Events Calendar

2026 Winter/Spring Session (Jan 14 - May 27): Wednesdays, 10:00 am-11:00 am
Fee: $20/$16 members for one adult and one child. Add an additional child for $8.
Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration is required. Register online now. Sessions move indoors in the event of inclement weather.
For children ages 1–3 and their caregivers

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.

Research from the National Association for the Education of Young Children shows that time outdoors supports healthier bodies, stronger minds, better sleep, and important social and emotional growth. At Lynden, we nurture these benefits by encouraging children to experiment with natural and artistic materials, tell stories, solve problems, and build relationships—all while having fun!

To view a list of the session themes, click here.

Fee: Free, but registration highly encouraged.
Register: Click here to register.

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.

About Annalesa Albright

Annalesa Albright has been a member of Lynden’s land team for five years. Her passions are gardening, exploring nature, and crafting (knitting, nature crafts, sewing). Using natural materials in her projects is very important to her. She has a formal education in local food systems and has spent years building her knowledge of local flora and fauna. Annalesa has a two-year-old daughter and is always finding ways to incorporate her passions into her parenting. She is eagerly sharing this confluence of interests with the Lynden community in Let’s Make Together!, a new series of workshops for 3-5-year-olds and their adults.

2026 Winter/Spring Session (Jan 14 - May 27): Wednesdays, 10:00 am-11:00 am
Fee: $20/$16 members for one adult and one child. Add an additional child for $8.
Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration is required. Register online now. Sessions move indoors in the event of inclement weather.
For children ages 1–3 and their caregivers

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.

Research from the National Association for the Education of Young Children shows that time outdoors supports healthier bodies, stronger minds, better sleep, and important social and emotional growth. At Lynden, we nurture these benefits by encouraging children to experiment with natural and artistic materials, tell stories, solve problems, and build relationships—all while having fun!

To view a list of the session themes, click here.

Reclamation, Photo Credit: Greg Kessler
Registration is now closed.

In The Reclamation, which premiered at NYU Skirball in New York City in April 2025, choreographer Reggie Wilson is reclaiming foundational ideas from his early gestural and “duet-ed” works and landing on provocative questions and surprises that respond to our current times. Wilson’s meticulous and rigorous kinesthetic reclamation process asks, What do you have? What do you keep? How do you make whatever’s left meaningful? And, ultimately, Is the reclamation of self necessary to build resilience?

The Reclamation is the fourth episode in an eleven-year relationship with Reggie Wilson and his company, Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group. The relationship is built around Wilson’s desire to maintain a creative presence in Milwaukee, the city of his birth and upbringing, as an essential part of his artistic practice. Working from a model we have developed with the choreographer, his company, and Lynden’s constituent communities, Wilson has been reimagining his company’s proscenium works for Lynden’s specific conditions and participants since 2015, when he joined Call & Response as a core artist: Moses(es), Citizen, and POWER. Wilson remakes each piece to traverse the grounds and to integrate his “second company,” the large intergenerational cast of local dancers and community members who participate in his residencies.

Program

Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group
The Reclamation
Lynden Sculpture Garden
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
11 July 2026 at 2 pm

Choreographer: Reggie Wilson

Costume Designers: Naoko Nagata and Enver Chakartash

Additional costume assistance for community dancers: Arianne King Comer

Fist & Heel Performers

Bria Bacon
Paul Hamilton
Clement Mensah
Annie Wang
Rochelle Wilbun
Henry Winslow

Community Performers

JL Carr
Carolyn Carter
Janiya Carter
Mary Ellen Chitwood
Evelyn Ray Cowan
Sofia Delgado
De’Shawn Ewing
Shaval Hinton
Katrina Hjelmgren
Tom Hjelmgren
Sam Lopez
Madeline Martin
Robert McDonial
Naomi Miller
Betty Salamun
Kantara Souffrant
Gwendolyn Sutton
Joan Luciano Vargas

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts campers, interns, and staff: Alvaro, Blythe, Bolanlé, Brisa, Christian, Damian, Ester, Leah, Malakhi, Mia, MiaLyna, Milan, Olive, Penelope, Ryan, Valeria, and Zanalis with Essense, Jaxyla, Addis, Elah, Miguel, Myles, Naema, Zoe, Aliyah, Ariana, Nielly, Xela Garcia, Claudia Orjuela, and Jeremy Stepien.

