A Workshop with the Milwaukee Bonsai Society

Fees:
Single: $85/ $75 for Lynden members (this includes workshop admission for one, a tree to take home, and a single membership to the Milwaukee Bonsai Society good through the end of 2014).
Family (one tree): $95/$85 for Lynden members (this includes workshop admission for one, a tree to take home, and an annual family membership to the Milwaukee Bonsai Society good through the end of 2014).
Family (two trees): $150/$140 for Lynden members (this includes workshop admission for two, two trees to take home, and an annual family membership to the Milwaukee Bonsai Society good through the end of 2014).

Registration: Registration for this workshop is now closed. Sign up for our e-list for notifications on upcoming programs.

At Lynden, we think of bonsai as one of the most intriguing intersections of art and nature. This is why we have joined with the Milwaukee Bonsai Society to host some of their exhibitions and informal showings of bonsai. We are delighted to be able to offer a series of hands-on workshops that will introduce children, teens and adults to the art of bonsai.

A bonsai is a living sculpture, changing from day to day, season to season, and year to year. Creating and caring for a bonsai combines the principles of design with the science of horticulture; it develops an appreciation for the world of trees and the world of three-dimensional artmaking. This workshop is designed to introduce you to the exciting world of bonsai: you'll get your feet wet (and your hands dirty) creating your very own bonsai and transplanting it into a ceramic bonsai container under the watchful eyes of experienced Bonsai Society members.

The Milwaukee Bonsai Society, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals in their efforts to increase their knowledge and skills in the art of bonsai.

Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden.

Drop in to the art studio to play an all-ages drawing game. Gather natural objects from the garden, attach them to paper, then animate your selection with simple pen and ink drawings. Finish by photographing your work to use as a spring screensaver.

Fee: Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden.
Registration: Pre-registration is not required, but it helps us to plan if we know you are coming (email us at info@lyndensculpturegarden.org.)

The Lynden Sculpture Garden is recognized for its art and landscaped beauty, and most visitors confine their walks to the lawns and formal gardens. However, the 40 acres that make up Lynden include meadows with native plants and trees, ponds that support a huge array of aquatic life, and thickets filled with nesting activity and shelter. Numerous birds, insects and mammals are sighted each day.

Come explore the hidden natural treasures of this unique sanctuary with naturalist Naomi Cobb. Each month we will visit the back acres, observing what the seasons bring, and locating evidence of the abundant life that is there. Wear good hiking shoes, dress for the weather, and bring your curiosity and wonder.

A Workshop with the Milwaukee Bonsai Society

Fee: $60/ $54 members of Lynden or the Milwaukee Bonsai Society. This is the price for an adult/child pair, and includes one tree to take home. Children should be in grades 1-5.

Registration: Registration for this program is now closed.

At Lynden, we think of bonsai as one of the most intriguing intersections of art and nature. This is why we have joined with the Milwaukee Bonsai Society to host some of their exhibitions and informal showings of bonsai. We are delighted to be able to offer a series of hands-on workshops that will introduce children, teens and adults to the art of bonsai.

A bonsai is a living sculpture, changing from day to day, season to season, and year to year. Creating and caring for a bonsai combines the principles of design with the science of horticulture; it develops an appreciation for the world of trees and the world of three-dimensional artmaking. In this hands-on workshop, you and your child will learn the basic principals and techniques of bonsai design, creating your very own bonsai from tropical material and transplanting it into a ceramic bonsai container.

The Milwaukee Bonsai Society, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals in their efforts to increase their knowledge and skills in the art of bonsai.

Fee: Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden.
Registration: Pre-registration is required, please email us at info@lyndensculpturegarden.org.

Jean Creighton, a native of Greece and director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium at UWM, will share her favorite Greek myths associated with spring constellations and what excites her about the celestial objects we can observe at this time of year. She will point out some of the most prominent constellations visible on constellation maps, such as the Big Dipper, Taurus, Orion, and Gemini. If it is clear, we will head outdoors to look for stars and constellations.

Adequate clothing required; we’ll go out rain or shine.

