In October, public tours at the Walker Art Center include a special program in honor of the sixth annual Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month, an event organized by the New York–based nonprofit organization Art Education for the Blind (AEB). Special touch tours will be offered on Friday and Saturday, October 3 and 25, at 2 pm, for people who are blind or have low vision, providing opportunities to experience artworks in the collection in a tactile way. A specially trained tour guide presents a well-balanced mixture of art-historical information and visual descriptions of the works being explored.
Offered every Thursday–Sunday at 2 pm, tours are available for the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future (through January 4), the first major retrospective of one of the most prolific, unorthodox, and controversial architects of the 20th century; Journeys to Nowhere: Selections from the Collection (through November 23), featuring a diverse group of works from the Walker’s collection which reflect on the paradox of humanity’s simultaneous destruction of nature and yearning for utopia; of ongoing collection exhibitions; and the Walker building. Sound Bites gallery talks, held on select Thursday evenings at 6:30 and 7 pm, illuminate an artist or work of art from the Walker’s world-class collection or one of its special exhibitions.
Gallery admission is $10 adults; $8 seniors (65+), $6 students/teens (with ID) and free to Walker members and children 12 and under. Admission is free with a ticket to a same-day Walker event, $4 with a ticket stub up to six days after an event. Gallery admission is free to all every Thursday evening from 5–9 pm and on the first Saturday of each month.
October Public Tours
Gallery and Architecture Tours
Thursday–Sunday, 2 pm
Free with gallery admission. Garden tours are always free.
Check the calendar listing, visit the lobby desk, or call the box office for details and tour topics. To schedule a private group tour, visit learn.walkerart.org or call 612.375.7609.
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future Gallery Tours
Thursday, October 16, 2 pm
Saturday, October 18, 2 pm
Sunday, October 26, 2 pm
Journeys to Nowhere Gallery Tours
Thursday, October 2, 2 pm
Friday, October 10, 2 pm
Sunday, October 19, 2 pm
Thursday, October 30, 2 pm
Walker Collection Tours
Sunday, October 5, 2 pm
Saturday, October 11, 2 pm
Friday, October 17, 2 pm
Thursday, October 23, 2 pm
Architecture Tours
Thursday, October 9, 2 pm
Sunday, October 12, 2 pm
Friday, October 24, 2 pm
Friday, October 31, 2 pm
Touch Tours
Friday and Saturday, October 3 and 25, 2 pm
Free with gallery admission
Touch tours are open to the public and can accommodate up to 12 people on a first-come, first-served basis. Gloves will be provided.
October marks the sixth annual Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month, an event organized by the New York–based nonprofit organization Art Education for the Blind (AEB), which was founded in 1987. AEB strives to ensure that art and culture are available to people of all ages through research, training of staff and volunteers at cultural institutions, curriculum and resource development, and fostering cross-institutional communication through a variety of collaborative opportunities. Art
Beyond Sight Awareness Month is one such opportunity.
The monthlong event aims to raise public awareness about the benefits of accessible art by encouraging institutions around the world to offer inclusive programming. In celebration of this mission, the Walker offers public touch tours for people who are blind or have low vision, providing opportunities to experience artworks in the collection in a tactile way. A specially trained tour guide presents a well-balanced mixture of art-historical information and visual descriptions of the works being explored.
Adult learning opportunities are made possible by Richard and Claudia Swager.
Sound Bites
October 2: Yayoi Kusama
October 16: Eero Saarinen
October 30: Mary Esch
Free
Select Thursdays at 6:30 and 7 pm
Contemporary art and artists are the focus of these 15-minute gallery conversations led by Walker curators and tour guides. Each offers an illuminating discussion, and participants leave feeling connected to new and exciting ideas. Carry this fresh, energized perspective with you to one of the Target Free Thursday Nights programs.