Get creative Saturday at the museum’s annual Flimp Festival

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It’s art, it’s music, it’s imagination and a whole lot of spring whimsey — plus, it’s free to attend.

Saturday, April 13, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts will host the 33rd annual Flimp Festival outside in the John and Joyce Caddell Sculpture Garden, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at One Museum Drive in Blount Cultural Park.

The first 100 families will receive a bag with art-making materials, including coloring books and crayons.

“Flimp Festival is a fun and engaging event for families,” said Emily Stuart Thomas, MMFA’s head of learning and programs. “There will be hands-on art making, creative activities and festive music that will inspire play and your imagination.”

The music is being performed by:

MEOWAcademy — located in Montgomery and serving the River Region, where youth discover the joy of music and learn new skills through piano, guitar, voice and drums lessons.
Electric Blue Yonder — This traveling troupe of space folk explorers from Montgomery examine mysteries of the universe and report their findings through song.

Food will be available from Verde Café, That’s My Dog, Smackalicious Burgers, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream, Chill Out LLC and Woody’s Italian Ice.

Guests have a variety of art activities available to make their own masterpieces, and five local artists to guide and inspire them:

Alisa Beck — An Alabama native known for her evocative and moody landscapes created using oil paints. A native of Alabama, her deep-rooted love for nature was nurtured during her upbringing in the rural south.
Janice Dennis — Learn the intricacies of crochet from this self-taught Montgomery native, who learned to sew from her mother. You’ll also see how Dennis upcycles other textiles into unique and often one-of-a-kind wearable art.
Korey Rowswell — This visual artist creates soft sculptures which use principles of ikebana to communicate biomorphic and botanical forms. His recent works examine botanical mutations and textiles as invasive species in the natural environment.
Joanne Staley — The former “Artist in Residence,” sponsored by Alabama’s State Council for the Arts, has been winning fiber art awards for more than 50 years. Staley will demonstrate unique fiber and mixed media needle weaving techniques that will bring a story to 3D life. She has taught art/craft techniques to hundreds of Alabama students and teachers, and has also been featured in one woman shows at MMFA, Troy University, AUM, Columbia Seminary in Atlanta and Maxwell Air University Library.
Tara Cady Sartorius — An artist, art educator, and a founding member of the Flimp Festival, Sartorius is Flimp’s featured artist and will guide participants through creating floral head garlands from fresh flowers and other whimsical materials

The museum’s ArtWorks Interactive Gallery will have Help Me Grow Alabama, a program from Alabama Partnership for Children. They’ll have fun developmental activities for those age 8 and younger to promote foundational motor skills.

Also, local art educators and artists from Abrakadoodle will be offer glitter tattoos inspired by works from the MMFA’s permanent collection.

This year’s Flimp Festival is inspired by two of MMFA’s exhibits:

Now on view: A Beautiful Mess: Weavers and Knotters of the Vanguard.
Opening Friday: Spotlight: Alexander Calder.

Flimp Festival, which began in 1989, gets its name from the word Flimp — flower imp. It comes from artist Geneva Mercer’s 1937 Flimp Fountain, a bronze sculpture in the MMFA’s permanent collection.

In the event of inclement weather, they’ll move Saturday’s activities from the garden into the museum.

“We look forward to welcoming our community to a wonderful and whimsical day at the Museum,” Thomas said.

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at sheupel@gannett.com.

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