Lynden’s 14th Annual Winter Carnival
The Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, WI 53217, welcomes winter on Saturday, January 31, 2026, with a day of outdoor artmaking, studio activities, tree walks, scavenger hunts, and whatever other winter activities–ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing–the weather permits. 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, to magical encounters in the cold. The event, which runs from 10 am-4 pm, is free. Dress for the weather and consider carpooling—parking is limited.
Lynden’s 14th 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 on-site from 11 am to 3 pm, selling an array of Latin American snacks, lunch items, and hot drinks.
Artist Lillian Supanich has orchestrated the carnival around the theme of “holding.” She begins by asking, “What does Lynden hold for you?” and continues, “Holding is not an action typically associated with an outdoor garden hosting monumental sculpture. I’d like to question what the grounds can hold, how they hold us, and how they can be held. I want to work with artists and participants to consider the bounds of containment, and to find new ways of holding each other psychologically, physically, and socially.”
More than 40 local artists, several 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 vision board, or a hand-dipped candle. Drop into DK Community Nutz’s snowflake factory to explore new takes on seasonal crafts. Join Claudia Orjuela on the patio to make an edible (for birds) bird ornament or enter the orbit of Rosie Vandenberg and Lynden’s Face Painters for Demiurges of Karaoke and some face decoration. Warm up, when necessary, inside in Faythe Levine’s exhibition, Time Is Running Out.
The 14th Annual Carnival features an array of participatory artist projects. Milwaukee Kitchen will be on hand all day, inviting you to make popcorn and compose a poem with them: “Popcorn is a timeless comfort food and, for Winter Carnival, a salty prompt for a populist poem. It’s hard to imagine a culinary treat that satisfies a broader range of appetites.” Alex Witteman and Lily Wilke-Jones will be on hand to supervise the construction of a structure using “wattling,” a traditional building method. Pick up a branch and weave! Marian JA Vieux continues work on her “tree wrapping” installation, Circling the Pines, inviting participants of all ages to attach branches and wrapping material to a stand of pines. Artist Mikal Floyd-Pruitt brings his signature SPLASH! event to winter carnival again, this time for Splash! In the Cold’s Hold. Part gameshow, part collective artmaking (answer some trivia, get your chance with a Super Soaker filled with dye), SPLASH! will produce an array of colorful whirligigs in our empty tent structure.
For those wanting to learn more about Lynden in winter, artist-in-residence Chuck Stebelton will lead an Art of Birding walk that begins with a list of birds in Faythe Levine’s exhibition, and Lynden’s land team will lead a winter tree walk.
Winter Carnival will be filled, as always, with magical encounters. Supanich has put together an Alligator Alphabet Scavenger Hunt designed to guide you through the carnival offerings. The route will include six alligators and at least two pop-up sculptures, Alex Death’s T4T lovers in balance and Kara Waddington’s Leave This Behind. Cyclopes creatures will wander the grounds, dispensing Valentine’s in the form of wooden hearts, in Alli Smith’s performance, Cyclopes Send their Love. Kim Miller brings her BODY IN ACTION class to explore and work through how the body holds language and how language holds the body. These MIAD students will perform text and choreograph with poetry.
Full list of activities and participating artists below.
More information, including schedule and artist biographies at: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/carnival
14th Annual Lynden Sculpture Garden Winter Carnival
10 am-4 pm: Popcorn is a Populist Poem with Milwaukee Kitchen
Belly up to Milwaukee Kitchen’s popcorn bar and bring your creative muse. Paul Druecke and the Milwaukee Kitchen team are serving up campfire popcorn, based on audience input, along with an invitation to contribute to a crowd-sourced poem on the topic of personal preferences. MK is interested in the self-certain opinions that people hold regarding comfort/food routines. Everyone is invited to make a case for their favorites by responding to questions such as: “The best comfort food is…?” “When I need a sure-fire way to relax or treat myself, I … “ The poem will be recited at the top of each hour beginning at 11 am.
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: Wattled Hull Building with Alex Witteman & Lily Wilke-Jones
Help Alex and Lily build a sculpture using “wattling,” a traditional construction method. This ancient technique consists of weaving flexible branches and fibers into a lattice created by upright stakes. Participants will fill in the gaps with branches and sticks provided by the artists and will leave with a keepsake Polaroid to remind them of their part in this project and their connection to the land. Pick up a branch and weave!
10 am – 4 pm: DK Community Nutz Presents Snowflake Factory
Take a break from the elements with DK Nutz Community Art, a collective that hosts creative gatherings around Milwaukee. DK Nutz’s all-ages workshops support shared expression and communal learning, enriched by fine art backgrounds. Join us for some new takes on seasonal crafts. Guaranteed to earn a spot on your mom’s fridge.
