13th 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 our Teachers-in-Residence, Katie Hobday, Hattie Grimm, and Ali Berry— our highly participatory, artist-driven carnival offers something for everybody. Pedro's South American Food Truck will be onsite selling an array of Latin American snacks, lunch items, and hot drinks. The Winter Carnival is sponsored by Davey Tree Expert.
Pedro's South American Food Truck will be onsite selling an array of Latin American snacks, lunch items, and hot drinks.
Schedule
10 am – 4 pm: S’mores Stories with Milwaukee Kitchen
Milwaukee Kitchen will oversee interactive making of s’mores along with fireside storytelling. The day will include two friendly competitions for Traditional, Most Imaginative, and Best of Day S'mores. (Categories subject to change.) MK Team: Paul Druecke, Anika Wilson, Flora Coker, Malachi Baer, Kristaleen Hernandez, Ariana Vaeth
10 am – 4 pm: Grape Eater Journal by Brad Fiore
Grape Eater Journal is a literary journal that brings short stories into physical space to consider the material conditions of reading. This winter, it will be featuring stories by Brian Evenson, Jac Jemc, Sony Ton-Amie, and Marcus Spiegel. Explore the different sites for each short story around the Lynden grounds.
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 and 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: 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 – 12:00 pm: Planting New Beginnings - Bird Puppet Parade with Hattie Grimm
Birds help create new life in the ecosystem. They disperse seeds and pollinate plants. What new beginnings do you want to create? Participants will write their intention on a fabric strip and attach it to a giant bird puppet’s back. Twice during the course of the day (12 pm and 3:30 pm), we will parade the giant bird around the Lynden grounds to send our wishes into the sky, playing drums, chimes, and shakers to celebrate. Things always become more clear from a bird’s eye view!
10 am – 1 pm: Mending What’s Broken Mobile Making with Emma Marie Mock
Things break. Fingernails, coffee makers, cars, bones, teacups, relationships. It’s impossible to go through life without experiencing some breakage. Mending What’s Broken uses sticks, twigs, and embroidery thread to create mobiles that represent healing for the small and large breakages of life – anything from mirrors to marriages. Participants can engage with their own narratives of loss and healing while they make and adorn a mobile to take home. Through workshops like this, Emma promotes the idea that creative and collective spaces are healing spaces.
11 am – 12 pm: Winter Tree Walk with Robert Kaleta
Robert Kaleta of Lynden’s land team will introduce you to Lynden’s trees in winter.
11 am – 1 pm: Fishing for Words with Kirsten Meier
Pull a string and fish out the words you are seeking to find. Kirsten Meier will craft an ice-cold poem on their winter-blue typewriter until their fingers freeze over. Release the fish back into the pond but take your freshly-chilled poem home with you.
11 am – 3 pm: Splash! In The Cold
Artist Mikal Floyd-Pruitt invites community members of all ages to participate in SPLASH!, the interactive, art-making gameshow. Line-up for a chance to answer some trivia… If you get it right you’ll be awarded a Super Soaker filled with paint to add a SPLASH! of color to an oversized abstract painting. Yay!
12 pm – 1:45 pm: Miniature Winter Tree Sculpture Workshop with Heather Eiden
Make a miniature winter tree with artist Heather Eiden by wrapping and braiding wires around a lake rock, then threading them with beads to create the effect of snow and ice. The tiny tree can be used as a paper weight.
12 pm – 2 pm: Inhabit Radiance (after Hilma af Klint) with The Everyday Feminist
“The more we discover the wonders of nature, the more we become aware of ourselves.”
– Hilma af Klint
The Everyday Feminist invites the community to help create a work of ephemeral art, a spiral abstraction in a variety of seeds. These seeds will feed the wildlife in the sculpture garden and highlight the connections between all things. Those who participate will receive a takeaway of a small bag of seeds to nourish wildlife in the spaces they inhabit.
