Madison Essentials Magazine February-April 2016

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MADISON ESSENTIALS m

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CONTENTS february 2016–april 2016

publisher Towns & Associates, Inc. 126 Water Street Baraboo, WI 53913-2445 P (608) 356-8757 • F (608) 356-8875

essential art

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Richard Jones................................16

editor-in-chief

dining

Amy S. Johnson ajohnson@madisonessentialsmagazine.com

contributing writers Jeanne Carpenter, Jeanne Engle, Kyle Jacobson, Yvette Jones, Cara Lombardo, Lily Mank, Kay Myers, Liz Wessel

publication designer Jennifer Denman

copy editor

Bonfyre Grille.................................10 The University Club........................28

entertainment Madison Theatre Guild...................24

food & beverage Art of the Perfect Hash Brown........34 Cambridge Winery........................36

Kyle Jacobson

Culture Through Beer Goggles......26

graphic designers

health

Susie Anderson, Jennifer Denman, Sarah Hill, Barbara Wilson

The Psychology of Bullying.............32

photographer Eric Tadsen

additional photographs Dick Ainsworth, Architectural Building Arts, Jason Atkins, Uriah Carpenter, Carissa Dixon, Green Concierge Travel, Kyle Jacobson, Katie McGrath, Momentum Floral & Décor, Dan Myers—Lumi Photography, Premier Garage, Studio Paran, Barbara Wilson, Wisconsin Historical Society, ZDA, Inc.

advertising director

home Creative Garage Space................40 The Essence of Fire........................44

landmark Wisconsin Historical Society Building........................................14

shopping Book Shopping, Part II.....................6 Momentum Floral & Décor...........20

Amy S. Johnson

travel

ajohnson@madisonessentialsmagazine.com

Hidden Gems at the University of

(608) 356-8757x105

advertising coordinator Kelly Hopkins khopkins@madisonessentialsmagazine.com

vol. 45

Wisconsin–Madison....................42

including

(608) 445-5556

From the Editor................................4

administration

Contest Information......................46

Jennifer Baird, Lori Czajka, Krystle Naab, Shayla Porter

Contest Winners............................46 madisonessentialsmagazine.com

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Watch for the next issue May 2016. additional copies Madison Essentials Magazine is

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from the editor

As I write this New Year’s Eve morning, I contemplate 2016. While 2015 certainly contained many positives to be grateful for, it also felt we were unusually inundated with news filled with negative words and actions. It is my hope that as we move forward, we do so more optimistically by setting thoughtful, constructive objectives for the upcoming year and beyond.

We appreciate the continued support we receive from the community and our readers as we celebrate the extraordinary things and citizens that comprise our extensive community. We intend to continue with our local business, people, and organizational features, as well as implement plans to do more.

We begin by focusing on various health areas, starting with a mental health series. We first look at the widespread issue and impact of bullying, which impacts us in multiple ways that we’re not always readily able to identify. The article contained herein is an overview, and in future issues, we will delve more deeply into specific aspects.

While we plan to proceed with our nonprofit feature in each issue, we will also annually provide an additional opportunity to an organization, over the course of multiple issues, to take up a pen to present you the larger scope of their work in greater detail. This will begin with Porchlight in our May-July issue.

Resolute this New Year, members of our team have also chosen to do more personally by dedicating volunteer hours with two local nonprofits. To support them, our company as a whole will seek to do what it can throughout the year to enhance the commitment.

Our entire staff wishes you an incredible 2016 not only for what the year brings you, but for what you do with it.

amy johnson

ajohnson@madisonessentialsmagazine.com.

all rights reserved. ©2016

Cover photo taken by Eric Tadsen at Momentum Floral & Décor.

Photos on page 3: top—taken at Bonfyre Grille by Eric Tadsen. middle—taken at Momentum Floral & Décor by Eric Tadsen. bottom—taken at Arcadia Books by Eric Tadsen.

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Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery

Photograph provided by Green Concierge Travel

No portion of this magazine may be reproduced without prior written permission by the publisher, Towns & Associates, Inc.

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Winery Tours & Tastings Spirits Tastings Open daily, year-round Winery Open 10am-5pm Distillery Open noon-5pm

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essential shopping Photograph by Eric Tad sen

BOOK SHOPPING, PART II

Arcadia

Blends Past and Present

by Yvette Jones Many great ideas start with a simple question. For example, “Why doesn’t this town have a bookstore?”

The brick edifice at the corner of East Jefferson and North Lexington Streets in downtown Spring Green was built in 1870 and has been home to various

merchants, including a grocer, a florist, and a post office. The earlier question led to its becoming a bookstore, and readers throughout the region are pleased with the results.

James Bohnen has directed plays at American Players Theatre (APT) since

1996 and spends several weeks every summer in Spring Green. His primary home is in Chicago, where he started Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and served as artistic director for many years. Ready for a change in 2010, he announced to the theatre board he wanted to leave in another year and a half. He had no definite plans, but one month later he heard that a building in Spring Green was for sale.

Work on the building began as James continued working at the Chicago theatre. He had a strong vision for the space Arcadia Books would inhabit. In keeping with its name, he wanted the bookstore to feel like it had been there for a hundred years. Contractors uncovered the typical issues of renovating an old building. The brick wall along the side street was unstable and needed complete rebuilding. James turned that into good

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news by including large windows in the new wall, which allows the store to bask in natural light. The new space received a warm reception when it opened in May 2011. A customer commented, “Don’t you think this building always knew it wanted to be a bookstore?”

The store is open year-round, every day and evening, with only a couple of exceptions. It has consistently outperformed predictions, and summers are especially busy. Customers make time to visit when they attend a play at APT or visit Taliesin. Many are regulars and rely on the store’s online shop to get them through the winter, often sending emails to request specific titles. Even people from Madison think of it as their local bookstore, and it’s not hard to see why they would add it to their list of favorites.

Photograph by Eric Tadsen

Photograph by Katie McGrath

“It is rarely the book you came to seek, but the book next to that book, which changes your mind and heart.”

The stock is well curated by store manager John Christensen, Melanie Fleishman, and James. Although they stock under 10,000 titles, there is no particular specialty. “We choose books worth people’s time,” John says.

Their target audience is simply readers who appreciate good books. They refer to their selections as “friendly provocation,” and revel in the fact that

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discussing the store, he answers customer questions so intently that one woman comes back twice to report results. Staff suggestions throughout the store and online include many he’s written, often with references to other works or plays. John circulates throughout the store chatting with regulars and answering inquiries.

Authors are eager to read at Arcadia, and the store has events throughout the year. Several well-known authors have visited, often due to their friendship with James or local connections. Dean Bakopoulos was the first author to read at Arcadia, and Lorrie Moore has read there more than once. When another good friend, David Axelrod, came to see the play James directed this past August, he was interviewed by James in front of an audience of 170 people and then signed over 50 copies of his book Believer: My Forty Years in Politics.

the River Valley region is full of people with eclectic tastes.

both of which I was thrilled to discover.

He notices them. “Are you familiar with Mark Strand’s poetry?” he asks, eyeing the one knowingly. “Then you’re sure to like his short stories.”

James exudes enthusiasm for books of all kinds and freely offers suggestions to browsers. While we sit at a table Photograph by Dick Ainsworth

Adam Gopnik wrote, “It is rarely the book you came to seek, but the book next to that book, which changes your mind and heart.” As James repeats the quote, I am sitting with two such books, neither of which I had on my list, and

Other popular author visits include Julie Schumacher, whose book Dear Committee Members was a semifinalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. I picked it up and couldn’t put it down; it came home with me. Arcadia also has staged readings, ranging from full cast readings to solo performances.

Recently, four actors read a Nathan Englander short story.

As if the temptation of books and readings weren’t enough, the store includes a small café which features local, seasonal recipes; fresh baked desserts; and coffee drinks. Jacki Singleton, who is also a stage manager at APT, runs the café with great flair.

The food in Arcadia benefits from the same philosophy as the books; diners enjoy the carefully chosen selections, which often stretch their palates in delightful new directions. The success of the café resulted in the publishing of a cookbook, and the winter months feature cooking events, with Chef Jacki demonstrating recipes and sharing the results with the class.

Among the books James recommends is Fates and Furies by Lauren Graff, which was a 2015 National Book Award finalist. “My favorite novel of the year,” he notes. James likes Colum McCann’s

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Photograph by Katie McGrath

James is also understandably excited about the new Hogarth Shakespeare series for which modern authors are invited to write novels based on a particular play of Shakespeare’s. Jeanette Winterson based The Gap of Time on The Winter’s Tale, a play James recommends rereading before you read the novel to maximize your appreciation.

Other authors with new books James favors are John Irving, Stacy Schiff, and David Mitchell. His enthusiasm is contagious, and I leave with a stack of books. Lucky for me the Arcadia rewards club, Read in Utopia, will allow me to earn a $10 credit for every $100 spent.

Photograph by Eric Tadsen

group of stories entitled Thirteen Ways of Looking, and points out that the title comes from a Wallace Stevens poem.

Love at

! e t i B t Firs

Yvette Jones is the owner of designCraft Advertising, a Madison agency focused on local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

ARCADIA BOOKS

Photograph by Carissa Dixon

102 E. Jefferson Street Spring Green (608) 588-7638 readinutopia.com

119 State St. - Madison Off the Square Café

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e ss ential dining

d o o F c i s s Cla

with a Twist

Bonfyre Grille Pear Salad

When it opened in 2009, just about no one expected a restaurant on the first floor of a six-story office building adjacent to the busy, not-so-scenic West Beltline to be particularly successful. That was then. Today, Bonfyre Grille is one of the hottest lunch and dinner tickets in town, evidenced by a steady stream of cars circling for a coveted parking space and an almost-always-packed dining room.

It’s easy to drive past Bonfyre Grille, located inside the Arbor Gate Towers at 2601 W. Beltline Highway in Madison.

After all, more than 135,000 cars whiz past the shiny, glass buildings every day, making this stretch of highway the busiest in the state, outside of urban Milwaukee. But two things make Bonfyre Grille worth exiting for: the food and the food.

Wait, did we mention the food?

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by Jeanne Carpenter

Billed as “contemporary American cuisine,” the food at Bonfyre is the kind of cooking many aspire to create in their home kitchen, but hardly ever do because, well, let’s face it, we can eat it at Bonfyre Grille.