Music:

The Reclamation is dedicated to the loving memory of Lois J. Wilson, long time donor, and mother to Reggie Wilson.

Artistic Personnel

Fist & Heel Performance Group is a Brooklyn-based dance company that investigates the intersections of cultural anthropology and movement practices and believes in the potential of the body as a valid means for knowing. Our performance work is a continued manifestation of the rhythm languages of the body provoked by the spiritual and the mundane traditions of Africa and its Diaspora, including the Blues, Slave and Gospel idioms. The group has received support from major foundations and corporations and has performed at notable venues in the United States and abroad.

Reggie Wilson (Executive and Artistic Director, Choreographer) founded Fist & Heel Performance Group, in 1989. Wilson draws from the cultures of Africans in the Americas and combines them with post-modern elements and his own personal movement style to create what he often calls “post-African/Neo-HooDoo Modern dances.”

His work has been presented and workshops taught nationally and internationally including venues: Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York Live Arts, Summerstage (NY), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Summer Stages Dance @ ICA Boston (MA), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, UCLA Live, Redcat (CA), VSA NM (New Mexico), Myrna Loy (Helena, MT), The Flynn (Burlington, VT), Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans), Dance Umbrella (Austin, TX), Linkfest, Festival e'Nkundleni (Zimbabwe), Dance Factory (South Africa), Danças na Cidade (Portugal), Festival Kaay Fecc (Senegal), The Politics of Ecstasy, and Tanzkongress 2013 (Germany).

Wilson is a graduate of New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (1988, Larry Rhodes, Chair). He has studied composition and been mentored by Phyllis Lamhut; Performed and toured the US with Ohad Naharin Dance Company before forming his Fist & Heel Performance Group. He has lectured, taught and conducted workshops and community projects throughout the US, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean. He has traveled extensively: to the Mississippi Delta to research secular and religious aspects of life there; to Trinidad and Tobago to research the Spiritual Baptists and the Shangoists; and also, to Southern, Central, West and East Africa to work with dance/performance groups as well as diverse religious communities. He has served as visiting faculty at several universities including Yale, Princeton and Wesleyan. Mr. Wilson is the recipient of the Minnesota Dance Alliance's McKnight National Fellowship (2000-2001). Wilson is also a 2002 BESSIE-New York Dance and Performance Award recipient for his work The Tie-tongued Goat and the Lightning Bug Who Tried to Put Her Foot Down and a 2002 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. He has been an artist advisor for the National Dance Project and Board Member of Dance Theater Workshop. In recognition of his creative contributions to the field, Mr. Wilson was named a 2009 United States Artists Prudential Fellow and is a 2009 recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in Dance. His evening-length work The Good Dance–dakar/brooklyn had its World premiere at the Walker Art Center and NY premiere on the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2009 Next Wave Festival. In 2012, New York Live Arts presented a concert of selected Wilson works, theRevisitation, to critical acclaim and the same year he was named a Wesleyan University’s Creative Campus Fellow, received an inaugural Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and received the 2012 Joyce Foundation Award for his successful work Moses(es) which premiered in 2013. His critically acclaimed work CITIZEN, premiered 2016 (FringeArts – World; BAM Next Wave 2016 – NYC); both these works continue to tour. Wilson was curator of Danspace Project’s Dancing Platform Praying Grounds: Blackness, Churches, and Downtown Dance (Platform 2018) and created the commissioned work “…they stood shaking while others began to shout” specifically for the space at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery. In 2019, he curated Grounds That Shout! (and others merely shaking), a series of performances in Philadelphia’s historic sacred spaces. POWER which premiered in 2019 continues to tour and inspire audiences. His newest work is The Reclamation which premiered in 2025.

Naoko Nagata (costume designer) was born and raised in Kobe Japan. She worked as a biochemist before moving to New York in 1991. Since than with no formal training, she has been creating costumes for award-winning choreographers and dancers non-stop (Urban Bush Women, Kyle Abraham, David Dorfman, Doug Elkins, Ralph Lemon, amongst many others). Her work with Co- Costume Designer Enver Chakartash for Reggie Wilsons/Fist & Heel’s POWER has been placed in the permanent collection of Jacob’s Pillow. Most recently Naoko and Enver co-designed costumes for Raja Feather Kelly’s play FIRES. She also has just completed costumes for Ralph Lemon’s Ceremonies Out of the Air. Naoko has designed and constructed costumes for many of Reggie Wilson’s memorable evening-length dance pieces. She enjoys working closely with collaborators.

