The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is excited to invite families from across the River Region to the Museum’s John and Joyce Caddell Sculpture Garden for our annual celebration of art-making, music, movement, and whimsy. This year’s event will take place on Saturday, April 15, from 10 AM to 2 PM—in the event of inclement weather activities will be moved indoors.
Visitors will enjoy many art activities for all ages, along with family-friendly grooves performed live by MEOWAcademy and local group Electric Blue Yonder. This year, families can create their own inspiring masterpieces through a variety of art activities while finding inspiration from local artists Tara Cady Sartorius (mixed-media), Sara Crocker (ceramics), Laura Murray (digital illustration), and Janice Dennis (textile artist and crochet-preneur). These artists will each engage with visitors and demonstrate their artistic styles, doing what they do best.
Additionally, local art educators and artists from Abrakadoodle will be offering dazzling glitter tattoos inspired by works from the MMFA's permanent collection. These festive temporary body decorations will be available in various designs and majestic colors of cosmetic-grade glitter, applied with professional applicators—a low-mess process with a big Flimp mystique!
This year, we are excited to host the Help Me Grow Alabama program in the Museum’s ArtWorks Interactive Gallery. Visitors will engage in fun developmental activities for children 10 months through age 8.
MMFA Head of Learning and Programs Emily Stuart Thomas says, “Flimp Festival is a fun and engaging event for families. There will be hands-on art making, creative activities, and festive music that will inspire play and your imagination. We look forward to welcoming our community to a wonderful and whimsical day at the Museum."
That's My Dog, Potz and Panz, and Kona Ice will be on-site to provide food and cool
treats perfect for the season. The first 100 families to enter the Garden will receive a colorful bag with art-making materials, including coloring books and crayons, to make more art at home.
ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS
Demonstrating Artists
Tara Cady Sartorius is an artist and art educator interested in connecting people through design, materials, words, and images. A founding member of the Flimp Festival back in 1990, Tara believes that the pursuit of knowledge should be motivated by curiosity, which resonates throughout Flimp. At this year’s Festival, Tara will lead an activity as Flimp’s featured artist, guiding participants through creating floral head garlands from fresh flowers and other whimsical materials.
Laura Murray is a designer, illustrator, author, maker of things, coloring book lover, and student of all things beautiful. She finds inspiration for her artwork in the people she meets and the region she calls home. After moving to Auburn in 2014, Laura started creating a coloring book for her home state.
During Flimp, Laura will work on her next coloring book inspired by art in the MMFA’s collection.
Sara Crocker works in ceramics and stained glass. Her work is inspired by travel, her Louisiana roots, and nature. Her current collection includes functional pottery pieces and decorative stained-glass spinners. During Flimp, she’ll work on the potter’s wheel, creating works of art with clay and water.
Originally from Montgomery, Janice Dennis learned to sew from her mother, who instilled a lifelong love of crocheting, which she took up upon retirement. Stitch by stitch, she gradually became the self- taught crochet-preneur she is today. Join Janice at Flimp to learn the intricacies of crochet as well as how to upcycle other textiles into unique and often one-of-a-kind wearable works of art.
Local Partners
Abrakadoodle is all about creativity for kids, and since its founding in 2002 has delivered the very best in visual arts classes, summer art camps, holiday art camps, art parties, and art events to more than one million children in schools, community sites and studios for kids around the world!
Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the State’s theater, builds community by engaging, entertaining, and inspiring people with transformative theatrical performances and compelling educational and community programs. ASF strives to build upon its reputation for artistic excellence, broaden its reach throughout the State and beyond, and expand public participation and support.
Brain Pump at Auburn University Montgomery is a children’s exercise program based on research that shows a correlation between exercise and brain development. Brain Pump provides a robust neurological component to promote motor skills, core strengthening, coordination, balance, and proprioception (or body awareness) in children.
AL Partnership for Children develops and strengthens systems, forges strategies, and increases public awareness for all early childhood programs in Alabama.
Autism Society of Alabama provides services and resources for children, teens, and adults with autism spectrum disorder and their families through education and advocacy.
Performing Musicians
MEOWAcademy, located in Montgomery, Alabama, and serving the River Region, is a place for youth to discover the joy of music and learn new skills through piano, guitar, voice, and drums lessons.
A traveling troupe of intrepid space folk explorers, Electric Blue Yonder (EBY) examines the mysteries of the universe and reports their findings through song.
ABOUT FLIMP FESTIVAL
Started in 1989, the Flimp Festival is the Museum's annual arts celebration bringing the community and the arts together in a fun, whimsical, and creative way through art-making, music, and movement. The word Flimp, or flower imp, comes from artist Geneva Mercer's Flimp Fountain, a whimsical bronze sculpture in the MMFA's permanent collection.
SUPPORT AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Annual support for programs was made possible by the following sponsors and grantors. Lead sponsors and grantors Alabama State Council on the Arts, Central Alabama Community Foundation, Ms. Caroline J. Crook, The Daniel Foundation of Alabama, The Ford Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Barrie
H. Harmon III, Lamar, Medical Properties Trust, Inc., MGMWERX, Poarch Band of Creek Indians, and Regions Bank with additional support from sponsors Mr. John A. Caddell, Central Alabama Community Foundation, Drs. Gerri and Struart Hendon, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Runkle, and Cathy Caddell and Charlie Warnke, and co-sponsors Dr. and Mrs. Robert A. Avery, Dr. and Mrs. Sanders M. Benkwith, Goodwyn Mills and Cawood, Inc., and Hodges Warehouse + Logistics
ABOUT THE MMFA
The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1930 by a group of local artists as a place for both exhibiting art and a space for art education. The founders’ original intentions—to exhibit and teach—continue to inspire and inform every action and activity at the Museum. Since 1988, the MMFA has shared the 175-acre Blount Cultural Park with partners across the lake at the celebrated Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
Today’s MMFA visitors stroll through art-studded grounds and permanent collection galleries. They see compelling changing exhibitions and learn about art by playing in the interactive gallery, ArtWorks; making art in the bustling studios, and participating in other engaging events and programs. In addition, MMFA visitors can relax and recharge in the serenity of the Museum’s stunning three-acre John and Joyce Caddell Sculpture Garden.
While the Museum’s collection is still home to the art of many of the regional artists who first established it, it has become known for its strengths in American art and Old Master prints. Recent important acquisitions of art made by African American and Asian American artists and works inspired by images and themes related to the experiences of these groups represent the breadth and depth of the lives and concerns of those who call Montgomery and the River Region home. Through the exhibition of these works and the programs and events that help connect our communities with them, the MMFA has become recognized as a leading arts and cultural resource here in the state and the Southeastern region.
The MMFA is a department of the City of Montgomery and is supported by funds from the City of Montgomery, with additional funds from the Montgomery County Commission and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Association. Programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
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