A Workshop with Jan Alba & Dennis Lukaszewski

Fee: $25/$22 members.
Registration Space limited; advance registration required. Register by phone at 414-446-8794.

Lynden is offering a series of holiday giftmaking workshops between November 13 and December 11. They range from simple activities suitable for families with smaller children to more advanced workshops for adults. To enhance the celebratory spirit, we will have light refreshments available for participants. Whether you are making a gift for yourself or another, these workshops should provide a cheerful atmosphere for art making as we head into winter. To see a complete list of holiday giftmaking workshops, visit our Workshops page.

The Lawn and Garden Series moves indoors for a workshop that makes decorative use of the things we find in our gardens in the autumn. Work with Jan Alba and Dennis Lukaszewski to create seasonal containers and swags that can be used indoors or out.

About the Instructors

Jan Alba has been an active Master Gardener Volunteer with SouthEast Wisconsin Master Gardeners for more than 25 years. She has been in the employ of the University of Wisconsin-Extension, working with the Urban Agriculture and garden rental program, for 21 years. While working alongside Dennis Lukaszewski, she has learned that many seasonal floral arrangements can be crafted from otherwise expendable garden refuse.

Dennis Lukaszeswki has had three successful careers: as a banker, a floral designer and floral shop owner for over 20 years and, most recently, as a registered landscape architect who works at the Milwaukee County UW-Extension. Currently the director of the Urban Agriculture program at UWEX, he oversees the design, operations, and education of the UWEX community gardens, as well as the gardeners at peripheral partner sites. He has always been a champion of the "reduce reuse recycle" mentality and regularly incorporates much of his waste greenery in his designs.

Fee: $22/$18 members - includes an autographed copy of Days of Awe, refreshments, and a free guest pass so you can return to Lynden during the daylight hours to see the grounds. Register by phone at 414-446-8794.

Margy Stratton, founder and executive producer of Milwaukee Reads produces this series of events featuring writers of particular interest to women. Join Jane Glaser and Daniel Goldin of Boswell Book Company as they present their top book club recommendations for the fall season. Their special guest will be Lauren Fox, author of Still Life with Husband, Friends Like Us, and Days of Awe, the acclaimed novel that is now out in paperback. Fox will not only read from Days of Awe, she will also recommend her favorite titles. Boswell will have an assortment of their picks on hand for purchase, too (so get a jump on that holiday shopping).

About Days of Awe

Only a year ago Isabel Moore was married, was the object of adoration for her ten-year-old daughter, and thought she knew everything about her wild, extravagant, beloved best friend, Josie. But in that one short year her husband moved out and rented his own apartment; her daughter grew into a moody insomniac; and Josie—impulsive, funny, secretive Josie—was killed behind the wheel in a single-car accident. As the relationships that long defined Isabel—wife, mother, daughter, best friend—change before her eyes, Isabel must try to understand who she really is.

About the Author

Lauren Fox is the author of the novels Still Life with Husband, Friends Like Us, and Days of Awe. She earned her MFA from the University of Minnesota, and her work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Parenting, Psychology Today, The Rumpus, and Salon.

Boswell's booksellers weigh in:

"So your best friend dies in a car accident and your marriages status is a bit creaky and your daughter is hitting adolescence and is ganging up against you with your own mother. Oh, and you work at a school where your friend worked too, meaning you think about her all the time, and there’s a teacher you don’t particularly like, and wouldn’t you know it if…well, you get the picture. Lauren Fox captures that moment in life when the world seems like it’s falling apart, and to be fair, it sort of is. Isabel Moore is a distinctively Lauren Fox heroine, observant and funny and painfully self-conscious, and Days of Awe might be her best book yet, all the better for striking some raw nerves is it mines for the truth mother lode."
--Daniel Goldin

"Days of Awe is an attempt to make sense of tragedy and loss, while still finding humor and grace in everyday life. A reminder to appreciate what you have, and how quickly you can lose it."
--Sharon K. Nagler

Presented in collaboration with Woodland Pattern Book Center.

Fee: $65/$60 for members of Lynden or Woodland Pattern (one discount only).
Registration: Space is limited; advance registration required. Register by phone at 414-446-8794.