10 am – 4 pm: Alligator Alphabet Scavenger Hunt with Lillian Supanich
Explore Lynden with your head down… tread lightly, because six alligators have been spotted on the premises! This hunt will introduce you to Lynden’s grounds and lead you to the other Winter Carnival activities and installations (such as Alex Death’s T4T lovers in balance and Kara Waddington’s Leave This Behind). The gators may be hard to spot, given the hibernating season, but scavenger hunt guides have been prepared for your safety.
10 – 11:30 am: Art of Birding with Chuck Stebelton
This winter edition of Lynden artist-in-residence Chuck Stebelton’s Art of Birding will begin in the Lynden gallery, where Faythe Levine’s exhibition, Time Is Running Out, is on view. It includes a list of birds that Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink observed, perhaps around their Fox Point studio in the 1930s: Hungarian partridge, Savannah sparrow, song sparrow, vesper sparrow, chipping sparrow, killdeer, Bartramian sandpiper, mourning dove, wood pewee, bobolink, wren, brown thrasher, catbird, spotted sandpiper, goldfinch, yellow warbler, red-headed woodpecker, meadowlark, rusty blackbird, red-winged blackbird, cowbird, flicker (yellowhammer), sparrowhawk, crow, heron, tanager, cardinal, pheasant. A few of the common names are out of date, and a couple are illegible, all the more charming for that. Chances are good that five or six species from this list are wintering over on the Lynden grounds, and recent sightings indicate that a few of the Eastern Bluebirds have stuck around.
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).
10:30 am – 1:30 pm: Demiurges of Karaoke with Rosie Vandenberg & Lynden’s Face Painters
Do you wear your heart on your sleeve? Do you have feelings you can only express with song? Need to exercise some mental demons? Come join the queen of heartbreak herself, Jolia, as she takes you through the quintessential catalogue of breakup songs. From divas to garage bands, it’s the universal experience that nobody seems to understand better than she does, she claims with belted broken notes. We invite any and all who witness our Jolia to chime in with the dear blue girl if you know any of the words. Jolia and Lynden’s Face Painters (our intrepid summer interns) will be available for face decorating so that Jolia won’t be the only colorful creature. Karaoke is more fun when no one is serious, so make sure to show up with some scribbles on your face!
11 am – 1 pm: Cyclopes Send Their Love with Alli Smith
The Cyclopes are coming to the Lynden Sculpture Garden, and they want to remind you you’re loved! Cyclops creatures will wander through the premises, delivering Valentines in the form of wooden hearts that are painted with encouraging words and wacky critters. They’ll be hand-delivered right out of a bag to anyone the Cyclopes encounter.
11:30 am – 1:30 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).
12 – 1:45 pm: Vision Boards with Heather Eiden
Each January, artist Heather Eiden invites her friends to make vision boards that manifest their goals for the future. This year, she invites you to drop into the studio to create a vision board of your own using simple collage techniques.
12 – 3 pm: SPLASH! in the Cold’s Hold with Mikal Floyd-Pruitt
Artist Mikal Floyd-Pruitt invites community members of all ages to participate in a wintery version of SPLASH!, the interactive art-making gameshow that we’ll Hold in the Cold, like snow in a globe! Behold a kinetic installation of oversized wind-spinners/whirlygigs made of artist canvas. Want to help beautify this blank slate with a SPLASH! of color from a Super Soaker filled with paint?? Then step right up and answer a trivia question from Mikal, our gregarious and hilarious artist-turned-gameshow host. Answer (in)correctly and a color-filled Super Soaker is yours to hold and spray! Yay!
12 – 4 pm: Circling the Pines with Marian JA Vieux
Artist Marian JA Vieux invites children, teens, and adults to share a memorable and meaningful experience as they contribute to her site-specific “tree wrapping” installation. Participants are encouraged to follow Vieux’s example as she attaches branches and wrapping material to Lynden’s pines. Circling the Pines, which will be completed after the carnival and will remain on view temporarily, keeps at its heart the trees themselves, and also the realization that the tree is an archetypal symbol of a spiritual center.
1 – 2 pm: Winter Tree Walk with the Lynden Land Team
Lynden’s land team will introduce you to Lynden’s trees in winter.
1 – 3 pm: The Body in Action with Kim Miller & MIAD Students
Students from Kim Miller’s THE BODY IN ACTION class at MIAD explore and work through how the body holds language, and how language holds the body. They will perform text and choreograph with poetry.
2 – 4 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).
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.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by Lynden Sculpture Garden
