November at the Lynden Sculpture Garden
We are closed on Thanksgiving Day, November 23 (as we are every Thursday).
Snow. But snow when so many of the leaves have not yet fallen. Driving home last night, I plunged into a windy swirl of snow and leaves. The snow is keeping everything in its place this morning, but the drips are coming down fast from the gutter outside my window. Snow coats the twisted branches of the elm closest to Big Lake: it lost its leaves early in the season and is now presenting its bare surfaces to the sun. The elm closest to the house is almost bare, but too upright for snow to cling. The elm in the center of the lawn is, like its location, midway: its thinning canopy left plenty of space for snow to filter down onto the gently splayed branches, and from there to the golden star sedge, Pennsylvania sedge, white tinged sedge, Jacob’s ladder, and shooting star recently planted below. Fortunately, the plants were mulched before the snow. This new tree ring is part of an experiment in avoiding root compaction for some of Lynden’s legacy trees.
With the snow, a freeze. This means the bonsai will be making their way inside (with a little help from their friends). The pine specimens will be undergoing some pre-storage clean-up next week before they bed down for the winter. A few more sculptures will be coming in, too: Samuel Buri’s “Des Vaches: Mo, Ni, Que,” and “Peristyle—Three Lines,” the kinetic George Rickey sculpture that perches on the ledge outside the pool pavilion, its long arms tipping languorously in the breeze. Trees have been coming down to give the oaks in the savannah breathing space and fall garden cleanup just became a lot colder and wetter. At the same time, a few trees are going in the ground before it freezes, and everyone’s hoping for another stretch of somewhat warmer days to get everything in order for winter.
Our ArtsECO reading early last month with poet and essayist Ross Gay seems a world away. A hundred people—primarily educators–turned up to listen to Gay read as the sun set behind him, and then joined Jenna Knapp at the Labyrinth for a candlelit walk. If you were not able to be there, or want more, be sure to register for “Actively Missing You,” the workshop Jenna and poet KP Kaszubowski are offering on November 11. They will commemorate the Norway maple that, until recently, towered over the labyrinth. Your writing may be carved into the remaining logs at a later date, allowing the tree’s history to live on.
If you’re ready for a lot of activity that day, Ceci Tejeda kicks off a two-part piñata-making workshop that morning, too. Sunday, November 12, is a similarly busy day. We start with a silk scarf-painting workshop with Leslie Perrino and in the afternoon we open “Products of the Heart,” an exhibition of work by artist and 2019 Nohl Fellow LaNia Sproles, with a reception. The artist will be in attendance (and will return in early December as a master artist in our Innovative Educators Institute, another ArtsECO program).
We have our last garden work day (mulching) and another natural areas work day (buckthorn, again)—these are both earlier in the month due to the holiday. The HOME Book Discussion Group continues to read Beth Nguyen’s “Owner of a Lonely Heart: A Memoir,” and HOME Multilingual Story Time features a book in Ukrainian and English. Tuesdays in the Garden meets twice, and a new session of Art + Nature Lab (ages 7-11) begins November 2.
We keep busy Thanksgiving weekend with a dog day (November 25) and another moon walk (November 26). Join Lynden educator Claudia Orjuela under the beaver moon and stick around for snacks and a bonfire at the end.
November is a busy month for the Nohl Fellowship. Jurying for the 2024 fellows is underway, and the jurors— Allison Glenn, Independent Curator and Writer, New York, NY; Misa Jeffereis, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri; Anisa Olufemi, Independent Curator and Fellowship Manager, Hamiltonian Artists, Washington, DC—will offer a free public talk on November 30 at the Haggerty Museum of Art. And what are the 2023 fellows up to? Find out about one of them when the UWM Artists Now! Lecture Series features Fatima Laster on November 15.
Keep your eye on the web calendar and the bulletin board as we add more fall and winter events.
