Gita Ghei is a multi-ethnic sculptor specializing in public art and teaching. Her father was from India and her mother from Red Wing. She identifies as a second-generation immigrant and woman of color. She has lived in the North End neighborhood in St. Paul for 23 years and has a studio in SE Minneapolis. After college, with a degree in Classics, Gita learned her trade, the ancient art of lost-wax metal casting, at a commercial art foundry in Berkeley, CA, and began creating her own art. She has been self-employed as a patina artist on bronze and a public art maintenance technician since 1995. Later, Gita added teaching, public art, and community collaboration, uniting concepts such as strength in diversity with nature and material science. Her material palette includes metal and more: water, plants, solar electricity, and passive sunlight. She is a community and artist collaborator, a metal maker, and an artisan. In her projects, Gita embraces themes of inclusivity, stewardship, and sustainability. Gita believes public art engagement fosters personal care for public space and protects collective identity by showcasing shared values and resilience in diversity.
Program Offerings
Workshops
Be Like a Tree: Journal Making & Tree ID
In this three-session workshop, students will explore local trees through observation, touch, art, and reflection. Participants will learn to identify trees using both their common and scientific names, create bark rubbings and leaf prints, and discover the unique textures and patterns found in nature. Using water-based paints and simple bookbinding techniques, students will create a handmade Be Like a Tree journal filled with their artwork and observations. The workshop concludes with poetry and a sharing circle celebrating each student’s work.
Class sessions are as follows:
- Go outside and create rubbings of tree bark; take the leaves and press them with your pages
- Create a leaf printing with water-based paint; align with your bark pages; ID the trees in a book
- Combine your pages into a journal, read the poem “Be Like a Tree”, share observations and feedback.
Best for: PK–Grade 3, Older Adults, Disability Communities; Duration: 3 sessions, 45–60 minutes per session
Lady Liberty – Public Art – Diversity Values
What do stars, science, art, and the Statue of Liberty have in common? Copper! In this hands-on STEAM workshop, students will uncover the fascinating story behind Lady Liberty while exploring the science and history of copper. From learning how this element was formed in exploding stars to discovering why it was chosen for one of the most famous public artworks in the United States, students will connect big ideas across multiple subjects. They’ll finish by transforming sheets of copper into a custom backpack tag or message plaque that reflects their own creativity and voice.
Best for: Grade 5+, Adults, Intergenerational; Duration: 2 hours.
Thank You, Sun! Art, Yoga, Science!
Inspire the youngest among us to thank the sun for all the gifts of light, energy, and time. Celebrate our solar source.
The Thank You Sun workshop can be tailored to each location based on learning goals and time available. Options for participants to learn include:
- Use chalk and a compass to learn to tell the basic time with the sun; use your own shadow or a handmade ‘magic time wand’.
- Color a photosynthesis page that uses shapes for elements and shows the chemical formula for making sugar and oxygen from water, air, and sunshine.
- Make your own lollipop.
- Play outside with rainbow glasses on to see the spectrum. Rainbow in sunlight.
- Learn how to do a basic yoga sun salute to thank the sun and regulate your breath.
- Make cyanotype prints outside with found items such as leaves.
- Write a collective sun poem.
This offering works best as 1-2 workshops. Students learn holistically about the sun and UV rays, make cyanotypes, and take home a sun-salute handout for relaxation.
Best for: Early Learners (Pre-K), Early Elementary (K-3), Upper Elementary (4-6); Duration: 1–2 workshops or as a pop-up!
Residencies
Alexander Calder and Mobiles
This residency offers students the opportunity to play with metal elements and kinetic art. They will learn about the inherent properties of aluminum and copper and master the art of balance and composition in mobile making. Students will be exposed to the mobile art of Alexander Calder through a PowerPoint presentation and consider design ideas for mobiles. Each student will create a unique mobile, showcasing 8-12 shapes along a theme of their choice. Students can also make larger team-made mobiles to hang on site.
Best for: Grades 3–12; Customization: Younger participants in grades 3-5 can instead make Cloud mobiles using card stock or colorful metal foils. This works great as a class on weather, with students learning cloud types instead of elemental metal.
Make Your Own Soap Sculpture
In this hands-on STEAM residency, students design, sculpt, mold, and cast their own functional soap sculptures. Inspired by themes such as nature, outer space, or animals, students create original clay designs while learning the fundamentals of mold-making, product design, and manufacturing.
Over the course of the residency, students transform their sculptures into reusable plaster molds and cast personalized glycerin soap bars. Along the way, they explore concepts such as draftability, aromatherapy, and sustainable living, including how bar soap can help reduce plastic waste.
Students leave with a custom soap sculpture, a reusable mold, and the skills to continue creating soap at home.
Best For: Middle School (5-8), High School (9-12), Teens & Young Adults; Limitations: messy (but maybe that is not a limitation!).
Art Nature Smorgasbord
In this weeklong outdoor residency, students explore the intersection of art, nature, and science through hands-on projects that spark curiosity and creativity. Working with natural materials, students learn about plant chemistry, sunlight, textures, and chemical reactions while creating unique works of art inspired by the world around them.
Throughout the week, students may create cyanotype sun prints, nature collages, plaster relief sculptures, leaf prints, and anthocyanin flower artworks while building observation skills and confidence in the outdoors. Scientific vocabulary and concepts are introduced in engaging, age-appropriate ways, helping students connect artistic processes to material science.
Designed for grades K-8, this residency can be adapted for different ages and classroom goals. Students leave with multiple completed artworks, a deeper appreciation for nature, and the excitement of learning through exploration, experimentation, and play.
Best For: Upper Elementary (4–6), Middle School (5-8), High School (9-12), Teens & Young Adults; Limitations: plaster is messy (but maybe that is not a limitation!).
Teaching Artist Statement
I am a metal sculptor specializing in public art and teaching. I am also an earth steward and green activity advocate. I incorporate working outside whenever possible. In addition to STEM learning with metal, I incorporate themes related to natural history, such as strength in diversity among people and plants. My residencies support science standards that include planning and engineering.
Using a holistic approach, students take home hands-on experience as well as curiosity and confidence with material science. I follow a guide of sustainable art-making: to not expose students to environmentally unfriendly products, and to be mindful of waste. I have experience and appreciate working with all ages and abilities.
