Get to Know 2023 Hide and Seek Artist Kolby Friedrichsen

As a Teaching Artist for the Des Moines Art Center, Kolby Friedrichsen is immersed in the local art community, but through this year’s Hide and Seek Ornaments You Keep event in Greater Des Moines (DSM) and Downtown Des Moines (DSM), she has found a way to get involved with even more artists. For almost three years, they have taught printing, fashion and sculpture classes and even a writing workshop.

Hide and Seek Participation

Friedrichsen is creating yarn-wrapped doll ornaments for Hide and Seek this year. Her work at the Des Moines Art Center — with the Queer Youth Resource Center (QYRC) — led to making yarn dolls with one of their students. Friedrichsen continues to create the dolls on her own, eventually crafting the dolls into the ornaments they will hide for the event. Learn more about the Hide and Seek Ornaments You Keep event here, and find ornaments during this year’s ongoing holiday event taking place Friday, Dec. 8 – Sunday, Dec. 17 in neighborhoods across the region. You can find Friedrichsen's ornaments on the first day of the event on Friday, Dec. 8 in Winterset.

Friedrichsen urges everyone to take time to search for ornaments during this year’s Hide and Seek event, which you can easily do by following @DSMpartnership on Facebook and Instagram and @downtownDSMUSA on Facebook and Instagram. And for those interested in even more art events in Downtown DSM, Friedrichsen suggests attending Mainframe Studios First Fridays as well as art classes like “Anime Drawing” and “Paint with Coffee and Ink” or just pursuing the first art collection in the city of Des Moines at the art gallery at Hoyt Sherman Place in Sherman Hill.

The Downtown DSM portion of the Hide and Seek Ornaments You Keep activation is sponsored by MidAmerican Energy Company, Prairie Meadows and Principal Financial Group.

The holiday season is the perfect time to shop local in Greater Des Moines (DSM). Support local businesses, creators and makers across the region. You can find ideas on where to shop using the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s #DSMlocal Guides and other regional business directories listed here.

Downtown Des Moines (DSM) activations pop up from time to time, and these events provide fun for the whole family! Check out Hide and Seek, Tweet Week and more across downtown. Keep an eye out on social media by following @downtownDSMUSA on @downtownDSMUSA on Facebook and Instagram for more information.