November events, arranged chronologically:
Thursdays, November 2-December 21, 2023 – 3:30-5:30 pm (no class November 23, 2023)
ART + NATURE LAB—NEW SESSION!
Lynden’s Art + Nature Lab engages participants aged 7-11 in inquiry-based art and nature learning, problem solving, and creative making. Over the course of each seven-week session, art educator Jeremy Stepien will take you on a series of art challenges and studio projects. Art + Nature Lab will meet indoors in the studio at Lynden with occasional excursions in the garden.
Tuesdays, November 7 and 21, 2023- 10:30 am-11:30 am
TUESDAYS IN THE GARDEN FOR PARENTS & VERY SMALL CHILDREN
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. The themes for November include Artful Clay and Hibernation: Cozy Shelters.
Saturday, November 11, 2023 – 10 am-1 pm
Saturday, November 18, 2023 – 10 am-1 pm
MAKE A PIÑATA WITH CECI TEJEDA
With December approaching, it’s time to think about celebrating. In this workshop you will learn the meaning and the process of the traditional piñata, a vividly decorated container that you fill with sweets and break open at an appropriate moment. Over the course of two Saturday mornings, you will create a medium-sized piñata using the traditional technique of paper and Mexican paste. No experience required, and all materials supplied.
Saturday, November 11, 2023 – 1-4 pm
LABYRINTH SOCIETY OF LYNDEN SCULPTURE GARDEN
Actively Missing You Poetry Workshop with Jenna Knapp and KP Kaszubowski
Join artist-in-residence Jenna Knapp and poet KP Kaszubowski for an interactive poetry workshop celebrating the Norway maple that long provided shade and shelter at the top of the hill overlooking the labyrinth. Unfortunately, the tree had to be cut down due to a fungal infection, and its logs cut from the tree now cascade down the hill, offering additional spaces to pause and reflect. The fall invites us to explore times of change and loss, and the Norway maple becomes a metaphor for the transitions we may be navigating personally. During the workshop, we will discuss the labyrinth’s history, silently walk its winding path, and be led through poetry prompts to generate written material. There will be plenty of 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.
Sunday, November 12, 2023 – 10 am-4:30 pm
SILK SCARF PAINTING WITH LESLIE PERRINO
This daylong workshop will explore easy and artful ways to apply dye to pre-hemmed silk scarves. From simple techniques such as tie-dyeing, resist and salt, to interesting ways to make marks, we’ll let ourselves be inspired by the wonderful art and nature surrounding us at Lynden. Each student will create three wearable and uniquely painted scarves using this centuries-old painting form. A perfect giftmaking workshop for the holiday season! No experience required, and all materials supplied.
Sunday, November 12, 2023 – 2-4 pm
OPENING RECEPTION FOR LaNia SPROLES: PRODUCTS OF THE 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.
Tuesday, November 14, 2023 – 10 am-12 pm
GARDEN WORK DAY: MULCHING
Join the Lynden land team—Kyle Welna, Alyx Christensen, and Esther Portnoy–for a volunteer work day on the grounds. In November, we shield the soil from the harsh winter conditions by spreading fallen leaves and tucking in all the bare spots within the gardens. This leaf mulch—which we will till into the ground next spring before planting–will protect the top layers of soil, reintroduce nutrients, and boost fertility for next season’s barrage of flowers. Join us for one last garden work day as we say goodnight to the gardens until spring, jump in crisp piles of leaves, and enjoy the musty scents of autumn.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023– 10:30-11 am
VIRTUAL
HOME: MULTILINGUAL STORY TIME
HOME Multilingual Story Time is back online in November, featuring що змінила Рондо/How War Changed Rondo, written by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv, read in Ukranian and English by Karina Tweedell from our partner organization Wisconsin Ukrainians. HOME Story Time is a collaboration with the Milwaukee Public Library, the Islamic Resource Center, Hanan Refugee Relief Group, Alliance Française de Milwaukee, and Milwaukee African Women’s Association.
