Youth of All Ages Engage in Creative Summer Arts Programs

LANESBORO — From September through May, area students benefit from arts education in the schools – but it’s community arts organizations that keep the momentum going during summer months. A leader in the rural arts movement for more than 30 years, Lanesboro Arts is one such organization.

This Fillmore County nonprofit offers a year-round exhibition gallery for regional artists, a performance theatre for plays and concerts, and opportunities for the community to participate in public art – and during summer months, Lanesboro Arts expands its offerings to include free arts education programs for area youth.

This summer’s arts programs included Surprise Sculpture for ages 5–17 and Teen Creative Space for ages 10–17. More than words can express, pictures (above and in the video montage below) tell the story of how imagination and teamwork can lead to creating art. 

Surprise Sculpture 

Since 2013, Surprise Sculpture has provided free arts education opportunities for local students. For six weeks each summer, Lanesboro Arts staff and volunteers lead participants in constructing large-scale, site-specific sculptures for public spaces using a mixture of upcycled, recycled and fine art materials.

Surprise Sculpture advances children’s art-making skills as well as emphasizing collaboration and group decision making. Each project affords students the opportunity to learn about various principles and methods of art making. 

Attendees are routinely asked to work in large or small group settings, working together to create work that is for the community to enjoy rather than projects that are taken home at the end of each class. This fosters a sense of community pride and accomplishment in the students, as they see their work on display around town.

Teen Creative Space 

For six weeks this summer, Lanesboro Arts piloted Teen Creative Space, a new offering catering to independent tweens and teens. This program provided a step-by-step introduction to the mural making process from idea generation to unveiling.

Inspired by local, regional and international muralists, as well as Lanesboro’s own growing set of public art pieces, Teen Creative Space seeks to empower local youth to make their artistic mark on the community. 

This year, students took on this new challenge by working with Lanesboro Arts staff to draft compositions, scale up drafts using projection, and devise a color scheme for each mural. The resulting murals, which celebrate Lanesboro’s natural environment, can be viewed along Parkway Avenue between Crown Trout Jewelers and Amish Experience.

Watch the photo essay here:

(Montage photos by Renee Bergstrom and Leah Steding; video created by Julie Fryer)

Root River Current’s coverage of the arts is made possible, in part, by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.