Friday, July 26, 2013

Workhouse Arts Center

My kids have never been so captivated in an art museum before and I know you want to check this place out.
The Workhouse Arts Center birthed five years ago on the site of an old overflow prison constructed by the inmates.  They built the bricks and laid them.  The Workhouse prison closed 11 years ago and in the space now serves as a venue for fostering and presenting art.  All types of art: music, clay, glass, oil, sculpture, performance, movement, culinary, so much!   They feature studio space for resident artists, free yoga on the quad on Saturdays, a weekly Smart Market farmer's market, museums about the prison as well as new exhibits, classes throughout the year, concerts, and an organic -locally sourced- cafe that's opening soon.  The place is awesome!


Each section houses a face with exhibited art and then studio space in the back.  Artists and volunteers greet you at each section.  Everyone was so friendly and took the time to answer questions about the pieces.


The clay studio.  We must have stared mesmerized at this pottery class for a good 15 minutes.  The kids asked to add clay throwing classes to their Christmas list.


They do not want you to take pictures of the artwork, but they did not mind me snapping a few of the kids' interest in the art.  The exhibit that brought us to the gallery ended up being a huge hit with Kaio and Nala.  Urban Decay 4 features populist urban art with influences from comic books, street graffiti, punk music and tattoos.


We cycled through the entire exhibit three times to check everything out.  The vinyl dolls especially delighted the kids.  Vinyl toys are a fast growing new part of the low-brow art movement.




Afterwords we grabbed some yum from the Smart Market farmer's market.  Can't wait to go back as there is so much to explore that we didn't see yet.  Lots for sale that would make perfect gifts. The place is great for kids of all ages, but you might want to avoid the clay and glass studios if your kids are very tactile.  There's lots of expensive breakables.


3 comments:

  1. Sounds awesome! I'm gonna take lil Z there when we come visit you guys. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Next spring hopefully! Still aways away but i am really hoping to make it happen. I am overdue for a trip east. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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