For suburban residents, participating in Milwaukee’s Museum days doesn’t have to mean trekking to the city. A handful of participating museums with free or discounted prices are located on the North Shore or nearby.
For North Shore residents on the hunt for winter-and-wallet-friendly activities in the coming days, consider visiting the following nearby museums with free and discounted prices between Jan. 18 and Jan. 28.
Return to the magic of children’s book illustrations at the Cedarburg Art Museum
The Cedarburg Art Museum is offering free admission and a 10% discount in its museum shop, including exhibition sales and unique museum publications.
At W63 N675 Washington Ave. in Cedarburg, the museum has free on-site parking and is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
Along with the Cedarburg Art Museum collection on display, visitors will be able to experience original exhibitions including paintings from local newspaper graphic designer and illustrator Robb Helf and artwork from talented K-12 students in Ozaukee County.
Until May 19, the museum will feature the original illustrations of six children’s book illustrators in an exhibition called Show & Tell. The illustrators are Renee Graef, Francisco Mora, Aaron Boyd, Bonnie Leick, Sherry Luhman and Lois Ehlert.
“The illustrations of children’s books are the first artworks we are exposed to,” the museum’s website states. “They stir imagination, color our dreams, bond us with those we share them with, and even teach us life lessons.”
The art museum is typically free even outside of Museum Days with a suggested donation of $5.
From India to Wisconsin: visit the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts
Experience the best of quilts, traditional needle arts and contemporary fiber arts on a historic 1850s farm site at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts.
Until Jan. 28, admission to the museum will cost $5. Typically, the museum charges $10 per person or $8 for seniors 65 and older and $5 for students and children 6 and older.
At N50 W5050 Portland Road in Cedarburg, the repurposed farmstead is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Ample parking is available by the museum entrance off Struck Lane, according to the museum’s website.
Visitors can experience the museum’s rotating exhibits, gift shop, tours, classes and new virtual Friday programs.
One of the current exhibits, Conversations in Cloth, features 11 artists showcasing the textile traditions of Kutch, a region in the western state of Gujarat, India, according to the museum’s website. The Kutch district is renowned for techniques in tie-dyeing, embroidery, quilt making and carpet weaving.
This is the first time the museum has invited artists to respond to its collection of exquisite antique quilts, and both the museum’s collection quilts and the artists’ responses are featured. The exhibit will be available until Feb. 25.
Another exhibit, which is available until Jan. 28, features the work of a group of art quilters across Wisconsin called Women Who Run with Scissors, formed in 1997. The group, composed of 14 members, is united by a love for creating original pieces of fiber art.
Experience art and nature at the Lynden Sculpture Garden
The Lynden Sculpture Garden offers a combined experience of art and nature with over 50 sculptures on 40 acres of park, lake and woodland.
The museum at 2145 W. Brown Deer Road in River Hills is open every day except Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, curators waived admission to the outdoor sculpture garden, knowing that the garden offered a unique resource for a community that could no longer gather indoors. Four years later, the garden is still free to the public, even after Museum Days, according to the museum’s website.
Until Feb. 25, visitors can see portraits in the Lynden House made by local artist LaNia Sproles featured in an exhibition called Products of the Heart. Made between 2021 and 2023, the portraits explore the emotional complexities of kinship, according to the museum’s website.
“Collectively, these figures pay homage to the importance of preserving one’s humanity through carefully maintained curiosity,” Sproles said in the exhibition’s description.
Contact Claudia Levens at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @levensc13.
