Summer Camps at the Intersection of Art & Nature 2023

Lynden’s art and nature camps for children aged 4 to 15 years integrate our collection of monumental outdoor sculpture and temporary installations with the natural ecology of our hidden landscapes and unique habitats. Led by artists, naturalists, and art educators, the camps explore the intersection of art and nature through collaborative inquiry and hands-on artmaking, using all of Lynden's 40 acres to create a joyful, all-senses-engaged outdoor experience.

Camps are organized around themes that investigate our relationship to nature and enable us to learn through making. Each camp introduces a range of imaginative experiences, materials, and tools. Working on projects individually and as a team, we'll be recording our discoveries in prints, collages, and sculptures. Whether we are watching chickens hatch or building rafts to explore the ponds, digging in the vegetable garden or carving with handmade knives, our focus is on cultivating creativity and an appreciation of process.

Join us for a summer of art and nature!

Become a member at the family level today to receive a 20% discount on camp fees (you may also add a membership during the camp registration process).

To preview a PDF of the registration form, click here. Please note: Space in each camp is limited and we anticipate they will fill quickly. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration does not guarantee admission. Once we receive your completed registration form, we will follow up via e-mail with an invoice for payment and a confirmation after payment is received OR a notification that you have been placed on the waiting list for the camp(s) you have requested. Register online now.


Questions?
Jeremy Stepien, Director of Education
414-446-8481
jstepien@lyndensculpturegarden.org


Safety Modifications

To view our current guidelines for in-person programs, which will be updated as summer approaches, click here.


2023 CAMPS AT A GLANCE
Camps in red are full. To be added to the wait list, please fill out a registration form. Registration closes the Wednesday prior to the first day of each camp.

Dates Time Camp Ages
June 19-23 9 am-4 pm Metamorphosis, Growth, Change 6-11
July 5-7 9 am-12 pm Garden Protectors 4-6
July 10-14 9 am-12 pm Garden Animals 4-6
July 10-14 9 am-4 pm Forage 6-11
July 17-21 9 am-4 pm Pond Voyage 6-11
July 24-28 9 am-4 pm Shared Spaces 6-11
August 7-11 9 am-4 pm Whittlers 10-15
August 14-18 9 am-4 pm Forest Architect 6-11
August 21-23 9 am-12 pm Nature's Kitchen 4-6
August 21-23 1:30-4:30 pm Nature's Kitchen 4-6

FOR THE YOUNG & VERY YOUNG

Tuesdays in the Garden is designed for children aged 1-3 and their caregivers. It provides an opportunity for those with very small children to engage in outdoor play and the manipulation of art materials.

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Garden Protectors | 3 Mornings

July 5-7 | 9 am-12 pm
Ages 4-6
$108/$86 members

Step through the hidden veil that separates our world from a magical world where gnomes, fairies, and sprites live. We will create miniature environments for these creatures out of pebbles, twigs, mosses, and feathers gathered from the garden. Through hands-on art projects and nature-related explorations, we will learn to honor and respect every living thing around us, just like these magical guardians of nature.

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Garden Animals | 5 Mornings

July 10-14 | 9 am-12 pm
Ages 4-6
$180/$144 members

What animals live at Lynden and where can we find them? We will seek out the local animals-- monarch butterflies, toads, frogs, turtles--explore their habitats, and gather inspiration from our collection of animal sculptures to create artworks based on your own favorite animals—real and imaginary. Guest Artist Julio Pabón will show us how to dance Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines dance, martial arts, and music.


Nature's Kitchen | 3 Mornings

August 21-23 | 9 am-12 pm
Ages 4-6
$108/$86 members

Where does food come from? What does it taste, smell, and feel like? Spend time in Lynden’s vegetable garden: prepare mud pies, stone soups, and flower salads for Lynden’s animals in the playscape “kitchen,” and harvest herbs and vegetables from the garden for our bonfire, where we will bake a delicious treat. Guest artist Julio Pabón will join us for music making during our garden party.


Nature's Kitchen | 3 Afternoons

August 21-23 | 1:30-4:30 pm
Ages 4-6
$108/$86 members

Where does food come from? What does it taste, smell, and feel like? Spend time in Lynden’s vegetable garden: prepare mud pies, stone soups, and flower salads for Lynden’s animals in the playscape “kitchen,” and harvest herbs and vegetables from the garden for our bonfire, where we will bake a delicious treat. Guest artist Julio Pabón will join us for music making during our garden party.

