the UMFA built an interactive Speed gallery for families complete with a car texture and touch station, an auto-inspired art activity, and a Bonneville book nook for readers of all ages.

(c) Peter Harholdt

Speed is a special ticketed exhibition, and tickets can be purchased at SmithsTix.com. Admission is $18 for adults, $13 for youth (14-17), $13 for seniors (65+), $3 for children (3-13), and free for infants (0-2). No strollers in the galleries, please.

FAMILY FILM: THE RACE

July 28 | 3 pm
| FREE

Speed on the big screen! The UMFA and Utah Film Center invite families with children ages 8 and up to join us for a free screening of The Race, a 2009 unrated film. With no money, no help from her father (Colm Meaney) and only her fiery determination to build a go-kart in time to compete in a championship race, eleven-year-old Mary braves torment from her peers to dream beyond her poor community in Northern Ireland. Rowan O’Neill writes and André F. Nebe directs this heartwarming family drama that co-stars Susan Lynch as Mary’s disapproving mother, Tom Collins and Diarmuid Corr. Admission to Speed is not included in this program.

Artists and jugglers and circus balloons, oh my! Join in the fun as the UMFA celebrates the new Georges Rouault: Circus of the Shooting Star exhibition with a FREE circus-themed art event just for families. Enjoy a treasure hunt, face-painting, art activities and more. The event will take place on Saturday, February 18 from 1-4 pm, and will be supported in part by the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts and Parks fund.

Visit www.umfa.utah.edu/artfulafternoon for more information.

Click HERE for more information!

It’s a full month of art and science activities for families at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA)! Every Saturday in March from 1-4 pm, the UMFA will present Art & Science Artful Afternoons in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building at the University of Utah. Free and open to the public, Art & Science Artful Afternoons are sponsored by Wells Fargo and the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts, and Parks fund. No prior registration necessary.

Art & Science Artful Afternoons will explore air, fire, water, and earth through art-making activities and scientific experiments for kids and their families, focusing on a different theme each week. The UMFA is proud to be collaborating with many community and University of Utah partners to present this series of family festivals.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Saturday, March 5 from 1-4 pm: Air
The sky is the limit as the UMFA teams up with the Clark Planetarium and local meteorologist Ralph Patterson to explore air through art and science. Families will design a kite, learn about weather, and count their lucky stars.

Saturday, March 12 from 1-4 pm: Fire
Families will spark their creativity as the UMFA, The Leonardo, and the Salt Lake City Fire Department explore fire through art and science. On this Saturday, attendees will embark on a fiery treasure hunt, make their very own charcoal drawing, and meet their local firefighters.

Saturday, March 19 from 1-4 pm: Water
The UMFA will make a splash teaming up with the Great Salt Lake Institute and University of Utah Civil and Engineering Department to explore water through art and science. Families will make artistic waterwheels, paint watercolor cloudscapes, and investigate water through an aquatic treasure hunt.

Saturday, March 26 from 1-4 pm: Earth
Families will have a groundbreaking, earth-shaking good time learning about earth through art and science with the UMFA, the Utah Museum of Natural History, and the Utah Geological Survey. Kids and parents will create their own clay sculptures, journey through the museum on an earthly treasure hunt, and transform themselves into artistic dinosaur families!

More information on Art & Science Artful Afternoons available at www.umfa.utah.edu/art&science.

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The Utah Museum of Fine Arts is located on the University of Utah campus in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building at 410 Campus Center Drive. The UMFA’s mission is to engage visitors in discovering meaningful connections with the artistic expressions of the world’s cultures. General admission is $7 adults, $5 youth and seniors, FREE for U of U students/staff/faculty, UMFA members, higher education students in Utah, and children under six years old. Free admission offered the first Wednesday and third Saturday of each month thanks to the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts, and Parks fund. Museum hours are Tuesday – Friday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Wednesdays 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Weekends, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.; closed Mondays and holidays.  For more information call (801) 581-7332 or visit www.umfa.utah.edu.

The UMFA is hosting a special Holiday Trunk Sale on Wednesday, December 1 from 4-8 pm.This fun-filled day will feature one-of-a-kind gifts by some of SLC’s finest consignment artists, as well as free snacks, music, gift-wrapping, and admission to the galleries.

