Director's Note 2/1/13
With our Third Annual Winter Carnival barely a week away, we’ve turned our thoughts from ice skating, our first-ever homeschool day, another silk scarf painting workshop and the recent visit of author Ann Leary to the logistics of launching several artist projects, devising activities and entertainments for people of all ages, and second-guessing the weather. There is, of course, plenty more going on this month, and I have listed it all below.
Lynden’s Winter Carnival was originally conceived as an art project, and each year we invite artists to curate the event—keeping in mind that they need to preserve the participatory, cross-generational and wintery elements of more traditional carnivals. Along with the outdoor art-making we offer studio activities, tours, tree-walks, a scavenger hunt and whatever other winter activities the weather permits. Over its short life, we’ve noticed that the idea of participation has become more expansive: last year Gitte Bog used an online survey to gather soup ingredients and opinions on Milwaukee; this year we will have both real and virtual events prior to the carnival itself.
BrowderChromaticHiFive
The stars have determined that not one, but three major projects will unfurl at the carnival next week. American Fantasy Classics, the curator of this year’s events, has invited Brooklyn-based artist Amanda Browder to Lynden to make her collaborative and highly visible fiber project involving a truck and many yards of fabric, Chromatic Hi-Five. Browder describes Chromatic Hi-Five as an op-art starburst-based fabric sculpture that covers a cube truck, made from community donated and locally sourced recycled fabric—think three-dimensional quilt.
Front nAbr GFVORS1
Lynden Artist-in-Residence Ashley Janke inaugurates her outdoor nAbr Gallery—a micro-venue on the Lynden grounds--with Gathered From Various Other Reliable Sources, a project of Minneapolis-based artist Andy Sturdevant. The project references Lizzie Black Kander’s Settlement Cook Book, published in Milwaukee at the start of the 20th century. The book brought together traditional recipes—carried from many old countries—and the recipes of the new world. (It was also republished for almost a century, and often used to raise money for a variety of good causes, so you may have come across it.) In this new project Sturdevant reinvestigates the intersection of cultural memory and contemporary domesticity a century later by collecting and classifying our recipes onsite and online.
And this is where we need you (not just at the carnival)!
There are two ways to participate in Chromatic Hi-Five before the carnival: drop off your un-used fabric at Lynden during open hours (cotton, still fabrics, non-stretchy, colorful, patterns, bigger than a yard if possible); or join us on Friday, February 8 from 12-5 pm for a Sewing Day. During the sewing day we will be cutting pieces from the donated fabric and sewing them into starbursts. Bring your scissors; sewing machines provided.
Andy Sturdevant also needs your help as he collects recipes for Gathered From Various Other Reliable Sources. You can bring your recipes to the carnival or submit them online now. His installation--which he thinks of as a large drawing--will remain on view through March 16. Sturdevant will fill the nAbr gallery with a genealogy of local recipes, arranged in categories of his own devising (baking soda, bleu cheese, Bronzeville, canned soup, cashews, Chippewa Valley, East Side, Eau Claire, fathers, grandmothers, for example) and cross-referenced from category to category. Be sure to visit Andy in the nAbr Gallery during the carnival—he’ll be serving soup and bread made from Ashley Janke’s grandmother’s recipe as long as it lasts.
As I mentioned, there is a third project: Jessica Meuninck-Ganger and Nathaniel Stern will be on the premises completing an installation for their exhibition, Surfacing. They will be drawing on the porch windows and on strips of hanging fabric, framing a new view of the garden. The art studio will be open for wool felt marble-making in the morning and candle-making in the afternoon. We promise a fiendishly fun scavenger hunt, thanks to camp assistant Jenna Knapp, a visit from CHIPS, a local interview show, a tree walk with Sharon Morrisey, a docent-led tour of the sculpture, and a food truck. Watch or participate on foot, skis, snowshoes or skates (bring your own).
As usual, we will be adding events and activities to the Winter Carnival page right up to February 9 (American Fantasy Classics promise more projects), so check back often!
