October at Lynden

The sun is back out, the geese are grazing in large, sociable groups on the lawn, and the wind has set the canopy in motion. The elms are changing color at their own pace: some still predominantly green, the elm by the pond yellow and nearly bare at the top, others in between. Close to the house, the maples are beginning their spectacular show of color; farther out on the grounds there are yellows, pinks, and purples. Little Lake is full again, and small children are trotting past my window. It is a beautiful fall day.

If the weather holds for this week, we hope to complete the concrete footings for three sculptures: a new work by Richard Galling, made from a chunk of one of our fallen willows; a steel bottle tree made by Glenn Williams in collaboration with Portia Cobb as part of her Call & Response project, Rooted; and a Michael Steiner sculpture from the eighties generously donated by Nici Teweles and her late husband, Bill. More details soon.

While I encourage you to come out and enjoy the landscape and meet the new sculpture, I would also like to take this opportunity—in this early voting pandemic year—to urge you to make a voting plan and to vote. There is plenty of excellent information on the My Vote Wisconsin website about how to register or request a ballot, and where and when to vote. There are also numerous get-out-the-vote drives happening all around us: join in or start your own personal get-out-the-vote effort by persuading family and friends to vote. Local artists are organizing under the umbrella of the Wide Awakes Wisconsin. You can find them here: https://www.instagram.com/wideawakeswi/, and we will be sending out specific information to artists tomorrow about how to participate.

On a more mundane level, at some point this month we will need to shut down the outdoor bathrooms. We will then make the indoor bathrooms available, letting a very small number of people into the house—which remains closed to the public—at a time. You may also make a reservation online to see our current exhibition, Ariana Vaeth: New Work, which remains on view through December 23.

In October we continue to offer the now usual mix of in-person, hybrid, and virtual programs for adults, children, and families. Kim Khaira is offering a few more indigo dyeing days; Claudia Orjuela shares her final in-person programs for the very young; and Chuck Stebelton leads his monthly bird walk. HOME hosts two virtual programs this month. In Story Time we’ll be reading Stepping Stones: A refugee family’s journey, by Margriet Ruurs with artwork by Nizam Ali Badr, in both English and Arabic. And the Tables Across Borders crew reassembles for the Great Rice Community Cooking show, with featured chef May June Paw. At the end of the month we start up new sessions of our Art & Nature Lab for ages 7-11 (hybrid) and our Art Club for ages 11 and up (virtual). Sign up soon—space is limited.

The Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University has opened the 2019 Nohl Fellows Exhibition online, and you can visit it at your leisure here. We plan to offer more virtual public programming and to upload additional material to the exhibition site this fall, so you will be able to revisit often to learn more about the 2019 Nohl Fellows: Cecelia Condit, Ammar ‘Ras Nsoroma, Vaughan Larsen, LaNia Sproles, and Natasha Woods. You can also check out their Instagram takeovers here: [https://www.instagram.com/nohlfellows/](https://www.instagram.com/nohlfellows/

Artists take note: the 2020 Nohl Fellowship application cycle closes on October 8. Information can be found at https://www.lyndensculpturegarden.org/nohl.

October events, arranged chronologically:

The Lynden is venturing back into more in-person programming. All in-person programs take place outdoors. For the safety of all concerned, you must register in advance. Masks are required and social distancing guidelines will be followed.

INDIGO DYE DAYS WITH KIM KHAIRA
Thursday, October 8, 2020 & Friday, October 9, 2020, 10am-4pm
Thursday, October 15, 2020 & Friday, October 16, 2020, 10am-4pm
To see available sessions, click here.
Fee: $30/$25 members (all materials included) for a 45-minute session.
Registration: Space is limited to one person at a time. For the safety of all concerned, you must register in advance. Masks are required and social distancing guidelines will be followed. All cloth, dyeing materials, and gloves provided. Need-based scholarships are available: please contact Polly Morris at pmorris@lyndensculpturegarden.org to request a scholarship.
Join us for a personal, one-on-one, reflective indigo dip at the Lynden Sculpture Garden with artist-in-residence Kim Khaira. During your 45-minute session, Khaira will share her knowledge of natural dyeing with plant materials harvested at the Lynden, and will provide a hands-on experience with indigo dyeing. With tools and materials provided to create an indigo vat, together we will develop our skill in creating specific hues with indigo. We will produce three variations of blue, and each participant will also receive a larger piece of cloth to create a blue of your choice. Newcomers to natural and indigo dyeing welcome, as well as long-time indigo practitioners. Dress for dyeing. Bring writing materials and water; masks are required.

TUESDAYS IN THE GARDEN FOR PARENTS & VERY SMALL CHILDREN
Tuesdays, October 6, 2020 (Under the Soil) & October 20, 2020 (Colorful Autumn) – 10:30 am-11:30 am
Sessions meet outdoors. In the event of rain, a make-up session will meet the following week.
Fee: $16/$12 members for one adult and one child.
Registration: Group size is limited to 10 people.
For the safety of all concerned, you must register in advance.
The 40 acres that house the Lynden collection of monumental outdoor sculpture are also home to many birds, insects, frogs, mammals, and plants. Join art educator Claudia Orjuela for hands-on art making and all-senses-engaged exploration of the outdoor world at Lynden. We’ll consider a new theme each month, each designed to engage your child’s curiosity and encourage outdoor play, experimentation, and the manipulation of art materials. Tuesdays in the Garden is designed for children aged 1 through 3 and their caregivers.

