Lynden’s 13th Annual Winter Carnival
The Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, WI 53217, welcomes winter on Saturday, January 25, 2025, with a day of outdoor art-making, studio activities, tree walks, scavenger hunts, and whatever other winter activities–ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing–the weather permits. The event, which runs from 10 am-4 pm, is free. Dress for the weather and consider carpooling—parking is limited.
Lynden’s 13th Annual Winter Carnival is sponsored by our friends at Davey Tree Expert. They are happy to be joining in the fun again this year and are offering some joy for your minds and your bellies. Swing by their table to enjoy a Tree ID activity; tree climbing gear; a chance to “Ask the Arborist” (a.k.a certified Tree Expert) your tree questions; and toasty cups of hot cider.
Pedro’s South American Food Truck will be onsite from 11 am to 3 pm, selling an array of Latin American snacks, lunch items, and hot drinks.
Orchestrated by Lynden’s Teachers-in-Residence (Katie Hobday, Hattie Grimm, Ali Berry), our highly participatory, artist-driven carnival offers something for everybody, from a winter walk around the grounds to myriad opportunities to try your hand at different projects. More than 20 local artists, many of them former Nohl Fellows, will be on hand to help us reimagine winter. There will be plenty of all-ages workshops to sample (young children may need parental assistance to participate). Take home an articulated snow paper doll, a miniature winter tree sculpture, a mobile, or a poem. Make a magick wand, an edible (for birds) bird ornament, or a charcoal drawing (after making your own charcoal). Warm up, when necessary, inside in Asmaa Walton’s Black Art Library. the branches of the wishing tree. We always end the day by dipping candles.
The 13th Annual carnival features an array of participatory artist projects. Milwaukee Kitchen will be on hand all day, inviting you to make s’mores and tell stories around the bonfire. Watch for their episodic friendly competitions for Traditional, Most Imaginative, and Best of Day S’mores. Brad Fiore will be dispensing maps to Grape Eater Journal, a literary publication materialized across the landscape. Hattie Grimm, co-organizer and bird-maker extraordinaire, leads two parades with her giant bird puppet. The parades celebrate Planting New Beginnings: you’ll be able to write your intention on a fabric strip and attach it to the bird’s back before picking up a drum or shaker and joining the festivities. Artist Mikal Floyd-Pruitt brings his signature Splash! event to winter carnival for Splash! In the Cold. Part gameshow, part collective art-making (answer some trivia, get your chance with a Super Soaker filled with dye), we will create a cathedral of color in our empty tent structure. The Everyday Feminist returns with another intentional seed spreading project, Inhabit Radiance. Together, we will create a work of ephemeral art, a spiral abstraction in a variety of seeds. These seeds will feed the wildlife in the sculpture garden and highlight the connections between all things. Anticipate the Lunar New Year with Sindie Ho by sending your wishes, hopes, dreams, or determinations up into the branches of a wishing tree.
For those wanting to learn more about Lynden in winter, Lynden’s Robert Kaleta will be leading a tree walk. Lynden educator Claudia Orjuela has organized a reindeer scavenger hunt that will take you around the grounds and she will also host an edible bird ornament workshop for those who want to make treats for the birds in their neighborhood.
Full list of activities and participating artists below.
More information, including schedule and artist biographies at: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/carnival
13th Annual Lynden Sculpture Garden Winter Carnival
10 am – 4 pm: S’mores Stories with Milwaukee Kitchen
Milwaukee Kitchen will oversee interactive making of s’mores along with fireside storytelling. The day will include two friendly competitions for Traditional, Most Imaginative, and Best of Day S’mores. (Categories subject to change.) MK Team: Paul Druecke (Nohl Fellow 2010), Anika Wilson, Flora Coker, Marcie Hoffman, Kristaleen Hernandez, Ariana Vaeth (Nohl Fellow 2017).
10 am – 4 pm: Grape Eater Journal by Brad Fiore
Brad Fiore (Nohl Fellow 2012) brings short stories into physical space to consider the material conditions of reading. This winter, it will be featuring stories by Brian Evenson, Jac Jemc, Sony Ton-Amie, and Marcus Spiegel. Explore the different sites for each short story around the Lynden grounds.
10 am – 4 pm: Tree Identification and Trivia Table with Davey Tree
Happy to be joining in the fun again this year, our friends from Davey Tree are offering some joy for your minds and your bellies. Swing by their table to enjoy a Tree ID activity with samples of different trees and examples of live vs dead twigs (can you guess which is which?); tree climbing gear, such as saddles, to learn what Davey teams use to climb your favorite trees; a chance to “Ask the Arborist” (a.k.a certified Tree Expert) your tree questions; and toasty cups of hot cider. The Davey Tree Expert Company is your local tree, shrub, and lawn care company. Their tree care experts, or arborists, are focused on providing reliable, quality services to improve our urban and residential landscapes.
10 am – 4 pm: Reindeer Scavenger Hunt with Claudia Orjuela
Claudia Orujela directs a scavenger hunt for wooden reindeer located across the grounds. Stop by the front desk for bells to hang around the reindeer and a clipboard to draw your discoveries.
