An Imaginative Event for All Ages, The Great Create Bottles The Wonder of The Nasher Sculpture Center in One Afternoon

On Sunday, October 27, The Great Create transformed the garden at the Nasher Sculpture Center into a family-friendly interactive space for Dallas’ youngest aspiring artists in attendance. Joy radiated across the garden as children created masterpieces against the backdrop of one of the city’s most beautiful outdoor spaces.

As the program’s map highlighted, The Great Create provided all the essential ingredients for a successful family outing — crafts, snacks, a bar, a DJ, restrooms, the lost and found, and story time. No wonder families flock to this event year after year.

An imaginative feat, the fête funds vital education programs for the Nasher. It included 10 crafting stations spread throughout the garden on a picture-perfect day. Local artists, including Karla Garcia, Samantha McCurdy, and Kevin Owens, led each activation, from paper animal masks to a “mega mural.”

At “A Few Pointers,” Alicia Eggert taught the budding artists to make plaster molds of their pointer fingers. SWOON, The Studio operated a popular station, providing all sorts of colorful objects and materials — from tin foil to styrofoam balls and spray paint — for young sculptors to create “Super Stacks” directly in front of Richard Serra’s “My Curves Are Not Mad” sculpture.

Nolan Kiser, the artistic genius behind Dallas’ most inventive and sculptural floral arrangements (Bottega de Flores), contributed as the Garden Installation Artist, along with Kate Yancey. The colorful balloons captured the spirit of childlike wonder infused into each thoughtful choice.

Wolfgang Puck Catering slung hot and fresh pizzas all afternoon. Even the takeout boxes served as a blank canvas for an artist’s flourish; young patrons colored on the blank pizza boxes while awaiting their pie. For dessert, guests of all ages eagerly lined up to build their own dirt cup, with brownie dirt, colorful gummy worms, and all the fixings. Gelato La Boca provided sweet treats, and a coffee cart featuring festive autumnal lattes served as a welcome reprieve for many caffeine-seeking chaperones.

Shayna Fontana Horowitz, Robyn Siegel, and Sofi Sugasti co-chaired this year’s event, which brought out everyone from Jessica Nowitski and Porschla Kidd to Tori Mulford and Catalina Gonzalez Jorba (all with their children, of course).

A wondrously imaginative event, The Great Create successfully bottled the wonder of the Nasher Sculpture Center in an accessible and palatable way for children of all ages. Rarely have I witnessed a fundraising event that emanates such joy for parents and their children alike.

Participating in the delight of the afternoon, guests included Marsland Johnson and Jonathan Stubbs, Erin and Eddie Keith, Melissa and Drew Ireland, Barb and Michael Horowitz, Francis Harrison and Manuel Brito, Capera Ryan, and Nerissa Helpenstill.