Third Saturday for Families

Third Saturday for Families is a fun, free art-making event at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) in the Emma Eccles Jones Education Center Classroom. Each month a different hands-on project is linked to art in the UMFA collection. Activities are designed for all ages and abilities. Parents must stay with their children.

General admission is always free on third Saturday.

Join us every third Saturday from 1-4 pm, or access at-home family art activities below:

Colorful word art that reads "Third Saturday for Families"

Third Saturday For Families Online

Movement and Dancing in Art

Look at art in the UMFA collection with lots of movement and explore your own way of moving and dancing while making art.

Collage and Drawing

Many of the arworks in the past exhibition Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem tell a personal story of Americans of African descent. An artwork can tell a story through images and patterns. Get inspiration online then create your own artwork using magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes, and other art supplies to create a collage.

Landscape and Cityscape Collage

Make a landscape collage inspired by the works of Thomas Moran, Georgia O’Keefe, and Alma Thomas that were on loan at the UMFA from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2020.

Portraits of What I See and Feel About You

Look at the portraits in the past exhibition Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem and consider the ways in which the artists approached and painted their subjects out of love, and with love. Use your findings as inspiration for your own art-making.

3D Landscapes

Enjoy looking at landscape art online or in the Museum. Learn about the artists’ secrets of composition, and explore the ideas of perspective, foreground, middle ground, and background, then create your own 3D landscape using only paper, pencils, and scissors.

Paper Rings

Get inspiration from the UMFA’s collection of ornate rings from around the world and depictions of elaborate rings in European paintings. Follow along to make your own fancy ring out of paper.

Rug Weaving

Practice the art of rug weaving using yarn and a DIY cardboard loom.

Spiral Jetty Salt Dough Sculptures

Spiral Jetty is a large land art sculpture made of basalt rock, dirt, and salt. Create your own sculpture from salt dough you can make at home.

Leaf Rubbings

European artists have painted a variety of plants and flowers that reflect the floral obsessions that come and go. Look at depictions of these floral fads from the past, including British “fern fever” and Dutch “tulipmania,” in art at the UMFA. Make your own paper book to record rubbings of plants and flowers you want to learn more about.

Decorated Containers

Study the intricate patterns and textures that adorn many art works and functional objects in the UMFA’s Art of the Pacific collection. Use the inspiration to create a decorated container of your own.

Maya Chocolate Pots

Learn how to write in Mayan glyphs and make your own chocolate drink inspired by Mayan recipes.

Trading Cards

Make your own trading cards inspired by illustrations in the past ACME Lab exhibition Utah Women Working for Better Days!

Printmaking

Printmaking is one of the oldest ways to make art. Look at different kinds of prints in the UMFA collection and use household supplies to make relief stamps to create a print of your own.

Mask Making

The UMFA’s annual mask-making activity is a perennial favorite! Decorate your own mask made from household recycled supplies. Find inspiration in the UMFA’s amazing mask collection.

Photography

Learn unique ideas from photography in the past exhibition Space Maker to help turn your photographs into art.

Bird Puppets

Japanese art is on view in the UMFA galleries. One of the showpieces is an intricate moveable raptor sculpture. Learn how this sculpture was made and create your own articulated bird puppet using materials found at home!

Video Art

Construct a rolling paper cinema using household items using an age-old technique of movie magic.

Mini Japanese Screens

Learn about Japanese screens seen in the past exhibition Beyond the Divide: Merchant, Artist, Samurai in Edo Japan and make your own mini Japanese Screen.

Make a Kite

The intriguing symbols and intricate designs on the UMFA’s beautiful collection of Japanese woodblock prints will inspire you to decorate a kite that will be perfect for flying throughout the spring.

Spiral Jetty Field Guide

Take an imaginary trip to Spiral Jetty and make your own field guide.

Make a Sketchbook

Make a sketchbook and record your experiences with water and the nature around out.

Make Your Own Game

People all over the world love playing games– and artists love painting, sculpting, and drawing games. Find inspiration in several works of art in the UMFA’s collection that show games and the people playing them, then make your own.

Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks (ZAP); University of Utah; Art Bridges | Access for All; and the Utah Division of Arts and Museums