Dubuque by Design

Youth Design Workshop

Youth ages 8-14 are invited to participate in a hands-on design workshop with Nate Trevethan, DuMA’s landscape architect and principal at Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. Participants will collaborate as a group with Nate to develop designs that will be incorporated into the gardens of the new Museum Campus opening in 2027.

Projects Nate has worked on for MVVA include Brooklyn Bridge Park, Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park in Detroit, and Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House. Nate received a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Landscape Architecture from Michigan State University.

10AM for ages 8-10
1PM for ages 11-14
Session is expected to last 90 minutes

$5 materials fee. Space is limited.

Register:
8 – 10
https://square.link/u/SevV3l8F
11 – 14
https://square.link/u/l2ciIlvl

Concept image of a planned courtyard as part of the upcoming building expansion.

Winter Arts Snow Sculpting Festival 2025

The Winter Arts Snow Sculpting Festival offers a free, family-friendly gathering with hands-on activities, food and beverage vendors, and People’s Choice voting in Washington Park and inside the Dubuque Museum of Art from 12-4 PM. Activities include a community snow sculpting area with preformed blocks of snow and tools provided for anyone to try their hand at snow sculpting.

Throughout the week, teams of professional, amateur, and collegiate sculptures will compete for a $1000 prize by carving giant snow creations from 6x6x8 blocks of solid snow. All teams will have the chance to be crowned the People’s Choice Award-winner on Sunday, which comes with a $300 cash prize.

The Winter Arts Snow Sculpting Festival is an annual celebration of community creativity, and coincides with more than the Super Bowl this year. The 2025 festival also serves as the closing event for DuMA’s landmark exhibition, Dubuque by Design: Celebrating 150 Creative Years. That exhibition inspires this year’s theme: Creative Community. We believe the act of creating together inspires us to push the boundaries of art, strengthens our community, and is just good fun.

Winter Arts is a community festival produced by the Dubuque Museum of Art (DuMA) in partnership with the City of Dubuque’s Office of Arts and Culture. For more info, visit www.cityofdubuque.org/winterarts or call 563-581-6988.

Winter Arts Snow Sculpting Festival
Winter Arts Snow Sculpting Festival

Thank you to our sponsors, the Dubuque Museum of Art, the City of Dubuque, Sundown Mountain Resort, Truck Country/Kemp Trucking, Conlon Construction, Selco Inc, KWWL, Black Hills Energy, Forget-Me-Not Landscaping, Weber Concrete, Wicked River Event Production, Jimmy John's, HyVee, Casey's

 

 

Dubuque by Design Opening Celebration

Celebrate 150 creative years with free family fashion and design activities, conversations with artists, and local brews, bites, and music inspired by our exhibitions this season.

Family Celebration
10 am–1 pm
Free with Museum admission

Family fashion and design workshops kick off our Opening Day. In the morning, families are invited to collaborate and design fashions inspired by Dubuque icons, from Lange ski boots to H. B. Glover pajamas (immortalized by Richard Bissell on stage and screen as The Pajama Game). Design your own Dubuque factory, Millwork building, or new museum, all to help us create the city of the future. For those who need a little more of a prompt, collaborate with baristas from Bob and Lou’s to design a new custom coffee drink.

Fill Your Factory!

Grab a piece of folded paper
On 1 side design the outside of your factory.
You can include doors, big vents, billboards and advertisements.
Then Flip it over and show what’s happening on the Inside of your factory.
What does your factory build? Do people make your product or do machines? How does your factory run?
Try practicing collage techniques by using magazines, cut out shapes, and colorful paper to bring your factory to life.
When you’re all done you can add your factory to the art museums tiny factory district.

Chair Challenge!

Imagine creating a one-of-a-kind chair, designed totally by you! Use recycled materials and your imagination to make a unique functional chair.
When designing your furniture try to think about who is sitting in your chair. A toddler? Maybe a astronaut? What about a cat or a dog? Furniture is designed for people to sit in. Thinking about who will use your chair is important to make them comfortable.
Try to think about what it’s made of. Is it strong? Or is it meant to be soft and comfy, What about lightweight for east traveling?
Each chair has a job. Thinking about what job your chair does will make a successful design! Get creative and make something amazing!
You can even take it home for your toys to sit in and then post a pic on our Facebook page!

Artist Conversation
3 pm–4 pm
Free with Museum admission

Join artist Hieyler Pimpton inside the Kris Mozena McNamer gallery for a conversation about her exhibition I Have Told You 50 Times. She’ll talk about her artistic inspirations and her journey to create the 50 collages on view. You’ll appreciate her warmth and humor—and we don’t expect she’ll have to repeat herself.

Opening Reception
4 pm–7 pm

$15 for members of DuMA
$20 for guests
$10 for guests under 21
Free for 1874 society

Toast the past and the future with local craft beers, music, mocktails, and food inspired by Dubuque by Design.

Registration required for the 4 pm reception. Click here to purchase tickets.

DuMA Gala 2024: Reflections

Dubuque Museum of Art Gala 2024
Reflections

Friday, October 25, 2024
Roshek Building – 700 Locust St.

Join us in celebrating 150 creative years
Hosted by Emily Duehr and Ben Hoelscher

Tickets available at the door

Dubuque Museum of Art Gala Reflections Friday October 25