“It’s food that many people grew up eating. It’s what their mom would make, but with a twist,” says Marketing Manager Ashley McGrail. As an example, she points to one of the most popular items on the menu: Mort’s Pot Roast (named for one of the partners). The dish is exactly what it says—pot roast.

But it’s seasoned and served in a red wine demi-glace, and accompanied by shitake mushrooms, spinach, baby carrots, asparagus, and mash. As Ashley talks about it, she gets excited, describing each ingredient in detail, giving credit to Chef Januario Cienfuegos and General

Manager Alfredo Teuschler. “I’ve worked here for three years, and I still get really animated talking about the food,” Ashley laughs. “I think that’s a testament to the quality of what we serve.”

It’s also a testament to what Alfredo and Chef Januario have created at Bonfyre Grille. The pair knows how to create and execute not only classic comfort food, but crafted contemporary fare that will be considered the comfort food of the future. In a city with hundreds of eateries and cooking opportunities, it’s rare to find two people who have been with a restaurant from the beginning. But Alfredo and Januario have done just that, and they keep doing it every day.

It all starts with a wood-fired grill, viewable from the dining room and almost always burning brightly under rotisserie chicken, steaks, and seafood. Two of the restaurant’s signature dinner dishes revolve around this wood-fired grill: BBQ Ribs and Chicken (why choose when you can have both?) and the WoodFyred Seafood Trio.

“Our BBQ Ribs and Chicken is the best of both worlds,” Ashley says. “The rotisserie chicken comes in either herbed or barbecue, and the ribs are marinated and then slathered with our homemade barbecue sauce. People are obsessed with our ribs—they’re fall-off-the-bone tender.”

For the seafood lover, the Wood-Fyred Trio dish includes salmon, scallops, and shrimp served with Swiss chard, lemon caper sauce, and spring risotto. It’s continually one of the top-selling items on the dinner menu.

Ribs and Chicken

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“There’s no doubt

Bonfyre Grille has exceeded all expectations…” spirit is rum, the bartender may create three different types of signature rum drinks with three different types of rum.

The bar at Bonfyre also features 16 beers on tap, including local brews that change seasonally. Keeping with the theme of American contemporary cuisine, the restaurant’s stellar wine list showcases almost exclusively American wines, complemented by Malbec from Argentina and Italian Pinot Grigio.

Before dinner, guests often stop at the restaurant’s centrally located bar to enjoy a signature cocktail and bar plate of Korean Tacos, Zucchini Fries, and Chicken Skewers, each only $5 and served from

4:00 p.m. to close. The cocktail menu changes seasonally, rotating around a different spirit. Some cocktails always remain, however, such as Bonfyre’s Irish Margarita, made with Jameson Irish Whiskey, or Fyre and Ice, the house Bloody Mary, which the bartender loads up with a garden of toppings.

“We’re known for our signature cocktails, and because Madison is a foodie town, we know people are interested in trying new things and learning more about what they’re drinking and eating,” Ashley says. For example, if the featured

Mort’s Pot Roast

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In addition to the upscale, yet casual, dining areas, which at peak lunchtime can get a bit noisy, Bonfyre Grille offers a quieter dining area for small groups or couples looking for a long lunch away from the crowd. Located down the hall from the main restaurant, the Beacon Lounge features 10 tables with wait service and the same Bonfyre menu.

New this year, Bonfyre Grille has added catering services, offering party platters, sandwiches and wraps, soups and salads, entrées with à la carte sides, and mini desserts. The catering menu is perfect for not only business meetings, but also graduation parties and private

Seafood Trio dinners. Just as with all of the restaurant’s offerings, local produce is used when in season, meat is procured from Niman Ranch, and pasta is from RP’s in Madison. And when Bonfyre isn’t busy cooking and catering great food, they’re giving back to the community through charitable donations and support of organizations.

a twist to town, it seems this restaurant just off the Beltline is here to stay.

Jeanne Carpenter is a cheese geek and food writer living in Oregon, Wisconsin.

Photographs by Eric Tadsen.

As a locally owned and operated, one-ofa-kind restaurant, there’s no doubt Bonfyre Grille has exceeded all expectations with its consistently good contemporary American cuisine. And because the owners, manager, chef, and staff are dedicated to bringing new classic dishes with

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Wisconsin Historical Society Building

e ss ential landmark

by Jeanne Engle Two buildings bookend Madison’s State Street in the neoclassical revival architectural style. The Capitol building, at the top of State, and the Wisconsin Historical Society, at 816 State Street on the University of Wisconsin–Madison Library Mall, were constructed in the early 1900s and late 1890s respectively. The style is strongly associated with civic design—banks, courthouses, government buildings—and was a style popularized by the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. Proponents of neoclassical architecture believed good design could educate and uplift people. So it was that the Wisconsin Historical Society building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, housed two libraries when it was first constructed.

The Wisconsin Historical Society was founded in 1846, two years before statehood, and the University in 1848. By the late 1890s, the Society’s collections and

library had outgrown space in the director’s basement, in a local church, in the Capitol, and again in a local church. The University’s library was in similar straits.

Because of overcrowding, students had to stand while studying. The solution proposed by the University’s president and the Society’s director was a single building serving both. The state legislature approved, and one building for two institutions was constructed on the University’s lower campus.

The late 19th century was a time of unparalleled economic growth. It was natural that Wisconsin would set its place in the Midwest by projecting an image of wealth, power, and aspiration through this magnificent building. When it was completed and dedicated in the fall of 1900, it was the most expensive building built by the state up to that time.

But it didn’t take long before the Society’s and the University’s libraries experienced a space crunch. Both shared one space until a second stack wing was built in 1914, when the collections were separated. Today, one can walk up the grand staircase on the north side of the building and follow in the footsteps of thousands of students who wore down the marble stairs on the way to the University’s library.

Space in the building was sufficient for both the Historical Society’s and the University’s libraries until the 1940s, when the post–World War II student boom was felt on campus. Finally a new University library, Memorial Library, was

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built and opened in 1953. The books that related to American history stayed with the Historical Society, while the others were moved via a book brigade to the new library across the mall. The Society became the sole occupant of the building.

Today, the Society’s library and archives collection numbers some four million items and is the largest collection in the country dedicated exclusively to North American history. Students still use the Society’s collections, as do genealogists and other researchers.

The second-floor Reading Room, the public face of the Society’s library, is a favorite student study area. The room you see today is a result of a $2.9 million restoration—or rather a re-creation—project by the Society in 2009–2010. What started out as a task to replace carpeting and failing fluorescent light bulbs, while installing technological upgrades, became a major project involving the State Division of Facilities and historic preservation and archives staff at the Society.

The challenge in the 21st century was one of figuring out the intent of the original architects. Money ran out before the Reading Room paint scheme could be executed at the start of the 20th century.

Colorful stained glass panels, removed in a 1950s remodel, had graced its ceiling, but only black and white photographs existed. The call went out for any color photos. Society collections were scoured for a hint of the original color, but nothing was found.

Jim Draeger, the Society’s architectural historian at the time of the restoration, tells of walking through the building one day when it occurred to him that the lobby floor, with its marble mosaic tile work, held the clue to the color scheme for the Reading Room. The floral motifs of the floor were similar to those of the stained glass, so it stood to reason that the colors would be similar.

A total of 14,760 pieces of Kokomo art glass were used to restore the Reading Room ceiling. In 1900, skylights on the floor above allowed the daylight to stream through the stained glass panels. Today, the skylights are no longer in place, so the effect of sunlight has been simulated with fluorescent lights reflecting upward from a box painted baby blue above the glass panels. The intensity of the light is Wisconsin on a cloudy day.

With neoclassical design, the inspirational spaces of a room are above eye

level, so one has to look up to see more beauty in the Reading Room. Pendants suspended from the ceiling are covered in gold leaf as are other decorative elements in the ceiling coffers.

The restoration project also included monies for the creation of other art in the building. Several trompe l’oeil murals depicting the original breaker boxes can be seen on the second and third floors.

The Society’s building was bright with electricity in its day, so it was natural that the breaker boxes would be visible to the public. But today the electrical capacity of the building is only flaunted through paintings done in a style that makes the breaker boxes look like real objects.

While the Reading Room is the most opulent feature of the Society’s headquarters, there is more to see. Examine the Centennial Mural, commissioned in observance of the Wisconsin state centennial in 1948, between the third and

fourth floors. Three periods in Wisconsin’s history are depicted: exploration and fur trading, economic progress, and the state’s political heritage.

The exhibit on the fourth floor was curated by the staff of the Society’s archives as a tribute to Lyman Copeland Draper, the Society’s first corresponding secretary (director today), and to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth. Mr. Draper collected manuscripts recording early American history, and has been called the “Prince of American Chroniclers.”

It’s easy to understand why the Wisconsin Historical Society sees its headquarters building as the largest artifact in its collection and why, after more than a century of use, the building remains one of the architectural and educational treasures in Wisconsin.

Jeanne Engle is a freelance writer.

Photographs provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Wisconsin Historical Society Building 816 State Street Madison (608) 264-6535 wisconsinhistory.org madisonessentialsmagazine.com

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Richard Jones

essential art

Engaging Questions and Conversation

by Kay Myers I have become familiar with Richard Jones’ work over the past several years and always admired it. I think glass is like the magician’s medium—not something everyone knows how to do or can do, and requiring such specialized equipment and training that its creation and manipulation remains somewhat mysterious. After speaking with Richard at his studio, Studio Paran in Madison, I am further convinced of this notion.

putting all my energy into one specific point, but when I’m really engaged with things, I’m able to bring multiple intelligences to the work. If I’m really focused on conveying one idea, then it stifles other inputs. I try to just be more reflexive, I guess, or more intuitive, and then I’m able to surprise myself and have a reaction of ‘wow, where did that come from?’ I’m trying to become more a conduit and less an agent.”

