Wausau, Wisconsin: Two exhibitions on view June 6 through August 30 feature nocturnal botanical garden photography and boxes inspired by a Colonial-era botanist’s shipping crates reveal seldom-glimpsed nighttime scenes and artists’ reimagined, container creations.
The Garden at Night: A Photographic Journey comprises photographs of after-dark journeys through North American botanical gardens, captured by Linda Rutenberg and Roger Leeon using only moonlight and flashlights for illumination. The couple’s nighttime photographs offer fresh perspectives of nature glimpsed while most slumber. The Garden at Night has been organized by Linda Rutenberg and is circulated through GuestCurator Traveling Exhibitions.
Bartram’s Boxes Remix features contemporary artists’ wooden boxes, inspired by colonial-era ones engineered to safely ship plant specimens to Europe. The artists’ reimagined boxes resulted from a collaboration between Philadelphia’s The Center for Art in Wood and Bartram’s Garden. John Bartram, America’s first botanist, shipped overseas his compartmentalized boxes filled with New World seeds, dried plants, and natural history curiosities that transformed the European landscape. These eighteenth-century seed sales supported his Philadelphia botanic garden and three generations of research. Featured contemporary artists were invited to “remix” Bartram’s history, materials, and legacy, using wood salvaged from trees felled by a 2010 storm at Philadelphia’s Bartram’s Garden.
Artists share insights about selected artworks from both exhibitions in the Woodson Art Museum’s audio tour, available on a Museum iPod or on your smartphone or tablet after downloading the Museum’s free app at either Google Play or the iTunes Store.
Museum Programs for All Ages Dig into Garden and Photography Themes
The garden theme winds its way throughout summer programs for all ages, workshops for teens and adults, Family Fest, and children’s summer art camps. For program details, visit https://www.lywam.org/events-calendar/
A Museum collection exhibition is the focus of two Art 101 programs in June. Museum curator Jane Weinke leads “Shoreline Symphony” gallery walks on Thursday, June 4, 5:30-6:30 p.m., and Wednesday, June, 17, 12:15-1 p.m. During Night Out @ the Woodson on Thursday, June 4, all ages drop in during Hands-on Art, 5:30-7 p.m., to create mixed-media shoreline landscape collages.
Adults unwind with yoga in the sculpture garden or a gallery, if weather requires, led by a 5 Koshas Yoga and Wellness instructor, on Thursdays, June 4, July 2, and August 6, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Bring a mat or blanket.
During Art Beyond Sight, Saturday, June 6, 10:30 a.m.-Noon, individuals with low vision and blindness engage in a multisensory gallery exploration and then fill garden containers with plants chosen for texture and scent, led by a Museum educator and Robert W. Monk Gardens representative. Call the Museum at 715-845-7010 to register.
All ages drop in for hands-on art making during Art Park Open Studio on Saturdays, June 6 and August 1, 1-3 p.m.
Teens and adults plant a container garden filled with edible herbs during a Taste of Container Gardening, Saturday, June 6, 1:30-3:30 p.m., led by a Robert W. Monk Gardens representative. Fee: $30; to register and receive details, call 715-845-7010.
The Museum’s monthly SPARK! programs for individuals with memory loss and accompanying friends or family members will be offered on the second Thursday of each month, June 11, July 9, and August 13, 10:30 a.m.-Noon; call 715-845-7010 to register.
Little ones, 18 months-4 years, and accompanying adults drop in to explore garden themes through hands-on art making during Toddler Tuesday on June 16, July 21, and August 18, 10:30 a.m.-Noon.
Adults accompany little ones during Art Time for Tots, 1-4 years, on Thursdays, June 18, July 16, and August 20, 9:30-10:30 a.m., and during Art Babies, birth-1 year, on Fridays, June 19, July 17, and August, 21; call 715-845-7010 to register.
Visiting Artists Offer Insights
Visiting artists provide instruction about botanical sketching, photography, painting, collaborative art projects, and woodturning.
Botanical artist Wendy Brockman guides teens and adults during a Botanical Sketches & Nature Boxes workshop, Wednesday-Friday, June 24-26, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fee: $110, Museum members; $130, non-members; materials provided. Bring a bagged lunch. Call the Museum at 715-845-7010 for details and to register.
Night Out @ the Woodson on Thursday, July 2, features Art 101: Garden at Night Gallery Walk, 5:30-6:30 p.m., led by Museum educator Catie Anderson; Yoga & Art, 5:30-6:30 p.m.; and Hands-on Art, 5:30-7 p.m., when all ages prepare for Independence Day by twisting fireworks-inspired chenille stems.
Canadian “Garden at Night” photographer Linda Rutenberg leads children’s summer art camps, workshop for teens and adults, and a gallery walk, July 14-19. Art camp for 9-11 year olds is on Tuesday and Wednesday, July 14-15, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and for 12-14 year olds is on Thursday and Friday, July 16-17, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fee: $95, Museum members; $110, non-members. Call the Museum at 715-845-7010 for details and to register.