Enver Chakartash (costume designer) is a New York based costume designer and wardrobe stylist. He has designed costumes for: Tony Oursler, The Wooster Group, Young Jean Lee, and Half Straddle. Enver began collaborating with Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group in 2016. Since then, he has designed costumes for CITIZEN and consulted on costumes for ...they stood shaking while others began to shout. Working with Naoko has been one of the most rewarding experiences of his life.

Fist and Heel Performers

Bria Bacon is a 20-something, queer, performing artist. Although she is predominantly trained in movement art/dance, she holds passions and gifts in writing, sound-making, and theater. She has worked with Sally Silvers Dance, ChameckiLerner, Johnnie Cruise Mercer, Stephen Petronio Company, and Kyle Marshall Choreography, as well as Beth Gill and Rachel Comey in NYFW and Company Christoph Winkler in Berlin. As of late, she is a contributing choreographer and performer in the new immersive dance-theatre show “Life and Trust”. Originally from Munsee-Lenape lands in New Jersey, Bacon currently resides on Munsee-Lenape land in Brooklyn.

Paul Hamilton is a Jamaican-born Bessie-award dancer/choreographer who has collaborated with a wide range of choreographers. His longest ongoing collaboration, with Reggie Wilson Fist and Heel Performance Group since 2000, has yielded five original works: Black Burlesque (revisited) 2003, the Bessie-winning Big Brick 2004, The Good Dance: dakar/brooklyn 2009, the duet 2012, and Moses(es) 2014. With Keely Garfield: Scent of Mental Love 2005, Telling the Bees 2013, Wow 2014, and Pow 2016. With National Medal of Arts winner Ralph Lemon: Scaffold Room and Chorus 2015. For MoMA, he has restaged Bruce Nauman’s Wall Floor Position in the largest-ever retrospective of the artist's work and performed in works by David Gordon and Deborah Hay. Other notable performances include two Bessie-winning productions—Jane Comfort's 40th Anniversary Retrospective and David Thomson's He his own mythical beast—and works by Melinda Ring and Neil Greenberg. He has toured and lectured internationally. His work as a choreographer was seen in Kevin Beasley's Sound of Morning, Performa 2021 NYC, and most recently at Judson Memorial Church NYC. He is a Movement Research Artist in Residence.

Clement Mensah is a performer, choreographer, and educator born and raised in Ghana, West Africa. A true third culture artist, he has lived and studied in Ghana, the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom, where he earned his postgraduate degree from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance. Throughout his career, Clement has performed, taught, and toured with renowned dance companies across more than 49 countries. He is the founder and Executive Director of TIKoRO Arts, an organization dedicated to inspiring young people through African-rooted arts education. Clement has been a member of Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group since 2012.

Annie MingHao Wang (she/they) is a freelancer based in New York. She is a 2024 LMCC Manhattan Arts Grantee and has been Artist-In-Residence at Movement Research (2022-2024), Topaz Arts (2024), Marble House Project (2024). Leimay Foundation (2022), BRIC (2016), and the Atlantic Center for the Arts (2015). They have been presented by Pioneers Go East at the Out-FRONT! festival, Movement Research @Judson, Leimay's OUTSIGHT series, BRIC, Five Myles, and the Exponential Festival. Annie currently dances for Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group, Sugar Vendil, 水素co., and Marie Lloyd Paspé.

Rochelle Jamila Wilbun is a Brooklyn based dancer, choreographer, and doula from Memphis, Tennessee. She graduated from Columbia University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. Rochelle has performed for Ebony Noelle Golden, Jasmine Hearn, Jodi Melnick, Beth Gill, Maria Bauman, Joanna Kotze and many others. Rochelle’s work imagines liberation inspired by Nature’s cycles, folk practices of the African diaspora, and the physical and psychic realms of bleeding people. She has presented work at Judson Church, AUNTS!, Chez Bushwick, Triskelion Arts, The Buckman Theater, University of Amsterdam, and spaces across Turtle Island. Rochelle is elated to be part of Fist and Heel.

