May Events at Lynden
The Lynden Sculpture Garden is located at 2145 West Brown Deer Road. Admission is free. All events listed below are free unless otherwise indicated. Memberships, which offer significant discounts on workshops and other events, are available.
HOURS
EXHIBITIONS: GALLERY
and then down became up: NEW WORKS BY SONJA THOMSEN
Through June 1, 2025
May 31, 2025, 2-5 pm: Closing reception and gallery talk.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/exhibitions/and-then-down-became-new-works-sonja-thomsen
In and then down became up, Sonja Thomsen (2011 Nohl Fellow, 2023 Ruth Arts Alumni Awardee) weaves an intricate narrative across time and space, bringing together the legacies of pioneering women artists through a multidisciplinary exploration of balance, perspective, and maternal lineage. As she moves along “the spiral of time,” Thomsen collects and builds with women across history, transforming their stories into a constellation of interconnected works as she locates her place among them. In this first iteration of and then down became up, Thomsen deploys her research-based practice, and her own experiences as a woman, to illuminate previously unseen connections between Lucia Moholy (1894-1989) and Milwaukee native Hazel Larsen Archer (1921-2001)—two visionary women who shaped the avant-garde movements at the Bauhaus and its descendant, Black Mountain College. Thomsen’s work is grounded in a central question: What happens when matriarchy becomes the gravitational center? and then down becomes up is constructed around the metaphor of physical reorientation as an act of recovering balance. With each shift in perspective, what once felt down becomes up, challenging viewers to reconsider their own relationship to gravity and equilibrium, to history and the present. Similarly, her creative process for this exhibition involves evolution, metamorphosis, and repurposing. A commissioned sculpture, visible just beyond the gallery’s windows, is echoed in the interior space in small, light-modulating objects, large-scale mural prints and transparencies, and photographs.
WORKSHOPS & EVENTS
SLOW GROWING IN THE TIME OF TREES: A PANEL DISCUSSION
Friday, May 2, 2025 – 2-4 pm
FREE
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/slow-growing-panel
Artist-in-residence Yevgeniya Kaganovich and her Collaborators, Lisa Moline, Lane Hall, Katharine Beutner, and Jim Charles, will discuss the outcomes of the speculative projects undertaken by the Slow Growing in the Time of Trees Collaboratory. Katharine Beutner will read work produced during the Collaboratory. This event is organized by Slow Growing in the Time of Trees, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee C21-sponsored collaboratory formed to cultivate an interdisciplinary creative space that examines the long duration of tree-time in the face of human and non-human interventions. It is part of their Slow Knowing program series.
WEDNESDAY WORK DAYS
Wednesdays, May 7, 14, 21, 28, 2025 – 10 am-12 pm
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/wednesday-work-days
The Lynden land team is kicking off 2025 by launching a new series of Wednesday Work Days, a weekly volunteer opportunity on the grounds. Whether you are looking for a few hours of volunteer work or want a weekly activity that keeps you outside, you are welcome to join us on Wednesday mornings from 10 am to 12 noon. Projects vary from season to season; for the next few months, you will work alongside land staff to pull herbaceous invasive species in our natural areas, as well as help accomplish other projects around the grounds to enhance biodiversity and take care of the native flora and fauna. No experience is necessary, though you are encouraged to bring your favorite gardening gloves and digging tools if you have them. Water, snacks, and additional tools will be provided.
Friday, May 9, 2025 – 6:30- 8 pm
Fee: $30/$25 members. Pre-registration required.
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/scorpio-moon-walk
Join artist-in-residence Jenna Knapp and collaborator Sevan Arabajian-Ries for May’s Full Moon in Scorpio Sound Bath—our first outdoor sound bath of the season. This full moon honors the cycles of release and rebirth and invites us to shed old skins, feel what’s ready to move, and return to what’s true. Under the light of the full moon, take some time out of your week to pause and take notice of all that you’re currently holding, healing, and transforming. Relax into a healing sound bath and sunset candle-lit labyrinth walk.
BONSAI FOR BEGINNERS
Saturday, May 10, 2025 – 9 am-12 pm
Fee: $80/$75 for Lynden members/$50 for MBS members. Fee includes a bonsai tree, a pot, and a one-year individual membership in the Milwaukee Bonsai Society (for non-members).
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/bonsai-beginners-2025
In this hands-on workshop, members of the Milwaukee Bonsai Society will teach you the basic techniques of styling a juniper bonsai tree. We will also discuss proper care of your bonsai. As a new member of the Milwaukee Bonsai Society, you will have access to knowledgeable members to help you care for your tree after the workshop.
