3 artsy things to do with mom this Mother’s Day weekend

Mother’s Day calls for some new creative approaches. Sick of spending the morning at a noisy brunch restaurant where it’s so loud you can’t even hear Mom talk? Here are a few ways to spend quality time with her, hear what she has to say and make art together or simply shop for it.

The second annual art fair in the Sculpture Garden features 180 artists, live music, food trucks and a botanical marketplace with 15 artists and a florist. Everything takes place at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden across from the Walker Art Center, making it an even artsier experience.

“It’s just going to be a beautiful day, so it’s a great place to take a walk around with your mom and then go enjoy either the Walker or some other nearby establishments in Uptown,” said Nichole Showalter, events manager for Homespun Events.

In its first year, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Art Fair brought in around 30,000 people.

This year, there will even be an artist’s garden within the garden.

“Victor Yepez will be having a mini-sculpture garden of his sculptures, so you’ll have some local sculpture art within the Walker’s collection,” she said.

10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun., 1600 Lyndale Av. S., Mpls., free, sculpturegardenartfair.com

The 33rd annual St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour offers a way to get out of town with Mom and enjoy nature, pretty pots and delicious tacos. Take the scenic route up the St. Croix River, passing Marine on St. Croix and cute river towns along the way.

“It’s the first most beautiful spring weekend in the St. Croix Valley, which is full of flowers and flowering trees and natural beauty,” said potter Ani Kasten. “The pottery tour is set right in the middle of all of that.”

This year, experience work from 70 potters. Two guest potters in Kasten’s studio this year ― Sam Chung and Steven Young Lee ― are renowned Korean American potters who have been visiting the tour for years.

The tour is a Mother’s Day tradition in Minnesota.

“It’s just a really wholesome, family-friendly, fun event to come to with Mom or kids, and meet the potters, and pick up and touch the handmade pots,” she said.

10 a.m.-6 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun., free, visit saintcroixvalleypotterytour.com/visit for locations of the seven studios and lodging options.

Inside the fancy second-floor ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, moms and their kids and friends gather around, sipping champagne and arranging flowers. At Sip ‘n Bloom’s Mother’s Day Flower Arranging, participants can choose the petite or grand flower arrangement for a one-hour flower arrangement workshop.

“It’s a super-creative process in the way that each guest will choose from our bloom bar and collect an array of flowers that’s special to them,” said David Kisan, owner of Sip ‘n Bloom. “They get to learn our step-by-step process of arranging those flowers in an authentic and artistic way.”

The available flowers come from all over the world, but there are also locally grown tulips, daffodils and Gerbera daisies. There will be roses from Ecuador and other parts of South America, and tulips and daisies from Holland.

Whether there are cat-safe flowers available is always the No. 1 question.

“We definitely ask them to stay away from different eucalyptus types,” he said. “It wouldn’t kill a cat, but it would definitely make them quite ill, so we don’t recommend any of those.”

11 a.m. Sun., Four Seasons Hotel, 245 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $70-$140, sip-n-bloom.com