November 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 November, the Lynden Sculpture Garden is open daily from 10 am-5 pm (closed Thursdays). Free admission is made possible in part through the generosity of the Mangiamele Arts Foundation. For complete information on events, visitor guidelines, and everything that goes on at Lynden, visit www.lyndensculpturegarden.org.
We will be closed on Thanksgiving, as we are on all Thursdays.
EXHIBITIONS: GALLERY
CHRIS SALAS: FORMS OF REMEMBRANCE
Through November 2, 2025
Opening: Saturday, August 23, 2025, 2-5 pm
More information: https://www.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.
Sunday, November 2-Saturday, November 22, 2025
Opening: Sunday, November 2, 2025, 2-6 pm
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/exhibitions/zack-pieper
For ten years, Zack Pieper has “haunted” public and private spaces across Milwaukee and beyond, creating large-scale mosaics and site-specific installations out of thousands of ghosts drawn on post-it notes that are then affixed to shopfronts or gallery windows. This yearly marathon drawing ritual serves simultaneously as a miniature gallery, a pop-up cathedral, a seasonal decoration, and an ongoing, portable, public lifework.
This year, Pieper is spending a two-week residency at Lynden, filling Lynden’s front windows with a mosaic of thousands of post-its—or “ghost-its.” Produced during night-time drawing sessions, the ghost-its are carefully arranged in our windows by day. Viewable every day (except Thursdays) from 10 am to 5 pm starting November 2, GHOST GARDEN will be at its spookiest as the sun goes down and the site-specific installation is illuminated by light within the house.
FAYTHE LEVINE: TIME IS RUNNING OUT
November 15, 2025-March 14, 2026
Opening: Saturday, November 15, 2025, 2-5 pm
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/exhibitions/faythe-levine
In Time is Running Out, artist, curator, and researcher Faythe Levine illuminates the collective lives of Charlotte Partridge (1882-1975) and Miriam Frink (1892-1977), two women who shaped Milwaukee’s cultural landscape in the twentieth century. For over fifty years, their intertwined devotion to each other and to Wisconsin—as co-founders of the Layton School of Art, participants in the Federal Art Project, and as members of numerous civic clubs and organizations—had a profound impact on greater Milwaukee. Their groundbreaking contributions and extensive networks continue to resonate today. Through an act of excavation and reimagination, Levine restores Partridge and Frink to a more prominent place in our narrative of Milwaukee’s past. Using archival materials, objects, and storytelling, Levine engages with lesser-known parts of their history. She explores their legacy through four themes: domesticity, creativity, partnership, and community, and four tropes: The Studio, The Sketchbook, The Metal Object, and The Protégé, each an entry point into an intimate, lifelong collaboration.
WORKSHOPS & EVENTS
ZACK PIEPER: GHOST GARDEN OPENING AND OUT THERE MUSIC PERFORMANCES
Sunday, November 2, 2025, 2-6 pm
FREE
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/zack-pieper-opening
Lynden celebrates spooky season with Zack Pieper’s site-specific GHOST GARDEN, an installation made specifically for the windows of our main entrance. Join us for A Harvest of the Ghosts and, at sundown, a Ghost Illumination. The Out There series enlivens the proceedings with three spooky outdoor performances: Julian Lynch (Madison), Barbouille Hymn (Peter Barrickman, Xavier Leplae, Didier Leplae, Andrew Kaiser – Milwaukee), and “A Crushed Rose” (Alisa Rodriguez – Milwaukee). Enjoy hot cider, smores, and bonfires as the sun goes down and the GHOST GARDEN comes alive. Dress for the weather (feel free to give your Halloween costume one more outing) and consider carpooling—parking is limited and it’s better for the planet. GHOST GARDEN remains on view through November 22, 2025.