WORLD BONSAI DAY
Saturday, May 10, 2025 – 10 am-4 pm
FREE
More information:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/world-bonsai-day-2025
World Bonsai Day was created in 2010 to honor the memory of bonsai master Saburo Kato. World Bonsai Day is for sharing the peaceful, living art of bonsai and advancing international friendship and goodwill throughout the world. We celebrate World Bonsai Day by re-opening the Bonsai Exhibit at Lynden and offering a Bonsai for Beginners workshop from 9 am-12 pm. Following the opening, the Bonsai Pavilion, which houses the collection of the Milwaukee Bonsai Foundation, will be open to the public Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10 am-4 pm, and by appointment, from May to October.
Sunday, May 11, 2025 – 10-11:30 am
Fee: $10/$5 members.
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/birding-2025
Join poet and Wisconsin Master Naturalist volunteer Chuck Stebelton on the second Sunday of each month to bird by eye and ear with a focus on the life histories of wild birds. We’ll watch for seasonal migrants and resident bird species and seek out the best bird habitats to identify as many species as we can. Please dress for the weather and plan to walk in varied terrain. Bring your binoculars and field guides if you have them; no previous birding experience required.
DOG DAYS AT LYNDEN
Saturday, May 17, 2025 – 10 am-4 pm
FREE.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/dog-days-2025
Bring your canine friends for a spring walk. Dogs must be leashed and considerate of other visitors, canine and human.
GREENWOOD GATHERING: CARVERS’ MEET-UP WITH JEREMY STEPIEN
Saturday, May 17, 2025 – 11 am-4 pm
Fee: $15/$10 members. You are welcome to attend for the entire day, or for a portion, but registration is required.
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/carvers-2025
Join us for the spring session of Lynden’s Greenwood Gathering, an open-ended carving event where both new and returning participants can bring their current or finished carving projects to share with fellow woodcarvers. Gather around the campfire to carve, exchange ideas, share techniques, and draw inspiration from each other’s work. The gatherings will include occasional themed demonstrations and relevant garden tours. In May we’ll meet indoors, and we’ll take some time to explore wood fasteners.
HOME BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP
Thursday, May 22, 2025 – 7-8 pm ***VIRTUAL***
FREE.
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/home-book-discussion-group-2025
The Lynden/HOME Refugee Steering Committee book discussion group, moderated by Lynden’s Kim Khaira, is for those interested in firsthand accounts of displacement. We consider works of non-fiction and fiction, including autobiographical and semi-autobiographical works, by writers who have faced or are facing forced displacement as refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants. In May we begin Solito: A Memoir, by Javier Zamora. Newcomers welcome!
Thursday, May 22, 2025 – 10 am-12 pm
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/2025-garden-work-days
Join us for the first formal gardens work day of 2025. Aside from the cheerfully blooming bulbs and budding trees, there is not yet much color in the gardens. However, this is a critical time of year for gardening. In May, we will be in the tinctorial garden (a garden of plants that can be used in natural dyeing), doing our spring cleanup and spreading seed. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their favorite gardening gloves and digging tools (if you have them)! Water, snacks, and additional tools will be provided.
BONUS WORK DAYS: FORMAL GARDEN
Friday, May 23, 2025 – 10:30 am-1 pm
Saturday, May 24, 2025 – 10:30 am-1 pm
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/bonus-work-days-2025?mini=calendar%2F2025-05
Join the Lynden land team as we plant nearly 500 native plants into the river birch berms in the parking lot of the sculpture garden. These plants will help the structural integrity of the berms and the long-term health of the trees as the root systems grow, spread, and support the microbiomes of the plants. No experience necessary. Volunteers are encouraged to bring their favorite gardening gloves and digging tools (if you have them). Water, snacks, and additional tools will be provided. Sign up for one day or two!
BOTANICAL GELLI PRINT WORKSHOP
Saturday, May 31, 2025 – 10 am-1 pm
Fee: $58/$50 members.
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/botanical-gelli-print
Learn to make botanical prints with Claudia Orjuela using the gelli process. Gelli printing is a fun and accessible form of monoprinting that uses flexible, gelatin-like plates to create colorful prints. In this session, you’ll be introduced to the basics of gelli plate printmaking, using grasses, leaves, blossoms, and other items collected outdoors at Lynden. You’ll experiment with techniques that play with texture, layering, and composition to create botanical prints. This workshop is ideal for beginners or anyone looking to expand their creative practice. All materials are included.
