August 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

In August, the Lynden Sculpture Garden is open daily from 10 am-5 pm (closed Thursdays). Thanks to the generosity of our donors, admission is free. For complete information on events, visitor guidelines, and everything that goes on at Lynden, visit www.lyndensculpturegarden.org.

EXHIBITIONS: GALLERY

ASHER IMTIAZ: THANK GOD FOR IMMIGRANTS

Through August 10, 2025

More information: lyndensculpturegarden.org/exhibitions/asher-imtiaz

Thank God for Immigrants is a photographic meditation on presence, proximity, and dignity. In contrast to fear-driven narratives, these images invite viewers to see immigrants not as strangers, but as neighbors—rooted, resilient, and fully human. The exhibition challenges us to confront how we see and what we choose to ignore. It is a declaration of gratitude, a quiet resistance to dehumanization, and an invitation to stand closer. Born and raised in Pakistan, Imtiaz moved to the United States in 2012 for graduate studies. He is a portrait and documentary photographer currently based in the Midwest. Initially, he focused on documenting religious minority groups in Pakistan. In recent years, his work has centered on photographing immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, as they resettle in the United States. This is a HOME exhibition.

CHRIS SALAS: FORMS OF REMEMBRANCE

August 23-November 2, 2025

Opening: Saturday, August 23, 2025, 2-5 pm

More information: lyndensculpturegarden.org/exhibitions/chris-salas

In Forms of Remembrance, Chris Salas’s first solo exhibition, the artist explores material cultures as living reflections of ecological and ancestral relationships across the Americas. From ceramic, to dirt, to seed—what vibrant stories are held within their inanimacy? Salas’s studio practice is a search for a particular mental state – the engaged and unconscious divergence and convergence of ideas that imbue themselves into objects. These objects become abstracted forms of personal experiences, relationships, conversations, research – all of which currently revolve around time, place, and momentum—and are shaped by the pervasive presence of the history of colonization of the Americas. Their room-filling installation will bring the outdoors into the gallery and will include ceramic objects and sound elements.

EXHIBITIONS: OUTDOORS

THE BONSAI EXHIBIT AT LYNDEN

The exhibition is open Wednesdays, Saturdays & Sundays from 10 am to 4 pm, or by appointment.

More information: lyndensculpturegarden.org/Bonsai

Located beside Big Lake, the Bonsai Exhibit at Lynden—a collaboration with the Milwaukee Bonsai Society and the Milwaukee Bonsai Foundation–includes a display area for bonsai, waterside teaching patio, and pollinator garden.

EXHIBITIONS: OFFSITE

2024 NOHL FELLOWS EXHIBITION

Through August 2, 2025

Haggerty Museum of Art

1234 West Tory Hill Street on the Marquette University Campus

Open M-Sa 10 am-4:30 pm, admission free. (The museum will be closed June 30-July 5, 2025).

More information: marquette.edu/haggerty-museum/exhibitions.php

See below for July programming with the artists.

The exhibition brings together work by Nina (Afkhamian) Ghanbarzadeh and Roy F. Staab in the Established category; and three artists in the Emerging category: Justin Goodrum, Jovanny Hernandez Caballero, and Nicholas Perry. The 2024 Nohl Fellows were chosen in late 2023 from a field of 147 applicants by a panel of three jurors: Allison Glenn, independent curator and writer, New York, New York; Misa Jeffereis, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri; and Anisa Olufemi, independent curator and Fellowship Manager, Hamiltonian Artists, Washington, DC.

CALL & RESPONSE

More information: lyndensculpturegarden.org/callandresponse2025

Since 2015, Call & Response–a cumulative, cross-disciplinary, community-focused, artist-driven initiative–has brought together artists, scholars, educators, and community members to construct a space for artists of color to celebrate the radical Black imagination as a means to re-examine the past and imagine a better future. This summer Arielle Julia Brown, Folayemi Wilson, Reggie Wilson, and Arianne King Comer will be in residence.

