Art Adventures

Art Adventures comes to the Glendale Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library on Monday, November 16, from 10:30 to 11:15 AM. It's a hands-on workshop for preschoolers aged 3 to 6, and this session is led by artist Jeremy South of Ripple Mobile Arts.

The format is simple: the group starts with a picture book, and the story they read becomes the inspiration for the making that follows. From there, the kids get to work with clay and other materials to create their own masterpiece. It's the kind of thing that works well for that age group—listening to a story first gives them something to hold onto before they dive into the messy part.

There's a bit of history behind the venue, too. The Broad Ripple community has had libraries at various sites since 1930, with the first stand-alone branch opening in 1949. The Glendale Branch itself opened in 2000 inside Glendale Mall, making it the country's first full-service library located in a major shopping mall. In 2024, it moved into a new 24,800-square-foot building on the site of the former John Strange Elementary School, so if you haven't been in a while, it's a different space than the one you might remember.

The session is made possible by the Everwise Foundation through gifts to The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation. Places are reserved through registration, which opens on November 2. It runs from 10:30 to 11:15 AM on Monday, November 16, at the Glendale Branch, 3660 East 62nd Street.