Bubbler Room Residency
Bubbler Room Residency
Grace Olson
Family Reunion
February - May 2024
Family Reunion is a space for reimagination and celebration of family in all the forms it can take. In this room, you will be invited to take part in creative projects that explore the ways we all find, make, experience, and practice family. My intention as a facilitator is to shed light on the unconventional and to encourage change toward more intentionality and interdependence.
The residency will also seek to carry on and recontextualize the work of Maria Schrimer-Devitt, the artist behind Wishing Well/Well-Wishes.
The wishing, making, tinkering, and pondering we do together will explore questions such as:
Who is in your lineage?
What stories/skills/heirlooms/artifacts/ways of being/ways of thinking do you wish to bring forward?
Where do you find a sense of home?
When does one “start a family”, and what does that mean?
How can we move towards building more loving and resilient family structures?
These projects will be suited for all ages. Grown-ups are encouraged to bring the children they care for and work collaboratively with them. Many of Grace’s projects will be anchored in collage and multi-media 3-D making.
Download the Family Reunion book list here.
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Grace will be present and leading various hands-on projects on Wednesdays from 6-8pm between February and May.
The Bubbler Room is open to the public whenever the Central Library is open. It is closed to the public only temporarily for any scheduled workshops and/or community partner site visits.
Open Studio hours with the artist-in-residence means they will be present and offering projects to participate in.
No open studio: 4/3/24 -
Grace Olson is an experimental, multi-media artist, writer, music maker, and childcare worker from Madison. Grace’s practice seeks to cultivate connections with and between others through playful and accessible shared creative experiences.
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Welcome Home is a collaborative installation project located right outside the Bubbler Room. Centering on a vintage, handmade doll house, patrons are invited to utilize Bubbler Room materials to make mini elements and place them inside.
Workshops
Vintage Valentine-making
Saturday, February 10, 1-3pm in the Bubbler Room at Central Library
Registration required: max. 15 participants
Age: primary audience is tweens (12+) - adult; families with younger children also welcome
As a group, we will dive into the components of vintage valentines found and thrifted over time. Then we will take some time to celebrate love by creating one-of-a-kind, vintage-inspired valentines for your friends, lovers, family members, or pets.
Sculpey workshop: Making Minis
Sunday, March 3, 1-4pm in the Bubbler Room at Central Library
Registration required (max. 15 participants)
Age: primary audience is tweens (12+) - adults
In a museum exhibit about your life, what objects, heirlooms, and artifacts would you want on display? What stories would those pieces have to tell? In this workshop, local artist Jayce Thoyre will demonstrate how to create a miniature model using Sclupey clay. The models you create can be taken home afterward or added to a miniature dollhouse installation, Welcome Home, outside the Bubbler Room.
More about Jayce: coming soon!
Snail Mail Art Workshop
Sunday, March 17, 1-3pm in the Bubbler Room at Central Library
Drop in, no registration required
Age: All ages
Come in from the cold to share space, get cozy, and make contact with the folks in your life who you’ve been meaning to reach out to forever. Bring an address—or a list of addresses!—and join us in creating mailable cards, postcards, and other mixed-media artwork.
Location:
Residencies at Central Library are supported by the Evjue Foundation, Madison Arts Commission, and Scooter Software. Grace Olson’s residency is supported by the Friends of Madison Public Library.