Tuesday, November 4, 2025 – 10:30 am-12 pm
Fee: FREE, but registration highly encouraged.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/knit-at-lynden
Join Annalesa Albright for a morning of multigenerational knitting and good company. Bring your latest project or yarn from your stash to cast on something fresh. We can inspire each other and share our stories while we knit in the beautiful gallery at Lynden. This is not an instructional workshop, but all skill levels are welcome, from washcloth-makers to cabled-sweater-proficients. Annalesa will share some of her favorite patterns, and snacks will be served. Annalesa’s mother taught her to knit at a very young age, and she has been knitting ever since—though she describes her technical skills as at a “watch a how-to video every time” level. Consequently, she likes the idea of passing on the skill to the younger generation. Children with the concentration to learn to knit (or to keep themselves quietly occupied while others indulge) are welcome.
WEDNESDAY WORK DAYS
Wednesdays, November 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2025 – 10 am-12 pm
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/wednesday-work-days
Wednesday Work Days are a weekly volunteer opportunity to work with Lynden’s land team 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 control woody 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.
Wednesday, November 5, 2025 – 6:30-7:30 pm (reception begins at 5:30 pm)
FREE, but registration required.
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/kellen-abston-ark-performance
Artist-in-residence Kellen “KLASSIK” Abston mounts the first iteration of THE ARK: an audio-visual performance he is developing to frame and present new work exploring the concept of Black Pastoral Sonic Landscape Painting. The unique and distinctive performance is the culmination of his Lynden residency and the “KLASSROOM” sessions he offered to the public. This semi-immersive experience will transport guests into a visual pastoral landscape through mapped projections washed across the Lynden gallery, sourced from, and inspired by, media collected during the KLASSROOM workshops. Bringing nature inside the gallery walls, Lynden’s fauna and foliage will serve as a visual backdrop to KLASSIK’S dynamic practice of live musical performance.
LYNDEN BY NIGHT: A WALK WITH ESTHER PORTNOY
Saturday, November 8, 2025, at 5 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-nov-2025
Come walk Lynden’s grounds with Esther Portnoy of the land team. She 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.
GARDEN WORK DAY: FORMAL GARDEN
Thursday, November 13, 2025 – 10 am-12 pm
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/2025-garden-work-days
Join us for our monthly formal gardens work day. Join us for one last garden work day as we say goodnight to the gardens until spring, mulching them with leaves, and enjoying the musty scents of autumn.
Saturday, November 15, 2025, 2-5 pm (Gallery Talk Begins at 3 pm)
FREE
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/faythe-levine-reception
Join artist Faythe Levine for a gallery talk introducing her exhibition, Time Is Running Out, followed by a conversation with artist and curator Seth Ter Haar. For the past several years, Levine and Ter Haar have been pursuing their own lines of research on Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink, partners, educators, and co-founders of the Layton School of Art. As artists and curators, Levine and Ter Haar approach the act of remembering as a form of queer world-building; they also extend their historical research beyond the page and into the gallery and the studio. Their conversation will move between the exhibition, shared research subjects, methodology, and the broader implications of their work. Together, they will explore how curatorial practice, archival research, and community work coalesce to unearth and re-present overlooked histories.
CREATIVE TIME FOR FAMILIES: QUITAPESARES
Sunday, November 16, 2025 – 12:30-2:30 pm
Fee: $15/$10 member per family (all materials included). All ages are welcome; children younger than 12 should attend with an adult.
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/creative-time
From September through December, we will be offering 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 November, we’ll make Quitapesares (Worry Dolls), small, handcrafted figures originating in Guatemala and other parts of Central America. These tiny dolls are believed to carry worries away when placed under a pillow before bedtime. We’ll explore their cultural significance and create our own unique worry dolls, using fabric, thread, and more.
NEW MOON SOUND BATH & ASTRO TALK
Wednesday, November 19, 2025 – 6-7:15 pm
Fee: $30/$25 members. Pre-registration required.
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/newmoon-soundbath-astrotalk
Sound baths are an ancient form of healing and deep meditation; they include various ambient sounds and frequencies playing in a space where you can hear and experience their vibrations moving through you. Everyone’s experience will be different: unique as you are, and according to what is needed most at the time. In this space, you’ll make time to pause, take notice of all that you’re currently outgrowing, receiving, questioning, and longing to explore. Your sound facilitator for the evening will be Milwaukee’s own Sevan Arabajian-Ries, musician, ritualist, spiritual guide, and relational counselor.
