Workshop on Wheels Mobile Metal Lab & Show · Northeast Minneapolis

Casting our Biofacts
2024-08-24 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Westwood Hills Nature Center, 8300 West Franklin Avenue, St. Louis Park, 55426
Casting Our Biofacts
Cast metal artifacts (small sculpture, wearables, pocket toys)
from Westwood Hills Nature Center
Experience the ecology of the park through the cast metal process.
Visitors of Westwood Hills Nature Center and learners from Project SOAR (a community education program for adults with disabilities) are invited to participate in workshops with artist, Sara Hanson/WOW Mobile Metal Lab (retired MTC city bus turned workshop on wheels) and Nature Center naturalists to collect natural elements from the park, create molds and metal castings for a Souvenir Artifact Make + Take that will be offered to a larger audience during the St. Louis Park Art Fair, Saturday, September 4, 10-5pm.
MONDAY, August 19
6-7:30pm Project SOAR walk with a naturalist and cast metal Make + Take
TUESDAY, August 20
12-4pm Visit with Sara on the WOW bus
WEDNESDAY, August 21
10-11:30am Visitor walk with a naturalist and cast metal Make + Take
*look for an early morning live interview with Sara on the WOW bus featured on WCCO/CBS Minnesota stream at 6:15am/6:40am and later at 9am, noon and 4pm.
12-4pm Visit with Sara on the WOW bus
THURSDAY, August 22
12-4pm Visit with Sara on the WOW bus
6-7:30pm Visitor walk with a naturalist and cast metal Make + Take
FRIDAY, August 23
12-4pm Visit with Sara on the WOW bus
SATURDAY, August 24
10-4pm Make + Take Event
Hop on the WOW bus and choose a mold, pour pewter, do minimal finishing work to create your own small sculpture, wearable or pocket toy.
3:30-5pm Project SOAR walk with a naturalist and cast metal Make + Take
SATURDAY, September 7
10-4pm St. Louis Park Art Fair
St Louis Park Rec Center
Souvenir Artifact Make + Take
Participants are invited to choose one of the molds that was made during the workshops to cast on the WOW to create their own small sculpture, wearable or pocket toy. Project SOAR participants will be docents to invite fair-goers, share the process and guide them through the process.
Sara Hanson is the 2023 recipient of the Arts and Culture grant made possible from The St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts. All participation is free and open to the public. Ages 5+ for cast metal Make + Take.
Westwood Hills Nature Center
www.stlouisparkmn.gov/government/departments-divisions/parks-rec/westwood-hills-nature-center
Project SOAR
www.projectsoarmn.org
WOW Mobile Metal Lab and Show
www.wowmobilemetallab.com
St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts and St. Louis Park Art Fair
www.slpfota.org
Sara Hanson is a Minneapolis-based public artist, cast metal maker and educator. Her artistic practice includes public sculptures/projects (Bio Scenic Travel Machines), operating the WOW Mobile Metal Lab and Show and teaching/collaborating within communities to create cast metal public sculpture. She creates and brings accessible opportunities for individuals and communities to participate in or interact with an art project or creative process that invites personal expression/collective vision and the opportunity to share it with a larger audience.

Cast Your Metal Nano-Machine Structure
2025-06-04 16:00 - 19:00 | Horace Austin Park, 600 Main Street North, Austin, MN, 55912, United States
Today is the day to cast and create your own Nano-Machine! Pour metal into molds and design your own protein structure casting – that could enable you, others, living organisms (bacteria, plants, animals) – to do anything. Imagine and wonder, if you could create a protein – a building block for a cell , a structure to provide a specific biological function – what would you design your protein to do? I’m excited to share my interactive sculpture project that I’m creating for the Hormel Cancer Research Institute, information about their CryoEm microscope, and PROTEINS – the fundamental building blocks of all life on earth, at the atomic level! Thank you to the Hormel Institute, Austin Area Arts and the Minnesota State Arts Board.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Good Neighbor Days
2025-06-28 10:00 - 13:00 | Howard Lake Public Library
Good Neighbor Days!
We’re excited to bring the WOW to Howard Lake, MN for this fun-filled weekend full of music, food, games, and community for their Good Neighbor Days. Check out the days events on City of Howard Lake link below.
Science and art walk hand-in-hand as we transform your vision into a tangible creation. Choose from a variety of molds created from natural elements, 3D prints and found objects to cast your own small sculpture or wearable. For ages 5 and up. This is a public event that is free of charge. This program was made possible with Arts & Cultural Heritage Funds from Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment.

Summer Art Intensive
2025-08-11 10:00 - 2025-08-14 15:00 | Edina Art Center, 4701 West 64th Street, Edina, MN, 55435, United States
The WOW is partnering with the Edina Art Center for a four day comprehensive metal casting youth camp (ages 12-17).
The WOW team takes each artist through the entire process of casting metal – from safety gear to surface treatments – and demonstrates just how accessible this ancient process can be. It’s hands-on, interactive, exciting, empowering and collaborative work. This is a fun class to experience two methods of sculpting (additive, subtractive), three methods of mold-making (rubber, cuttle-bone, resin-bonded sand) and two metals (pewter, aluminum).
August 11 – 14, 10am-3pm.
Register below on the Event Website link.
Scholarships Available through the Connect Card Program
