February Events at the Lynden Sculpture Garden
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
The Lynden Sculpture Garden is open daily from 10 am-5 pm (closed Thursdays). Thanks to the generosity of our donors, admission is free at this time. For complete information on events, visitor guidelines, and everything that goes on at Lynden, visit lyndensculpturegarden.org.
A NOTE ON ICE SKATING
We will offer ice skating on one of the ponds at Lynden on Saturdays and Sundays when weather and ice conditions permit. Please visit us on Facebook for ice skating updates.
EXHIBITIONS: GALLERY
LaNia SPROLES: PRODUCTS OF THE HEART
Through February 25, 2024
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/exhibitions/lania-sproles-products-heart
The portraits in Products of the Heart are recent, finished between 2021 and 2023. They employ various methods of making—painting, drawing, printmaking, collage–and reveal the artist’s fascination with kinship. From the baroque, dimensional frames she incorporates into the earlier portraits to the patterned, nature-inflected backgrounds of the most recent work, Sproles builds vivid environments to establish each subject’s emotional complexity. What she describes as “displays of sentiments” transform her subjects into “monumental emblems”; portraits that stretch across the surface of the wall can also operate like landscapes. These portraits are acts of reclamation, an answer to our imprinted faith that marginalized bodies are not sites of credence and power. Of her subjects, Sproles writes: “Their direct qualm gazes remind the viewer to spectate diligently and for the subjects to secure refuge in their dreamscapes. The nostalgic overtone entwined with fantastical elements solidify the playful adoration vital for these relationships of mine to thrive. Collectively, these figures pay homage to the importance of preserving one’s humanity through carefully maintained curiosity.” Sproles was a 2019 Nohl Fellow in the emerging category.
WORKSHOPS & EVENTS
LABYRINTH SOCIETY OF LYNDEN SCULPTURE GARDEN
Actively Missing You Poetry Workshop with Jenna Knapp and KP Kaszubowski
Saturday, February 3, 2024 – 1-4 pm
Fee: $20/$15 members. Scholarship assistance available.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/lsolsg-actively-missing-you-feb-2024
Join artist-in-residence Jenna Knapp and poet KP Kaszubowski for their second interactive poetry workshop at the garden following fall’s first iteration of Actively Missing You. Together, we will continue to honor and celebrate the life of the Norway maple that long provided shade and shelter at the top of the hill overlooking the labyrinth. February invites us to hibernate in our safe spaces, nestle into home and sink into being with ourselves as we allow quiet and slow change to take place through the darkest season, curious as to who we will be when we emerge from the winter with more light and warmth. In this second iteration of Actively Missing You, we will continue to explore themes of grief, change and loss, but this time through the lens of transformation and personal evolution: shedding layers to make room for new growth in anticipation of spring. During the workshop, we will discuss the labyrinth’s history, silently walk its winding path, and use poetry prompts to generate more written material. There will be time to share and reflect together as a group, and you’ll have the option to contribute your writing to be engraved into the logs at a later date, allowing the Norway maple’s history to live on. Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of writing experience.
KAVEH AKBAR IN CONVERSATION WITH NINA GHANBARZADEH
Tuesday, February 13, 2024 – 6:30 pm
FREE but registration is required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kaveh-akbar-author-of-martyr-an-in-person-boswell-event-tickets-773329006877?aff=oddtdtcreator
This event takes place at Boswell Book Company, 2559 North Downer Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/kaveh-akbar
HOME joins Boswell Book Company in hosting Kaveh Akbar, an award-winning poet and now author of the stunning debut novel Martyr!, an electrifying, funny, and wholly original book about faith, addiction, art, life, and death. He will be joined in conversation by artist and 2024 Nohl Fellow Nina Ghanbarzadeh. In Akbar’s first novel, the newly sober, orphaned son of an Iranian immigrant grapples with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s death in a plane shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf, and his father’s life in America, one circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past, including an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death and his mother, who may not have been who or what she seemed.
DOG DAYS AT LYNDEN
Saturday, February 17, 2024 – 10 am-4 pm
FREE.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/dog-days
Bring your canine friends for a belated Valentine’s Day walk. Dogs must be leashed and considerate of other visitors, canine and human.
HOME at the 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF FILMS IN FRENCH: Dounia et la princesse d’Alep
Sunday, February 18, 2024, at 3 pm
FREE
This event takes place at UW-Milwaukee Union Theatre, 2200 East Kenwood Boulevard,
Milwaukee, WI 53211.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/dounia-et-la-princesse-d%E2%80%99alep
HOME joins the Festival of Films in French at UWM by sponsoring a screening of Dounia et la princesse d’Alep, directed by Marya Zarif / André Kadi (2022). After losing her mother to the war, 6-year-old Dounia flees Aleppo with her family. Sustained by the music, cuisine, dances, and stories of her Syrian culture, supported by the women of her entourage, and believing in the Princess of Aleppo, she holds onto a few magical nigella seeds as she journeys towards a new life.
