12th Annual Winter Carnival

Lynden welcomes winter with a day of outdoor art-making, scavenger hunts, tree-walks, workshops, and whatever other winter activities--ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing--the weather permits. Orchestrated by Some Fools, our highly participatory, artist-driven carnival offers something for everybody.

Happy to be joining in the fun again this year, our friends from Davey Tree Expert are offering some joy for your minds & your bellies.

Pedro's South American Food truck will be onsite from 11 am to 3 pm, selling an array of Latin American snacks, lunch items, and hot drinks.

Schedule

10 am – 4 pm: Ask and the Way Will Be Shown with Ophelia Hix
To wrap around oneself and bind our paths together in the winding movement of life journey. This project looks to honor the land Lynden sits on and asks visitors to take their time in their exploration of the carnival. Amplifying the scape of nature, Ophelia will create an interactive sculptural installation in collaboration with one of Lynden’s trees. Using as much red yarn as humanly possible, they will weave a walkway through and around the tree, creating a portal to the carnival and the grounds and amplifying the space in between destinations. The artist invites visitors to activate the installation by wearing red. Play, be pensive, and dance through the walkway that presents itself as a maze but exists as a path.

10 am – 4 pm: A Deeply Flawed Analogy: America Pastime Meets Rube Goldberg with Paul Druecke
Artist Paul Druecke invites visitors to the Winter Carnival to help construct A Deeply Flawed Analogy—a Rube Goldbergesque chain reaction made from leftover and discarded material. The project creates a large-scale Goldberg Machine complete with homespun catapult that launches bags of refuse toward targeted receptacles. We’ll be testing and reconfiguring the project throughout the day.

10 am – 4pm: Held Hope with Margaret Griffin
Held Hope invites participants to playfully paint, draw, and write on large sheets of fabric, exploring themes of hope they are holding for 2024. What are you looking forward to in this new year? Are you celebrating friendships, family, work, school, personal projects? These collaboratively produced sheets will be attached to the framework of Lynden’s outdoor tent frame, forming a large, dimensional banner that showcases the hope being held in our community.

10 am – 4 pm: Tree Identification and Trivia Table with Davey Tree
Happy to be joining in the fun again this year, our friends from Davey Tree are offering some joy for your minds & your bellies. Swing by their table to enjoy a Tree ID activity with samples of different trees and examples of live vs dead twigs (can you guess which is which?); tree climbing gear, such as saddles, to learn what Davey teams use to climb your favorite trees; a chance to “Ask the Arborist” (a.k.a certified Tree Expert) your tree questions; and toasty cups of Hot Cider. The Davey Tree Expert Company is your local tree, shrub, and lawn care company. Their tree care experts, or arborists, are focused on providing reliable, quality services to improve our urban and residential landscapes.

10 am – 4 pm: Lobby Screening – Xarion Latimore: Nature Boy
Xarion Latimore will screen “Nature Boy” in the lobby area, standing by to answer questions. “Nature Boy” is shot on 16mm film and explores the concepts of form and space.

10 am – 4 pm: Reindeer Scavenger Hunt with Claudia Orjuela
Claudia Orujela directs a scavenger hunt for wooden reindeer located across the grounds. Stop by the front desk for bells to hang around the reindeer and a clipboard to draw your discoveries.

10 am – 11:45 am: Snow People Paper Dolls with Kierston Ghaznavi
Work alongside artist Kierston Ghaznavi as she shares her unique paper doll-making techniques. You will make your own paper doll starting with a blank template and using markers, pens, colored paper, glitter, and a variety of other supplies --and your imagination. This activity is designed as a drop-in and is open to all ages (young children may need parental assistance).

10 am – 11:45 am: Miniature Winter Tree Sculpture Workshop with Heather Eiden
Make a miniature winter tree with artist Heather Eiden by wrapping and braiding wires, then threading them with beads to create the effect of snow and ice.

10 am – 12 pm & 2 pm – 4 pm: Chair Making Demo with Lauren Newby
Gather by the bonfire to watch woodworker Lauren Newby split an ash log into long segments and process them into chair parts. Invariably some parts of the split tree will provide fuel for the fire, keeping everyone warm. Lauren processes rough pieces with hand tools on a shaving horse as she turns what looks like firewood into smooth, round legs. As the day progresses, small seats and stools will be made for guests to join in the conversation around the fire.

11 am – 12 pm: Winter Tree Walk with Esther Portnoy
Esther Portnoy of Lynden’s land team will introduce you to Lynden’s trees in winter.