HOME 2025: THE 7TH ANNUAL WORLD REFUGEE DAY CELEBRATIONS

More information: lyndensculpturegarden.org/home-2025

We begin our World Refugee Day celebration on June 20 at Milwaukee City Hall. The HOME Refugee Steering Committee at the Lynden Sculpture Garden then invites you to observe World Refugee Day in a series of outdoor events and programs at Lynden that celebrate Milwaukee’s refugee communities through art, food, fashion, and performance: World Refugee Day (June 22), HOME Family Workshop Day and Bombazo (July 19), and HOME Citizenship Celebration (August 9).

WORKSHOPS & EVENTS

INDIGO DYEING WITH ARIANNE KING COMER

August 2, 2025, 10:30 am-12:30 pm
August 2, 2025, 1:30-3:30 pm

FREE

More information and to register: lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/indigo-dyeing-akc-am

Join Call & Response artist-in-residence Arianne King Comer at the dyeing vat as she relates the history of indigo and teaches different resist-dyeing methods, particularly traditional batik, adire (Yoruba), and shibori (Japanese) techniques of designing on cloth.

WEDNESDAY WORK DAYS

Wednesdays, August 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2025 – 10 am-12 pm

More information and to register:

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.

HOME 2025: CITIZENSHIP CELEBRATION

Saturday, August 9, 2025 – 11 am-4 pm

FREE

More information: lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/home-2024-community-culture-citizenship-celebration

We join with the Community Center for Immigrants for a day of celebrating the citizenship and naturalization of new Americans from Milwaukee’s refugee and immigrant communities. Enjoy a free lunch prepared by local Afghan, Burmese, and Indonesian chefs and music from Wade Fernandez (Menominee), Kush Nazar (Afghan), Congo Gospel Music Band (Congolese), and Golden Melody Band U.S.A (Burmese). Naturalization ceremony begins at 11:30 am.

STURGEON FULL MOON SOUND BATH & LABYRINTH WALK

Saturday, August 9, 2025 – 6:30-8 pm

Fee: $30/$25 members. Pre-registration required.

More information and to register: lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/sturgeon-soundbath

Join artist-in-residence Jenna Knapp and collaborator Sevan Arabajian-Ries for August’s sound bath. 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 outgrowing, questioning, and longing to explore. Relax into a healing sound bath and sunset candle-lit labyrinth walk.

THE ART OF BIRDING WITH CHUCK STEBELTON

Sunday, August 10, 2025 – 10-11:30 am

Fee: $10/$5 members.

More information and to register:

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, August 16, 2025 – 10 am-4 pm

FREE.

More information: lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/dog-days-2025

Bring your canine friends for a summer stroll. Dogs must be leashed and considerate of other visitors, canine and human.

GARDEN WORK DAY: FORMAL GARDEN

Thursday, August 21, 2025 – 10 am-12 pm

More information and to register: lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/2025-garden-work-days

Join us for our monthly formal gardens work day. In August, we will weed, prune, and deadhead the annual garden, simultaneously collecting the plant detritus to create floral teas or bath soaks to take home.

HOME BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP

Thursday, August 21, 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 August we finish Solito: A Memoir, by Javier Zamora. Newcomers welcome!

ARTIST RECEPTION AND GALLERY CONVERSATION

Chris Salas: Forms of Remembrance

Saturday, August 23, 2025 – 2-5 pm

FREE

More information: lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/forms-of-remembrance-chris-salas-opening

We celebrate Chris Salas’s exhibition, Forms of Reception, with a reception, an appearance from Open Kitchen’s Milwaukee Masa Mole Mill (Mmmm), and artist conversation. Salas will be joined by Korina Victoria Hernandez, a curatorial assistant at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, for a conversation about the exhibition.

STORIES AS WE MOVE: A HOME INTERVIEW SERIES

Thursday, August 28, 2025– 2-3 pm ***VIRTUAL***

FREE.

