Though artists are often celebrated as individuals, many create art with communities of friends and collaborators. Explore how friendship supports creativity at this free family day celebrating the exhibition Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody. Learn more about the friendships that informed Keith Haring’s work, and make your own art surrounded by friends old and new!
Free First Saturday features free gallery admission on the first Saturday of every month. Gallery admission tickets are available in advance online and on-site on the event day from the Main Lobby desk. Free admission 10 am–5 pm; activities 10 am–3 pm.
To help us promote future events and programs, this event will be documented with photography. By attending, you consent to appear in this documentation and its future use by the museum.
Activity Information
Drag Story Hour Presents Adventurama!, 11 am
Doña Pepa, Old Man Zimmer, and DJ Sid Sity meet up to read a book, but the book reads them! Join the trio of best friends on a romp into three pop-up worlds in an original play that showcases songs, celebration, and community.
DJ Jam E.Z. Sets, 12 noon–1 pm and 1:30–2:30 pm
Where’s the best place to make a new friend? Maybe on the dance floor? Show off your moves or chill out to Haring-inspired 80s hits selected and spun on vinyl by DJ Jam E.Z.
Art-Making Activity: Big Pictures, 10 am–3 pm
Help us cover our tables and windows with drawings inspired by friendship! Check out illustrations left by others, then add your own drawing to a collaborative mural hosted by teaching artist Casey Deming.
Art-Making Activity: Fridge Friends, 10 am–3 pm
Create a set of collaged magnets inspired by Keith Haring’s iconic characters and shapes. Keep a magnet for your own fridge and share the rest with friends!
Tour for Families, 11:30 am
Tour for General Audiences, 1 pm
Join a Walker educator for a family friendly guided tour of artworks on view in the galleries at 11:30 am (40 min.), or take a guided tour for general audiences at 1 pm (60 min.). Tours explore a selection of artworks across current exhibitions and include interactive discussion. Meet at the Main Lobby desk five minutes before the tour starts.
Short Film: Town Hall Square, 10 am–3 pm
Stop by the Bentson Mediatheque to watch a short film about a New York City subway worker who makes an unexpected connection with a music-loving, escaped tiger. The nine-minute film will loop between 10 am and 3 pm.
Visit the Walker Art Center Library, 10 am–3 pm
The Walker’s library is open! Explore the stacks and find inspiration in the library’s collection of artful books. The library entrance is through the Art Lab.
Accessibility, Sensory, and Content Notes
The short film will be captioned in English.
The 11 am performance Adventurama! by Drag Story Hour will have ASL interpretation.
Content guidance: The exhibition Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody includes subjects related to politics, sexuality, and the body. Several works in the exhibition contain mature content and nudity. One room in Gallery 1 includes sexually explicit imagery. Visitors do not need to walk through this room to access the rest of the exhibition. Activities planned for this event focus on kid-friendly artworks.
Sensory note: Videos on view may include flickering effects or sounds that change in volume, pitch, and tone. One room glows with colorful light.
For information about accessibility or to request additional accommodations for this program, call 612-375-7564 or email access@walkerart.org.
For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page.
Bios
Casey Deming is an artist and organizer whose work engages nature and public infrastructure through platforms for community engagement, research, and education. He has more than 15 years experience in customer and patron services, volunteer work, and arts programming across multiple disciplines. Deming is devoted to stewarding safe, welcoming environments for learning that celebrate the diverse Twin Cities community where he lives and works.
Drag Story Hour with Doña Pepa, Sid Sity, and Old Man Zimmer has shared stories and songs with kids and caretakers for six sweet years. This trio of best friends came together from the Bay Area, Venezuela, and the Midwestern prairie to find each other in Minneapolis. The group combines unique talents and, when they are unable to find books to bring to audiences on the library shelves, they make their own. They explore themes of resilience, kindness, love for the earth, migration, diversity, and being yourself. They create with dance, puppetry, theatre, improvisation, and music to send a message that all children are cherished exactly as they are.
Jamez L. Smith (DJ Jam E.Z.) is a San Francisco performer based in Minneapolis. He is a poet who has been spinning vinyl records for decades. Smith’s selections can be heard on KRSM 98.9 FM in South Minneapolis, where he hosts two weekly record shows (7–9 pm): the ’80s inspired “Same As It Ever Was” on Mondays; and “Groovement,” a soulfully eclectic journey, on Wednesdays.
