(upbeat music) - Springville Museum of Arts, "It's All Fun and Games" is a unique and whimsical interactive art experience that will celebrate the essence of pre-smartphone nostalgia and play.

And here to tell us more is Bianca Velasquez and Emily Larsen.

Hi both of you.

Thank you so much for being here.

This looks like such a fun exhibit.

So Bianca, I'm gonna let you tell us just about exploring once again and getting back to that sense of play that people forgotten with their electronics.

- Yeah, we wanted to call back to a time where we had to use our imagination to entertain ourselves and use art and creativity as self-soothing, as opposed to sticking on a phone, or an iPad, or your computer.

And so it's a very nostalgic show calling back to like the late 90s and early 2000s, so we have a lot of really fun references, and huge toys, and very silly approaches towards this concept.

- I love it.

It just gets you that sense of play.

And you've got what, 30 artists who have worked there?

- Yeah, about 30 artists, including Olivia Lunarez, Morgan Baker, we have Trent Call, myself, I have a few pieces there, and also Shiya Zeng.

She's doing some really great ceramics that are really fun, so.

Yeah, lots of mediums, lots of different types of artists.

- Alright, and I want you to kind of tell us a little more about the whole exhibit, and like two thirds of the works are hands-on.

You can touch them.

So, kind of explain some of that.

- Yeah, about two thirds of the works in the show will be interactive so people can come actually touch the art, play with some of the toys that are art pieces in the show, and it'll be really interactive and experiential for visitors of all ages.

- That's great.

Okay, now I'm really curious about what are some of these toys?

They're large.

That's all I know.

- Really big.

- So I don't know if you remember these kind of wooden bead mazes in the doctor's offices?

Just that, you know, are there for kids that are nervous and scared.

And so I made about an eight foot sized version of those.

So you have to use like, your whole body to move the beads.

Which is totally fun.

- Great things.

Okay, well now we have the idea.

So thank you both so much for being here.

- Thanks.

- Yeah, thanks for having us.

- And if you'd like to know more about that exhibit at the Springville Museum of Art, "It's All Fun and Games," it's August 28th through July of 2025.

Just go to smofa.org, smofa.org.

I'm Mary Dickson, thanks for watching "Contact."

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Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

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