Henry Winslow grew up dancing in Bellingham, Washington. At 17 he moved to Oregon to study in The Portland Ballet’s Career Track program. He went on to study at a plethora of programs including with Limon, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Batsheva, Jacob's Pillow, and Springboard Danse Montreal. In 2021 he graduated with a BFA in Contemporary Dance Performance with an Emphasis in Choreography from Boston Conservatory at Berklee. He moved to Brooklyn after graduating where he began working with Fist and Heel, and John Passafiume & Kristin Vining Collaborative, as well as other independent artists. Currently he lives in Oakland, California, where he works as a freelance performer, choreographer, and dance teacher, and hopes to continue building sustainable and enjoyable careers in the arts.

Fist & Heel Board

Ann-Marie Joseph (President), Rhetta Aleong, Susan Manning, Joshua Sirefman, Jesse Wolfson, Reggie Wilson.

Advisory Council

Elise Bernhardt, Michael Connelly, Paul Engler, Germaine Ingram, Phyllis Lamhut, Martha Sherman, Megan Sprenger, Radhika Subramaniam, Laurie Uprichard, Ivan Sygoda, Charmaine Warren, Carol Bryce-Buchanan.

For booking information, contact Sophie Myrtil-McCourty at Lotus Arts Management 72-11 Austin Street, Suite 371 Forest Hills, NY 11375 Tel: 347.721.8724;

email: sophie@lotusartsmgmt.com; website: www.lotusartsmgmt.com

Funding Credits for Reggie Wilson/Fist & Heel Performance Group

The Reclamation was created with the support of a 2024-25 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency at Brooklyn College: School of Visual Media and Performing Arts; is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov. Also the development of The Reclamation was made possible in part by NCCAkron and other support in part from The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of Dance Place’s Alan M. Kriegsman Creative Residency hosted at the Kennedy Center.

Special Thank Yous

GOD; Ancestors; Ira Sutton Ewing; Lois J. Wilson, A’nt Jean, A’ntie C; A’nt Wilma, Uncle Rev., Uncle Von, Uncle George, Aba, Abba, Saba, David Wilson, Jr., Elaine Flowers, Phyllis Lamhut, Susan Manning and Doug Doetsch, Polly Morris and Lynden Sculpture Garden restaging Labs, BAM for their continued support, Ainsley Boisson, Deborah Thomas, Madeline Brine, Anne Miller, Sevenah Lynah, Herbert A. Bacon, Tayloria L. Grant, Deborah H. McManus, Anonymous donors, Sophie Myrtil-McCourty and Lotus Arts Management, the Fist and Heel Board of Directors, the Fist & Heel Advisory Council, Every single one of the Fist & Heel performers past and present for their time on this project, their commitment over the years, prioritizing and sacrificing, and their relentless talent. Blessings, Blessings, Blessings for the things they gave up and the infinity of things they gave. And to the Original performers of “Red Raspberry”, “Big BRICK: a man’s piece, “the duet”… as well as Michel Kouakou “duet-ing” physically with Reggie after the illness of Paul Hamilton and Elaine Flowers.

2026 Winter/Spring Session (Jan 14 - May 27): Wednesdays, 10:00 am-11:00 am
Fee: $20/$16 members for one adult and one child. Add an additional child for $8.
Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration is required. Register online now. Sessions move indoors in the event of inclement weather.
For children ages 1–3 and their caregivers

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.

Research from the National Association for the Education of Young Children shows that time outdoors supports healthier bodies, stronger minds, better sleep, and important social and emotional growth. At Lynden, we nurture these benefits by encouraging children to experiment with natural and artistic materials, tell stories, solve problems, and build relationships—all while having fun!

To view a list of the session themes, click here.

Fee: Free.
Registration: This discussion takes place via Zoom; advance registration required. Click here to register. Click here to see all individual dates.

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. Newcomers always welcome!

Book Sessions

January 2026-April 2026: Pick a Color is a novel by Laotian-Canadian writer Souvankham Thammavongsa that depicts the experiences of a nail salon owner who observes the two worlds that she occupies:as Susan, to one world, and Ning, to another.