“When I feel my work to be truly successful,” Richard says, “it’s when I’ve gotten out of the way. If there’s too much intention in what I’m doing, then it mucks things up, like I’m trying too hard. I’m

On your first encounter with Richard’s work, you notice how beautiful and delicate and well-crafted it is. The pieces are functional wares: vases, glasses, and bowls. Then there is work that is not as

easy to categorize: light boxes, terrariums, slices of icebergs, and “Pedestals for Art of the Found World.” Work that is searching for a function. And if you visit his studio during an event or Gallery Night and see him working with his assistant at the furnace, creating the work in front of you and explaining how it’s done, you’ll become aware of what a dance of myriad forces glass blowing is, a craft that has changed little in its essentials in 2,000 years. If you get to know Richard a little better and have some time to ask questions, like, “Do you come to your studio to make sense of the world?” you’ll realize that, like anyone deeply engaged in their work, it is an extension of Richard himself: collected, smart, and a little Zen. “When I was a kid,” Richard tells me, “I took private art lessons from a wonderful woman who taught grade school kids painting and drawing, and she’d set up still lifes for us or we’d do self-portraits. She was a very inspiring teacher because she was always curious. So at a very young age I had this experience of drawing as meditation. There’s also this writer, Frederick Franck, who wrote all these books about seeing as meditation.

He quotes Zen teachers and medieval

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mystics, and it’s all about when you’re drawing, you’re really seeing things, and all the labels drop away. You’re drawing a leaf, but you’re no longer saying ‘leaf’ in your mind. You’re actively seeing it. So I always go back to drawing/meditation as the basis for what I do. It’s not about producing a drawing, but it’s the experience of seeing the world with your mind in a different way. The drawing is a by-product in a sense.

“So, I had this experience at a young age of what meditation was or that I could engage with the world in a different way that wasn’t about labeling or categorizing everything. And that’s the touchstone or basis of everything I’ve done as an artist.

You can enter that other state of mind whether you are drawing, sculpting, blowing glass, or conceptualizing a complicated installation.”

Entering Studio Paran is on par with experiencing the world in a different way.

Richard’s work is stunningly displayed, each piece looking more enticing than the one before. It’s like entering an upscale candy shop with an edge because it’s not just pretty objects, there is also the intellect behind the more sculptural work, asking you questions, making you think about the world around you.

“When I went to art school, there was all this ‘art speak,’” Richard says reflectively, “a sanctioned language that artists

and critics use, and it’s something I never really felt comfortable with. For me, the Zen Buddhist language always trumped everything else. So for me, it was hard to think of myself as an artist in the art world because I didn’t feel like I shared that view of art in the critical way that was so important to the art world.

“Making functional work was a safe haven for me early on. I felt I could be the unknown craftsman and be fine with that.” Richard pauses and then adds, “That’s evolved over time, and now I feel like I can do things that might exist in a gallery context because, at best, that can be a place where you as an artist redefine the context. But ultimately I think everything has a given context, and artists have the responsibility to really perceive the world and figure out how they can contribute, and give some thought to how their work fits in the world.”

Richard’s thoughts make sense to me.

This is why people have created objects throughout history. Whether a functional or purely aesthetically beautiful piece, madisonessentialsmagazine.com

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I believe artisans from all mediums create work to share it with the rest of the world. They find this to be their best way of communicating.

“Another way to put the question,” Richard says reflectively, “is how do you create meaning in your life? It’s not by trying to create it, it’s by engaging in the particulars—interacting with your family or raising kids or cooking food. You create meaning through the particularities of time and place. There’s not one answer.

I think having a studio practice allows me to ask questions in an open-ended, expansive way that allows them to be just questions that don’t need a completely resolved answer. For me, making art is essentially about trying to ask good questions that don’t have answers. It’s not like a scientific problem where you come up with a proveable hypothesis. It’s a way of having a conversation. It’s like, you have someone you’ve known for 30 years, it’s a good friend, and as well as you know them, this eccentric, amazing person, they’re always going to teach you something new or surprise you in some way, but there is a comfort and trust that 18 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s m a g a z i n e

allows that. It’s not about you or them, it’s about this relationship. For me, that’s actually the most interesting thing.”

It’s even more than that; it extends outward. It’s also about the viewer interacting with the work and the way in which that work enters their lives and how they use a vase, cup, or pedestal. It’s about translating the idea of the maker through the work and unto the buyer. The viewer should be able to look at the work and ask their own questions to create their own relationship with that object. Richard does this beautifully in his work.

“Blowing glass is essentially making vessels.” Richard enlightens me. “That’s the tradition. You can do a lot of other sculptural stuff, an infinite variety of things, but a vase is essentially something you put flowers in, so how does that achieve its full function? I’ve read a lot about ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. They see all the connections: the flowers and where they come from and the season, the architecture of the room, the audience, or as they would say, ‘guest.’ The whole thing.

The flower arrangement is the floral material and the vase and all these connections. It has this expansiveness and, to me, that’s really interesting because it’s the most fertile ground for creative work when you’re actually engaging something that’s beyond yourself. You’re not solely concerned with your own ego, but engaged and curious about how all these things are connected and you are just a part.”

Richard tells me about what he’s currently working on. “I’m getting work ready for a show at Gallery 211 at MATC (Madison Area Technical College) downtown. The theme is Nature Abstracted, and it’s me and three other 2-D artists.

I want to highlight how seeing, itself, is an abstraction. How we are always trying to know the world, but it’s an impossible, beautiful human endeavor. So I began drawing parts of the trees in front of my studio—leaves, branches, a bit of root—on glass, and the glass will contain the actual object that I’m drawing, so you will see the object and subject at the same time. The question is, ‘How do we actually perceive something without

baggage?’ Or is that even possible for humans? I’ve read that scientists have shown we [as humans] can’t even be truly present because we’re processing all of these things. We’re always nanoseconds behind. As an artist, you think about all these things, but so little of it actually comes across, but it’s what keeps you going, you know?”

Richard’s work is available at many unique retailers across the United States.

Locally, you can find his work at his studio, Studio Paran. For more information, visit studioparan.com.

Kay Myers is a local artist and freelance writer.

Photographs provided by Studio Paran.

Studio Paran 2051 Winnebago Street Madison (608) 242-1111 studioparan.com

A

nO

Febr uar y 5 & 7, 2016 Capitol Theater

at O ver t u re C enter

Sung in English with projected text

pera emiere Pr

by Mark Adamo

Madiso

Great seats for as little as $25!

by Jacques Offenbach Apri l 15 & 17, 2016 Over ture Hal l

Sung in French with projected English translations

madisonopera.org | tickets: 608.258.4141 | madisonessentialsmagazine.com

| 19

Photograph by Eric Tadsen

e ssential shopping

Tiffany Esser and Her

Floral Momentum Photograph provided by Momentum Floral and Décor

by Cara Lombardo

Peonies and gloriosas help create the lush look Randy is after.

When I arrive at Momentum Floral and Décor on Parmenter Street in Middleton, owner Tiffany Esser greets me. She introduces her husband, who is leaving with bouquets in hand to deliver. “He doesn’t work here regularly, but my normal delivery driver is on vacation. It’s a family business,” Tiffany says.

Tiffany started the business after 20 years of teaching interior design at Madison College. “I was ready to do something fresh but something that would still use my skills,” she says.

Tiffany combined her interior design background with her budding interest in florals by creating a business that offers both. Momentum is a full-service interior design firm and florist, and the shop on Parmenter Street also sells accessories and small gifts like candles, wall hangings, jewelry, and notecards.

The pieces, though varied and pleasantly unexpected (soap made with wine, lilac-colored throw pillows, a decorative

20 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s m a g a z i n e

bicycle sculpted from tarnished metal) share a cohesive style, one Tiffany best describes as “elegant rustic.”

Momentum’s floral “chef” is Randy Wieland, who has been working with flowers for fifteen years and is a Certified Floral Designer. Tiffany, who is learning from him, considers herself his “sous chef”.

Randy likes his arrangements to have a lush, unexpected look. This day, five enormous centerpieces waiting to be picked up for a 50th anniversary party are on display in the cooler. They’re dense and bright, with blooms and greens spilling over as if someone took a scoop of a flower patch in the forest. It looks like there could be nearly 50 different kinds, and I realize he might have intended for the variety to suggest the couple’s many years together. I had never realized flowers could be illustrative.

“I named the business ‘Momentum’ because, to me, it’s about creating momen-

Randy’s favorite work is creating sympathy arrangements, and Tiffany admits she didn’t immediately understand why.

“He explained how much of an honor it is to be a part of the journey and provide some small piece of comfort. Flowers are one of the few aspects of a funeral that can be lovely,” she says.

Photograph by Eric Tadsen

Photograph by Eric Tadsen

tum, not slowing down and not getting stale,” Tiffany says. This is evident in their designs. They source their flowers from local growers when possible; flowers, like yellow yarrow, hydrangeas, and sunflowers, come from nearby farms in the summer. And their roses look slightly different than most. Randy leaves the guard petals on roses, which lengthens the flowers’ lives and gives bouquets a natural, bucolic style.

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madisonessentialsmagazine.com

| 21

Photograph provided by Momentum Floral and Décor

Tiffany’s interior design work includes helping clients create unique spaces like this two-story reading nook.

Momentum offers potential clients complimentary consultations for both floral and interior design services. Interior design, in particular, requires a level of comfort. “How you use your home can be personal,” Tiffany says. “You need to feel a connection and know that a designer is right for you.”

Tiffany’s interior design work ranges from complete house styling, “down to every candle,” to conceptual plans clients follow to buy their own furnishings.

The projects often involve making space serve dual purposes. One client had Tiffany create a yoga room that converts into a guest suite.

Many clients come with several ideas.

Tiffany and her team edit the ideas to a manageable amount by honing in on the important ones. “Fewer ideas can be better,” she says. Tiffany suggests finding at least one inspiration piece and basing design ideas off of that.

Other times, Tiffany challenges clients to do more or take a look further. “People 22 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s m a g a z i n e

tend to be afraid of pattern, texture, and color. They want to play it safe and stick to beige linen,” she says. Tiffany, like designer Diane von Furstenberg, counts animal prints as neutrals.

Tiffany uses a variety of tools to help clients envision looks. A large screen hanging over the counter shows Pinterest images and color swatches, and an iPad app allows her to take a photo of a room and virtually change the paint color. This recently helped a couple get comfortable with a fuchsia wall she had suggested for their study. “They weren’t sure about it at first, but I reminded them nothing is permanent, it’s just paint,” she says. Not surprisingly, the color worked because Tiffany had pulled it from a piece of artwork they had in the room.