11 am – 1 pm: Make a Kite with Sindie Ho
Drop in and start working on a kite. The winter has held a great big blue sky shy and away and Sindie would like to repopulate it with a vivid hue and play--in spite of a possibly wet slushy gray. Using found branches and sticks, Sindie will provide a space to form bright blue kites with bells and ribbons. An easy-to-follow instructional zine will be available, too.

12 pm – 1:45 pm: Mosaic Ornaments with Natalie Alicia
Choose from an array of treasures to ornament your very own memory jar with mosaic artist Natalie Alicia.

12 pm – 1:45 pm: Winter-Themed Block Print and Sticker Workshop with Hunter Louis
Using EZ cut linoleum blocks and acrylic block printing ink, we will print our own winter-themed stickers. Use a pre-carved block or try your hand at carving your own.

12 pm – 2 pm: The Everyday Feminist: Inhabit Gratitude
As a thank you to all supporters of Lynden Sculpture Garden, The Everyday Feminist invites you to help create a work of ephemeral text art spelling out “thank you” in red millet seeds. These seeds will feed the wildlife in the sculpture garden (thank you) and highlight the connections between all things (thank you). You will receive a small bag of seeds to nourish wildlife in the spaces you inhabit.

12:30 pm – 2:30 pm: Message in a Bottle: An Interactive Writing Exercise with Carolann Grzybowski
Carolann Grzybowski invites people of all ages to a bottle ring toss with a twist. Each time you land a ring around a bottle, you get to write a fortune/insight for someone else and add it to a giant bottle board. As time goes on, these community fortunes/messages will accumulate, providing guidance for all of us.

1 pm – 3 pm: Edible Bird Ornament Workshop with Claudia Orjuela
Show our feathered neighbors some love this season with the help of Claudia Orjuela, Lynden’s Bilingual Art and Nature Educator. Create your own unique edible (to birds) ornament using found objects, seeds, and other bird-friendly treats. This activity is designed as a drop-in and is open to all ages (young children may need parental assistance).

1 pm – 3 pm: Out There Series: Sound Walk, Writing, Performance
Out There is an experimental performance series curating strange sounds in unique spaces. John and Elise will begin with a soundwalk, exploring the sonic environment on the Lynden grounds. The group may periodically stop to focus on specific “soundmarks” and engage in brief meditative exercises along the way. Milwaukee-based poet and leatherworker Annie Grizzle will follow up with a brief writing workshop (group sharing, collaborative writing) to reflect on the soundwalk experience. Out There will finish with a performance by Milwaukee musician Joe Kirschling, who creates hypnotic and textural electronic dance music under the name Ontonomy.

2 pm – 3:45 pm: Dip Candle Making with Jeremy Stepien
Make candles the old-fashioned way, by dipping a string in wax. This activity is designed as a drop-in and is open to all ages (young children may need parental assistance).

2 pm – 3:45 pm: Rice Sack Heat Bag Workshop with Ollie Scaffidi
It’s winter and now’s the time to learn how to make your very own heat pad to take home. You’ll learn how to use common household materials to make your own microwavable heat warmers. These pads are customizable: you can use them for pain or cramp relief, an immunity boost, or to keep warm on a cold day. Choose from a variety of materials, including essential oils, to personalize your DIY heat pad. All ages welcome: alternative techniques will be available to make the project accessible and fun for everyone.

2 pm - 4 pm: Outdoor Felting Workshop with Rylee Krumrei
Create a small mixed media tapestry by embedding dried plant material and small trinkets into a flat felt sheet using the technique of needle felting with loose wool. Wear your fingerless gloves!

About the Artists

Some Fools Basement is an artist-run gallery and event space in Riverwest, a place for students as well as a broader community of emerging artists to be seen and recognized. The Fools (sam, olivia, carter, aliya) aim to platform local Queer, Trans, & BIPOC artists, organizations, and activists, with the intention of opposing the chronic erasure of marginalized people’s work, talent, & experiences. Some Fools uses social media to promote open calls for its (often) thematic shows and is known to program live music during exhibitions. People coming for live music will be surprised to find visual art, and artists coming for the gallery will be surprised to find their new favorite local act.

Ophelia Hix is an artist, world builder, and hopeful future-believer. They make work that forgives, building immersive spaces of eyes that provide recognition. They’ve developed a language that runs across their work across various media: an online blog, intuitive prose and poetry performances, paintings, drawings, and sculptures.