12 pm – 2 pm: Bloom the Wishing Tree with Sindie Ho
Wish upon a star? Perhaps not that far - as the Lunar New Year is coming around the bend, send your wishes, hopes, dreams, or determinations up into the branches of the wishing tree. Together we will bloom a special member of our plant relatives who actually finds its fullest foliage in the winter time.
1 pm – 2:45 pm: Magick Wand Creation Workshop with Anika Kowalik
In this workshop, Kowalik invites you to a narrative-building exercise they use in their art practice. You will be participating in creating your own magick wand that is both unique and personal to you.
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).
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 – 4 pm: Planting New Beginnings - Bird Puppet Parade with Hattie Grimm
Birds help create new life in the ecosystem. They disperse seeds and pollinate plants. What new beginnings do you want to create? Participants will write their intention on a fabric strip and attach it to a giant bird puppet’s back. Twice during the course of the day (12 pm and 3:30 pm), we will parade the giant bird around the Lynden grounds to send our wishes into the sky, playing drums, chimes, and shakers to celebrate. Things always become more clear from a bird’s eye view!
2 pm – 4 pm: Prairie Burn - Drawing the Landscape with Sarah Luther
Gather around the fire pit to make your own charcoal and use it to create large-scale landscape drawings.
About the Artists
Hattie Grimm is an artist and educator who likes to draw birds. She finds that drawing a bird often opens a portal to something more curious, more true, and more alive. She recommends anyone to try this.
Sindie Ho lives in Milwaukee, WI - making clay, friends, tasty food, and messes. He makes home in Riverwest and the Milwaukee Makerspace, and enjoys floating between clay, wood, word, textiles, and drawing. Sindie chases new shiny toys and the exhilaration of play.
Kirsten Meier is a multidisciplinary artist focusing in textiles, performance, and the exploration of material culture. They currently live and create in Milwaukee, WI.
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.
Brad Fiore is a writer and artist who runs the weekly newsletter Grape Eater.
Milwaukee Kitchen Artists: Paul Druecke is an artist and writer. Flora Coker received Outstanding Artist Award from Renaissance Theater in 2022. Anika Wilson’s teaching and research interests include: rumor, gossip and urban legends; and vernacular health beliefs (Africa). Marcie Hoffman is an actor and former member of Theatre X. Ariana Vaeth is an autobiographical painter from Baltimore based in Milwaukee. Kristaleen Hernandez is a born and raised Milwaukeean who loves eatin' good, cookin' good, and feelin' goooood.
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.
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.
Anika Kowalik is a multidisciplinary artist based in Milwaukee, WI. Their work touches on the themes of ancestry, mysticism, and healing through drawing, fibers, sculpture, and writing.
Emma Marie Mock (she/her) is a Sheboygan-based artist who employs textiles and found objects to delve into themes of living, dying, and grieving. With a master’s degree in Thanatology—the study of death, dying, and grief—Emma draws on her expertise to explore the healing process, the magic of being alive and what we can do to "mend" our souls. Her artistic practice is rooted in the belief that creative and collective spaces are healing and that they celebrate our shared human experience. Emma's fascination with the interplay of objects, sentimentality, and memory informs the design of her artwork and workshops. Through her creations, she invites viewers to engage with their own narratives of loss and healing, fostering a sense of connection and transformation.
Mikal Floyd-Pruitt is a multi-disciplinary artist and cultural producer whose work includes visual art, music, performance and community engagement. After receiving a BA in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University, he returned to Milwaukee, to produce artwork and experiences calibrated for significant cultural impact. Circumventing strata, Mikal creates throughout the entire city, while also exhibiting/performing nationally. In 2023, he won the Mary L. Nohl Fellowship, exhibited and spoke at Charlotte Street Gallery, attended The Last Resort Artist Retreat - an invitation only residency founded by artist Derrick Adams, was selected for the Mitchell Street Arts artist residency, as well as the gener8tor x Sherman Phoenix Artist Accelerator.