Those who assume interior design is out of their price range shouldn’t count it out entirely. “Someone who tries to do something themselves might end up spending a lot of time and money searching, buy something, realize it’s not quite right, and then need to buy something else,”

A few fresh flowers can go a long way.

They can change a mood, a day, a life.

Nowadays, interior design trends change more rapidly than in the past. “They are getting closer to the speed of clothing fashion, though luckily not quite that fast,” Tiffany says. She recommends keeping trends in throw pillows and accessories while sticking to classic or timeless items for the bigger pieces.

As the name “Momentum” suggests, Tiffany enjoys the variety and excitement that changing styles and running two businesses at once bring her. She appreciates that every day is different, but admits her favorite days are those when she has time to put on her floral apron, listen to music, and create. “None of what we do is essential, but it makes life a little happier,” she says. “A few fresh flowers can go a long way. They can change a mood, a day, a life. And the fact that they aren’t going to last forever is part of the beauty.”

MOMENTUM FLORAL 1821 Parmenter Street Middleton (608) 824-1121 momentumfloral.com

Cara Lombardo is a writer and graduate student.

Photograph by Eric Tadsen

Photograph by Eric Tadsen

Tiffany says. “A skilled eye can accomplish in an hour what might take another person weeks.”

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madisonessentialsmagazine.com

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Photograph by Dan Myers—Lumi Photography

es s ential entertainment

Tiffany Orr (Polly) & Jordan Humpal (Tony) in the 2015 production of The Boy Friend.

Drama in the Old Firehouse

by Cara Lombardo Anyone whose morning commute includes driving down Monroe Street probably has noticed an old brick building with two garage doors and a metal staircase along one side. But they might not know what’s inside. The Madison Theatre Guild (MTG) was founded in 1946 and has occupied the historic firehouse across from the entrance to Wingra Park since 1969. It is the oldest theatre group in Madison.

Brandy Old Fashioned ice cream­— Wisco’s favorite drink is also dessert!

Teressa Antivilo (Miss Stafford) & Deborah Hearst (Lavinia Goodell) in the 2015 production of Lavinia by Betty Diamond.

MTG stages four shows a year at the Bartell Theatre and attracts both amateur and professional actors. Both groups appreciate the opportunity to hone their crafts and learn from each other, and many are loyal members.

This past fall, Jim Chiolino, MTG’s president of the board of directors, played an aging father in the musical comedy The Boy Friend. It was a production Jim was familiar with—he played a different role when MTG staged the same play 28 years earlier, in 1987. (He left Madison for several years in between, but returned to MTG when he came back.)

Sarah Whelan, an accomplished performer, estimates she’s been in 20 or 30 MTG productions since moving to the area in the early ‘70s. She says new performers will be successful if they bring a professional attitude to rehearsals and appreciate the people supporting their growth. “Learning to work well, or play well with others, is very important.”

Directors look for certain traits when someone completely new to theatre auditions. “If they’re not great at reading, they might still have the right sort of

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energy or animation. If the director can say ‘try doing it this way,’ and they do it, that’s a good sign,” Jim says. A 16-yearold woman with no acting experience tried out a few years ago, and the director saw potential. She gave her a small role and intensive coaching. Now she’s getting full roles.

Because many of those involved are students or have day jobs, rehearsals, set production, and planning take place outside of normal working hours. Casts rehearse four or five evenings a week for three hours at a time. Rehearsals last for five or six weeks. But those involved gladly trade free time to be a part of a production.

Sarah says the love of being able to create something that hasn’t been created before keeps her acting. “Maybe other people have done the same role, but they’ve never done it like I’ve done it.”

For every person on stage, several people behind the stage helped get that person there. Crew members work long hours to plan and build sets, secure props, design the lighting, and find or sew costumes. For musicals, the MTG also needs

stage and their blockings and rehearse without a set.

For the first several weeks, rehearsals focus on technical details like stage positioning, outfit changes, and how actors will interact with props. The performance comes to life during “tech week,” the week before the show when rehearsals take place in the theatre for the first time and the various pieces are combined: set designers move the set onstage, cast members rehearse in full costume and makeup, lighting designers run the lights, and the orchestra joins rehearsals. Prior to tech week, cast members rehearse only in church basements, where they approximate the shape of the

Despite having acted in hundreds of plays in her career, Sarah still experiences stage fright. Her stomach tightens up and her heart races several hours before each show. The nerves are so unpleasant that sometimes Sarah wonders why she continues acting. But they’ve been a part of her preshow routine for 65 years. “As soon as I’m another character, they’re gone,” she says.

Tech week can be chaotic, Sarah says, but if everybody listens to the stage manager and director and does their part, “it’s all smooth as silk.”

Sarah so deeply assumes her character and focuses on interacting with the other performers that she loses awareness of the audience when onstage. If one

Photograph by Jason Atkins

Photograph by Dan Myers—Lumi Photography

musicians. Like the performers, crew members and musicians are volunteers and usually skilled multitaskers, like the reed players who took on multiple roles in a recent production. “They were picking up the saxophone, then the clarinet, switching back and forth,” Jim says.

of her cast members forgets a line, she only vaguely notices, if at all. She says she’s in another world. She doesn’t know if this is how it is for other performers, but she can feel when everyone in the cast is present and a production is working. “There are many ways to approach acting,” Sarah says. “Everybody does it differently. Yet we’re all there doing it together.”

Tom Haig (Nonno) & Julie Jarvis (Hannah Jelkes) in the 2013 production of The Night of the Iguana.

Dress the Part The second floor of MTG houses The Costume Shop, a costume rental business with an unbelievable 70,000 pieces sorted by category into several small rooms. The cramped room where firefighters used to sleep in bunk beds now houses men’s suits. The room is so densely packed with suits of every size and cut that the walls are hard to see. The room where firefighters showered now holds silk dresses, which hang above the tiled floors. There’s a renaissance room, a furs room, and a large room in front that overlooks Monroe Street and comprises styles of several eras. A mesmerizing selection of hats dangle from the ceiling on clothespins. Local theatres and school productions visit the shop to find exactly what they need.

Upcoming productions by MTG include Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck (March 4–19) and The Tempest by William Shakespeare (April 29–May 14). Visit madisontheatreguild.org for details.

Cara Lombardo is a writer and graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Madison Theatre Guild

2410 Monroe Street Madison (608) 238-9322 madisontheatreguild.org

madisonessentialsmagazine.com

| 25

es s ential food & beverage

Culture through beer goGgles Porters, Scottish Ales, and Wee Heavies ing today’s beers with past cultures, the significance of the microbrewery stretches demand for experiences beyond the American Adjunct Lager.

Scottish Ale is simply a Pale Ale with low bitterness and high maltiness… sweet, sweet maltiness. The first time the phrase Scottish Ale was used to refer to a style, rather than a regional indicator, was in America around 1982.1

So we begin this series with the working man’s beer from London: the Porter. “It’s the great egalitarian, middle-class beer for literally a couple of centuries,” says Tom Porter, brewmaster and owner of Lake Louie Brewing. Talk about an evolution, this dark-colored beer was literally brought back from the dead to become what purveyors of malt know and love.

Though the beer found home in America in the late 1700s, Prohibition struck Porters down with a boot of ignorance.

But rest assured this is the one and only time such an act would occur by a government unto its people. It wasn’t until the 1970s that microbreweries in America brought the style back to life.

Often seen as synonymous with the Porter is the Stout. The word “stout” simply means strong, and has been used with beer since the late 1600s. Back then there were Stout Porters, Stout Pale Ales, and stout aristocrats—I guess some things never change. Nowadays, Stout is used only in terms of the Porter, and is associated with darkness and high alcohol content. Not to say that some brewers don’t muddy the waters by creating exceptions, and their risks are what make the industry so refreshing.

Let’s move on to the Scottish Ale: a beer that doesn’t have a very rich history. A

26 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s m a g a z i n e

However, the Scottish brewing tradition dates back to Celtic times, some 5,000 years ago. For the uninitiated, there are four ingredients imperative to every beer: water, grain, yeast, and hops. But it used to be that brewers used other bittering herbs, such as heather, myrtle, and broom, to make their beers. Rural parts of Scotland are noted for using these bittering herbs years after the rest of the United Kingdom switched to hops. In addition, the hard water in Scotland is particularly good for brewing Pale Ales.

Photograph by Barbara Wilson

What do William Shakespeare, Anne Sexton, Martin Luther, Ray Bradbury, Winston Churchill, Henry David Thoreau, and Thomas Jefferson have in common? An admiration for beer, of course.

Beer is a drink in which many great minds from all facets of culture find reason and stability. When used with consideration, beer brings about an exploration of the mind often barred by cultural norms and common courtesy. The flow of ideas and rush of heated debates allowed by this freer of the tongue have brought upon the world great writings, music, ideas, and sciences. Not only has our culture found great inspiration through beer, but we continue the tradition of injecting ourselves into evolving brewing styles and traditions. By infus-

By Kyle Jacobson

It is the Wee Heavy (Scotch Ale) that is the torch gaining followers beyond the beer drinker. Its dark-copper color and malty caramel sweetness work a hypnotic aroma that only the strong-willed could theoretically resist, but they choose not to. And it is the Wee Heavy from where I will steer the conversation to today. Beer is no doubt a large part of our culture, especially in Wisconsin. It drives our festivals and social activities to an extent we’ve come to consider essential. Often it is not seen as a tool, but a means to an exhausting end. And therein lies the gap.

Beer has a reputation that it bears in taxing confidence. For every great thing that has ever existed will always be victim to greed and perforated ideas of moderation. We see today that we can go to our local microbrewery and celebrate sports, music, and beyond with an ale in one hand and a friend in the other.

Cheers fill our ears with a warmth that trickles into our hearts and confounds our brains. When the scale is tipped and our center of balance is a faltering top, shades of gray darken and lighten in hue. (This seems an appropriate place to remind readers that whether or not to drive home is the easiest question on a test that 80 percent of the students get wrong. I have no issues with this form of drinking, but take a moment when you reach for the car keys to weigh your wants against the lives of others.)

It’s easy to ignore, but right now, at this very moment, we are defining our culture through the way we brew, drink, and appreciate beer. Looking back, Tom says, “George Washington made a great Porter. … Thomas Jefferson was a really, really great brewer, and Porters were his styles.” Though we ascribe the Porter to London in the 1700s, we can

just as easily see its connection to two of our most-respected founding fathers.