The Lynden Sculpture Garden & Woodland Pattern Book Center host poet & essayist Anne Boyer for Insurgent Alchemy, a two-day workshop held at Lynden. As fall writer-in-residence, Boyer will give a reading at Woodland Pattern on Friday, December 9.

Insurgent Alchemy is a workshop in the poetics of alchemical insurgency and the insurgent alchemical. How do we take what we already have and turn it into what we want? What do we do with what we want when we get it? Over two days, we will conduct research into varieties of transformation and their literary possibilities and impossibilities, including but not limited to experiments in transmuting texts, investigatory desiring, diamond gleaning, trash eating, temporal dislocation, spatial disruption, and conceptual metabolisms. Participants are encouraged to bring old journals, correspondence, notes, images, natural objects, problematic texts, and other used, worn out, or impossible materials from which to work.

About Anne Boyer

Anne Boyer is a poet and essayist whose books include The Romance of Happy Workers, My Common Heart, and the 2016 CLMP Firecracker award-winning Garments Against Women which Maureen McLane described in The New York Times as “a sad, beautiful, passionate book that registers the political economy of literature and of life itself.” Boyer’s work has been translated into a number of languages including Icelandic, Spanish, Persian, and Swedish, and in the spring of 2013, her chapbook, A Form of Sabotage, was published by the theory collective Kült Neşriyat in Turkish translation. Boyer’s other chapbooks include Anne Boyer’s Good Apocalypse, Art is War, and The 2000s. With Guillermo Parra and Cassandra Gillig, she has translated the work of 20th century Venezuelan poets Victor Valera Mora, Miguel James, and Miyo Vestrini. With K. Silem Mohammad, she was a founding editor of the poetry journal, Abraham Lincoln. Boyer is a professor at the Kansas City Art Institute, a four year college of Art and Design, where she teaches writing, literature, and theory in the school of the Liberal Arts. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

Dates at Lynden: December 10-December 11

Saturday, December 10 - 1-5 pm
Sunday, December 11 - 10 am-12 pm (followed by a reading and reception at 1 pm)

Related Events

Friday, December 9 - 7 pm
Reading: Anne Boyer & Juliet Patterson
$8 General | $7 Students & Seniors | $6 WPBC Members
FREE for participants in Insurgent Alchemy
This event takes place at Woodland Pattern Book Center, 720 E. Locust St. Milwaukee, WI 53212.

Sunday, December 11 - 1 pm
Workshop Reading & Celebration
FREE
Participants in the workshop will offer a reading of work produced during the week followed by a reception.
This event takes place at the Lynden Sculpture Garden.

Both events are open to the public.

A Workshop with Naomi Cobb & Andy Yencha

Fee: $30/$25 members (all materials included). Price is per set of blocks.
Registration: Space is limited, advanced registration required. Register by phone at 414-446-8794.

Lynden is offering a series of holiday giftmaking workshops between November 13 and December 11. They range from simple activities suitable for families with smaller children to more advanced workshops for adults. To enhance the celebratory spirit, we will have light refreshments available for participants. Whether you are making a gift for yourself or another, these workshops should provide a cheerful atmosphere for art making as we head into winter. To see a complete list of holiday giftmaking workshops, visit our Workshops page.

Make a set of tree building blocks for your young children. These blocks, made from locally harvested wood, provide a sensory activity for your children and enable them to practice balance and engineering skills. Andy Yencha, our land manager and wood artisan, and naturalist Naomi Cobb will guide you through the process from raw wood to finished block, and will help you create a leaf-print cloth bag for your set.

Free to members or with admission.

Autumn is a time of transition and vibrant colors. We invite you to walk Lynden's grounds to collect a variety of colorful leaves, or choose from the natural materials we have on hand in the studio to create your own unique collage composition. Take your bookmark home to use with your favorite book during the winter.

A Workshop with SouthEast Wisconsin Master Gardeners

Fee: $15/$10 members.
Registration Registration closed. Call 414-446-8794 to put your name on the wait list.

Is your perennial garden looking a little overcrowded? Are your plants producing fewer flowers? Has one plant taken over the bed? Are plant clumps flopping from the center? If so, it’s time to do some digging, dividing and replanting (or sharing with friends, family, or the SouthEast Wisconsin Master Gardener perennial plant sale!) Let Master Gardener Volunteer dig team members Bonnie Paplham, Sue Ratkowski, Patty Witt, and Diane Thieme show you how and when to best dig your plants, the proper way to divide different types of plants and root systems, which tools are most effective and efficient to use, and how to properly plant your perennials. Bring your garden gloves and outdoor clothing. If weather permits, we will “play in the garden” first, then return indoors for the remaining class time.

