The Old Jail Art Center
Family Events
International Museum Day Art Carnival
• There is no admission fee!
• All activities and refreshments cost 1¢
• Bring pennies to play at the OJAC, May 2010
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
The festivities will be held both inside and outside of the museum and will include game booths, art projects, videos, and prizes. Popcorn and fruit will be available courtesy of Wal-Mart in Abilene. Visitors are encouraged to come in and enjoy the museum's current exhibitions, including The Edward R. Broida Bequest, Gift of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and A Cell of One's Own: Jeffrey Brosk. An array of student artwork will also be on display. All activities are open to the public and are for all ages.
Games will include a beanbag toss, Chinese ring toss, cakewalk, face painting, Pre-Columbian bucket toss, mural painting, dart painting, sidewalk chalk drawings, and tote bag decoration. Plus, you won't want to miss the art videos and mobile making! There are so many activities, plus many beautiful pieces of art created by students from both Albany and Moran. Entry and activities are free, and games cost only one penny.
For more information, or if you would like to volunteer, please contact Outreach Coordinator, Shaela Nay at 325.762.2269.
Dia del Los Muertos Family Festival
• There is no admission fee and all activities are free!
• There is a nominal fee for some refreshments.
• Saturday, October 24, 2009
• 10 am - 1 pm on the OJAC grounds
The Día de los Muertos Family Festival was first initiated in November 2007 to highlight the OJAC pre-Columbian collection, because many current Día de los Muertos traditions have parallels in the pre-Hispanic past. Our Dia de los Muertos Festival is not a celebration of the ancient holiday; but rather, we hope that it will serve as a window into an important Mexican cultural tradition that is has been practiced for over 3 millennia. Furthermore, the Festival has been designed to inspire a renewed appreciation for the museum's phenomenal William O. Gross, Jr. Pre-Columbian collection. The cultural concepts behind Día de los Muertos originated during the Pre-Columbian time period in Mesoamerica - by people such as the Mayans and Aztecs. When Spanish explorers came to Mesoamerica, and after them Christian missionaries, the ancient concepts blended with Christian ideas to form the holiday as it is known today. Realizing the links between Pre-Columbian traditions and contemporary Día de los Muertos customs will enrich the public's understanding of the artifacts in the museum's collection and the creative purpose behind their existence.
As in years past, the festivities will include sugar-skull decorating, Mexican food and music, mural painting, face painting, and a special appearance by La Catrina, Lady of the Dead.The most exciting addition to the festival is an interactive scavenger hunt guided entirely by cell phone text messages. The Jr. Docents (the OJAC's band of high school volunteers) have been working tirelessly to prepare two levels of play, one for elementary-aged students, and one for older students and adults.Not only will visitors get to hunt through the William O. Gross Pre-Columbian gallery to gather clues, but they'll also get to handle and inspect ancient artifacts from the museum's Study Collection, with the additional guidance of an adult docent. "How many times in a person's life do they get to actually hold and examine a 3,000-year-old, hand-sculpted piece of art? Well, in Albany, it's just another Saturday afternoon activity!"
Festivities will be held outside on the grounds of the museum, as well as in the Stasney Center for Education, which will be adorned high and low with traditional artworks made by Albany and Moran students, specially created for the event.
Lunar New Year Family Festival
Join the Old Jail in welcoming the Year of the Tiger! On February 2 the museum will hold the third annual Lunar New Year Family Festival in the Stasney Center for Education. In addition to customary crafts and activities (like creating paper lanterns, doing the dragon dance, and chowing down on long-life noodles), festival-goers will get a special perspective on the museum's Asian collection, housed in the historic Old Jail Galleries, by competing in an interactive digital scavenger hunt via cellular phone!
* There is no admission fee and all activities are free* There is a nominal fee for some refreshments
* Join us in celebrating the Year of the Tiger.
* The fun begins at 4:00 pm on the museum grounds!
Community Holiday Party
Every December the Old Jail Art Center welcomes a special guest: ole’ Saint Nick himself! Families joining in the holiday festivities view a special holiday student art show, create paper snowflakes or other holiday artworks, and enjoy homemade holiday cookies. Each child gets to whisper his or her holiday wishes to Santa—don’t forget your camera!
• There is no admission; all activities and refreshments are free!
• Santa is coming to the OJAC, December 8, 2009!
• 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
• Don't forget a canned good to add to the canned good tree!