As new styles develop and old styles are tweaked, generations look back and assess the cultures surrounding beers in conjunction with their styles.

I would never suggest that people stop enjoying beer in their own way, but it seems that beer’s potential to create great conversation, healthy debates among friends, and newfound admiration for those we thought we knew is often overlooked. Beer isn’t about how others perceive us, but about how we perceive others. The bar can be an experience of calculated insight just as it can be a place of celebration. Both are important, and, in balance, both can help our tops spin longer with inspired direction.

The next time you’re in a bar, take a moment to speak to a stranger. Talk about the beer you’re drinking with the person who brewed it, ask the construction worker about his upcoming projects, and buy the professor a beer so you can tell him why scientists and philosophers with bushy mustaches are not to be trusted.

We can be just as diverse in our appreciation of beer as we are in the ways even a single style can be brewed. David Worth, brewmaster at Viking Brew Pub in Stoughton says, “I like bold flavors, so if I’m doing a chocolate Porter it’s going to taste like chocolate.” This sounds amazing, and I’ll readily take a pint. Tom’s approach, “I want to know that I brewed a new beer correct to style,” is just as valid, and makes me just as thirsty.

Consider this leg one of the journey in exploring past cultures through the scope of beer to gain an understanding of where we are now. So raise your glass.

No, not above your head, to your lips.

Prost, Skål, and Cheers!

1

RateBeer. ratebeer.com.

Kyle Jacobson is copy editor for Madison Essentials Magazine, and a writer and beer enthusiast (sometimes all at once) living in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

Photograph by Kyle Jacobson

Photograph by Kyle Jacobson

The gem of beer from Scotland actually takes us to the 1800s. Historically, and contemporarily, people paid for beer by alcohol content. In 19th century Scotland, the different beers were categorized by their cost. A Light 60 shilling (60/-) beer was 3.5 percent alcohol or less, a Heavy 70/- beer was between 3.5 to 4.0 percent alcohol, an Export 80/- beer was between 4.0 and 5.5 percent alcohol, and the prized Wee Heavy 90/- had over 6.0 percent alcohol.

(beer names yet to be decided) • Blood Orange Saison • Chocolate Peanut Butter Stout • Chocolate Porter • Mango Wheat David’s Non-Viking Favorites • Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout – Leinenkugel • Mud Puppy Porter – Central Waters

• Tommy’s Porter • Warped Speed Scotch Ale • The Twins Bock Beer • Bunny Green Toe IPA Tom’s Non-Lake Louie Favorites • Porter – Port Huron • Coffee Porter – Wisconsin Brewing Company • Porter – Corner Pub in Reedsburg

madisonessentialsmagazine.com

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es s ential dining

Secret Gem

The University Club

Fried Confit Chicken Leg

with Wild Rice Pilaf, Sauteed Spinach, Blistered Tomatoes, and Cherry Gastrique

THE

UNIVERSITY CLUB

PUBLIC WELCOME Monday - Friday Breakfast - Lunch 7:30 am - 2:00 pm

EVENTS Weddings Rehearsal Dinners Special Occasions UCLUB.WISC.EDU | 608.262.5023 803 STATE ST. MADISON WI

In a city full of award-winning restaurants and acclaimed chefs, The University Club at the bottom of Bascom Hill at 803 State Street in Madison might just be the longest-running and most highly regarded restaurant you’ve never heard of.

Once a private club for the upper echelon of the University of Wisconsin– Madison, the Club’s private dining room is now open to the public for breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. And since General Manager Justin Duris took over operations three years ago, word has gotten out that The Club is one of the best deals in town.

On a recent lunchtime visit, the dining room was packed with a diverse mix of professors, students, downtown employees, and guests from the public. It’s no wonder with a stellar, seasonal menu of $10 entrées and daily specials featuring homemade bread, fresh produce, local meats, artisan cheeses, and fish that’s often flown in daily, lunch at The University Club is a “must do” for downtowners.

28 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s m a g a z i n e

by Jeanne Carpenter

While he won’t take credit, Justin, who worked as the operations and catering manager at the Madison Club nine years before joining the team at The University Club, is a big part of the dining room’s current success. You’ll find him on any given day greeting guests, setting up special events in The Club’s spacious Reigel Reading Room, and working with staff to make every visit special for every single guest.

“Hospitality is what we do best,” Justin says. “It’s the guiding principle that The Club was founded on. We strive to make sure every event is exceptional, whether it’s lunch in a private dining room, a charity event, a wedding rehearsal dinner, or our weekday breakfast and lunches. It’s just who we are.”

Founded in 1907 by UW–Madison President Charles Van Hise as a faculty club to promote fellowship in the campus community, The Club’s dining room has operated continuously for more than 100 years. The Club’s upper floors once housed unmarried male professors,

who could invite female guests for dinner provided the ladies entered through a side door, checked in at the registration desk, and then waited in the ladies’ drawing room until being collected by their beau. (The ladies drawing room is still in existence and is now coveted by guests as a quiet place to work or read.)

The original clubhouse was torn down in 1924 and replaced by the current impressive English-manor style building with a front entrance fit for a duke or baron. Sticking with tradition, private events are limited to members, although any Wisconsin resident or university-affiliated person can apply for membership, and weddings, retirement dinners, and charity events often occupy the dining room during dinner hours. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s that the dining room was opened to the public for breakfast and lunch.

The Club’s breakfast menu features solid standbys, such as build your own omelet, biscuits and gravy, and cinnamon swirl French toast—each just $7. The University Club Classic—two eggs, potatoes O’Brien, a buttermilk biscuit, and bacon or sausage for $6—is a big enough meal to last most people until dinner.

For lunch, diners may choose from a classic menu featuring salads, sandwiches, and burgers. One of the most popular items is the crab cake sandwich, featuring pan-fried Dungeness crab cake with

lettuce, coleslaw, and remoulade served on a griddled Portuguese muffin. Seasonal offerings might include a roasted beet salad, Cuban panini, or truffle bacon macaroni and cheese. On a recent visit, the white cheddar and pear grilled cheese with arugula on homemade honey cracked wheat bread was just about

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madisonessentialsmagazine.com

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and chairs that look like new, but have been used since the 1950s.

the best grilled cheese anyone could ask for.

The University Club is also renowned for special events and themed dinners, some open to the public, others reserved for members. On March 5, a charity gala, open to the public, will feature a themed costume party based on the television show Downton Abbey. The event benefits Wisconsin Public Television.

Then on March 27, The Club’s annual Easter Brunch will be open to the public with two seating times. The brunch features an expansive buffet, carving station, cheese tray, charcuterie selections, and numerous entrée choices. And later this fall, a Harry Potter–themed dinner is planned, complete with sorting hat and walls lined with imposing pictures of retired university faculty. The Club’s dining room is perfect for themed events with its long, spacious footprint; magnificent cast iron chandeliers; and tables

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30 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s m a g a z i n e

Pan Seared Crab Cake

with Spring Mix, Coleslaw, Portuguese Muffin, Remoulade, and French Fries

During the summer, weddings and rehearsal dinners nearly take over The Club. With its outdoor veranda, also open to the public for summer lunches, many a bride and groom have had their first married kiss facing the big Campus Mall with a scenic backdrop of Lake Mendota. The Club’s stellar banquet and wedding dinner options include such dinner entrées as frenched rack of lamb, petite filet with stuffed shrimp, classic meatloaf, and chicken cordon bleu. Hors d’eouvre packages and platters feature everything from Wisconsin cheese to cherry wood smoked salmon to Thai spring rolls. A carving station for special events is also available with roasted turkey breast, Wisconsin maple glazed ham, center-cut pork roast, and roasted beef tenderloin. And save room for dessert—all desserts are made in house from scratch, and include pages of choices from chocolate mousse to carrot cake to strawberry shortcake.

“While the university community has known about us for decades and booked many a party, charity event, or wedding with us, we’re just now getting better

Coffee Roasted Beets

with Grapefruit, Arugula, Candied Almonds, Bleu Cheese, and Chive Yogurt Vinaigrette

known with the public,� Justin says. One guesses that with a little word-of-mouth recognition, the ambiance and food at The University Club will speak for itself for years to come.

Jeanne Carpenter is a cheese geek and food writer living in Oregon, Wisconsin.

Greater Madison is more than a place‌ It is our mission.

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GreaterMadisonChamber.com (608) 256-8348

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| 31

e ss ential health

essential mind : A Series Focused on Mental Health

The Psychology of Bullying (And Why Sixth Grade is the Worst) Sixth graders like to call each other names. Most of us know this from personal experience or from watching a child endure it. Research also supports it, according to Amy Bellmore, PhD, a professor and researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Amy’s expertise is in school-based peer relationships, and she says bullying peaks in sixth grade with name-calling as the most common bullying behavior.

Name-calling might seem innocuous compared to physical violence, but it is not. “Research suggests that just being called a name has the same negative effect as being hit or punched,” Amy says.

Amy works with a team of researchers on a large national study of sixth graders from schools across the country and says, “On an average day, 10 to 20

percent of sixth graders report getting picked on that day.”

Why does bullying peak in sixth grade?

Amy suspects it is partly due to the way we structure schools. The transition from elementary school to the bigger context of middle school results in children struggling to redefine a peer hierarchy.

According to Amy, “Kids have to work out who’s going to be where and who is going to be popular among peers.”

Evidence also shows that early adolescence (middle school years) is the point at which children most value being “popular,” which means being well-known, well-liked, or both. Schools have experimented with doing the transition at different times, but it is likely some sorting will always take place. Understanding the psychology behind it can inform and improve our responses.

Most schools and scholars agree that behavior qualifies as bullying if it has two key characteristics: repetition and power imbalance. “Power can mean anything,” Amy says. “It could refer to physical stature, age, social status, even social skillfulness. When we think about cyberbullying, it could be anonymity or [having] a lot of followers.”

Different factors cause children to become aggressors. Some might react to having been targeted themselves. Others may be lacking socials skills (often true with younger children) or might recognize that being aggressive can result in social benefits and are consciously acting for advantage.

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by Cara Lombardo Children who are repeatedly the targets of bullying tend to feel worse about themselves, experience more anxiety, and display depressive symptoms. They often are less well-liked, have fewer social connections, and get lower grades.

