Serendipitously on a trip to Milwaukee, we discovered a cache of outdoor sculptures at Lynden Sculpture Garden. We initially visited Milwaukee to see if the home on Ivanhoe Place where my grandparents lived so many decades ago still stood. We located the home and snapped some photos for them. We had intended on walking along the lake nearby after. However, I opted to do a quick Google search to see what points of interest popped up nearby. My interest piqued when I stumbled on a local sculpture garden. Then, I learned that admission was currently waived for the time being. Destiny!
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| Salem No. 7 by Antoni Milkowski |
Wandering the Grounds of Lynden Sculpture Park:
Lynden Sculpture Garden inhabits the former estate of Harry Lynde Bradley and Margaret Blakney Bradley. Harry Lynde Bradley was a noted industrialist and inventor who founded the Allen-Bradley Company with his brother Lynde. The Bradleys forged 40 acres of land into an estate with some of the features of an English country park.
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| Hara by Deborah Butterfield |
Peg Bradley was an experienced art collector and commenced collecting large scale sculptures in 1962. She would have staff create wooden replicas to help determine the eventual spot of each sculpture. Pretty interesting and I totally wonder how this process looked! Peg would collect and fold sculptures into the bucolic landscape until her death in 1978. Her collection is quite and impressive and I feel really fits into the landscape.
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| Pond of water lilies and frogs! |
Drifting Through an Art Filled Countryside:
Beautiful natural elements throughout surprised us including lily pad covered ponds full of hopping frogs. As we walked by the ponds, throngs of frogs hopped from the edge to lily pads towards the center. Magical! Through much of the park, we walked along grass from spot to spot just like drifting through a countryside pasture. Truly a gorgeous property!
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| Wandering the countryside. |
Wandering through, we realized that the park was more extensive than we originally thought. So many paths and directions forge directions of discovery! The park contains an astounding 50 sculptures. We barely scratched the surface on our Sunday wandering!
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| Sky Fence by Linda Howard |
Lynden Sculpture Garden hosts a number of events throughout the year as well as special exhibitions. Currently, the sculpture garden is open for socially distanced walking. However, please verify current open status before visiting. Admission is waived but this may change at any time, so check ahead. When visiting, remember not to touch or climb on the sculptures. We enjoyed quite the escape viewing intriguing large scale art pieces and wandering the country estate. Such a peaceful and inspiring experience!
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