HOME BOOK DISCUSSION GROUP
Thursday, November 20, 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 November we continue with Bolla by Kosovo-born Albanian Finnish novelist Pajtim Statovci. Bolla is a fictional story detailing the love affair between an Albanian writer and a Serbian medical student in the midst of war and displacement. Newcomers welcome!
MAKE A FALL CENTERPIECE WITH ANNALESA ALBRIGHT
Saturday, November 22, 2025 – 10 am-12 pm
Fee: $50/$40 members
For more information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/fall-centerpiece
Join Annalesa Albright to create a long-lasting candle centerpiece for your table (or perhaps a gift for a host). We will use plants we’ve grown throughout the season (think dried florals and fragrant herbs) to surround a beeswax candle. The herbs will dry out nicely, allowing this piece to be used for the winter months to come. We will be working in a heated studio with open barn doors, so dress appropriately. Warm beverages and treats will be served. Ages 14+ (with attending adult), all materials provided.
THE ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT OF INVASIVE SPECIES
Saturday, November 22, 2025 – 10 am-12 pm
Fee: FREE but registration is required.
For more information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/ecology-and-management-invasives
Join Lynden’s land management team for a workshop that dives into the ecology and management of invasive species. Lynden staff use a variety of tools to manage invasive species including prescribed fire, prescribed browsing by goats, selective herbicide application, hand pulling, and more. The Lynden Invasive Species Management workshops are designed for everyone: from those with no knowledge of invasive species, to the backyard native plant enthusiast, to the professional managing many acres. Each workshop will be specific to the plants which are best controlled at that time of year. Participants will explore the identification and ecology of different invasive species, and the ways they can be managed. After a short presentation on identification and management methods, participants will have an opportunity for hands-on experience with some of the tools we work with here at Lynden.
GREENWOOD GATHERING: CARVERS’ MEET-UP WITH JEREMY STEPIEN
Saturday, November 22, 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.
For information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/carvers-2025
Join us for the fall 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 November, as holiday season approaches, we’ll carve wooden book page holders.
DOG DAYS AT LYNDEN
Saturday, November 29, 2025 – 10 am-4 pm
FREE.
More information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/dog-days-2025
Bring your canine friends for a fall walk. Dogs must be leashed and considerate of other visitors, canine and human.
FALL CLASSES FOR THE YOUNG, THE VERY YOUNG, AND FAMILIES
WEDNESDAYS IN THE GARDEN FOR PARENTS & VERY SMALL CHILDREN
November 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2025 – 10-11 am
Fee: $16/$12 members for one adult and one child.
More information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/WIG
Wednesdays in the Garden offers a nurturing and joyful space for our youngest learners to explore, play, and grow. Together with their caregivers, children will discover the wonders of the natural world and Lynden’s unique sculpture collection through hands-on experiences that spark curiosity, wonder, and creativity. Early childhood educators Claudia Orjuela and Denice Niebuhr will guide families through sensory-rich activities, outdoor adventures, and open-ended artmaking. Each week highlights a new theme, connecting children’s natural interests with the world around them. Wednesdays in the Garden meets weekly in October and the themes include Labyrinth Explorations, Colorful Autumn, and Halloween.
CREATIVE TIME FOR FAMILIES: QUITAPESARES
Sunday, November 16, 2025 – 12:30-2:30 pm
Fee: $15/$10 member per family (all materials included). All ages are welcome; children younger than 12 should attend with an adult.
More information and to register: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/creative-time
From September through December, we will be offering 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 November, we’ll make Quitapesares (Worry Dolls), small, handcrafted figures originating in Guatemala and other parts of Central America. These tiny dolls are believed to carry worries away when placed under a pillow before bedtime. We’ll explore their cultural significance and create our own unique worry dolls, using fabric, thread, and more.
LET’S MAKE TOGETHER! FOR PARENTS & SMALL CHILDREN
Tuesday, November 18, 2025 – 10-11 am
Fee: $20/$16 members for one adult and one child, all materials included.