Less research has been done on whether these adjustment issues, if not addressed, could stay with them later in life because subjects would need to be followed over a long period of time. But the immediate effects, which harm social and emotional functioning and growth in the present, matter enough that we don’t necessarily need to think long-term.

Amy’s research centers on how children cope with being the target of bullying, including how they develop coping mechanisms and how they can change their response if their current coping mechanisms aren’t effective. “There is not one best strategy,” Amy says.

Broadly, there are two responses Amy sees: approach and avoidance. Those who respond with approach face the problem head on. Problem-solving, such as deciding to avoid the bully in the future, reporting the bully to an adult, and even fighting back, are all approach-related responses. Trying to forget about the incident and focusing on something else to put it out of mind are avoidance coping mechanisms. Amy explains there are effective and ineffective forms of both approach and avoidance mechanisms. “People used to think that some approaches were better than others. That is not necessarily true; except, we do know that retaliation never works.”

How children develop certain mechanisms isn’t clear. Amy suspects children come to school with different sets of social skills and varying abilities to process situations and interactions, and make judgments on how to respond. “Some have better developed skills,” she says.

Research also shows that it is difficult, but not impossible, for children who are chronically bullied to alter their responses. A variety of people and approaches could help.

Currently, there is a national push away from bullying-specific programs toward social and emotional learning programs.

These programs focus on building social skills and teaching children to control emotions instead of acting out in anger.

“It’s often about learning how to interpret the world in a way that is not hostile,” Amy says.

Ideally, students learn not to take comments as personal attacks or blame themselves when they are bullied. Programs—like Bullies to Buddies™—arm children with strategies to deal with bullying when it does occur. While traditional programs might apply the same policy to each case and conclude there is nothing more to do if it doesn’t work, newer approaches suggest trying a variety of options: have discussions with the students involved, change their groups, bring in counselors, or involve parents.

“There is not always going to be a quick fix. The social dynamics involved in it are so complex,” Amy says.

Many people also focus on the power of bystanders. Teaching behavioral norms in school and at home cultivates a community of people who could step in not only to prevent or stop incidents but

also to provide comfort to someone after the fact.

Amy suggests that parents keep their ears open. “Listen when your kids are talking in the back seat of the car.”

Perhaps someone describes a situation where, even if it didn’t involve your children, someone was bullied, and no one stepped in. Informal moments like these are opportunities for parents to identify bullying behavior and show alternative ways to respond.

One bright spot Amy sees is that if a child who is bullied has even just one high-quality friendship, that friendship can make a very large difference. It might also get better over time. She says kids tend to have more peer groups to choose from as they get older, which can relieve pressure to fit into one hierarchy.

Some people accept bullying as part of life and argue it contributes to character development. Amy completely disagrees. “The idea that having been bullied might toughen you up is a myth.

Because something has always happened across time is not a reason for bullying to continue.”

Cara Lombardo is a writer and graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Teaching Through Teasing DJ Hilley asks kids to tease him. He asks them to make him angry and upset. It’s all part of the process for DJ, who is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Certified Bullies to Buddies™ Individual Trainer.

Bullies to Buddies™ is a multi-step program created by Izzy Kalman and based on the Golden Rule of treating others how you want to be treated.

DJ helps children learn how to respond to bullying behavior using a series of three role-plays.

One of his clients, a boy, was regularly picked on at school for both his weight and his culturally different first name. In the first role-play, DJ instructed the boy to make fun of him. He told the boy not to hold back, and he didn’t. DJ raised his voice in return, getting angry. The harder DJ tried to stop the boy, the more the boy kept teasing.

In the second role-play, DJ again told the boy to tease him. This time DJ didn’t react with anger. Instead he sat comfortably, unfazed, and maintained a friendly posture.

The boy had nothing left to say.

“It gives them the experience of how powerful a difference in response can be,” DJ says.

Amy Bellmore, PhD

In the final step, DJ had to pick on the boy. For this boy, like many others, learning to respond differently transformed his experience at school. “The program is effective because it’s about empowering kids rather than trying to solve problems for them,” DJ says.

The same principles can be applied to bullying on social media, with the addition of one suggestion from DJ: “Encourage kids not to go back and reread or review social media comments. It’s the equivalent of recording someone name-calling them in the hallway and listening to it 10 times.”

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e ss en tial food & beverage

Toby’s Supper Club Hash Browns

The Art of the

by Jeanne Carpenter

Perfect Hash Brown

Like a lot of farm kids who grew up in middle-of-nowhere, Wisconsin, I grew up eating meat and potatoes for every meal. Of course, there were vegetables from the garden, homemade apple pie on Sundays, and the occasional Jell-O salad thrown in for good measure. But despite eating potatoes, baked, mashed, boiled, scalloped, or fried, for most every meal, I never ate hash browns until I went to my first supper club.

We kids were lucky; our family didn’t eat out very often, but when we did, our parents let us order whatever we wanted. So, as the daughter of a beef and hog farmer, I almost always ordered jumbo shrimp—why order a T-bone or ham

steak when I knew my mother could prepare something better at home? But the first time my father ever ordered hash browns, I did, too. And I never ordered anything else again.

When prepared properly, a plate of hash browns can transcend the best entrée on the menu. Ask any line cook and he or she will tell you a serving of hash browns should be brown and crisp on the outside, so that a spoon entering the hot and pillowy center emits an audible crunch, and the inside should be exactly the opposite: never mushy, never stiff, but extra hot and thoroughly cooked with a minimum grease factor.

At least that’s the way Matthew Stanley, line cook at The Tempest Oyster Bar, 120 E. Wilson Street in Madison, learned how to make hash browns from owner and tater connoisseur Henry Doane. Henry first perfected his line of restaurants’ style of hash browns at the late Blue Marlin, and still owns one of Madison’s most famous house of hash browns, the Tornado Steakhouse, 116 S. Hamilton Street. But the hash browns at Tempest Oyster Bar are something special.

“We always shred to order,” Matthew says, trying not to roll his eyes after I ask him if they keep a bowl of shredded potatoes on hand to fill the numerous orders that come in every night. Quickly realizing that I’m probably not going to leave his kitchen until he explains the

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entire cooking process, he shows me the drawer of par-cooked, whole Russet potatoes he boiled for 12 to 15 minutes earlier in the day.

“Partially-cooking the potato sets up its starches so that when you fry it the shreds dehydrate and brown. It’s the dehydrated starches that give hash browns their lasting crispness,” Matthew explains. When an order of hash browns comes into the kitchen, Matthew cuts a par-cooked potato in half, hand shreds it, and places the shreds with a little salt and pepper in a saucepan over a mixture of butter and oil. Initial high heat is used to produce a solid potato crust. After about one minute, he turns the burner down. The hardest part is now upon him: patiently waiting until the bottom crust fully forms and the inside is about half cooked.

“You can’t be in a rush cooking hash browns. You have to let it do its thing,”

Matthew says. “A single order is going to take at least seven to eight minutes.”

Once the bottom crust is formed, Matthew flips the browns with an expert flick of the wrist, and then lets the potatoes cook for a few more minutes. At Tempest Oyster Bar, line cooks also add fresh scallions to hash browns for flavor and color. When the order is done, the potatoes are simply plated and taken to the waiting customer. “The nice thing about hash browns is that they’re not fancy. In a few simple steps, you can make a really good dish of potatoes,” Matthew says.

And while perhaps no one knows hash browns better than Henry Doane and his line of cooks, the folks at Toby’s Supper Club, 717 S. Dutch Mill Road on the southeast side of Madison, might just make more orders of hash browns than anyone in the city. Open Monday through Saturday for dinner, about half of all of Toby’s potato orders are hash browns, according to Kelly Gill, dining room manager and daughter of owner Roxanne Peterson.

Kelly has waited tables at Toby’s for 33 years, and on the night we visited, she told us that about half of those orders come with cheese, onions, or both. Toby’s serves hand-shredded hash browns family style from cast iron pans that have cooked hash browns for more than 50 years. “Oh my gosh, we’ve done it that way forever,” she says. Toby’s is a family affair, with Kelly’s brother running the

bar and cousins working the kitchen.

Her grandparents bought Toby’s in 1969 from Toby’s widow, Lila, and kept the original recipes. On any given night, the bar is standing room only and the dining room is packed full of people eating hash browns.

And while several dinner establishments in this area are known for stellar hash browns, Smoky’s Club, Mariner’s Inn, and Johnny Delmonico’s Steakhouse all come to mind. There is a distinct difference between dinner and breakfast hash browns. Breakfast browns tend to be a bit more greasy and cooked solid all the way through, skipping the pillowy inside and striving for pure crisp. One breakfast establishment does morning hash browns just right: Pat O’Malley’s Jet Room, 3606 Corben Court (at Amelia Earhart Drive) in Middleton.

After eating hash browns for more than 30 years at restaurants across the country, I’ve come to the conclusion that my mother had it figured out after all.

There was a reason she never made hash browns at home; she knew they would taste better when someone else made them. And when that someone is a cook with a seasoned cast iron pan and a little patience, hash browns taste just a little better.

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Jeanne Carpenter is a cheese geek and food writer living in Oregon, Wisconsin.

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es s ential food & beverage

CAMBRIDGE

by Jeanne Engle Frank Peregrine wanted to build a winery. The Village of Cambridge wanted a winery. Thanks to an article in The Capital Times, the two found each other in 2013, and today the Cambridge Winery is a reality.

But Cambridge Winery is, and will be, much more. It is part of a residential development with a vineyard, a tasting room serving small plates, and a future production facility and aging cellar.

Frank planted four acres of grapevines in the spring of 2015. His 10-year plan calls for a total of 20 acres planted over a 5-year period, some of which will be in the backyards of the residents who build homes in the 73.5 acre Vineyards

at Cambridge development—the only development of its kind in Wisconsin with a winery. The varietals Frank planted were developed for a cold climate by the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities and a private Minnesota grower. However, wine enthusiasts will have to wait three years or more before sampling the wines from these grapes.

