Happy spring (or goodbye to the last gasp of winter) from all of us at Shake Rag Alley! We’re celebrating March by sharing our Youth Program workshops, and greeting artists of all ages as our workshops kick off for the season. We were so happy to say hello at our recent Fun-A-Day Showcase last week, where community members shared the creative projects they worked on during February. Your enthusiasm gave us some great ideas and we’re looking forward to doing Fun-A-Day again next year, as well as offering more opportunities for community showcases, including planning one for young artists this summer (stay tuned!).
Our Youth Program Manager Mack will be back this summer, with all sorts of fun for artists from kindergarten through teens. You can check out everything from Shake Rag Alley classics like mosaics and soap carving to new favorites like our Tinker Lab and youth blacksmithing. We’re also offering nature-inspired classes exploring sun prints, symmetry, handbuilding with air dry clay, and much more! June 22nd-26th, we’ve got our 5-day Craft Camp: Join the Super Scribble Squad where you’ll spend time doing all things superhero-including working on your costumes to walk in the Mineral Point 4th of July parade!
Free Arts Camp: Adventure Seekers is July 20th-24th and includes making maps, flags, survival pouches-perfect for everyone with an adventurous spirit! Shake Rag Alley received generous support for the Youth Program, which enables us to offer programming throughout the summer at affordable prices, and to offer the 5-day Free Arts Camp at no cost. We’d like to thank the Mineral Point Community Chest, the United Fund of Iowa County, and Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation for their support of our Youth Program.
On April 26th 4:00 p.m. at the Sardeson Studio (223 Commerce St., Mineral Point), we’re offering an Alley Stage Reading Series Special Event, featuring a new play by Brian James Polak: The Meeting. In the play, former theater makers convene a meeting in a near-future, fascist America, when all forms of art (and even the utterance of any artrelated words) have been banned. These artists discuss what a person is to do in a world when one’s purpose in life has been eradicated. Featuring local actors and community members, including Nathan Gieseke, Ashley Calderon-McHugh, Kayla Beck, Christina Harrington, Heather Harris, and Judy DeVido, The Meeting will engage us all in important conversations about the role of art and what matters. The Alley Stage Reading Series will announce its regular summer season soon.
Before long, May will be upon us, and with that glorious month of blooms, we’ve got Jewelry Boot Camp (May 1st-3rd) and the Mining Your Stories Writing Retreat (May 15th-17th). During Jewelry Boot Camp, workshops offered include silver metal clay, enameling, torch-fired beads, foldforming, wire crochet, and so much more, along with a Friday Showcase at the Sardeson Studio (223 Commerce St., Mineral Point). Faculty at the Writing Retreat include Tamara Dean, Lydi Conklin, Dasha Kelly, Han Raschka, and Adam al-Sirgany. In addition to workshops, there will be a free reading at Republic of Letters Books (151 High St., Mineral Point) on Saturday May 16th.
We can’t wait to see you on campus, at a workshop, or event. As the gardens green, we’ll be on the lookout for fairies returning in advance of Fairy Fun Day Saturday June 6th. Get your wings ready!
Christina Kubasta is the executive director of Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts at 18 Shake Rag St. and can be reached at ckubasta@shakeragalley.org or (608) 987-3292. For more information about Shake Rag Alley’s workshops, events, lodging, site rentals and more, see www.ShakeRagAlley.org, Facebook and Instagram.