Wednesday, November 15, 2023, at 7:30 pm
VIRTUAL
UWM DEPARTMENT OF ART & DESIGN: ARTISTS NOW! GUEST LECTURE SERIES
FATIMA LASTER
More info: https://uwm.edu/arts/event/artists-now-guest-lecture-series-fatima-laster/
A self-taught interdisciplinary visual artist, curator and gallery owner-operator, Fatima Laster (2023 Mary L. Nohl Emerging Artist Fellow) broaches social-political subject matter from a Black American vantage point. Her goal is to produce resistance art imbued with humor or irony to disarmingly reveal rejected or overlooked perspectives and people.
Thursday, November 16, 2023 – 10 am-12 pm
NATURAL AREAS WORK DAY: BUCKTHORN (YET AGAIN)
Join the Lynden land team—Kyle Welna, Alyx Christensen, and Esther Portnoy–for a volunteer work day on the grounds. Winter is a critical time for managing buckthorn, one of the most persistent and prolific plant species that competes against diverse plant ecosystems. Buckthorn has characteristics that allow it to outcompete other plant species; it grows and matures much faster than other plants and rapidly colonizes, leaving little time or room for the growth of anything else. In November, we will be on the eastern side of the grounds, tending the understory of our, within the understory of our paper birch island by manually removing buckthorn using the “cut-stump” method. This will clear the area and relieve competition for future native plantings.
Thursday, November 16, 2023 – 7-8:30 pm
VIRTUAL
HOME BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP
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. Where stories of persecution, historical trauma, and loss of livelihood are effortlessly conveyed by storytellers, journalists, and humanitarians who search out or stumble upon the lives of refugees, we seek out the words of those to whom these stories belong: the narrators who are the closest to their own stories, and the stories of their people, friends, family and, of course, refugees. In November we are reading the second installment of Beth Nguyen’s Owner of a Lonely Heart: A Memoir. Newcomers welcome!
Saturday, November 25, 2023 – 10 am-4 pm
DOG DAYS AT LYNDEN
Bring your canine friends for our annual Thanksgiving post-prandial walk. Dogs must be leashed and considerate of other visitors, canine and human.
Sunday, November 26, 2023 – 5:30-7 pm
LYNDEN BY NIGHT: A WALK WITH CLAUDIA ORJUELA
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 beaver moon. A bonfire and treats await at the end.
Thursday, November 30, 2023. Reception begins at 6 pm; talk begins at 6:30 pm
TALKS BY 2024 NOHL JURORS
The three jurors who will be selecting the five recipients of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund for Individual Artists Fellowships (2024) will give a public talk about their institutions and curatorial interests at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University, 1234 W Tory Hill St, Milwaukee, WI 53233 (on the Marquette campus.) Come meet Allison Glenn, Independent Curator and Writer, New York, NY; Misa Jeffereis, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri; and Anisa Olufemi, Independent Curator and Fellowship Manager, Hamiltonian Artists, Washington, DC. The talk begins at 6:30 pm and is preceded by an informal reception.
COMING UP IN DECEMBER
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/2023-12
The sculpture garden will be closed December 23, 2023, through January 1, 2024, for the holidays. But before the end of the month we will be winding down our after school classes, squeezing in two last 2023 sessions of Tuesdays in the Garden, and airing an archival version of HOME Multilingual Story Time. Virtual HOME programs include the latest episode of our interview series, Stories as We Move and our monthly Book Discussion Group. Offsite, 2022 Nohl Fellow Inna Dmitrieva will host a screening, In Retrospect, at the UWM Union Cinema. Behind the scenes, the Nohl Fellowship jurors will be in town for studio visits with this year’s twelve finalists. The K-12 teachers we work with in our Innovative Educators Institute will meet for their fall reconvening, “Collective Memory.” Be the Change!, our year-long arts and leadership workshop with young refugee women and girls, will be meeting in the studio to work on projects about female refugee leaders in their own communities.
Ice skating in November?
Polly
11/1/23
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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