ART + NATURE LAB FOR PARENTS & SMALL CHILDREN
Thursdays, October 8, 2020 (Imaginary Creatures) & October 22, 2020 (Repurposing in Nature) – 10 am-11:30 am
Sessions meet outdoors. In the event of rain, a make-up session will meet the following week.
Fee: $24/$18 members for one adult and one child.
Registration: Group size is limited to 10 people. For the safety of all concerned, you must register in advance.
Lynden’s Art + Nature Lab for children aged 4-6 integrates our collection of monumental outdoor sculpture with the natural ecology of our hidden landscapes and unique habitats. Join art educator and naturalist Claudia Orjuela for hands-on art making and all-senses-engaged exploration of the outdoor world at Lynden. Children and their caregivers are learning and discovering side by side. We will foster an environment that extends children’s thinking and wonder through play and inquiry, problem solving, experimentation, and manipulation of art materials. Different themes will connect Lynden’s environment and learning opportunities with children’s interests, broadening their sense of place as they expand their connections with the natural world and one another.

BIRDING WITH POET CHUCK STEBELTON
Sunday, October 11, 2020 – 8:30-10 am
Fee: $10/$5 members. For the safety of all concerned, you must register in advance. Masks are required and social distancing guidelines will be followed.
Join poet and birder Chuck Stebelton the second Sunday of each month for a small-group, socially distanced birdwalk on the grounds. Keeping to the perimeter of the garden, we’ll watch for fall 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 if you have them; no previous birding experience required.

HOME: STORY TIME
Wednesday, October 14, 2020 – 10:30-11 am
VIRTUAL
Join us for a virtual, bilingual HOME Story Time from the comfort of your home. HOME Story Time features children’s books written or illustrated by authors, illustrators, and artists who have faced forced displacement as refugees, asylum seekers, or immigrants. Designed for children aged 4-8, we end each session with an art activity from Lynden art educator Claudia Orjuela. Worksheets and handouts will be available for download. Scheduled to screen every second Wednesday of the month, HOME Story Time is a collaboration with the Milwaukee Public Library, the Islamic Resource Center, Hanan Refugee Relief Group, and Alliance Française de Milwaukee. Videos will remain on view once they are posted. In October, Claudia Orjuela will read Stepping Stones: A refugee family’s journey, by Margriet Ruurs and with artwork by Nizam Ali Badr, in English, and a community member from the Hanan Refugee Relief Group and in partnership with Islamic Resource Center will read the story in Arabic.

DOG DAYS AT LYNDEN
Saturday, October 17, 2020 – 10 am-4 pm
FREE. Visitors must adhere to our social distance walking visitor guidelines.
Bring your canine friends for an afternoon of romping in the garden.

HOME: TABLES ACROSS BORDERS COMMUNITY COOKING SERIES
THE GREAT RICE COMMUNITY COOKING SHOW
Sunday, October 25, 2020 – 2-4 pm
VIRTUAL
On Facebook live at https://www.facebook.com/LyndenSculptureGarden/.
Like the Lynden Facebook page to be notified when we go live!
The HOME Refugee Steering Committee at Lynden and Tables Across Borders invite you to join us for the second episode in our (virtual) bimonthly community cooking series. Tables Across Borders is a global food tour collaboration highlighting local refugee chefs and the cuisines and cultures of refugee communities in Milwaukee. The community cooking series is an opportunity for chefs across cultures to share tips and recipes from their own cuisines while also allowing us to explore how cuisines cross-pollinate as people migrate and need to adapt techniques and ingredients in a new homeland. Cooking is a place where we interact, exchange, borrow, and invent and imagine new ways of being with each other. This month we explore Karen rice dishes with featured chef May June Paw.

LYNDEN ART CLUB FOR YOUTH AGED 11 AND UP
Seven Wednesdays, October 28-December 16, 2020 – 3-5 pm VIRTUAL
(No class November 25, 2020).
Fee: $154/$112 members. Group size is limited to 9 participants.
Art Club is a virtual community of young artists who are independent in their art practice but value a place where they can exchange ideas and support and learn from each other. Students will design a long-term art project that they can pursue on their own, as time and interest permit. Weekly meetings will be devoted to check-ins and catch-ups, in-progress reviews, creative art challenges, and conversations about contemporary artists. Join our art community and share your work with Lynden art educator Jeremy Stepien and your peers.

ART + NATURE LAB FOR CHILDREN AGED 7-11
Seven Thursdays, October 29-December 17, 2020 – 3-5 pm
No class November 26, 2020.
Fee: $154/$112 members. Group size is limited to 9 participants. For the safety of all concerned, you must register in advance for the entire session.
Lynden’s hybrid Art + Nature Lab engages participants aged 7-11 in inquiry-based art and nature learning, problem solving, and creative making. Over the course of seven weeks, art educator Jeremy Stepien will guide you through a series of projects employing materials of your choice. Art + Nature Lab will meet outdoors at Lynden when weather permits, and on Zoom when it doesn’t (we will send out an alert each week, 24 hours in advance). IRL or on the screen, you can chat with your fellow artists, share your work, and explore the intersection of art and nature.

COMING UP IN NOVEMBER

A few events are set: birding with Chuck Stebelton, a dog day, the monthly HOME bilingual story time, and the next installment in the HOME: Black Lives Matter discussion series. We hope to begin offering more online workshops this fall, so stay tuned to our web calendar. We will be closed on November 26 (we are closed every Thursday).

We remain grateful to all of you who have renewed your memberships, or made donations—or both!–in these pandemic months.

Stay well, take care of each other, and vote!
Polly

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.