In the meantime, Cambridge Winery is uncorking wines from California’s Central Coast. Frank and his wife, Laurie, select and blend wines produced and aged under the Cambridge Winery label in collaboration with a recognized California winemaker. The tasting room and event center (in the former Matt Kenseth Museum) in Cambridge, 700 Kenseth

Sizzling Steaks Homemade Soups

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3005 University Avenue • 233-2120 Bar open 4pm • Dinner Served 5pm Closed Sundays & Holidays

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From Steak & Hash Browns to Soups & Seafood, your hosts, Larry, Tom & Janet are committed to serving the finest quality, prepared to perfection. In addition to great food, Smoky’s is great fun. The atmosphere is delightfully tacky & cocktails, generous.

Smoky’s was voted #1 steakhouse in the Midwest by Midwest Living magazine.

All credit cards accepted. Call for reservations—608-233-2120.

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Seafood

Martini Bob’s Martini Club

Way (on Highways 12 and 18), was acquired last fall. The facility also offers full banquet services. Another tasting room is located at 1001 S. Whitney Way in Madison.

Cambridge Winery products that customers currently taste and purchase are a result of Frank and Laurie’s sourcing of grapes and wines. Basically they are enjoying the Peregrines’ preferences. For example, the 2013 Pinot Noir Reserve is a blend of three different California wine lots aged for the length of time and in barrels specified by the Peregrines.

For its 2015 production of wines that will be served in the future, Cambridge Winery bought fruit from growers in Westby and Plymouth, Wisconsin, as well as some grapes grown by the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Another producer making wine according to the Peregrines’ recipe is now using the tanks and barrels that will eventually be used on location in Cambridge.

According to Frank, a good Cabernet needs to age two or three years before it’s released. A white wine can be ready in six months and often never sees the inside of a barrel.

A Carleton College chemistry graduate, Frank is finally using what he learned in

the winemaking process. Prior to opening the Cambridge Winery, he and Laurie owned an IT business, which they sold in 2012.

Frank has always been interested in horticulture. He’s a master gardener and volunteers at the UW–Madison’s West Madison Agricultural Research Station.

Frank, originally a self-proclaimed beer guy, and Laurie began wine touring about 10 years ago. Wherever they traveled, they sought out local wineries and tasted their wares.

Wineries are everywhere, not just in California. In Wisconsin, grapes are grown and tested at another UW–Madison facility, the Spooner Agricultural Research Station. Grapes good for Wisconsin are hardy enough to survive the winter and are able to ripen by the end of the summer growing season.

Cambridge Winery boasts an organic vineyard that uses ozone water for pest control. Grapevines are sprayed weekly.

“It’s like giving kids a bath and washing behind their ears even if they weren’t in the sandbox,” Frank explains. Ozone water is also used in the winery to sanitize barrels and keep contaminants out of the production process. The ozone water does a good job of eliminating Japanese beetles, which can be a big problem in a vineyard. Deer, continual trouble for many Wisconsin gardeners, do not seem

to be an issue in an established vineyard; however, birds can clean out an entire year’s harvest in an afternoon if netting is not thrown over the vines when the grapes are ripe.

It’s also important for the Cambridge Winery that the 2,4-D herbicide sprayed on neighboring cornfields to control broadleaf weeds does not drift into its vineyard. Frank participates in the DriftWatch program, registering his vineyard online so that pesticide applicators can identify potentially sensitive areas before they spray.

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Wisconsin has 120 licensed wineries with about 80 of them belonging to the Wisconsin Winery Association. This compares to 400 wineries alone in California’s Napa Valley. Frank envisions Cambridge Winery to be a boutique winery, producing about 20,000 cases per year when the production facility is

completed. That’s about equal to 10 percent of what Wollersheim Winery produces. He hopes to sell his wines locally as well as in Chicago, Minneapolis, and maybe Iowa. Frank estimates that about one-third to one-half of his wines will be sold directly. Currently, consumers can become members of one of two Cam-

bridge Winery wine clubs and receive an assortment of reds, whites, or a combination of both throughout the year.

The Vineyards at Cambridge project will cost about $30 million and add another destination for visitors to Cambridge.

Plus it will be a unique living space with single family homes, condominiums, and apartments, offering residents the opportunity to take a leisure bike ride or walk through a Wisconsin vineyard.

And they will be able to buy a bottle of wine from grapes grown in their own backyard.

Jeanne Engle is a freelance writer.

Photographs by Eric Tadsen.

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e ss ential home

Creative garage space

by Yvette Jones

Architectural Building Arts’ historically sensitive remodel on the back of this home included a double garage.

In choosing a home, the garage is typically an afterthought. Most prospective buyers check to make sure there’s a garage large enough to store their main vehicles, then they go back to thinking about the house itself. If this is your approach, you may be overlooking a valuable home asset.

Storage in the attic of the new space allows the homeowners to keep everything handy for the winter transformation. A garage door replaces the passage door section and window grills pop into the large windows, matching the home’s other divided lite windows and preparing the home for winter.

Melinda Monroe, president of Architectural Building Arts, has many stories of homeowners with creatively remodeled garages. Sometimes the garage is not in the initial project scope, and her designers recognize the potential of a home’s garage while planning a general remodel.

And sometimes the homeowners already have the garage in mind.

A home in a Madison neighborhood with smaller lots came with a flat-roof garage ready for replacement. Although the yard was small, the homeowners wanted a garage and space for outdoor entertaining. Architectural Building Arts incorporated a new garage and patio area into the remodeling plans for the home, being careful to match roof angles and detailing on the garage to the character of the home.

This was the case with a Madison couple, who are both musicians and dreamed of a music studio large enough to host small ensemble rehearsals and tiny concerts.

They appreciated their one-car, attached garage in cold weather and wanted space for a second car in the winter. The solution turned out to be the addition of a second garage space, which serves as a music studio in warmer weather and converts to a garage in the winter.

The music studio has expansive windows on the side and back walls. A passage door with sidelights fits into the garage door opening during the summer.

Natural light fills the space and provides the ambience of a garden concert setting.

The new garage features carriage-style, overhead garage doors with a classic gooseneck light fixture overhead. A passage door on the side of the garage leads onto a stone-paved patio area tucked in by a small retaining wall.

“Our goal is always to incorporate the new garage into the plan and have it look like it was supposed to have been there,” says Melinda. This is especially evident in a historic home overlooking Lake Mendota on Madison’s east side. A shared driveway fit tightly between the Tudor-style home and the home next door, leading to a shared garage. When

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Architectural Building Arts was called in to replace an out-of-character addition on the back of the home and open the living space to wide lake views, the designers recognized garage possibilities.

Since the home was on a corner, they suggested a new driveway coming from the side street that would lead to a double garage tucked under the new family room and deck.

Each element of the new construction took the historic character and style of the home into consideration. Rooflines, pillars, and deck walls mirror those on the front and side porches, and period railings were crafted to allow views from inside the home. The result is an award-winning addition that restores the home’s original glory while providing generous lake views and the convenience of a two-car attached garage.

Another historic home in Madison’s Vilas neighborhood had a two-car garage that was incompatible with the traditional Arts and Crafts detailing of the stucco home. The garage had been built with a rooftop deck, accessed by an outdoor stairway.

Architectural Building Arts created a wide bridging platform to provide deck access directly from the home’s dining room, and added wood flooring, bench-

A garage is sometimes the first building seen from the street. This was the case for an A-frame home on Lake Monona.

To create a new three-car garage with room for boat storage, Architectural Building Arts’ designers took advantage of the home’s distinctive shape and used steeply pitched peaks and vertical banding to pair it with the home. The new garage welcomes visitors with a fairytale-like structure suggestive of a Tudor cottage.

While the placement and styling of a garage is critical, other improvements make garages easier and safer to use.

Adding a stairway up to the garage loft, either inside or outside the garage, allows even aging homeowners to store seasonal items safely. Or you could select a company to help you use the ground floor space of a garage more efficiently.

Photographs provided by Architectural Building Arts

Tailored Living featuring Premier Garage in Middleton finds that garage storage space is important to homeowners in all stages of life. Families with children are able to better manage the clutter of outdoor toys and sports equipment, and

appreciate out-of-reach storage areas for tools and cleaning products. Hobbyists create agreeable studios, practical work areas, and handy tool storage. Serious auto collectors and cyclists relish the thought of storing their prized vehicles in a luxe environment that protects them from scratches and dents.

Well-designed storage closet systems, shelving, and cable lift ceiling racks keep large bulky items accessible. Garage cabinets and open wall storage areas of Gridwall or Slatwall storage systems provide utility and good looks. To add polish to any garage’s interior, Tim Barnett of Tailored Living points out that garage floor finishes can be as beautiful as they are durable. Homeowners can choose from solid colors, a wide variety of stone patterns, and even specially made flexible garage floor tiles.

Besides the usefulness of storage improvements, many homeowners appreciate having a garage space that is welcoming and organized. Since garages are often the last place we leave from in the morning and the first room we return to at night, it makes sense to take a close look at your garage, inside and out, to determine what can be done to create a pleasant space, well-suited to your lifestyle.

Yvette Jones is President of designCraft Advertising in Madison and serves on the board of NARI Madison.

This garage by Architectural Building Arts converts to a music studio for the warmer months.

Photographs provided by Tailored Living featuring Premier Garage in Middleton

Photographs provided by Architectural Building Arts

es, and planter boxes while restyling the garage’s exterior with stucco and band board to match the home. The owners now enjoy the visual appeal of the outdoor space year-round.

Slatwall, shelving, and counter space increase the usefulness of your garage.

Trust a NARI Professional.

These NARI members appeared in this article.

Architectural Building Arts (608) 233-2106 designbuildmadison.com Premier Garage (608) 240-8831 premiergarage.com/madison The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) represents people who work in and with the remodeling industry.

NARI professionals are expected to be licensed and insured, educated about current industry standards, ethical, and dedicated to excellent customer service. Contact the NARI Madison office at (608) 222-0670 or at narimadison.org.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE REMODELING INDUSTRY

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NARI®

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE REMODELING INDUSTRY

e ss ential travel

Allen Centennial Gardens

Hidden Gems

at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

by Liz Wessel

Allen Centennial Gardens When I set out to discover hidden gems on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus, I found a variety of experiences, places, and objects, which with my limited exploration means there is more here than meets the eye.