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FULL-DAY CAMPS FOR CHILDREN AGED 6-11


Metamorphosis, Growth, Change | 5 Days

June 19-23 | 9 am-4 pm
Ages 6-11
$420/$336 members

The dynamics of the natural world ensure that Lynden's landscape is in constant flux. We can track change within this environment by exploring differences in scale, texture, shape, and form. Whether observing an ecosystem up close or hiking through Lynden's fields, whether viewing plants through a microscope, hatching chickens or raising butterflies in the pollinator garden, we will seek out change and use clay, watercolor, pressure printing, and paper pulp to interpret our discoveries.


Forage | 5 Days

July 10-14 | 9 am-4 pm
Ages 6-11
$420/$336 members

Foraging helps us discover the reciprocal relationship between ourselves and other living things. Using collected materials from the garden as our primary source materials, we will expand the boundaries of what and where art can be. We will practice honorable harvesting to collect wild edibles to make tea with Lynden artist-in-residence Angela Kingsawan, and in the studio we’ll make ceramic canisters to hold these teas. Outside, we’ll sculpt locally dug clay, make willow charcoal pencils in a campfire, and create installations in the wild.

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Pond Voyage | 5 Days

July 17-21 | 9 am-4 pm
Ages 6-11
$420/$336 members

For aquatic insects, understanding buoyancy, surface tension, and propulsion is key to survival. We will adapt this knowledge as we construct floating sculptures, prototypes for the full-sized rafts that will carry us across the pond at the end of the week. We’ll visit the different ponds at Lynden, recording our experiences in pond journals as we go, and learn batik-dyeing to make colorful bandanas and nautical flags that will adorn our rafts and ourselves.

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Shared Spaces | 5 Days

July 24-28 | 9 am-4 pm
Ages 6-11
$420/$336 members

At Lynden, we cultivate relationships among people, cultures, and the natural world. What can nature teach us when we observe closely and interact with care? How can our experiences and actions create a sense of belonging? We’ll visit Lynden’s cultural garden to explore our relationship with plants, make Kokedama after touring the Bonsai exhibit, create beads from local clay and sumac for a bead exchange, and harvest vegetables to invent recipes for a campfire barbecue.


Forest Architect | 5 Days

August 14-18 | 9 am-4 pm
Ages 6-11
$420/$336 members

Many of the animals, birds, and insects at Lynden rely on our wooded areas for food and shelter. Examining the structures and characteristics of Lynden's natural spaces, we will build tree forts inspired by animal shelters, cast nets into the pond to collect aquarium materials and, in the studio, design ceramic insect shelters to observe the residents in our own backyards.

FOR OLDER CHILDREN UP TO AGE 15


Whittlers: Wood Culture | 5 Days

August 7-11 | 9 am-4 pm
Ages 10-15
$448/$364 members

There is a unique pleasure in working sustainable natural materials with simple hand tools, a pleasure shared by whittlers everywhere. We will use rasps and files to shape hardwood handles for our own fixed-blade carving knives and then head to Lynden’s back acres to learn green wood carving techniques. Along the way we’ll discover how Lynden’s artists and land managers cultivate sustainable interactions with trees. You'll walk away with several projects that can be assembled into a unique carving tool kit, and with new skills that will enable you to continue your whittling adventures at home. Returning whittlers welcome.

Whittlers

Registration, Fees & Policies

Registration
To preview a PDF of the registration form, click here. Please note: Space in each camp is limited and we anticipate they will fill quickly. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration does not guarantee admission. Once we receive your completed registration form, we will follow up via e-mail with an invoice for payment and a confirmation after payment is received OR a notification that you have been placed on the waiting list for the camp(s) you have requested. Register online now.

Fees
Camp fees include supplies. Save 20% on registration by becoming a Lynden Sculpture Garden member at the family level.

Scholarships
Lynden is committed to making its programs available to all. Full and partial need-based scholarships are available. To apply, please submit your registration form and contact Jeremy Stepien at (414) 446-8481 or jstepien@lyndensculpturegarden.org for a scholarship application.

Refund Policy
There is a $35 administrative fee for all refunds issued up to 14 days prior to the first day of a camp. No refunds are made after that period.

Cancellation Policy
If a camp is cancelled due to low enrollment (this will be determined 14 days prior to the first day of a camp), your registration fee will be refunded in full.


©2023 Lynden Sculpture Garden