April 2026-July 2026: Black Butterflies, by Priscilla Morris, was inspired by Morris's part-Bosnian heritage, including childhood summers spent in Sarajevo. This debut novel is about Zora, an artist who experiences love and loss as she navigates the devastating landscape during the Siege of Sarajevo.

FREE
The HOME Refugee Steering Committee at the Lynden Sculpture Garden invites you to join us for a series of free, family-friendly events that celebrate Milwaukee's refugee communities through art, food, poetry, and performance. Our theme for World Refugee Day 2026, selected by Lynden’s HOME Refugee Steering Committee, is We Belong/You Belong: Joy and Unity Against the Odds.

The HOME Family Workshop Day will features opportunities to learn or observe traditional crafts and their modern variants, explore Lynden’s landscape, browse the craft market, and visit our current exhibition, Warren King: Homecoming. Check out the full list of workshops and craft vendors below.

Please note: Although all activities are free, some workshops require advance registration.

Batik artist and indigo advocate--and Call & Response artist-in-residence–Arianne King Comer will run a shibori-dyeing session from 11 am to 3 pm in her outdoor dyeing studio. Sign up make a drum with Julio Pabon from 12 pm to 3 pm. Join the Multicultural Embroidery Circle with Faith Herr (Hmong). Paj ntaub (pah-dow) is a type of cross-stitch embroidery deeply ingrained in the history of the Hmong community. Faith, our paj ntaub specialist, will guide you through the process of making your own traditional Hmong paj ntaub as she explains the meanings of different embroidery symbols.

Using broom straw, stout sticks, and a range of embellishments, Call & Response artist Daniel Minter leads us through the process of making a broom. These brooms will appear in Minter’s upcoming exhibition at the Haggerty Museum of Art.

Create your own mini-Alebrije using "cartoneria" (also known as papier mâché) with Ceci Tejeda (two sessions: 11 am-1 pm and 2-4 pm). Alebrijes are colorful, fantastic creatures made up of body parts from different animals.

More outdoor activities begin at noon. First, learn to forage through the eyes of mother-daughter team Thin Thin Nyunt Nan (Karen) and Mala Nan Leth (HOME Refugee Steering Committee). Meet at the Thanaka Booth at the Craft Market and learn about thanaka, a natural Burmese/Myanmar sunscreen that participants can choose to apply before (or after) the walk, the traditional way.

Then, at 2 pm, join a poetry workshop led by Lily Lalios, Move Your (Poetic) Feet. Milwaukee is a city defined by its many waves of ethnic migration. In a non-exhaustive list, this includes Potawatami, Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida, and Mohican nations, German, Scottish, Irish, Polish, African-American, Italian, Jewish, Slovak, Latine, Greek, Hmong, Rohingya, Yemeni, and many more. The music, rhythms, and melodies of these lineages remain deeply encoded into the artistic instincts of those to whom they belong. What music do you think of as “yours” and what rhythm does it possess? Come take the rhythm of the music you love and let it guide the meter of your poetry!

Schedule

Craft Market Vendors

Arianne's Artist Way – Handmade batik and indigo wearables by Lynden's artist-in-residence Arianne King Comer.

Fairouz – Accessories and other cultural items, including jewelry and home décor, from Suheir Rashid.

Khizra Henna Designs – Natural handmade henna cones and homemade brownies from Kauser Jabeen.

Maly Aroma Boutique – Hmong embroidery designs, candles, and wax melts from Maly Vang.

Mai Glow – Skincare products, shea butter, body butter, body oils, face oil, soaps, and handicrafts—placemats, leather bags, dashikis, handwoven baskets—sourced from the Hausa Tribe from Nigeria and Northern Nigeria by Ameena Yusuf.

Mchete's African Treasures - Authentic handmade African men's and women's attire, beaded jewelry, Zulu hats, artifacts, Makonde carvings, handbags, fabrics, Maasai Shuka (blankets), ethnic wear, collectibles, African art, and other African treasures from Monica Ashery.

Olive Essence Soap - Handmade natural soaps, lotions, cosmetics, hair creams, deodorant, organic teas, cultural plates, and more from Gharam Amer.

Puffy and Fluffy - Crochet stuffed animals, keychains, and hijabs from Reem Barbarawi.

Royal Beauty – Homemade skincare products from Enas Alwedyan.

