Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden.

Kite makers, flyers, artists and art lovers of all ages are invited to celebrate the arrival of spring with an afternoon of events, activities and performances. Drop in to the studio to make and decorate simple, earth-friendly kites from recyclable materials with our Summer Camp staff, or pick up a DIY plein air painting box and head outside for some artmaking.

Kim Miller will be launching her year-long residency, Theater of Heavy Clouds, with a series of outdoor performances at 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm and 3 pm (indoors if the clouds are too heavy), and Nicholas Frank will interview Sheila Held at 2 pm in the gallery about her exhibition, Rappaccini's Daughter.

Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden.

Yevgeniya Kaganovich and her student assistants will take up residence in the studio all afternoon to make the next “planting” of grow, Kaganovich’s durational installation. grow is a system of interconnected plant-like forms simulating a self-propagating organism in multiple stages of development. Created from a singular material, recycled plastic bags, the system grows over time, its growth rate determined by the number of bags accumulated in our official recycling bin. Drop in to watch or participate as Kaganovich fuses the layers of plastic to create a surface similar to leather or skin, molds the skin into plant-like volumes, stuffs the volumes with more bags, and connects the forms with plastic bag “thread.”

Register online now.

Fee: $35/$30 members – includes an autographed copy of Chasing Sylvia Beach, refreshments and admission to the sculpture garden. Or sign up for our Winter Readings Package, which includes both the Cynthia Morris reading and the Ann Leary reading at the low price of $60/$50 members.

We travel to Paris with Cynthia Morris, author of Chasing Sylvia Beach. In her debut historical novel, Colorado author Cynthia Morris brings to life the world of Shakespeare and Company bookstore founder Sylvia Beach and the streets of Paris in the years before World War II. Morris, a noted writing coach, will offer a writing workshop on January 16. A combination rate is available for those attending both the reading and the writing workshop, as well as an early bird registration rate, for those who sign up by December 31, 2012. For more info, click here.

Cynthia Morris is the author of the Paris novel Chasing Sylvia Beach and the how-to guide Create Your Writer’s Life. She has authored hundreds of articles about the creative process and several e-books about how to make creating a priority. Through her company Original Impulse, Morris helps writers, entrepreneurs and artists focus and finish projects they're passionate about. Find out more at www.originalimpulse.com.

Co-sponsored by Boswell Books.

Register online now.

Admission: $35/$30 members – includes an autographed copy of Planting Dandelions, refreshments and admission to the sculpture garden (come early and stroll!).

Although tickets will be available at the door, advance purchase is strongly encouraged. If you prefer not to pay online, call 414-446-8794 or download this form and send it via email (staff@lyndensculpturegarden.org), fax (414-446-8492) or snail mail (Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53217). We cannot guarantee that a copy of the book will be available for you if you pay at the door.

Margy Stratton, founder and executive producer of Milwaukee Reads is back with year two of her series featuring writers of particular interest to women. For the first event of the 2012-2013 season, she has chosen author and blogger Kyran Pittman. Join the Lynden Sculpture Garden in welcoming Kyran Pittman on October 16th as she engages us with her wit, humor, and stories of how life behind the picket fence has the ability to generate the most meaningful of adventures.

Kyran Pittman grew up on the “near-mythical” island of Newfoundland in Canada as the daughter of a poet, and was both in thrall to and suspicious of the white picket fence. Now that she dwells within its bounds (in Arkansas, with her American husband and three small sons), her outsider’s eye yields keen observations—as she puts it, she is a kind of domestic naturalist, embedded deep in the field.

In her vivid and intimate memoir, Planting Dandelions: Field Notes from a Semi-Domesticated Life, Pittman opens her front door and walks us through the first twelve years in the life of a family. Brimming with stories that will speak to every family, Pittman writes openly about maintaining a marriage for over a decade through three children, the threat of foreclosure, and the temptations of infidelity. She writes about saying goodbye to her formerly “outrageous” self, about the challenges of sex after children, and about trying to recession-proof her family. Through it all, she offers moving and hopeful musings on parenting and marriage and more. The result is an extraordinary book about ordinary life.

Kyran Pittman is a contributing editor at Good Housekeeping and an active and entertaining blogger at www.plantingdandelions.com. More on Kyran Pittman here.

Register online now.

“Crisp, witty dispatches from the domestic front by a former wild child... refreshingly candid.”
Kirkus Book Reviews

“She concocts a fine wine from the unruly weeds that bloom inside her white picket fence. Read Planting Dandelions. It’s a riotous and compelling glimpse of life after a perennial party girl crosses over to the other side.”
Globe & Mail

Up next, we travel to Paris with Cynthia Morris, author of Chasing Sylvia Beach, on Tuesday, January 15, 2013. In her debut historical novel, Colorado author Cynthia Morris brings to life the world of Shakespeare and Company bookstore founder Sylvia Beach and the streets of Paris in the years before World War II. Morris, a noted writing coach, will offer a writing workshop on January 16. More information: http://www.chasingsylviabeach.com/

Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden.
What better way to experience Lynden in the winter than by lantern light? Join us in the art studio beginning at 3 pm for this popular annual family workshop to make a lantern (or bring your own), followed by a lantern-lit walk through the garden, then back inside for hot cider and cookies.

Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden. 
Younger children should be accompanied by an adult. One project per person, please.

Give the gift of the sculpture garden--or at least a tiny bit of it. Holiday season is upon us and we will be making terrariums—miniature environments—that can be worn on a string, ribbon or chain. Choose among small glass bottles and vials and an assortment of natural materials to create your own unique, hand-made gift. Select dried materials that require no attention or construct a living pendant that will grow with your care. (Note that living pendants require water 3-5 times a week and at least 8 hours of indirect sunlight.) At 2 pm we’ll learn to fold an origami box to wrap the gift. Package your pendant with a Lynden membership for a gift that lasts all year long.

Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden, but space is limited. Please pre-register by contacting Jeremy Stepien at jstepien@lyndensculpturegarden.org or 414.446.8481. Registration for this workshop is now closed. Please contact us if you'd like to add your name to the waiting list or be notified about future workshops. We'll be running this workshop again on March 3rd, more info on that here.

Celebrate autumn by learning a traditional twining weave to make a garlic basket for your home. We will use a combination of willow from the sculpture garden, basket-weaving reed, and raffia to add color and texture to the basic weave.
No experience required; this workshop is for ages 12 and up.

Free to members or with admission to the sculpture garden

Drop by the art studio between 12:30 and 2:30 for this all-ages workshop. We’ll use natural wool from Hillspring Eco-Farm, a local organic farm to wind wisps of fibers into natural felt marbles. This simple process creates felt marbles that can be used for games, threaded into a necklace, or massed in a handmade garland.

A Workshop with Kelly Lahl

Note: this workshop is now full, but if you're interested in getting on the waiting list or the list for future for future workshops, please contact us.

Register online now.

Fee: $85/ $75 members (all materials included)

Saturday, September 8, 2012 – 10 am-2:30 pm
(Participants will need to return briefly on Sunday, September 9 between 12 noon and 5 pm to remove their pieces from the dye baths.)

Fee: $50/ $45 members (all materials included)

Registration: Space is limited; advance registration required. To register click here.