Campus gardens stand out as places of respite. The Botany Gardens, where North Mills Street intersects with University Avenue, provide a haven from the crowds of students moving from building to building, and it’s a nice place to sit and talk. On the hill between buildings, the garden’s beds are surrounded by paths and center on a pond and

central patio. A gem within is an apple tree in the northwest corner. This tree was presented by U.S. Representative James Sensenbrenner, who received it in recognition of his work as Chair of the Committee on Science. The tree is said to be a direct descendent of the tree that inspired Isaac Newton to posit his theory of gravity.

and the inclusion of water features. The variety of paths and garden types make this a perfect place for a meditative walk, family photos (a permit is required to take professional photos), or to look for possible additions to your garden. Many of the vegetables grown here end up in UW–Madison dining halls via Slow Food UW.

On the western end of campus, explore the Allen Centennial Gardens, which are open dawn to dusk. The gardens showcase a variety of native, ornamental, and edible plants. I particularly like the mingling of edible plants with ornamentals

The Wisconsin Historical Society building does not qualify as a hidden gem

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John Muir’s desk clock at the Wisconsin Historical Society

with its prominent location on Library Mall, but the collection itself certainly is one. You can read more about the building and collection in another article inside this issue. But while you are there, be sure to see John Muir’s desk clock on the first floor. Then head up the hill to see North Hall, where his old dorm room is located. Next, cross the street to the Robert E. Gard Memorial Storyteller’s Circle. It was here that John Muir was recognized by the University in a 1918 ceremony, and the knoll was dedicated to him.

Upon leaving the circle, you can descend into Muir Woods, Wisconsin’s version, and now part, of the Lakeshore Nature Preserve. The sign at the top of the path provides the clue to another gem, the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Audio Tour (lakeshorepreserve.wisc.edu/media/audiotrail), a gift from the class of 1918.

The audio tour can be accessed by cell phone and covers past and present aspects of the preserve in short vignettes.

A map is available online and at several places along the Lakeshore Preserve, which stretches from Muir Woods to Frautschi Point.

Artwork and exhibits can be found throughout the campus. The Ruth Davis Design Gallery in the School of Human Ecology hosts changing exhibits. When I visited, Professor Wei Dong had composed an engaging exhibit on Feng Shui, including a floor video pool with carp and interpretations of the seasons. An Professor Wei Dong Exhibit at The Ruth Davis Design Gallery

Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery alumni confided this was a favorite gallery each visit.

The UW–Madison libraries constitute a tremendous public resource and gems to be discovered. From the Historical Society’s library to the Kohler Art Library, the 40 plus libraries cover a broad range of specialties, collections, and exhibits.

Wisconsin’s Water Library’s materials, tucked into the second floor of Goodnight Hall on the western end of the campus, can be delivered to your local public library. The library contains a large children’s collection, as well as data resources and audiovisual resources.

They offer a service, “Ask Water,” where you can pose questions or suggestions for the collection.

garden areas, invites you off the street.

When I entered the space, I came across a treat: a quartet of musicians from the UW–Madison Chamber Orchestra. They played for everyone and anyone who passed by. For me, unexpected artists or artwork create a pleasant surprise and are an integral part of discovering the gems on campus.

Liz Wessel is the Owner of Green Concierge Travel, which has information for honeymoons and other ecotravel at greenconciergetravel.com.

Photographs provided by Green Concierge Travel.

Look for a national traveling exhibition of Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, in 2016. The exhibition will be hosted by the UW–Madison libraries in partnership with the Chazen Museum of Art, another gem. The exhibition will be enhanced by art and literature held on the campus, and coincides with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

On a cold day, duck into the D.C. Smith Greenhouse, a wonderful spot to read Shakespeare, have a quiet conversation, or to just get out of the winter cold. While the greenhouse complex houses active research, look for the tropical plants in the northwest corner (Babcock Drive at Linden Drive). You will be whisked away to the tropics. Between the orchids and water features, your cares and chills will melt away.

Finally, the relatively new and intriguing Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.

The ground floor, with its fountains and madisonessentialsmagazine.com

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es s en tial home

An artful glass backdrop reflects the fire, adding interest to the seating area.

The Essence of Fire

by Lily Mank In the stark winter landscape, our minds often turn to the warmth and energy of the summer sun. Capturing its essence and elongating our outdoor season can be done through fire features, a growing trend in residential landscapes. Fire pits are easily acquired at any home supply store, but fire can be encapsulated in the backyard in a number of ways, including gas-operated features, moveable fire pits, and the increasingly popular pizza oven.

Fire Pits, Pagodas, and Pots

Fire Pits, Pagodas, and Pots Ideal for immediate use, moveable fire pits come in virtually any size, shape, and color—their form ranging from the Scandinavian Wittus to ceramic chimineas. Though a fire feature can be as elaborate or simple as one would like, the magic of a fire pit is often found in its placement and less in the structure itself. When landscape architect Steven

site planners landscape architects garden designers 831.5098 zdainc.com

OUTDOOR CREATIVE 44 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s m a g a z i n e

With this p lay ful fireba ll, bright orange hue s of the fire contrast da steel drago rk n and tree forms.

G. Ziegler is tasked with designing a fire feature, he focuses on marrying the intended use and type of users with the vernacular of the landscape.

So often round fire pits are placed in the middle of a patio, but Steven “[prefers] fire features that are organic in nature, composed of natural stone incorporated into the edge of a patio.” Doing so preserves the multifunctionality of the space, yet the beauty of the fire pit can still be appreciated. In his years practicing landscape architecture, Steven explored the arrangement of stones, including the “chimney stone.” Similar to the necessity of a keystone in an arch,

the chimney stone is a large upright rock used to direct the circulation of air upward, like a chimney.

For permanent structures, a decision must be made for a fire source: wood burning or gas? A wood-burning fire produces more heat such that it can be used as a grill. The natural kindling materials can be harvested on-site, but a drawback is that wood will produce smoke and require maintenance to clean out ashes. Although gas fires do not burn as hot, they require less maintenance and can instantly be ignited. Gas, however, would necessitate the pit be a permanent, nonmoveable structure. As with any fire feature, careful consideration must be given to placement and a watchful eye kept on activities.

Functional and Delicious: Functional and Delicious: Outdoor OvOutdoor Ovens ens Outdoor ovens are an enlivening source of fire in the landscape. Typically used for pizzas, the wood-burning ovens can cook food at temperatures of up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. In mere minutes, a pizza is cooked to perfection, and your backyard has become the neighborhood attraction.

Thea Alvin, renowned artist and stone mason, has built numerous pizza ovens and shed light on their functionality.

The popular cob oven “[uses] the fire out method,” meaning that “a hot fire is built in the center of the oven” that, in turn, heats the radiant mass of insulating bricks and cob material. Once the structure is properly heated, the fire is removed, resulting in a “[slow] release

A large, upright rock acts as the chimney stone to circulate air and smoke upward. of heat that will cook food.” The fire out oven loses heat as it continues to cook food until it “has given all its radiant heat to the process.”

Given the well-documented history of these ovens, Alvin stated they are somewhat easily replicated “over a few days, and with some guidance.” The basic structure of an oven is built from a brick dome encased in layers of insulating clay, cement, or cob. From this fundamental form, designs will often add storage areas for firewood, counter space, and various facades to conceal the inner structure.

In any oven, waterproofing is essential and can be achieved by building a roof over the structure. Finally, in ovens using radiant heat, it is essential to have even distribution of mass above and below the oven. As Alvin says, “Nothing is worse than a burnt but gooey pizza.”

Gathering together around a fire is a tradition akin to gathering at the table. It is a space to both connect with one another and connect to nature. We participate in the ritual of kindling a fire, feeling the warmth as it grows, and experiencing a sense of calm as it is reduced to twinkling embers. Be it a traditional fire pit or pizza production operation, a fire feature can enhance outdoor living spaces and create lasting memories.

Lily Mank is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and intern landscape architect at ZDA. Photographs provided by ZDA, Inc.

While we look toward the tidings of spring in our garden, it is an opportunity to plan for landscape changes. When designing or locating a fire feature, give proper thought to the three primary design considerations: use, users, and the environment. And be sure to site the fire properly away from brush and oncoming wind.

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advertiser index We encourage you to visit our sponsors! association Dane Buy Local.........................................45 Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce....................................... 31

entertainment Cambridge Winery...................................37 Henry Vilas Zoo............................................2 Madison Ballet...........................................23 Madison Opera.........................................19 Olbrich Botanical Gardens......................47 Wollersheim Winery & Distillery.................5 WORT...........................................................21

home & landscaping

Opus Lounge.............................................21 Pizza Brutta.................................................12 Quivey’s Grove..........................................23 Red Elephant Chocolate...........................9 Sa-Bai Thong................................................8 Smoky’s.......................................................36 Tempest Oyster Bar...................................35 Tornado Steak House................................35 The University Club....................................28 Villa Dolce..................................................23 Vintage Brewing Co..................................15 Wisconsin Cheese.....................................48 Wollersheim Winery & Distillery.................5 Wonder Bar Steakhouse...........................26

ZDA, Inc.......................................................44

services

dining, food, & beverage

Madison Taxi..............................................33 Monroe Street Framing.............................38 Renu............................................................ 31 Tadsen Photography................................ 31

Banzo...........................................................43 Bavaria Sausage.......................................45 Bonfyre American Grille........................... 11 Calliope Ice Cream..................................24 Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream...............13 Delaney’s....................................................25 Double S BBQ...............................................9 Fraboni’s Italian Specialties & Delicatessen..........................................30 Hilldale........................................................29 Hop Haus Brewing Co............................... 11 Imperial Garden West................................5 Jordandal Cookhouse.............................34 Lombardino’s Italian Restaurant & Bar...................................29 Manna Café & Bakery..............................38 Max’s Farm Table........................................ 37 Mid Town Pub................................................ 8 Nitty Gritty....................................................7 The Old Feed Mill Restaurant....................7

shopping American Provenance.............................17 Artisan Gallery...........................................18 Cambridge Winery...................................37 Hilldale........................................................29 Jazzman......................................................39 Karen & Co./Sassafras................................5 Lidtke Motors................................................6 Momentum Floral & Décor......................39 Mystery To Me............................................18 Pieces Unimagined...................................17 Playthings...................................................13 The Regal Find...........................................32 Terese Zache Designs...............................13 Vanilla Bean...............................................22 Wollersheim Winery & Distillery.................5 Zip~Dang....................................................39

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