Madison Children’s Museum celebrates Capitol’s 100th year

NBC15
November 18, 2017

On Saturday, November 18, the museum lights up for Shine On Madison. At 6:08 p.m. downtown Madison will come alive as all of the holiday lights–from businesses, cultural establishments, and the city’s own decorations–all turn on at the same moment.

The museum will be open to the public with free admission from 5 to 8 p.m. Visitors are invited to join in special activities, including lantern-making on the Rooftop Ramble and building a capitol playhouse in the Art Studio. In the museum’s rooftop garden, the Capitol building will be replicated in a very different format: the museum’s rooftop climbing “acorn” has been reimagined as the nearby Capitol dome, and will be illuminated from within at 6:08 p.m. The rooftop capitol will remain as a winter-long part of cold-weather activities at the museum.

Also during the Shine On Madison celebration, the museum’s newest Sidewalk Surprise art installation will open. Mini Caps celebrates the Wisconsin State Capitol building with tiny capitol buildings in many different artistic styles, created by local artists Justin Bitner, Cheryl DeWelt, Renee Earley, Eric Ford, Martha Glowacki, Tracey Honn, Angela Johnson, Erika Koivunen, Chris Murphy, Jeff Repko, Grace Sullivan, John Taylor, Michael Ward, and Claire Wilson. Visible from both the museum’s lobby and the N. Hamilton Street sidewalk, the art installation demonstrates how the same iconic building can inspire artists in many ways.

The capitol-inspired activities continue into the holiday season. Within the museum, even more capitol buildings will be constructed using two fundamentally different, kid-friendly, materials: plastic Lego building blocks and gingerbread.