More about the SouthEast Wisconsin Master Gardeners here: http://fyi.uwex.edu/sewmg/

A Workshop with Bob Retko

Fee: $15/$10 members.
Registration Space limited; advance registration required. Register by phone at 414-446-8794.

Native flowers and grasses can be established with minimal cost and initial labor, and fall is a good time to start, when seeds are plentiful and the ground has not yet frozen. Join Bob Retko, Lynden’s former land manager, for a hands-on workshop for those who are interested in starting such an area in their own backyards, or simply curious about native plant identification and restoration. We will tour Lynden's extensive prairies, learn to identify and harvest various native plant seeds, and discuss the work involved (think weeds!) in starting and establishing a native plant area. Participants will be able to take seeds home with them for their new gardens.

About Bob Retko

Bob Retko has a BS degree in Natural Resources from UW-Stevens Point and for many years was responsible for establishing and maintaining the native plant areas at Lynden. He has also converted half of his home lawn into native plant areas. Retko is interested in the control of invasive plants and is a member of the Invasive Plant Association of Wisconsin (IPAW) and the South Eastern Wisconsin Invasive Species Consortium (SEWISC).

Free to members or with admission. All ages welcome; children younger than 12 should attend with an adult.

Lynden is offering a series of holiday giftmaking workshops between November 13 and December 11. They range from simple activities suitable for families with smaller children to more advanced workshops for adults. To enhance the celebratory spirit, we will have light refreshments available for participants. Whether you are making a gift for yourself or another, these workshops should provide a cheerful atmosphere for art making as we head into winter. To see a complete list of holiday giftmaking workshops, visit our Workshops page.

Naturalist Naomi Cobb will introduce you to the wonderful array of birds that spend the winter in Wisconsin (and that we are observing as part of Cornell's FeederWatch program). Taking their preferred winter diet into account, you will assemble a variety of birdseed feeders that your neighborhood birds will appreciate -- they also make great holiday gifts!

Seeds and nuts will be used in this workshop.

A Workshop with Leslie Perrino

Fee: $85/ $75 members (all materials included)
Registration: Space is limited; advance registration required. Register by phone at 414-446-8794.

Lynden is offering a series of holiday giftmaking workshops between November 13 and December 11. They range from simple activities suitable for families with smaller children to more advanced workshops for adults. To enhance the celebratory spirit, we will have light refreshments available for participants. Whether you are making a gift for yourself or another, these workshops should provide a cheerful atmosphere for art making as we head into winter. To see a complete list of holiday giftmaking workshops, visit our Workshops page.

This daylong workshop will explore easy and artful ways to apply dye to pre-hemmed silk scarves. From simple techniques such as tie-dyeing, resist and salt, to interesting ways to make marks, we’ll let ourselves be inspired by the wonderful art and nature surrounding us at Lynden.

Each student will create three wearable and uniquely painted scarves using this centuries-old painting form. No experience required, and all materials supplied. Remember: using dyes can be messy. We'll supply you with an apron, but please wear clothes that you don't mind getting stained.

Bring a bag lunch and beverages.

About Leslie Perrino

Leslie Perrino is an artist and "art evangelist" who loves to share the power of art and creativity with people, particularly in her beloved areas of metals and enameling. Her artwork is a quirky mix of traditional and found objects, most recently combining computer/electrical components with enamels. She is a charismatic and effective teacher who encourages skill building and exploration of the medium.

A Workshop with Jeremy Stepien

Fee: $25/ $22 members (all materials included)
Registration: Space is limited; advance registration required. Register by phone at 414-446-8794.

Lynden is offering a series of holiday giftmaking workshops between November 13 and December 11. They range from simple activities suitable for families with smaller children to more advanced workshops for adults. To enhance the celebratory spirit, we will have light refreshments available for participants. Whether you are making a gift for yourself or another, these workshops should provide a cheerful atmosphere for art making as we head into winter. To see a complete list of holiday giftmaking workshops, visit our Workshops page.

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.