It was a chilly winter morning when my coworker, Ashley, and I were dreaming of the warm summer ahead and the fun activities to do in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. We were both excited by the idea of programming a day inspired by the sculpture Prometheus Strangling the Vulture II, 1944/1953 by Jacques Lipchitz and other mythic works in the garden.
Lipchitz liked to explore themes from mythology. According to legend the Titan Prometheus stole fire from the god Zeus and gave it to the humans. Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him to a rock where a vulture would eat his liver every day, only to have it grow back every night. Eventually Hercules killed the bird. It’s a great bedtime story.
Ashley turned to me and said “Prometheus was kind of like a superhero. He fought for the humans and never dies.” Perfect! We had theme for day: Super Sculptures!
Fast forward to September. Families had a great time making their own action figures using masking tape and newspaper with artist Mary Rivard. Heroes are often known for being incredibly strong and the artist gave Prometheus some serious muscles, so we invited bodybuilders to come and flex their stuff.
But what is a superhero without a cool super suit! We gave kids tape, cardboard, some paper, makers, string, and let them go wild. Photographer Sam Hoolihan made some fantastic backdrops and spent the day snapping shots of people in their cool new costumes. It was awesome.
Just look at the results.