Paul Druecke is an artist and writer working at the intersections of sculpture, poetry, and detritus. His work was included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial and anthologized in Blackwell’s Companion to Public Art. His ongoing project “America Pastime” was featured in the New York Times Five We Recommend series. He is assisted by Malachi Baer, a multimedia artist and recent graduate of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design whose work focuses on symbolism and repetition, and Jayden Ellsworth, a found object sculptor and current MIAD senior who works with themes of environmentalism, trash, and labor.

Margaret Griffin is a Milwaukee-based sculptor who received her BFA in New Studio Practice: Fine Arts from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in May of 2023. Her work explores themes of the body and industry while being visually inspired by the Post-Minimalism movement. This June, Griffin was accepted into Plum Blossom Initiative's Bridge Work professional development program, a 10-month program that assists emerging artists in transitioning from an academic setting into the professional art scene. Griffin has been showing her work since 2019 in both Southeast Wisconsin and Chicagoland, as well as in St. Joseph, Missouri, at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art. She is one of the co-organizers of The Grilled Cheese Grant, an annual community-funded emerging artist grant based in Milwaukee.

Xarion Latimore is a Milwaukee-born and raised multidisciplinary artist who recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a BFA in Film Production.

Multimedia artist and digital illustrator Kierston Ghaznavi’s vibrantly colored articulated paper and large-scale wooden dolls depict the beauty and unique personalities of Black women today as well as Black pop culture, Afro-centric themes, natural hair, affirmations of self-love and plus size body appreciation.

Heather Eiden is a mixed media artist who specializes in ceramics. Her greatest inspiration comes from traveling and forest bathing with trees. Currently, she is working on a series of House Tiles called Trees and their Houses. The work will be exhibited at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center summer 2024.

Lauren Newby is a professional furniture maker based in Milwaukee. She developed her admiration for design, strength of wood, and traditional craft while rebuilding a 1850s dovetail log home and studying woodworking at UW-Madison. Exploring early American craft history, she is interested in breathing new life into antique tools and methods.

Sindie Ho plays between modes of making, speaking, and shape-shifting. His current fixations are ceramics, toy-making, and Nanalan'. He is Midwest born and grown and quite stubborn about it.

Hunter Louis is an illustrator and printmaker based in Milwaukee. He received his BFA in Art and Design with an emphasis in Print and Narrative Forms from the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin. Louis’s work establishes and explores a distinct world and characters through his humorous and melancholic illustrations.

Natalie Alicia is a Milwaukee-based artist who creates mosaics out of found objects, raw materials, and beads. With a keen eye for unique materials, Alicia has a remarkable ability to transform ordinary objects into beautiful works of art. Their artistic style is characterized by the purposeful incorporation of diverse and unconventional materials, which adds depth, light, and texture to their mosaics. Alicia's dedication to sustainability shines through their art, as they repurpose discarded items, giving them new life and meaning. By infusing their mosaics with beads and found treasures, they add a personal touch and a shimmering quality to their artwork.

The Everyday Feminist, a collaboration between Kate E. Schaffer and Melissa Dorn, grew out of studio conversations around their individual practices and a mutual frustration with marginalization expressed while enjoying a cold beer on a summer day. The Everyday Feminist labors to ensure the political, social, and economic equality of all genders by questioning the status quo, promoting generosity, and cultivating community.

Carolann Grzybowski (b. 2000, BFA, she/her) is a filmmaker, digital marketer, and events programmer residing in Milwaukee. She is the media manager and fine art photographer for David Barnett Gallery. In 2022, Carolann founded the Cactus Club Independent Film Festival at queer artist collective Cactus Club. Her film work has been screened through Film Diary NYC, Milwaukee Underground Film Festival and at independent microcinemas in the Midwest. Carolann received her degree in Film, Video, Animation and New Genres with a minor in Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2022.

Ollie Scaffidi is a Milwaukee-born queer fiber artist, also known for their wearables brand @reincarnatedobjects. Ollie’s alternative sourcing of material and fiber techniques look to expand what they can share with their community. In the studio, Ollie creates hand-made items that for use around the house + beyond. They are inspired by quilt-making, organic shapes, interior design, and chaos. Much of their practice involves repurposing materials (by thrifting them or by saving them from being thrown away), as well as using what they already have at home to make functional pieces through sewing, weaving, and collaging.

Rylee Krumrei is a queer non-binary artist living in Milwaukee. Their work is textile based: finding new ways to explore 2D and 3D needle felted works of abstraction, animal figures, or playful earrings. They manipulate upcycled materials and alter vintage fragments to make garments or sculptures that carry a message of sustainability. Rylee enjoys being playful with their work and takes inspiration from children’s books and the surrounding ever-changing landscape.