It may not seem intuitive to reach for an iPad or iPhone while getting out of the city and rambling around a 40-acre park, but in the case of the Lynden Sculpture Garden, such devices may make for good walking companions.
The former home of Milwaukee’s most-known art collector, Peg Bradley, and her sculpture-filled grounds are now more easily navigated with a newly launched mobile site.
Just type lyndensculpturegarden.org into your mobile device’s browser, and the site appropriate to your specific smartphone or cellular-enabled tablet will automatically load.
Visitors will be able to page through the collection and discover more about the art and artists they encounter as they wander.
The information on each of the more than 50 monumental sculptures in the collection, as well as temporary installations and exhibits, runs from basic to truly extensive.
The verbiage, for instance, on Roy Staab’s new artwork, “Chiral Formation” (top image), which currently is on view in the “Little Lake,” is essentially a full profile of this important, 70-year-old, Milwaukee-area artist. Staab’s ephemeral work, made of reeds and branches, will disintegrate naturally back into the landscape.
With information on the sculptures mostly in place, the Lynden is planning to document the trees and plantings next, facilitating personalized tree and garden walks.
Eventually, iPads will be available for checkout at the admission desk. Interestingly enough, this emphasis on technology is in line with Lynden’s environmental mission because since it reduces the amount of printed materials needed.
I perused the updated sites, which are freshly launched, on an iPhone and iPad. The sharp, retina-display images, intelligently loaded based on bandwidth, were gorgeous.
The color-coded, touch-ready navigation is a pleasure to use and encourages a kind of exploration that is not unlike exploring Lynden on foot. While a location-based app may seem like the natural route here, the relatively contained size of the collection makes finding sculptures a fun and not cumbersome exercise.
The mobile site also functions as a simple guide to Lynden’s many doings, including Yoga in the Garden (on Sundays), the upcoming “Inside/Outside” exhibit featuring artists Will Pergl and Shona Macdonald (opening Aug. 8) and the annual “Backyard Barbecue” blowout (Aug. 16).
Like any new website, Lynden’s is not without a bug or two. Clicking the back button sometimes dumped me back to my Google search results on the iPad, for instance, but it is one of the nicest art-related sites I’ve seen in a while.
The modular and scalable site, which is HTML5 responsive, was designed and built by Craig Kroeger. The Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Road?, is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 for students and seniors. Children younger than 6 and active military and their families are free.
Speak Your Mind