Rutenberg also leads a teen and adult workshop, Nighttime Photography: Portraits & Perspective, Saturday, July 18, 8 p.m.-Midnight, and Sunday, July 19, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Fee: $35, Museum members; $50, non-members. Call the Museum at 715-845-7010 for details and to register. Rutenberg offers a gallery walk through her “Garden at Night” exhibition, Sunday, July 19, 2-3 p.m.
Botany Book Discussion, Tuesday, July 21, 1-2:30 p.m., focuses on “The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire, and the Birth of an Obsession,” by Andrea Wulf and will be led by a Robert W. Monk Gardens representative.
Register now for children’s art camps, Beyond Botanical Boxes: Push the Boundaries, ages 5-6, Wednesday, July 22, 9 a.m.-Noon. Fee: $25, Museum members; $30, non-members. Ages 7-8, Thursday, July 23, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fee: $40, Museum members; $50, non-members. Ages 9-10, Friday, July 24, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fee: $40, Museum members; $50, non-members. To register and for details, call the Museum at 715-845-7010.
Adults and teens improve skills using their painting medium of choice during Garden Nocturnes: Painting by Moonlight, with artist/instructor Terry Stanley, Tuesday through Thursday, July 28-30, 7-11 p.m. Fee: $60, Museum members; $75, non-members. Call the Museum at 715-845-7010 for details and to register.
Children, teens, and families coping with the death of a loved one create memorial art for a garden during Treasuring Memories, Wednesday, July 29, 1-3 p.m. Call the Museum at 715-845-7010 to register and for details.
All ages drop in to learn about woodturning, an art form used to create some “Bartram’s Boxes Remix” works. Wisconsin Valley Woodturners demonstrate their skills and guide participants in using a lathe during Woodturning Open Studio, Saturday, August 1, 1-3 p.m.
Wisconsin artist Bird Ross leads Art 101: Creative Collaboration via Mail, Thursday, August 6, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Other Night Out @ the Woodson programs on Thursday, August 6 include Yoga & Art, 5:30-6:30 p.m., and Hands-on Art, 5:30-7 p.m., when all ages drop in to make colorful flower prints. Ross teaches teens and adults during a Collaborative Art Workshop, Friday, August 7, 1-3 p.m.; Call 715-845-7010 to register for this free workshop. Ross also offers a Bartram’s Boxes Gallery Walk, Saturday, August 8, Noon-1 p.m.
During the Museum’s fifth-annual Family Fest, all ages drop in, Tuesday, August 18 through Thursday, August 20, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., to be inspired by the beauty, freshness, and endless variety of gardens and explore a different daily art activity: botanical prints, seed mosaics, and tissue-paper flowers. Family Fest kicks off with Extra-Terrific Toddler Tuesday, August 18, 10:30 a.m.-Noon. Little ones, 18 months-4 years, siblings and accompanying adults sample art making stations and family yoga sessions led by a 5 Koshas Yoga and Wellness instructor.
During Art 101: Wood Matters, Wisconsin Valley Woodturner Roger Zimmermann leads a “Bartram’s Boxes Remix” gallery walk and shares insights into working with wood, Wednesday, August 19, 12:15-1 p.m.
For additional program details, visit https://www.lywam.org/events-calendar/
New Avian-Themed Collections Exhibition Joins Others on View
Shoreline Symphony, on view through February 21, 2016, comprises artworks from the Woodson Art Museum’s collection portraying the sights and sounds at water’s edge. The hypnotic nature of water inspires artists to observe and skillfully capture ever-changing shorelines.
Three Woodson Art Museum collection-based exhibitions remain on view through July 2015: Legacy Lost & Saved: Extinct and Endangered Birds of North America, inspired by Project Passenger Pigeon, a nationwide educational initiative marking the centennial of the species’ extinction, The Great Marsh: Horicon Waterfowl, and For the Birds: Rare and Extinct.
Carved & Cast, featuring small-scale and medium-sized sculptures including maquettes by Gwynn Murrill and work by Willard Stone, Jason Stone, Simon Gudgeon, Hank Tyler, Hélène Arfi, and Tim Cherry, remains on view through February 21, 2016.
For more information, visit www.lywam.org, e-mail the Museum at museum@lywam.org, call 715-845-7010, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Woodson Art Museum
Hours:
Tues–Fri 9am–4pm
First Thurs each month 9am–7:30pm
Thurs during Birds in Art 9am–7:30pm
Sat–Sun Noon–5pm
Closed Mon & holidays, including New Year’s Day, Easter, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas
Admission: Always Free Admission
Phone: 715.845.7010
Email: museum@lywam.org
Location: Franklin and 12th Streets, Wausau, Wisconsin 54403-5007
(700 N. Twelfth Street)
Online: www.lywam.org
High-resolution images of artwork are available upon request; connect with Amy Beck at abeck@lywam.org
To access URL links to high resolution images of visiting artists, click on the caption information, below.
