Whaling Museum hosts Art Week during February vacation

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is inviting students to visit during February vacation week for its inaugural Art Week event.

From Feb. 17-21, the museum will host workshops for middle and high school students where they can explore the museum’s extensive collection of art — including paintings, scrimshaw, art glass, sculptures, carvings, ship models, and textiles — and create their own works of art.

Throughout the week, students of all ages can learn about the museum and explore a variety of art forms at art stations in the museum’s Jacobs Family Gallery. Art stations are completely free. Workshops are also free, but registration is required. Art Week details and workshop registration information are available at www.whalingmuseum.org/programs/art-week-2020/. The Whaling Museum is located at 18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford.

Art Week youth workshops include: Lighting the Way Hands-On Art; Conservation Jewelry; Drawing Skeletons; Ship Building 101. Advance registration is required for these free workshops. No additional Museum admission will be charged for workshop participants.

On Tuesday, participants can learn about the importance of whale conservation and protecting the ocean, while making a bracelet from recycled materials, during the Conservation Jewelry workshop. Jewelry maker Louisa Medeiros will lead these workshops from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm, and 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm.

On Thursday, from 10:00 to 11:30 am, and 1:00 to 2:30 pm, art instructor Brandon Strathmann will lead Drawing Skeletons workshops. Strathmann teaches drawing and animation at Lesley University and was the Whaling Museum's 2007 Artist-in-Residence. Progressing from simple shapes and lines to realistic contour drawing methods, participants will draw the giant whale bones on display in the Museum.

Art Week will conclude on Friday with Ship Building 101 workshops led by Michael Taylor, a retired Merchant Navy Captain. From 10:30 am to 12:00 pm, and 1:00 to 2:30 pm, participants will explore the Lagoda, the world's largest ship model, and the science behind why ships float. Participants will also create their own ship model.

The Whaling Museum has additional family activities on offer during the February school vacation week. The Museum’s life-size inflatable humpback whale will be back Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. On Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., visitors can go “All Aboard the Lagoda,” to travel the seas, interact with new cultures, learn the ropes of a whaleship, and go a-whaling. Museum Highlights Tours will run daily at 11 am. These activities are free for Whaling Museum members and with regular paid admission to the Museum.

Art Week programs are supported in part by a grant from the New Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.