About Jean Creighton

Jean Creighton is the director of the Manfred Olson Planetarium at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has always lived in big cities where the city lights tend to obscure the stars of the night. This may be why she appreciates a planetarium theater. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Creighton grew up in Athens, Greece where her mother claims she showed a great interest in how stars form from the age of five. For Creighton, physics was the gateway to astronomy, so she studied (in the Physics Department) at the University of Athens, graduating in 1991. While writing her honors thesis was on the planet Neptune, she discovered that she wanted more astronomy in her life; she went on to get a master's degree from Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Waterloo. After that, she was fortunate enough to be involved in an infrared satellite called WIRE as a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Since September 1999, she has been teaching astronomy at various levels at UWM, becoming director of the planetarium in 2007. "It's great fun to share my excitement with my audience as well as with my own two boys," says Creighton.

Registration for this workshop is now closed. Be sure to sign up for our e-list for information on future events.

Fee: $20/$16 members (all materials included)

Registration: Space is limited, advanced registration required. You will receive additional information once you register. If you prefer not to pay online, give us a call at 414-446-8794 to register by phone.

Lynden's Jeremy Stepien guides you through the process of making a garlic basket--perfect for your own home or as a gift. Learn a traditional twining weave using a combination of willow from the sculpture garden and basket-weaving reed. We'll use raffia to add color and texture to the basic weave. No prior weaving experience required.

Bring a bag lunch and beverages and dress for the outdoors. We’ll be making use of Lynden’s 40 beautiful acres during our breaks, weather permitting.

3rd Annual Winter Carnival, photo: Howard Leu

Fee: Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden. Family passes for nonmembers will be available at the door for $20.

Lynden welcomes winter with a day of outdoor art-making, studio activities, tours and tree-walks, and whatever winter activities the weather permits. Elisabeth Albeck and Neil Gasparka are planning this year’s events, assisted by Jenna Knapp, Willy Dintenfass, Braden Baer, Ashley Janke and Sarah Luther. Artist Caleb Engstrom is flying in from New York to create an outdoor cinema, and you'll be able to help him make seats and your own stop motion animations for the day-long screening. Ashley Janke will conclude her year as a Lynden artist-in-residence with a final exhibition in the nAbr gallery: Ashley Morgan's Let's Build Something Together. Jenna Knapp is master-minding studio activities and an outdoor scavenger hunt. Sharon Morrisey returns for a tree walk, and Winter Carnival sponsors Davey Tree Expert will show you how they climb our big elms in the winter. We'll be making frozen flower molds and then planting them around the Little Lake (where, if the weather cooperates, you'll be able to skate). The art studio will be open for stop motion animation-making with Wesley Cathon and Eric Zimmerman in the morning (stick around and watch your work on the ice screen in the afternoon), and candle-making and cookie decorating in the afternoon. Plus we'll have The Simmer Truck on hand all day, serving hot panini sandwiches, hot soup, hot drinks and more!

Other activities: face painting by Ashley Janke , an outdoor games arena, a visit from the Kite Flying Club and another from All Hands BoatWorks (with an example of the canoe you'll be building in their February workshop), and an outdoor performance project from artist-in-residence Kim Miller. Watch or participate on foot, skis, snowshoes or skates (bring your own).

Additional thanks to Arctic Glacier.

Schedule

(Red indicates a drop-in activity.)

ALL DAY: WINTER CARNIVAL GUEST ARTIST CALEB ENGSTROM'S ICE CINEMA PROJECT
Artist Caleb Engstrom is a designer, performer, filmmaker and curator
whose work is striped with the impact of the communities he inhabits.
From Iowa City, Iowa, to Brooklyn New York, and within more abstract social spaces (the internet), Engstrom creates dynamic projects and presentations that draw from a collective, yet idiosyncratic experience, with a sense of revelry and emotional resonance. Engstrom comes to Lynden to present his project "On Ice," a cinema in two iterations. One: an ongoing indoor screening of film art works sourced from online networks, accompanied by several works by Milwaukee area filmmakers including Michael Walsh, Renato Umali, Joanna Hanlon and Elisabeth Albeck. Two: an invitation to an outdoor "ice theatre" that will include the opportunity to build your own theatre chair with snow and modular plywood pieces designed by Engstrom, as well as a ceremonial sourcing and sharing of freshly shaven ice to make snow cones, or "snow concessions," flavored to your tastes. Join Engstrom in the Ice Cinema from 10am-4pm for an animated gathering of neighbors, and catch the screening of curated works indoors from 10am-1pm.

