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clyfford still | museum
Two women and their babies look and point at art
A father points at a painting with his two young sons next to him
Photo by James Dewhirst

Families

Discover a new world and let the art move you and your entire family! The Clyfford Still Museum offers a variety of family-friendly offerings and admission is always free for children ages 17 and under. Plan your visit today!

Tickets

Visiting the Museum with Children

Young children are experts in abstract art, which is what Clyfford Still is best known for creating. That means you can come to the Clyfford Still Museum with your young children, and they will guide you! Based on research and our own experiences, we have some tips for bringing your children on their first (or second or third) museum adventure to the Clyfford Still Museum. Enjoy the Museum and Me video series, with tips for caregivers visiting the Museum with infants, toddlers, and young children.

Be an Art Protector!

Protecting our artwork is a very important job! Art Protectors are always aware of how close they are to the art and make sure that their adults do not get too close or touch the art in the galleries (and they don’t touch it either). But why can’t we touch it? Even a clean finger has oils that damage our paintings, drawings, and sculptures over time, even if we just washed them. Try touching a mirror or a cell phone screen to see for yourself. You might see other art protectors in the Museum—we are all here to protect the art! Thank you for keeping our art safe. Watch the brief bilingual Art Protector animated video before your visit.

Family Activity Book

Pick up the free bilingual Family Activity Book at the information desk during your visit to spark your imagination.  The book will help inspire your family to look, create, and explore as you work on the activities together.

Family-Friendly Events

The Clyfford Still Museum offers a variety of family-friendly events including Maker Mornings art making activities, infant art crawls, tours, concerts, and more!

Art Crawl

Check out the Art Crawl program, with multiple options to attend each month (new themes each month). Art Crawl is a program designed to offer infants (newborns through 14 months) and their caregivers an opportunity to experience art, build relationships, and learn together. Surrounded by Clyfford Still’s expansive body of work, Museum educators will lead participants through the galleries and provide provocations based on art exploration. Your guide will encourage an interactive discussion on the importance of introducing your baby to art at an early age and tips for experiencing art together.

Maker Mornings

Maker Mornings programs are designed for children from 15 months to eight years old, with siblings of any age welcome. We spend time in the galleries with a librarian from Denver Public Libraries for story time before entering The Making Space, the hands-on creation studio directly connected to our galleries. During this part of the program, we will explore various materials, expand our ideas of what it means to create, and express ourselves through art. Enjoy new themes every month!

The Making Space

The Making Space is a hands-on creation studio located on the gallery level. Deepen your appreciation of the art on view through directed activities, or simply experiment with a variety of art materials to try something new.

CSM staff worked with school partner Colorado State University Early Childhood Center to revamp the materials and activities and ensure they are appropriate for all children and families.

Tactile Books

Experience the Museum in new ways by checking out the newly redesigned bilingual tactile books, available for visitors of all ages to borrow at the Visitor Experience desk. Deepen your understanding by touching Clyfford Still’s favored materials, including bare canvas; canvas with a sizing agent; canvas with oil paint; and canvas with different textures in a detail of a painting.

A child holds up a book that says Touch This! Toca Esto!
CSM tactile book, photo by Circe B Photo

Discounts + Promotions

In addition to always being free for ages 17 and under, the Museum offers a variety of discounts and promotions including SCFD Free Days and Pay-What-You-Wish Days on select dates throughout the year!

Art Crawl Video

Museum and Me

Young children are experts in abstract art, which is what Clyfford Still is best known for creating. That means you can come to the Clyfford Still Museum with your young children, and they will guide you!

Visiting the Museum with Your Young Child (3- to 5-year-olds)

Based on research and our own experiences, we have some tips for bringing your 3- to 5-year-old on their first (or second or third) museum adventure to the Clyfford Still Museum.

Visiting the Museum with Your Toddler

Based on research and our own experiences, we have some tips for bringing your toddler on their first (or second or third) museum adventure to the Clyfford Still Museum.

Visiting the Museum with Your Infant

Based on research and our own experiences, we have some tips for bringing your infant on their first (or second or third) museum adventure to the Clyfford Still Museum.

5-Minute Making Videos

Enjoy virtual hands-on art making adventures for children and their families!

5-Minute Making: Caring Community Spirals
Enjoy a pre-recorded, virtual, hands-on activity for children and adults. Create a caring community spiral with us to explore different family structures and consider people, places, and things in our community that love and support us (and that we love and support!). What does your caring community look like? #CSM5MinuteMaking

 

5-Minute Making: Happy Birthday, CSM!
Enjoy a pre-recorded, virtual, hands-on art making adventure for children and their families. Guess who is 10 years old? The Clyfford Still Museum! Put on your favorite party outfit and celebrate our anniversary by decorating cookies and cupcakes inspired by Clyfford Still’s paintings.

Art Detective
The staff at the Clyfford Still Museum make discoveries everyday about art, Clyfford Still, our Museum, and our community. Now it’s your turn to make some art discoveries and become an art detective! This video shows families how to make a viewfinder to fuel your own discoveries at home or on your next trip to a museum.

A Song for Someone
While experiencing Clyfford Still’s artwork, we’ll explore the similarities between music and visual art to create our own songs with an original melody and words inspired by PH-1069.

Chill Out, Make Art
Follow along as families who visited he Clyfford Still Museum “Chill Out, Make Art” on the sidewalks in front of the Museum using ice-chalk! We’ll show you how to make this experimental material at home and have a messy, fun time on your own sidewalks.

Touch This Art!
Enjoy a hands-on art making adventure for children and their families. For this program, we’ll celebrate the Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the theme: Touch This Art! Designed by Rishika Kartik, this artmaking activity will engage participants of all ages in abstract art, Clyfford Still’s painting technique, and the multisensory process of painting using textured paints.

Pressing Patterns
Press, Squish, and Roll! Using objects found around and in your home, we will experiment with patterns, like our architects did when they were designing the Clyfford Still Museum building! Grab your favorite clay or play dough and let’s explore patterns!

Line-Inspired Fun

Enjoy these bilingual line-inspired activities:

Lines Líneas Everywhere!

Watch a bilingual pre-recorded, 10-minute activity to explore lines all around us with Steven Aguiló-Arbues. We’ll think about lines we see every day and how they make us feel. Then, we’ll investigate Clyfford Still’s art and how he felt about lines. Finally, we’ll make our own art about what lines mean to us. This activity is designed for families with children ages 4-8.