CLOSING RECEPTION & GALLERY TALK
and then down became up: new works by sonja thomsen
Saturday, May 31, 2025 – 2-5 pm (gallery talk at 3 pm)
FREE
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/and-then-down-became-new-works-sonja-thomsen-closing-reception
Artist Sonja Thomsen will be joined by Meg Jackson Fox, Dana Feitler Director of the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, for an informal conversation and closing reception. Thomsen and Fox will discuss the exhibition and their ongoing research on Larsen Archer. The reception is from 2 to 5 pm, and the conversation begins at 3 pm.
SPRING PROGRAMS FOR THE YOUNG AND VERY YOUNG
TUESDAYS IN THE GARDEN FOR PARENTS & VERY SMALL CHILDREN
Tuesdays, May 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025 – 10:30 am-11:30 am
Fee: $16/$12 members for one adult and one child.
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/tuesdays-in-the-garden
Join art educators Claudia Orjuela and Denice Niebuhr for hands-on art making and all-senses-engaged exploration of the outdoor world at Lynden. Tuesdays in the Garden, designed for children aged 1-3, provides a nurturing environment where children’s curiosity and wonder are extended through play and exploration, and children and their caregivers learn and discover side by side. We’ll consider different themes, each designed to connect Lynden’s environment with children’s interests. We will encourage experimentation and the manipulation of art and natural materials to tell stories, solve problems, and develop relationships. Tuesdays in the Garden meets weekly in May and the themes are Meet a Tree, Nature’s Kitchen, Plant a Prairie Seed, and Gardening at Lynden
SUMMER CAMPS AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND NATURE–REGISTRATION OPEN
June 23-August 20, 2025
For information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/camps
Lynden’s art and nature camps for children aged 4 to 15 years integrate our collection of monumental outdoor sculpture and temporary installations with the natural ecology of our hidden landscapes and unique habitats. Led by artists, naturalists, and art educators, the camps explore the intersection of art and nature through collaborative inquiry and hands-on artmaking, using all of Lynden’s 40 acres to create a joyful, all-senses-engaged outdoor experience.
NOHL FELLOWSHIP EVENTS
Supporting artists is a at the core of Lynden’s mission. One of the ways that we support artists is by administering a range of grant programs for artists: the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists, the Suitcase Export Fund, and the Ruth Arts Mary L Nohl Alumni Awards. In May, we prepare for the opening of the exhibition of the 2024 Nohl Fellows at the Haggerty Museum of Art.
COMING UP IN JUNE
Plenty of big events in June: the opening reception for the 2024 Nohl Fellowship Exhibition at the Haggerty Museum of Art is on June 14; the Milwaukee Bonsai Society’s 54th Annual Exhibition is June 14-15; we Celebrate World Refugee Day at Milwaukee City Hall on June 20 (our accompanying annual exhibition of artwork by refugee children opens June 12) and kick off our HOME World Refugee Day celebrations at Lynden on June 22; and we open Thank God For Immigrants, an exhibition of photographs by Asher Imtiaz, on June 28. On a somewhat less colossal scale, the land team offers a workshop on the Ecology and Management of Invasive Species on June 7; the next installment of Stories As We Move, our refugee-to-refugee interview series, airs on June 26; and Jeremy Stepien invites carvers of all levels to a Greenwood Gathering (June 28). The land team will also lead a tree walk that day. During our Wednesday Work Days, we will be pulling herbaceous invasive species in our natural areas, and our monthly Garden Work Day (June 26) will be devoted to sprucing up the lilacs. There’s an outdoor sound bath on June 12 (Full Moon in Sagittarius); Chuck Stebelton’s monthly bird walk is June 8, and dog day is June 21.) Tuesdays in the Garden meets weekly in June and the themes are Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots, Feathered Friends, Decomposers, and Meet a Tree. Summer camps begin on June 23.
ABOUT THE LYNDEN
The Lynden operates as a laboratory at the intersection of art, nature, and culture. Since opening to the public in 2010, we have worked with artists, educators, students, and our community to create, support, and share experiences that integrate our collection of more than 50 monumental sculptures and temporary installations, Lynden’s community of artists, and the natural ecology of our 40-acre site. The sculpture garden is open to art and nature lovers of all ages daily, 10 am-5 pm; closed Thursdays. Admission is free. Learn more about visitor guidelines here: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/visit. Annual memberships are also available.
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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