Framing the Future: Connecting Local Kids to the Lake Through Creativity

BusinessEducation

Jun 20

Life in the central and western lake area has changed dramatically over the past several decades but, for those who are most familiar with the area, one staple enterprise has endured the rapid growth of our community—that being the Gallery Navarre. Crystal Bay resident Joan Wolfe opened her shop in Navarre over forty years ago and, in that time, made an impact on the community that’s difficult to understate. The early days of Gallery Navarre focused solely on custom framing; however, as time went on, Joan discovered that many of her personal passions were merging in ways that pointed toward historical preservation and community building. With an emerging interest in her neighborhood’s history and its preservation, she could not have foreseen the impact she would have on the Lake Minnetonka area.

Following the guidance of her growing passions, Gallery Navarre slowly transformed from a specialty framing store into a pseudo museum for all things local history and art. Her work alongside local artists including Mary Otazeski, Rich Sladek, Karen Rose and more,helped to give Navarre, Spring Park, and Mound an artistic flare that they had seldom seen in decades. To the younger generation of Minnetonka residents, the Gallery Navarre became the chief enterprise to acquire both vintage and reproduction Minnetonka memorabilia. In 2014, Joan collaborated with other locals and published the book, Navarre the Hub of Lake Minnetonka which remains the foremost publication on Navarre’s history. (One that the author has regularly used in researching topics of the town.) The Lakeshore Weekly News even published an article on Joan’s shop “Finding Lake Minnetonka art and history in an unlikely location.” They weren’t wrong either. Gallery Navarre was located in the basement of a downtown Navarre shopping center. In 2020, she moved the Galleryto another unlikely location, to a corner in a warehouse off Shoreline Drive in Spring Park. Things were doing well until, in 2023, Joan suddenly passed away from an unexpected illness.

The Gallery’s door remained locked until her daughter, Wendy, started cleaning things out. As she worked, memories of conversations with her mother flooded her mind. Wendy, a K-12 teacher of three decades and sitting chair at Concordia University’s EdTech graduate program for K-12 teachers, suddenly found herself with her mother’s hand on her shoulder. Both had a deep interest in children’s education and a passionfor the importance ofplace. Motivated by her passions, Wendy decided to re-focus Gallery Navarre’s mission toward children’s summer programs combining fun and engaging creative activities with local themes, education and involvement.

Today, “The Art Lab” at Gallery Navarre hosts twelve summer camps which are tailored to small groups of kids ranging from ages 6 to 10. The classes have “a low floor but a high ceiling” allowing kids to shoot for the creative moon. Each of her camps use Lake Minnetonka themes to explore visual, studio and fabric arts, engineering, and digital storytelling in ways that make kids proud of themselves and connect more with their environment. She uses local ecology, features, and history, including Golden Era hotels, amusement parks, and steamboats to color her curriculum in a unique way rarely seen in modern education. Inspired by an idea of her late mother, the first camp Wendy designed is dedicated to teaching kids water safety and the styles and functions of water-markers on Minnetonka through building LEGO® watersheds, buoys, and boats. Ultimately, all her courses are designed to show how taking pride in and learning about your community can impact the world around you. Wendy proudly says, “If you’re thinking of how cool the fish are in the lake, you’re less likely to just drop your trash on the ground. You might even pick up other trash you find along your way.” The example she’s setting transforms how local children think about their surroundings.

Students of her programs become highly passionate about what they’re creating. Wendy intentionally designs each experience in a way that allows creativity and independence to build and resonates uniquely with each child. Their creations are theirs to bring home and are intended to be “pride points” for them, not just stuffed into a junk drawer or thrown out after a week. Online showcases are created too, so proud kids can share their creations with their family and friends!

Enrollment is capped at seven students per class, giving it a 3.5 to 1 ratio and runs $145 per student (including tax.) Each session is 3 half-days running either 9-12pm or 1-4pm. If you want your child or grandchild to have a meaningful, educational, and memorable experience this summer, there’s truly no place quite like Gallery Navarre. Enrollment is open and space is limited! See below to delve into the world of children’s creativity and local education.

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