ALL DAY: ALL HANDS BOATWORKS CANOE DEMONSTRATION
Members of All Hands BoatWorks, a Milwaukee nonprofit organization that uses wooden boatbuilding as a means to support positive youth development, education, and workforce preparation, will be at Lynden with an example of the type of canoe built during their workshops. If you'd like to build your own canoe with All Hands BoatWorks, sign up for their workshop at Lynden, beginning February 22.

10 AM-3 PM: WINTER SCAVENGER HUNT
Artist and Lynden summer camp assistant Jenna Knapp has devised a fiendishly fun scavenger hunt suitable for all ages. Start at the house, where you will create a team name and receive your first clue. Then off you go around the garden, exploring sculptures, circumambulating the ponds, ducking behind trees. Jenna promises us that many surprises await, and that every team that finishes will receive a prize.

10 AM-3 PM: nAbr GALLERY@LYNDEN: ASHLEY MORGAN
Ashley Janke concludes her year-long artist residency at Lynden with a final show in her outdoor nAbr Gallery: Ashley Morgan's Let's Build Something Together. Janke launched the nAbr Gallery -- a micro-venue on the Lynden grounds -- at last year's Winter Carnival with "Gathered From Various Other Reliable Sources," a project by Minneapolis-based artist Andy Sturdevant. Since then, nAbr has housed exhibitions by Patrick Sharrow, John Riepenhoff, Sarah Luther and Hideous Beast. With Let's Build Something Together, Ashley Morgan moves from exploring ideas around building a domestic space, maintaining a sense of control, and leading viewers towards an experience of comfort, to working collaboratively with anyone who chooses to help, allowing others to shape the work, and relying on a natural building material (snow) to achieve uncontrolled and unanticipated results.

10 AM-1 PM: MAKE YOUR OWN STOP MOTION ANIMATION WITH WESLEY CATHON & ERIC ZIMMERMAN
A still image can convey a message, introduce a character, or present a feeling.The act of animation can be accomplished by breaking a story down frame by frame, and connecting sequences of images that build off of each other. Winter Carnival visitors of all ages are invited to make their own stop-motion animation pieces, under the guidance of local filmmakers and art educators Wesley Cathon and Eric Zimmerman. Explore materials, textures and colors, and create a film short all your own from 10 am-1pm. Stick around for a screening of the workshop films at 3 pm.

10:30 AM: TREE WALK WITH SHARON MORRISEY
Join Sharon Morrisey, Consumer Horticulture Agent
Milwaukee County UW-Extension, for a talk and tour that focuses on trees in the winter landscape. The tour will begin on the patio, where your guide will lead you on a walk that loops around the lake where you will identify some of the unusual trees at Lynden (Shagbark Hickory, European Beech, Amelanchier or serviceberry, Bald Cypress, Dawn Redwood and more) while discussing how the texture, color and forms of trees can enhance the landscape in the winter months. Bring your questions for the tree expert!

11 AM-3 PM: PLANT AN ICE FLOWER GARDEN AROUND THE LITTLE LAKE
In wintertime, our eyes are drawn to the smallest signs of life and color; impossibilities warm the senses. Come defy the ice and snow, and playing your own lively winter garden! Using bright and tantalizing colored flowers, visitors are invited to create ice compositions, using flowers like paint and ice like canvas. Plant your blossom-filled compositions in a "garden" around the Little Lake. All ages welcome from 11 am-3 pm. Please note that this activity may require two visits during the day, as ice flower paintings take time to set.

11 AM-12 NOON & 1 PM-2 PM: PERFORMING THE SUBJECT WITH KIM MILLER'S MILWAUKEE INSTITUTE OF ART & DESIGN STUDENTS
Lynden artist-in-residence Kim Miller brings her Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design students to the carnival for "Performing the Subject." Working collaboratively, the students will present performative responses to the question of how action and language determine a subject. Visitors can observe and interact with the projects, which range from performance to a photo opportunity for visitors to sculptural responses to the landscape. Students will present from 11 am to 12 noon, and from 1 pm to 2 pm, on the grounds near Quartet 1967/2013 by Forrest Myers.

12 NOON: TREE CLIMBING DEMO WITH DAVEY TREE
Winter Carnival sponsors Davey Tree will give a demonstration of the techniques their arborists use to climb tall trees in the winter.