At the UMFA’s 2nd Annual Holiday Trunk Sale, you will be able to peruse an abundance of unique, hand-made items inspired by art and culture from around the world, including jewelry, pottery, and wearable works of art. You’ll also get to meet the artists, learn about their creation process, and discover the unique motivation behind their works.

Make the most of your holiday shopping by becoming a UMFA member! As a member of the UMFA, you will receive a 10% discount on all Trunk Sale and consignment items in The Museum Store on December 1, 2010.

We hope to see you on December 1! Happy holidays, and happy shopping!

Click HERE for more information.

By Tracey Matthews, UMFA Teacher Resource Coordinator

When I was growing up, my family had fun themes every season like “Summer of Science Experiements,” “A Month of Music,” or “The Great Outdoors.” We would all get together and do fun activities based on the same theme. Not only did we create great memories, but we learned a lot along the way.

Now it’s that time of year when things get spooky, curious, and a little crazy. So why not GO BATTY this Halloween and let a fun theme inspire your family?

Taking your family on a Bat Hunt

1.     To inspire your little ones, begin by checking out some books from the library and see if, as a family, you can answer the following questions:

a.     What is a bat?

b.     What do bats eat?

c.     How do bats raise their babies?

d.     Should we be scared of bats?

e.     How do bats help the rainforest?

f.      How do bats help people?

Once your kids are familiar with bats, you are ready to begin your “Bat Hunt”!

2.     Take a trip to Utah’s Hogle Zoo and visit over 200 short-tailed bats in the Discoveryland: Woodland Edge area. If you’re lucky and you reserve a spot in advance, your family can go to an Up-close Animal Encounter and participate in a bat-feeding. Then you can visit free flying straw-colored fruit bats in the Zoo’s Tropical Garden. If you want to continue the learning at home, you could build a bat box for your backyard.

3.     After seeing real-life bats, learn more about where bats live by taking a tour of a cave. Timpanogos Cave is a great place to visit in the fall and is a short drive from Salt Lake City.

4.     Now that your kids are bat experts, your family can learn about the significance of bats in different cultures. Spend an afternoon at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts exploring art from around the world. Go to the front desk and checkout the Bats Self-Guide (free with paid admission) to learn more about the meaning of bats through games and activities. Search the Museum and discover bats on Chinese porcelain, Mayan ceramics, and wooden shields from New Guinea.

Now that you have bats in the belfry, let your kids get creative and come up with a fun activity of your own inspired by everything they have learned. Try writing a short play about bats, make a bat puppet, or prepare an after-school treat that fruit bats like to eat. Whatever the case, don’t be afraid to GO BATTY!

Happy Halloween! The UMFA invites families to celebrate the holiday with a free art-making activity on Saturday, October 16 from 2-4 pm.

On this special Third Saturday event, families will explore the galleries and get spooky inspiration from masks, monsters, and more, including an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus! Then we will go back to the classroom and make artistic masks of all shapes, sizes, and colors to take home.

Thanks to the Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts, and Parks fund, free general admission to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts is offered on the third Saturday of every month.

For more information, please click HERE.

See you there!

Have you and your kids seen the big man on campus (the University of Utah campus, of course) lately?

Ethnic Man, a favorite sculpture in the UMFA’s collection, stands 12 feet tall and keeps an eye on the happenings at the Museum from the balcony overlooking the Great Hall. This massive sculpture was created by Viola Frey (1933 – 2004), a ceramic artist who looked beyond the traditional small scale of the artform. Frey’s sculptures, which can be found at museums throughout the U.S., are monumental in height and often weigh thousands of pounds.

Frey’s signature (her handprint) can be found on Ethnic Man’s foot. Be sure to look for it the next time you visit. Ethnic Man stands ever alert, and waiting for your visit.

Credit line: Viola Frey, American, Ethnic Man, 1991, glazed porcelain, 122″x45″x24″, purchased with funds from the Phyllis Cannon Wattis Endowment for the Acquisition of Twentieth Century Art, Museum #2000.11.1A-O.