10 am – 11:45 am: Snow People Paper Dolls with Kierston Ghaznavi
Work alongside artist Kierston Ghaznavi as she shares her unique paper doll-making techniques. You will make your own paper doll starting with a blank template and using markers, pens, colored paper, glitter, and a variety of other supplies – and your imagination. This activity is designed as a drop-in and is open to all ages (young children may need parental assistance).
10 am – 12:30 pm: Planting New Beginnings – Bird Puppet Parade with Hattie Grimm
Birds help create new life in the ecosystem. They disperse seeds and pollinate plants. What new beginnings do you want to create? Participants will write their intention on a fabric strip and attach it to a giant bird puppet’s back. Twice during the course of the day (12 pm and 3:30 pm), we will parade the giant bird around the Lynden grounds to send our wishes into the sky, playing drums, chimes, and shakers to celebrate. Things always become clearer from a bird’s eye view!
10 am – 1 pm: Mending What’s Broken Mobile Making with Emma Marie Mock
Things break. Fingernails, coffee makers, cars, bones, teacups, relationships. It’s impossible to go through life without experiencing some breakage. Mending What’s Broken uses sticks, twigs, and embroidery thread to create mobiles that represent healing for the small and large breakages of life – anything from mirrors to marriages. Participants can engage with their own narratives of loss and healing while they make and adorn a mobile to take home. Through workshops like this, Emma promotes the idea that creative and collective spaces are healing spaces.
11 am – 12 pm: Winter Tree Walk with Robert Kaleta
Robert Kaleta of Lynden’s land team will introduce you to Lynden’s trees in winter.
11 am – 1 pm: Fishing for Words with Kirsten Meier
Pull a string and fish out the words you are seeking to find. Kirsten Meier will craft an ice-cold poem on their winter-blue typewriter until their fingers freeze over. Release the fish back into the pond but take your freshly chilled poem home with you.
11 am – 3 pm: Splash! In The Cold
Artist Mikal Floyd-Pruitt (Nohl Fellow 2023) invites community members of all ages to participate in SPLASH!, the interactive, art-making gameshow. Line-up for a chance to answer some trivia… If you get it right you’ll be awarded a Super Soaker filled with paint to add a SPLASH! of color to an oversized abstract painting. Yay!
12 pm – 1:45 pm: Miniature Winter Tree Sculpture Workshop with Heather Eiden
Make a miniature winter tree with artist Heather Eiden by wrapping and braiding wires around a lake rock, then threading them with beads to create the effect of snow and ice. The tiny tree can be used as a paper weight.
12 pm – 2 pm: Inhabit Radiance (after Hilma af Klint) with The Everyday Feminist
“The more we discover the wonders of nature, the more we become aware of ourselves.”
–Hilma af Klint
The Everyday Feminist invites the community to help create a work of ephemeral art, a spiral abstraction in a variety of seeds. These seeds will feed the wildlife in the sculpture garden and highlight the connections between all things. Those who participate will receive a takeaway of a small bag of seeds to nourish wildlife in the spaces they inhabit.
12 pm – 2 pm: Bloom the Wishing Tree with Sindie Ho
Wish upon a star? Perhaps not that far—as the Lunar New Year is coming around the bend, send your wishes, hopes, dreams, or determinations up into the branches of the wishing tree. Together we will bloom a special plant relative who actually finds its fullest foliage in the winter time.
1 pm – 2:45 pm: Magick Wand Creation Workshop with Anika Kowalik
In this workshop, Kowalik invites you to a narrative-building exercise they use in their art practice. You will be participating in creating your own magick wand that is both unique and personal to you.
1 pm – 3 pm: Edible Bird Ornament Workshop with Claudia Orjuela
Show our feathered neighbors some love this season with the help of Claudia Orjuela, Lynden’s Bilingual Art and Nature Educator. Create your own unique edible (to birds) ornament using found objects, seeds, and other bird-friendly treats. This activity is designed as a drop-in and is open to all ages (young children may need parental assistance).
2 pm – 3:45 pm: Dip Candle Making with Jeremy Stepien
Make candles the old-fashioned way, by dipping a string in wax. This activity is designed as a drop-in and is open to all ages (young children may need parental assistance).
2 pm – 4 pm: Prairie Burn – Drawing the Landscape with Sarah Luther
Gather around the fire pit with Sarah Luther (Nohl Fellow 2011) to make your own charcoal and use it to create large-scale landscape drawings.
2 pm – 4 pm: Planting New Beginnings – Bird Puppet Parade with Hattie Grimm
Birds help create new life in the ecosystem. They disperse seeds and pollinate plants. What new beginnings do you want to create? Participants will write their intention on a fabric strip and attach it to a giant bird puppet’s back. Twice during the course of the day (12 pm and 3:30 pm), we will parade the giant bird around the Lynden grounds to send our wishes into the sky, playing drums, chimes, and shakers to celebrate. Things always become clearer from a bird’s eye view!
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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