Creative Sessions (see details below) are grounded at the intersection of place-based education and creativity. A collaborative effort of a professional educator and local artists, each session offers new opportunities to explore a different aspect of Lake Minnetonka and to create something new.

Sessions are capped at 7 participants with two adult leaders and a peer creative coach. The program of each session includes: 

🐟 A fun and engaging "learning and exploration" segment focusing on Lake Minnetonka which centers on Gallery Navarre's monthly theme &/or Lake Minnetonka features, history, people & events.

🐟 An exploration of the Elements of Art or creative tools applied.

🐟  A take-home "investigation guide."

🐟  A Gallery Walk for participants to share their work with parents/guardians/special persons for the last 20 minutes of each Session.

🐟 A unique piece created by each participant to keep.

Registration Cost: $45/session for Creative Sessions with traditional artistic materials, $50/session for Creative Sessions with LEGOs.

We accept credit, and Venmo

Details & registration links coming soon for:

⛵️ July 13, 2024: Second Saturday in the Art Lab

> Theme: Bridges of Lake Minnetonka. •  Click here to Register

☀️ August 10, 2024 

Theme> Remember When? (Lake Minnetonka history).  •  Click here to register

Join us as we explore some amazing local history, then combine images of historic postcards, Lake Minnetonka maps, paint, gel printing plates, and our own designs to create unique notecards and pieces! Perfect gifts for parents, grandparents, friends and more. 

✏️ September 14, 2024

> Theme & details coming soon

Cancellation/Refund Policy:
If a participant cancels more than 2 weeks in advance they can receive a 50% refund or an option to apply full credit toward a future session. 

If any session has fewer than 3 registered participants 1 week prior to the event, Gallery Navarre reserves the right to contact the registered participants via email and offer full credit for an alternative session or provide a full refund.

Past Sessions

🍂 November 11, 2023 (9-noon & 5:30-8:30)
> Theme: Our Great Lake Minnetonka
> Description: How big is Lake Minnetonka? How many street car boats used to serve the Lake? Join is as we have fun exploring fun facts about Lake Minnetonka Then, by incorporating watercolors and charts of Lake Minnetonka, participants will create a rich, mixed-media piece of art.

🏠 December 9, 2023 (9-noon & 5:30-8:30)
> Theme: Home for the Holidays
> Description: How can we remember and celebrate special places and times? Join us as we explore special views of Lake Minnetonka, then use light-hearted illustrated maps of Lake Minnetonka to create "bag books" that can be fantastic gifts that capture special memories and keepsakes. 

❄️ January 13, 2024 - cancelled due to weather/lack of heat

❤️ February 10, 2024

> Theme: Winter Wonderland!

> Description: Let's celebrate the ice and snow! Embark on a creative journey inspired by the magic of Lake Minnetonka's winter activities in our Winter Wonderland Art Class! After exploring ice fishing and the frozen lake through images and storytelling, our young artists will dive into creating mixed media masterpieces, crafting their own unique visions of the icy landscape using paints, art markers, Lake Minnetonka images, maps and more, taking home their stunning creations as souvenirs of our wintry adventure.

☘️ March 9, 2024

> Theme: Water, Water Everywhere!

> Description: Water, our most precious resource! Join us for Saturday in the Art Lab, as we get ready for ice-out! We will learn about the buoys and navigational lighting on Lake Minnetonka and then we will build our own LEGO representations of scenes around the Lake, including buoys, bridges, boats and more. Participants will take home their new knowledge of water navigation, safety, and LEGO creations. 

☔️ April 13, 2024

> Theme: Wild for Wildlife

With ice-out our migratory birds return and fishing opener is just around the corner! Join us as we learn about the wildlife native to Lake Minnetonka, then create mixed-media pieces celebrating our favorite fish and wildlife!

🛥️ May 11, 2024

> Theme: Transportation On and Around Lake Minnetonka 

Lake Minnetonka was once the home to six streetcar boats that helped visitors and residents alike navigate the Lake. Join us as we learn about the streetcar boats and their routes. We will create our own artistic maps of the Lake using our own art and replicas of historic postcards, then code Ozobot robots (with color or block coding) to follow the path of the Streetcar boats and visit the historic locations along the way. Participants will bring home their maps, investigation guides, videos capturing the coding the completed for their Ozobots, and a reprint of an early Streetcar Boat schedule and route map. 

Our new focus: Lake Minnetonka art classes for kids • Lake Minnetonka summer camp for kids • Art camp for kids