Thanaka Booth – Meet mother-daughter team Thin Thin Nyunt Nan (Karen) and Mala Nan Leth at their informational thanaka booth and learn about this natural sunscreen paste, Shwe Pyi Nann, that originates in Burma/Myanmar.

Zohra Hashemi – A variety of handmade crochet items, from table coverings to keychains, made by Zohra.

About the Artists

Faith Herr is a first generation Hmong-American citizen who grew up in a family where the Hmong culture remained just as important as the American culture she was raised in. As a child, hours would pass by while she watched her mother hand stitch every design of a traditional embroidery work, aka paj ntaub. Fascinated by the beauty of a completed paj ntaub as seen in traditional Hmong clothing, Faith took it upon herself to learn and keep this part of her culture alive by teaching it to others, whether at school to her students or at community events.

Ceci Tejeda was born and raised in Mexico City. Her parents are from Michoacán, Mexico, which is why she has Purepecha (Indigenous) blood in her veins. Ceci has admired her culture since she was a very young girl. When she first came to Wisconsin, it was difficult to adapt, but she never lost her love for creativity. Now that she has lived here for more than 10 years, she still embraces her roots and enjoys sharing them with others. She creates her papier-mâché alebrijes and skulls with joy and love and shares her papier-mâché skills with future generations through youth workshops at schools and cultural events. Ceci advocates for immigrant rights by volunteering for and using her artistic abilities to support Voces de la Frontera, a local immigrant rights group. She also collaborates with other Latinx artists in las R.A.R.A.S, a local artist collective. This work creates a sense of home by making her feel closer to her people, her culture, and herself. Participating in events for local artists supported by her community helps her to realize that no matter where she is, she can carry her roots with her.

Daniel Minter is an American artist known for his work in the mediums of painting and assemblage. He is co-founder and artist director of the Indigo Arts Alliance in Portland, Maine, and has been part of Lynden's Call & Response since 2019. He is a visual storyteller and accomplished illustrator. Minter's artwork reflects abiding themes of displacement and diaspora; ordinary/extraordinary blackness; spirituality in the Afro-Atlantic world; and the (re)creation of meanings of home. Minter's paintings, carvings, block prints, and sculptures have been exhibited both nationally and internationally at galleries and museums. He is the co-founder and creative visionary of the Portland Freedom Trail, a system of granite and bronze markers that constitutes a permanent walking trail highlighting the people, places, and events associated with the anti-slavery movement in Portland. Minter's work also marks the Malaga Island Trail which remembers the Black, European and Native American residents of the island who were forcibly removed by the state of Maine in 1912. He has illustrated over a dozen children's books and commissioned twice to create Kwanzaa stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. Minter teaches at the Maine College of Art.

Arianne King Comer is an art consultant, indigo and community arts advocate, lecturer, teacher, and textile artist. She is interested in the cultural traditions of the African Diaspora, and much of her research focuses on indigo cultivation and dyeing. Comer travels with wax pans, imprinting stamps from the countries that practice batik, a collection of dyes--including indigo--for cotton and silk, and examples of textiles from her collection. As an indigo advocate, she shares a native South Carolina indigo plant and several films on the indigo process in various countries, including the iconic Daughters of the Dust. Indigo has an ancient history and was found in many different parts of the world, but in the 18th century the Sea Islands of South Carolina were a center of indigo production, and Charleston exported vast amounts of indigo. (Along with rice and cotton, indigo formed the basis of South Carolina's wealth.) Indigo was the foundation of many West African textile traditions, where women, in particular, were known for their dyeing expertise, and enslaved West Africans worked the labor-intensive indigo plantations.

Julio Pabón is a musician and educator who has dedicated his career and life to his love for community. As a world-class percussionist, he performs with De La Buena Latin Jazz Ensemble. He started Samba da Vida MKE, a Brazilian samba school, at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and continues to grow it with fellow world-class percussionist Bony Plog-Benavides. With over 20 members, Samba da Vida performs at music shows and community events throughout the city. His prior musical ensembles and pursuits include working with the Milwaukee Public Theatre, the Tamarack Waldorf School, and others. In 2018, he joined the Waukesha Public School district as their music teacher.

