Aspen Art Museum

Active Art invites seniors to engage in the social dimensions of art. Each month, museum Educators bring free, memory-enhancing activities to the assisted living communities of Whitcomb Terrace in Aspen and Heritage Park in Carbondale.

Monthly drop-in Family Workshops at the AAM are designed to provide children and adults free opportunities to explore the galleries and create works of art on their own. Families are encouraged to communicate, reflect, and produce as artists together.

Free, drop-in spotlight tours led by museum staff are offered every Wednesday and Saturday at 1 p.m.

Most closely associated with the Fluxus international art movement, Alison Knowles first premiered her now celebrated performance Proposition #2: Make a Salad in London in 1962. Presented in Aspen as part of the public program series Marking Ritual in conjunction with the exhibition Ritual, the participatory event recontextualizes an everyday activity for a heightened level of attention, reverence, and meditation. Immediately following, Nicole Woods, Assistant Professor, Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Notre Dame, will discuss Knowles’s practice and the historical context of this performance.

Things aren’t always what they seem! Discovering how the human eye sees color will lead to an array of artworks in this hands-on lab. We’ll explore the visible spectrum, reflection, refraction, and create some mind-bending optical illusions, giving us new insights into art through science.

What does your favorite book say about you? Explore traditional and nontraditional bookmaking techniques that capture textures and forms from another world. We will create handmade books that stretch the expected function of a book, capturing the experiences of the week in a piece that is filled with personal meaning.

Using contemporary paintings of plaids and patterns created by artist and designer Cheryl Donegan as our muse, we’ll cut, layer, and assemble a colorful medley of fabrics to make new artworks on canvas and a wearable item that expresses our individual tastes with a flair for the freeform. We’ll unveil our designs for family and friends at the end of the session.

Presented in collaboration with the Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS), this free chamber concert series features one-hour performances by the most advanced AMFS students and visiting musicians in Aspen.

In observance of changing the iterations of the yearlong exhibition Ritual, this special event presents a piano sound bath and healing experience by award-winning composer and pianist Ravé Mehta. This free, hourlong performance invites participants to sit or lay on the ground and experience a musical journey toward a meditative state that encourages surrendering and tapping into your “flow.” Prior to the performance, Mehta and the AAM’s Nancy and Bob Magoon CEO and Director Heidi Zuckerman will engage in a conversation about flow states. Please bring a cushion or yoga mat.

Free, drop-in spotlight tours led by museum staff are offered every Wednesday and Saturday at 1 p.m.