1 PM-4 PM: DIP CANDLES AND COOKIE DECORATING
These activities are designed as drop-ins and are open to all ages (young children may need parental assistance). Make candles the old-fashioned way, by dipping a string in wax; decorate cookies with hearts, snowflakes, sprinkles and icing!

1:30 PM-3 PM: KITE FLYING CLUB WITH SARAH GAIL LUTHER
Kite Flying Club is a project of artist Sarah Gail Luther, whose work often brings elements of nature into populated urban spaces to create contexts for social gatherings. Meetings of Kite Flying Club bring people to unlikely Milwaukee spaces to share in a joyful experience of kite flying, conversation and camaraderie. For Winter Carnival, Luther brings Kite Flying Club to the outskirts of the city, and Lynden's natural environment. From 1:30-3 pm, visitors are welcome tojoin Luther -- no matter the weather -- on her picnic blanket for a kite flying session, a chat, and a warm beverage straight out of the thermos. Capture the scene with your mobile device, and share it on Instagram @lyndensculpturegarden.

3 PM: STOP MOTION ANIMATION SCREENING
Gather in the conference room for a screening of films created during MAKE YOUR OWN STOP MOTION ANIMATION WITH WESLEY CATHON AND ERIC ZIMMERMAN, which runs 10 am-1 pm in the art studio.

A Workshop with Jane Moore

Register online now.

Fee: $48/$42 members (all materials included)

Registration: Space is limited; advance registration required. You will receive additional information once you register.

Wet felting is a magical and hands-on fiber art process. We'll lay out soft, fluffy wool fibers in layers to create a composition and then apply soap and water and pressure from our hands to transform them into stunning 2D form. Wet felting is an excellent medium for exploring texture, color and freeform design. This class will begin with an outdoor stroll with naturalist Naomi Cobb to observe the subtle colors and textures of the winter landscape at Lynden. Back in the studio, we'll combine silk with wool fibers to create a 10-inch-square winterscape.

No experience required. Dress appropriately for outdoor walking. We have aprons, but please wear clothes suitable for artmaking.

About Jane Moore

Jane Moore is a lifelong fiber artist. In 2004 she discovered the beauty and mystery of the wet felting process, and has passionately pursued felting in her own 2-D and 3-D work. Moore's work has been featured in many galleries in the Milwaukee area. She is an active teacher in the community and has taught wet felting to students of all ages and abilities.

Tuesdays in the Garden takes place two Tuesdays, May through November, and one Tuesday, December through April, from 10:30-11:30 am. Each month has a different theme, but the activities for both sessions within a month are the same.

New (lower) Fee for 2014!

Member: $8/one adult and one child. Additional children are $4.
Non-member: $10/one adult and one child. Additional children are $4.

We limit the size of the group for Tuesdays in the Garden therefore payments are non-refundable. We understand that naps and illness can interfere with attendance, so if you contact us prior to 10 am on the morning of your scheduled session (you can leave a message at 414-446-8794), we will transfer your payment to another session, enrollment permitting.

Register online now.

About Tuesdays in the Garden

The 40 acres that house the Lynden collection of monumental outdoor sculpture are also home to many birds, insects, frogs, mammals and plants. Join naturalist Naomi Cobb on Tuesdays each month for hands-on, all-senses-engaged exploration of the natural world at Lynden. We’ll consider a new theme each month, taking into account the changing seasons. This group is designed for parents and children from birth through age 4. Please dress for outdoor play; even in the winter we will spend part of our time out in the garden.

Schedule of Tuesdays in the Garden

June 10 - Shapes in Art & Nature - Registration closed.
June 17 - Shapes in Art & Nature
July 1 - Flying
July 15 - Flying - Registration closed.
August 5 - World of Color - Registration closed.
August 19 - World of Color - Registration closed.
September 9 - Insects
September 23 - Insects
October 7 - Harvest
October 14 - Harvest
November 4 - Cozy Places
December 9 - Winter Fun

Chuck Stebelton, left, with fellow poet and birdwatcher Nathaniel Tarn

Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden.

Watch for late fall migrants and early wintering birds at the sculpture garden. Please wear appropriate footwear and bring your binoculars if you have them; no previous birding experience required. Chuck Stebelton will lead the bird walk. He is a birder, poet, and works as Program Director at Woodland Pattern Book Center.