Lynden Blog

This is the tenth in a series of blog posts by Pegi Christiansen, who was a Lynden artist in residence through October 2015. Learn more about her residency here.

On July 31 and August 1, Theresa Columbus flew in from Maryland, Jennifer Holmes from California, and John Loscuito from Florida so the four of us could work on the Distance exhibit (September 28-October 11) and accompanying performance (October 10 and 11 at 4:00). I invited these three artists--who had never met each other before--to participate in Distance. Jennifer was the only one of us who had never been to Lynden.

Theresa was the first to arrive, on Friday night, and pointed out there was a blue moon. This means it was the second full moon in the month, something that only occurs every two to three years. Both of us thought this perfectly characterized our year of art making.

On Saturday morning, I picked up Jennifer at the airport and the four of us went out for breakfast to map out what we would be doing until everyone left town on Wednesday.

We returned to Lynden and, for the first time, got to see the exquisite corpses we had been making separately for eleven months on 11” by 15” pieces of paper. If you come to the October performances, you will see them too and learn more about how these happened. It was a wonder to point to some of the ways, though hundreds of miles apart, we were aware of each other’s intentions. For instance in July, without anyone knowing what the other three were doing, there were circles in everyone’s images. We decided how we wanted the visual exquisite corpses arranged in the gallery, as well as our monthly dawn photos and, with Polly’s help, the text corpses.

For the remainder of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, our time and energy was devoted to working on the Distance performance. Since February we had been writing the script for the forty-minute performance, but we needed to block it and, in some cases, to revise the script based on our actions. Every night Jennifer, John, and Theresa stayed up late at Lynden reviewing the day’s revisions.

Polly encouraged us to go out for dinner one night. Monday I drove everyone over to the River Lane Inn. We sat outside while the sun set on a gorgeous evening. I asked everyone if they would mind sharing something important personally and professionally (outside of the Distance project) that had happened during our year of collaborating. This ended up sparking incredible conversation. I described how the “Failure Round Robin” I organized at Lynden in April had liberated me. John gave examples of how he is making new opportunities available for artists in his new position. Theresa explained her “kidult” concept with adults and kids creating theater together. I have always viewed Jennifer as a total Amazon, and realized she was more vulnerable than I had imagined.

August was the final month for making visual and text exquisite corpses and our dawn photos. As another way to take advantage of our time together at Lynden, we completed the August text corpse by dinnertime on Tuesday, and that morning I arrived early so we could take our dawn photos with each other. We had selected inside and outside the bathhouse by the pond as our location. John and Jennifer took selfies, and Jennifer helped to take pictures of Theresa and me. Afterwards, we took this picture of the four of us.

Left to right, John Loscuito, Theresa Columbus, Pegi Christiansen, Jennifer Holmes

Just as Polly needed to close the gallery on Tuesday, we finished blocking. We figured out all the next steps, and by Wednesday Jennifer, John, and Theresa were back in their own corners of the United States.

It is Labor Day and we are laboring, though by the time you get this, work, school and a slew of regular activities will be back in full swing, as if the three-day interruption had never happened.

I'm writing this on a quiet summer afternoon.

This is the eighth in a series of blog posts by Pegi Christiansen, who is a Lynden artist in residence through October 2015. As part of her project, Distance, Pegi will accompany people, in groups of up to three, on their first trip to Lynden. She will pick them up, drive them out, take a walk with them, and bring them back. As part of the excursion, she will ask some questions about distance. If you are interested in participating in this aspect of Pegi's project, please call 414-446-8794 or email info@lyndensculpturegarden.org and mention you are interested in a “distance visit.”

Last year Lynn Bartkus contacted Lynden about having a visit exchange. She is a docent at Ten Chimneys in Genesee Depot, the estate of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, widely regarded as the greatest husband-and-wife acting team in the history of American theater.

Lynn Bartkus leading a tour at Ten Chimneys

On May 19 I drove to Ten Chimneys for the first time, about the same distance as my home is to Lynden. On my way out, I wondered whether there would be any similarities between Ten Chimneys and Lynden. It turns out there are plenty!
--The Lunts (1922) and the Bradleys (1926) married around the same time.
--They both sought country retreats near Milwaukee in what were then rural areas.
--Both tamed and transformed the land they bought. For the Bradleys, it was turning a farm into a pastoral landscape. For the Lunts, Lynne explained they “created a retreat for friends and family.” Lynn told me the Lunts let guests pick the breakfast tray they wanted, plus what, where, and when the meal would be served so they would feel pampered.
--Both developed well-tended gardens.
--The Bradleys put in a pond and built a bathhouse for swimming (Mrs. Bradley was an avid swimmer). Lunt and Fontanne installed an L-shaped swimming pool with a dramatic pool house. (Every building and room on the property has the appearance and feeling of a stage set.)

As you can tell from the top picture, Lynn, whose mother thought Fontanne personified glamour and named Lynn after her, gave an animated two-hour tour of the sixty acres at Ten Chimneys. Lynn trained to be a docent five years ago. I told her how much I enjoyed her tour, and Lynn said she learned that people wanted to hear fun stories by shadowing other docents.

A week later, on May 26, Lynn met me at Lynden in the morning. Rain was predicted, but it held off until the moment we said goodbye.

Early on in our walk around Lynden, we stood by the birch stand near the east end of the pond. Lynn brought up the birches at Ten Chimneys. She said they are a Scandinavian good luck symbol and are often given as wedding presents. Lynn suggested both the Lunts and Bradleys “loved life and nature.”

Lynn Bartkus at Lynden

It takes Lynn an hour to drive from her home to Ten Chimneys, but she does not mind the distance. She uses the time to see Wisconsin and often takes back roads.

She likes that you can wander at Lynden and votes for not introducing paths. Once you have paths, she finds people tend to assume they should “Keep Off the Grass,” whether there are signs or not.

Lynn has a very active Facebook presence and uses it primarily to post pictures of grandchildren for family members who don’t live nearby. Even though it sometimes seems intrusive, Lynn thinks social media invasions of privacy are here to stay.

Her eight grandchildren live in Southeastern Wisconsin. She wants to bring them to Lynden. I showed her one of the sculptures children like best, George Sugarman’s Trio. “It’s like the spine of a whale,” she said. After the visit she emailed to tell me how she delighted in “the lushness, the sculptures, the pond—to relax and breathe the fresh air.” I’m so glad Lynn contacted Lynden last year. Since visiting Ten Chimneys, I find myself asking everybody if they’ve ever been there. Whether you are a theater fan or not, it’s definitely worth signing up for a tour.