WAUSAU, WISCONSIN: From February 2-7, Juan Flores serves as an artist-in-residence at the Woodson Art Museum in conjunction with Las Artes de Mexico. To paraphrase Ed Sullivan, “It’s going to be a really big week!”
More than five hundred schoolchildren will tour the exhibition and work with Flores to each make a piece of traditional Mexican folk art. A different art form on each of the four school days – papel picado (cut papers), Los baleros (wooden toys), masks, and clay figurines – guarantees a varied and prodigious number of artworks. The more than five hundred works created will comprise Mexican Folk Arts: A Student Exhibition, on view through April 11.
In addition to these interactions, Flores will help 5-7 year olds on Tuesday, February 2, and 8-12 year olds on Thursday, February 4, from 4:30-6 p.m., to make Fantastic Faces. The younger children will use paper, the older plaster to create fanciful, out-of-this-world masks. Register at 845-7010.
On Friday, February 5, 6-8 p.m., the Museum hosts “Las Artes de Mexico After Dark,” a community family night. In addition to seeing all the student artworks and Las Artes de Mexico, visitors can meet Juan Flores, make their own folk artworks, and enjoy refreshments.
Teens and adults will sample multiple Mexican folk art projects with Flores on Saturday, February 6, from 9 a.m.-noon. Register at 845-7010.
During the Art Park Open Studio that afternoon from 1-3 p.m., Flores and volunteer Soulou Her help youngsters create simple Mexican-inspired art projects. On the following afternoon, Sunday, February 7, from 1-4 p.m., Flores demonstrates papel picado techniques while visitors ask questions and try this uniquely Mexican form of paper cutting.
All programs during Flores’ residency are free thanks to a National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Fast Track Grant and a Community Arts Grant from the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin.
Flores, a native of Veracruz, Mexico, who is now based in Milwaukee, trained at Mexico City’s Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. In addition to traditional Mexican folk arts, he is skilled in working with oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, pencil, and ink – and, since coming to Wisconsin – ice! He has worked extensively with youth and community-based projects, including large-scale murals, in Milwaukee, Madison, Whitewater, and Wisconsin Dells, and is a sought-after presenter on the Wisconsin Arts Board’s “Wisconsin Folks” artist roster.
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
Woodson Art Museum Franklin and 12th Streets, Wausau, Wisconsin (700 N. 12th Street)
Phone: 715-845-7010
Fax: 715-845-7103
E-mail: museum@lywam.org
Hours: Tuesday – Friday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Saturday – Sunday Noon – 5:00 pm
Admission: Always Free Admission
www.lywam.org