Lily Lalios is a writer based in Milwaukee who has been published by #EnbyLife journal, Pitymilk Press, and VA Press. They also produced Apagimeni Literary Magazine, a compilation of poetry, essays, and visual art by and about the queer Greek American experience. Lily's work made the long list for the 2024 SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction, and they were a finalist for the 2025 Genrepunk Haunting Award. Currently, Lily is also a member of the writing team for Cabaret Milwaukee, a theatre troupe that performs radio dramas about Wisconsin history. Lily's project Over the Prairie//Under the Prairie is a yearlong series of free community poetry workshops, culminating in a print anthology. Milwaukee is a city defined by its many waves of ethnic migration. In a non-exhaustive list, this includes Potawatami, Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida, and Mohican nations, German, Scottish, Irish, Polish, African-American, Italian, Jewish, Slovak, Latine, Greek, Hmong, Rohingya, Yemeni, and many more. The music, rhythms, and melodies of these lineages remain deeply encoded into the artistic instincts of those to whom they belong. What music do you think of as "yours" and what rhythm does it possess? Come take the rhythm of the music you love and let it guide the meter of your poetry!

SUPPORT HOME WORLD REFUGEE DAY

To sponsor 2026 HOME World Refugee Day events, please click here.

To make an individual donation to support our HOME refugee programs, click here.

To volunteer, click here.

About HOME

HOME is the theme of our work with refugee community leaders, community members, Call & Response artists, and allies. The HOME Refugee Steering Committee is building a space of leading, coming together, and celebrating refugees. For all HOME 2026 programming, click here.

World Refugee Day 2026 celebrations continue with a celebration at Milwaukee City Hall and two additional HOME “days” at Lynden featuring music, dance, food, poetry, and craft. For all HOME 2026 programming, click here.

HOME 2026 is sponsored in part by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, Refugee Programs.

All sessions are full: To be added to the waitlist click here.

Sessions:

Tuesday, July 7, 2026, 10:30 am-12:30 pm
Monday, July 20, 2026, 10:30 am-12:30 pm
Monday, July 20, 2026, 1:30-3:30 pm

You are not required to attend the entire session.

Join Arianne King Comer at the dyeing vat as she relates the history of indigo and teaches different resist-dyeing methods, particularly traditional batik, adire (Yoruba), and shibori (Japanese) techniques of designing on cloth.

We began working with artist and indigo advocate King Comer in 2017. Her annual residency, IBILE! Ancestral Call in Cloth, went virtual during the pandemic, but in 2022 she returned and her outdoor, all-ages studio is, once again, under the big tent.

Participants are welcome to use our muslin yardage or to bring garments from home to dye, with a limit of two items (pieces of yardage or garments) per person. T-shirts and other items may be available for purchase if you want to undertake a more advanced project.

Pre-registration is required. Dress for dyeing and consider bringing your own rubber gloves (dishwashing variety).

Fee: Free.
Registration: Advance registration encouraged. Click here to register online. Work days are weather-dependent. If you have registered in advance, we will contact you if we are cancelling due to inclement weather.

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 pull herbaceous 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.

Land Stewardship at Lynden
The Lynden Sculpture Garden is transforming its natural habitats and formal landscapes into sustainable and diverse ecosystems that highlight their natural beauty. Our goal is to steward healthy habitats for an array of native plants and wildlife while adding a vibrant mosaic of color and texture to this sculptural landscape through every season. With over 40 acres and more than half a dozen specialized garden spaces, the Lynden provides many volunteer and learning opportunities, from removing invasive species to planting new trees and plugs, weeding, pruning, collecting, and spreading seeds. With a small land staff, volunteer help is essential to the evolution and restoration of the Lynden grounds.

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Garden Work Days 2026

2026 Winter/Spring Session (Jan 14 - May 27): Wednesdays, 10:00 am-11:00 am
Fee: $20/$16 members for one adult and one child. Add an additional child for $8.
Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration is required. Register online now. Sessions move indoors in the event of inclement weather.
For children ages 1–3 and their caregivers

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.

Research from the National Association for the Education of Young Children shows that time outdoors supports healthier bodies, stronger minds, better sleep, and important social and emotional growth. At Lynden, we nurture these benefits by encouraging children to experiment with natural and artistic materials, tell stories, solve problems, and build relationships—all while having fun!

To view a list of the session themes, click here.