After a year of going partially virtual due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Toledo Museum of Art’s annual winter celebration The Great Art Escape is fully back to in-person events (though masks are required).
Come enjoy a series of events for all ages at the museum, featuring free admission (some exhibits and classes require an extra fee).
Events for the Great Art Escape include:
Glassblowing Demos: Fables and Fairy Tales
Dec. 30, 31 and Jan. 2: 2 p.m.
Jan. 1: noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m.
Join the Museum’s team of glass artists as they create whimsical pieces inspired by your favorite childhood stories.
Glass Art Workshop: Snowmen (Glass Pavilion)
Jan. 1: noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m.
Learn to create a glass snowman under the guidance of a Toledo Museum of Art instructor in this a one-hour workshop.
Flashlight Tour: The Age of Armor
Dec. 30: 6 p.m.
Explore the exhibition The Age of Armor with a flashlight tour led by a TMA docent. Registration is required in advance. The cost includes tickets to the exhibition, a complimentary flashlight, and free parking. All ages.
Drawing In the Galleries
Jan. 2: 1-4 p.m.
Come draw in the Cloister at TMA with an instructor. It’s free and all drawing supplies are provided. No experience necessary. All ages.
Family Art Club
Dec. 30, 31 and Jan. 1: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Join the Museum for free family-friendly activities in the Family Center, which is designed for young children and their grown-ups to explore art together. No experience necessary. All ages.
Dragon Scavenger Hunt (self-guided)
How many dragons can you find throughout the museum’s collection? If you look closely, you may notice dragons made from bronze, gold, or glass. Stop by the Information Desk in Herrick Lobby to pick up your copy of the scavenger hunt.
Register online at tickets.toledomuseum.org or by phone by calling 419-255-8000 ext. 7448 during museum hours.
■ For thousands of years, Africa’s Nile River has sustained the population of Egypt and other countries. With her Shield of the Nile exhibit at Detroit Institute of Arts, painter Shirley Woodson showcases the mythic place the Nile holds in Black culture.
Running through June 12, Shield of the Nile is a series of 11 paintings depicting Black bathers in the Nile River.
According to the written description of Shield of the Nile, “the artist emphasizes the Nile as a metaphor for Africa by combining figuration and expressionism to symbolize the metamorphic, historical, spiritual, and cultural significance of this ancient body of water. Painting in vibrant hues, humans appear alongside fragments or detailed renderings of shields, horses, fish, shells, stars, chariot wheels, pyramids, birds – the distinctive visual vocabulary for this theme.”
Woodson recently was named the 2021 Kresge Eminent Artist and she has long served as President of the Michigan Chapter of the National Conference of Artists, which she co-founded in 1974.
A native of Pulaski, Tenn., Woodson studied art at Wayne State University where she received her BFA in 1958 and her MA in 1965. She furthered her graduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1960 and pursued independent study in Rome, Paris, and Stockholm in 1962.
Among the museums that include her art in their collections are the Detroit Institute of Arts and Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit; Mott-Warsh Collection of Contemporary Art in Flint; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City; Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists, Boston; Hampton University Museum of Art, Hampton, Va.; and the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
Detroit Institute of Art is located at 5200 Woodward Ave. For more information, visit dia.org.
■ Wipe your feet! Come down to Board and Brush on Jan. 6 and create your own doormat. Each workshop is $45 and the shop provides all the materials. Board and Brush is located at 6725 W. Central Ave., Suite N. For more information, visit boardandbrush.com/sylvania/.
First Published December 30, 2021, 1:30 p.m.
