Monkeying Around at Mulvane

Kate Arroyo

“We Mean Monkey Business” is the theme for this Family Day activity on Saturday, November 6, 1-4 p.m.

The Mulvane Art Museum gift shop is currently hosting the travelling exhibit of sock monkeys on loan from Red Heel Monkey Shelter. Sock monkeys were first created during the Great Depression from red-heeled socks manufactured by Nelson Knitting Mills in Rockford, IL. They have since become a part of Americana folk art.

The Family Day event will highlight the exhibit and give visitors the opportunity to learn more about the history of sock monkeys, and to get creative.

Participants can gain inspiration from the travelling exhibit for their own sock monkey art projects and puppets in the Mulvane Art Lab on the lower level in the Mulvane museum this Saturday. Visitors can stop by the Mulvane Museum gift shop to view the exhibit and find sock monkey themed souvenirs including authentic sock monkey sewing kits, yo-yos, and sock monkey books such as “Sock Monkey Dreams” by Whitney Shroyer and Letitia Walker.

The exhibit will run through Jan. 23, 2011.