27th Annual Art & Artists Celebration

Help Franconia Sculpture Park celebrate our 27th anniversary! Join us for drinks and woodfire pizzas, art workshops, an artist market, performances, a gallery opening, a special concert by Dua Saleh, a bonfire and more!

Brick Oven Bus food truck will be on site selling wood-fire pizzas, and a bar ran by Franconia staff and volunteers will be selling beer from Lake Monster Brewing!

This entire event is free with a $5 parking fee per vehicle, but donations are encouraged! Looking to join the fun as a volunteer? Sign up here!

2pm-5pm Art Workshops

This year we are excited to offer a variety of workshops for the Art & Artists Celebration! 

2pm-4:30pm: Kite Making Workshop with Dave “The Kite Man” Herzig
Join Franconia Sculpture Park and Dave Herzig in the Driscoll Education Center for a drop-in Kite Making Workshop! Make your own unique kite design guaranteed to fly high in the park. This workshop costs $15. Sign up at the Visitor Services Desk. PLUS, join The Great Ascent kite flying at 5pm at a special spot on the lawn! (to be announced).

2pm-5pm: Franconia FREE Art Workshop 
Franconia staff and volunteers will be hosting a free workshop for all ages. 

2pm-5pm: WOW Mobile Metal Lab Workshop
Sara Hanson from the WOW Mobile Metal Lab will be doing brief metal workshops with visitors for a small fee. More details to come!

2pm-6pm Artist Market

Stop by our artist market on the lawn behind the Franconia Commons building from 2-6PM. Vendors include: Sarah Bel Kloetzke, Fork Art/Moonlight Creationz, Thunderstorm Floral, Cyrus Carlson, Cactus Boxes, Alexis Politz, Dog Eye Press, Breezy Bee, Orion Caliph, Yarborough Prints, Mrs E’s Teacher Treats, and Mikayla Mossberg. Coffee from Buna Bike Coffee Cart will also be available for purchase!

The following mission-aligned organizations will be represented at the market as well: Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center and Wild Rivers Conservancy

2pm-3pm Alumni and Staff Celebration and Appreciation

 Past and current Franconia staff and Artists-in-Residence are invited to meet at the outdoor tables of the Residency House to mingle over drinks. Join us to collect a unique Franconia gift. Franconia Sculpture Park appreciates your artistic contributions to the park!

3pm Inventadas Opening in the Mardag Gallery with the Emerging Curators Institute

Join us in the Mardag Gallery in the Franconia Commons building to celebrate the opening of Inventadas curated by Emerging Curators Institute fellow Alondra Garza.

Inventadas is a multimedia gallery exhibition by Minnesota-based women, trans, and non-binary Latinx interdisciplinary artists who are addressing issues tied to gender and resistance. 

The artists include:

Tina Tavera (she/her), Mexican-Irish American 
Candida Gonzalez (they/them), Mixed Puerto Rican
Grover Hogan (they/them), Black-Mexican American
Ivonne Yañez (she/her), Mexican 
Keila Anali Saucedo (they/them), Mexican American

4:30pm and 5:30pm Performances by ARENA DANCES

Join us at “We Move Still” by Jordan Rosenow and April Martin (aka the big blue curtains) for a special performance by ARENA DANCES. They will be performing an excerpt from “Erased Steps.” The run time of this performance is approximately 15 minutes.

“Erased Steps” is an abstract dance theater work featuring an original score by local composer, Zack Baltich. The excerpt ARENA DANCES will be sharing exposes themes of the past and the present; what things seem like on the surface versus what they might actually be. Photo courtesy of Armour Photography.

5pm The Great Ascent of Kites!

Bring your own kite or the kite from our Kite Workshop for a magical kite hi-flying session in the park! Site TBD.

6pm-7pm: Dua Saleh in Franconia’s Amphitheatre*

Franconia Sculpture Park is extremely excited to host a special performance by DUA SALEH!

Musician, spoken-word poet, activist, actor and Minneapolis native Dua Saleh began recording music only four years ago, garnering immediate acclaim with the release of 2019’s Nūr — meaning “the light” in Arabic. Saleh (who identifies as gender non-binary and goes by they/them pronouns) followed the next year with Rosetta: a genre-bending EP whose title pays homage to pioneering rock guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe, blending warm vocals with raw hip-hop passages and haunting, otherworldly electronics.

Saleh, who came to the United States from Sudan as a child, wrote poetry from an early age. While attending Augsburg University, they began to experiment with music, eventually releasing a demo in 2017. Shortly after, they began to work with local producer Psymun and began performing their music live, culminating in their 2019 EP release. Their music has been characterized as rap, pop, and R&B, although they have also been described as defying genres. In addition to writing and recording music, Saleh has also acted in theater in Minneapolis and is known for their recurring role as Cal Bowman in the Netflix series Sex Education.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

7pm-8pm Bonfire at the Back Porch of the Franconia Commons

Hang out after Dua’s performance for a bonfire at the back patio of the Franconia Commons building!