HOME BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP
Thursday, February 22, 2024 – 7-8 pm
VIRTUAL
FREE.
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/home-book-discussion-group-2024
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 February we continue No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison, by Behrouz Boochani. Newcomers welcome!
LYNDEN BY NIGHT: A WALK WITH CLAUDIA ORJUELA
Saturday, February 24, 2023 – 6-7:30 pm
Fee: $10 per session/$5 per session for Lynden members. Children under 6 are free.
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/lynden-night-feb-2024
Come walk Lynden’s grounds with educator Claudia Orjuela, who will introduce you to the mysteries and unique features of outdoor life after dark. Discover the sights and sounds of the night in Lynden’s back acres and observe our monumental sculptures beneath the light of the snow moon. A bonfire and treats await at the end.
HOME at the 27th ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF FILMS IN FRENCH: Ru
Sunday, February 25, 2024, at 5 pm
FREE
This event takes place at UW-Milwaukee Union Theatre, 2200 East Kenwood Boulevard,
Milwaukee, WI 53211.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/ru
HOME joins the Festival of Films in French at UWM by sponsoring a screening of Ru, directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud (2023). Adapted from the eponymous autobiographical novel by Kim Thúy, Ru follows the migratory journey of a young Vietnamese girl and her family to Quebec. After a dangerous sea crossing and a stay in a Malaysian refugee camp, they are warmly welcomed by their sponsor family and she slowly learns and grows to accept her new culture.
WINTER PROGRAMS FOR THE YOUNG AND VERY YOUNG
LYNDEN ART CLUB
Wednesdays through May 1, 2024 – 3:30-5:30 pm (late registrations accepted)
Ages 12 and up
Fee: $352/$256 members per 16-week session
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/lynden-art-club
Art club is a community of young artists who are independent in their art practice but value a place to exchange ideas and support, and to learn from one another. Students will design a long-term independent art project at the beginning of the session and meet for in-progress reviews, take part in creative art challenges, have conversations about contemporary artists, and discuss their work with Lynden educators and their peers. Students will present their work at our final art club meeting.
CREATIVE TIME FOR FAMILIES
Sunday, February 11, 2024 – 12:30-2:30 pm
FREE but registration encouraged.
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/creative-time-families
From February to April, Lynden offers free, monthly, drop-in workshops for families. Stop by for engaging, hands-on activities that bring art and nature to life. Whether you make a quick visit or stay the entire two hours, count on spending some quality creative time with family and friends. In February you can create a sculptural magnet from air-dry clay for your refrigerator. Get creative with shapes, patterns, and colors to make your magnet truly unique.
TUESDAYS IN THE GARDEN FOR PARENTS & VERY SMALL CHILDREN
Tuesdays, February 13 & 27, 2024 – 10:30 am-11:30 am
Sessions meet outdoors.
Fee: $16/$12 members for one adult and one child.
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/tuesdays
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.
HOME: MULTILINGUAL STORY TIME
Wednesday, February 21, 2024– 10:30-11 am
VIRTUAL
Ages 4-8
FREE
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/home-multilingual-story-time-2024
In February The Boy Without a Name, written by Idries Shah and illustrated by Mona Caron, will be read in Dari/Afghan Persian and English. The story is followed by an artmaking activity with Claudia Orjuela. Ages 4-8.
SUMMER CAMPS AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND NATURE—REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 29
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. Information and registration will be posted in January.
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.
COMING UP IN MARCH
The sculpture garden will be closed on March 31, 2024.
In March we offer Lynden by Night, our monthly moon walk, on March 24, and dog day on March 16. A new session of the weekly Art + Nature Lab (ages 7-11) begins on March 7. Drop in on March 10 for Creative Time, our family workshop (we’ll be making upcycled wind chimes). Tuesdays in the Garden is back to meeting each Tuesday in March. The themes are Loose Parts, Feathered Friends, Sweet Maple Trees, and Life Cycles: Colorful Eggs. Stories as We Move, our refugee-to-refugee interview series, airs a new episode on March 6. Home Story Time is on March 20; we will read Un Jour, Tu Découvriras…/The Day You Began, written by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Rafael López, in French and English. The HOME Book Discussion Group continues reading No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison, by Behrouz Boochani (March 21).
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. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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