For more information and to register:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/lets-make-together
Let’s Make Together! is designed for children aged 3 -5 and their adults. Annalesa Albright brings together her nature, craft, and parenting skills for a series of hands-on, age-appropriate making workshops. Art-making can be messy, and the group will spend time outdoors whenever possible, so please dress appropriately. In November, we will be making magical wands.
ART + NATURE LAB
Thursdays, October 30-December 18, 2025 – 3:30-5:30 pm
Ages 7-11
Fee: $154/$112 members per 7-week session
More information and to register: https://www.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 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.
UWM UNION CINEMA: NOHL FELLOWSHIP SCREENING
JUSTIN GOODRUM
Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 7 pm
UWM Union Cinema, 2200 E Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI 53211
FREE
For information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/uwm-union-cinema-nohl-fellowship-screening-justin-goodrum
In conjunction with his 2024 Nohl Fellowship, Justin Goodrum will screen early works, MHMBC, The Stigma of the Durag, AL Farming, and Bookend (a proof of concept for Christopher), exploring the intersections of creativity, community, and self-discovery. This curated screening invites you to experience his evolution as a filmmaker and learn more about his upcoming debut feature, Christoper, a powerful story about art, mental health, and the courage to keep going.
UWM DEPARTMENT OF ART & DESIGN: ARTISTS NOW! GUEST LECTURE SERIES
MICHELLE GRABNER
Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at 7:30 pm ***VIRTUAL***
For information: https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/artistnow-michelle-grabner
Throughout the fall and spring semesters, the Artists Now! Guest Lecture Series welcomes a diverse group of nationally and internationally recognized artists working across traditional, hybrid and emergent disciplines. Michelle Grabner is an artist, writer, and curator. She is the Crown Family Professor of Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she has taught since 1996. Her work is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, Walker Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, MUDAM – Musée d’Art Moderne Luxembourg, and the Milwaukee Art Museum, among others. Grabner, along with artist Brad Killam, runs the artist-run project spaces The Suburban (Milwaukee, est. 1999), and The Poor Farm, (Little Wolf, WI, est. 2008). Grabner is a recipient of a 2025 Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowship for Individual Artists.
TALKS BY 2026 NOHL JURORS
Thursday, November 20, 2025. Reception begins at 6 pm; talk begins at 6:30 pm.
Haggerty Museum of Art, 1234 W Tory Hill St, Milwaukee, WI 53233 (on the Marquette University campus)
FREE
For information:
https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/calendar/talks-2026-nohl-jurors
The three jurors who will be selecting the recipients of the 2026 Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund for Individual Artists Fellowships will give a public talk about their institutions and curatorial interests at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University. Come meet Anthony Graham, Senior Curator, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California; Mia Lopez, Curator of Latinx Art, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas; and Eileen Jeng Lynch, Director of Curatorial Programs, The Bronx Museum of Art, New York. The talk begins at 6:30 pm and is preceded by an informal reception.
COMING UP IN DECEMBER
The sculpture garden will be closed from December 24, 2025, through January 1, 2026, reopening on January 2.
Faythe Levine’s exhibition, Time Is Running Out, remains on view in the gallery (through March 14, 2026) and Zack Pieper’s Ghost Garden graces our front windows through November 22. Annalesa Albright’s knitting group meets on December 2, Sevan Arabajian-Ries leads a full moon sound bath and astro talk on December 4, and Annalesa will be back with Alyx Christensen to make natural wreaths on December 13. Jeremy Stepien offers a woodworking workshop on December 5: we’ll be making jam spreaders (a perfect holiday gift). The HOME Book Discussion Group meets virtually on December 18 to continue reading Bolla by Pajtim Statovci; earlier that day we release the latest episode of Stories as We Move, a refugee-to-refugee interview series. The Wednesday Work Days continue weekly through December 17. Wednesdays in the Garden meets weekly through December 17, and the topics for December are Signs of Winter, Feathered Friends, and Gingerbread Fun. Creative Time for Families takes over the studio on December 14 to make holiday cards and Let’s Make Together, our new program for 3-5-year-olds and their adults, meets on December 16 to adorn solstice candles. Dog day is December 20.
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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