More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/stories-we-move-2025

Stories as We Move launched in 2020 as part of Lynden’s HOME virtual platform. The series pairs individuals who have faced forced displacement in its many forms in a conversational setting. Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants interview those that have resettled to the United States, including friends and family that are based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as those that remain overseas. These interviews are reflections of relationships and conversations that we continue to have long after resettlement; they explore issues that our refugee friends and family members continue to face as they remain in their country of origin or interim country.

13th ANNUAL HARRY & PEG BRADLEY’S BACKYARD BARBECUE

Thursday, August 28, 2025 – 5 pm-8 pm

Tickets: $125 per person / $285 per family (up to 2 adults and children under 18)
Additional children: $35

Table options: $1000 per table of 8 / $500 per table of 4; VIP tables ($1250) and sponsorships available.
More information and to buy tickets: lyndensculpturegarden.org/bbq

Join us for our annual fundraiser to benefit Lynden’s education programs, featuring a feast of local, sustainable foods catered by Braise; dessert from Isa’s Artisan Ice Cream truck; magic from Matthew Teague; tunes from Caley Conway; and a mix of classical and pop from members and alumni of the Nathan Hale High School Orchestra.

SUMMER PROGRAMS FOR THE YOUNG AND VERY YOUNG

TUESDAYS IN THE GARDEN FOR PARENTS & VERY SMALL CHILDREN

Tuesdays, August 5, 12, 19, and 26, 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 August and the themes are Light and Shadows; Nature Meets Sculpture; Movement and Music; and Flower Friends.

SUMMER CAMPS AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND NATURE–REGISTRATION OPEN

Through 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.

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR FALL CLASSES

ART + NATURE LAB

Thursdays, September 11-October 23, 2025 – 3:30-5:30 pm

Ages 7-11

Fee: $154/$112 members per 7-week session

More information and to register: lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/art-nature-lab

Lynden’s Art + Nature Lab for ages 7-11 is a dynamic studio experience where creativity flourishes through choice, exploration, and personal expression. This student-driven program encourages participants to work as artists—selecting their own subjects, materials, and approaches while developing confidence in their creative process. With access to a wide variety of tools and media, participants experiment, problem-solve, and refine their ideas into works of art while sharing inspiration, taking creative risks, and growing together in a supportive art community.

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.

2024 NOHL FELLOWS EXHIBITION

Through August 2, 2025

Haggerty Museum of Art, 1234 West Tory Hill Street on the Marquette University Campus

Open M-Sa 10 am-4:30 pm, admission free. (The museum will be closed June 30-July 5, 2025).

More information: https://www.marquette.edu/haggerty-museum/exhibitions.php

The exhibition brings together work by Nina (Afkhamian) Ghanbarzadeh and Roy F. Staab in the Established category; and three artists in the Emerging category: Justin Goodrum, Jovanny Hernandez Caballero, and Nicholas Perry. The 2024 Nohl Fellows were chosen in late 2023 from a field of 147 applicants by a panel of three jurors: Allison Glenn, independent curator and writer, New York, New York; Misa Jeffereis, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri; and Anisa Olufemi, independent curator and Fellowship Manager, Hamiltonian Artists, Washington, DC.

COMING UP IN SEPTEMBER

The sculpture garden will be closed September 1 for the holiday. The next day, September 2, we open the 2026 application cycle of the Nohl Fellowship program for visual artists. Our fall classes for children resume in September: Art + Nature Lab (ages 7-11) meets on Thursday afternoons beginning September 11. Tuesdays in the Garden continues to meet weekly, and Creative Time for Families resumes on September 21. For adults, Kellen “Klassik” Abston offers KLASSROOM, his hands-on songwriting workshop, on September 13 and Jeremy Stepien hosts a Greenwood Gathering on September 27. Artist-in-residence Jenna Knapp and Sevan Arabajian-Ries return for a corn moon sound bath and labyrinth walk on September 5. The HOME Book Discussion Group will begin a new book on September 18—come join us. We’ll be going turning to fall tasks on our Wednesday Work Days and we’ll be sprucing up the garden along the bluestone walkway during the garden work day (September 25). We end the month by participating in Doors Open on Saturday, September 27.

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.