Tommy Washbush
A rocket ship and various other objects on the third floor of th
The rocket ship, unicorn, and ‘magic potions lab’ are part of a rotating collection of short-term installations in the museum’s Art Studio that highlight upcycling and creative reuse.
With head down and feet splayed, “Sad Yeti” sits alone atop a table on the third floor of the Madison Children’s Museum. Nearby is the front half of a small airplane that was dragged out of the woods by museum staff and modified for the Possible-opolis exhibit as the Rock-It. Hundreds of other objects, including two more rocket ships, mobile “clouds” made out of recycled plastic bags, and wood flooring salvaged from a school gymnasium, are packed into the museum’s 10,000-square-foot storage space spanning the entire third floor of 100 N. Hamilton St., the flatiron building built in 1929 to house the Montgomery Ward department store.
“It’s a tinkerer’s paradise in here,” says Tom Linfield, the new executive director of the children’s museum, as he shows Isthmus art director Tommy Washbush and me around the space. Nadia Niggli, director of design and exhibit development, is helping lead the tour, offering more than 10 years of institutional history on various objects associated with exhibits at the museum or collected for future use.
The museum recently announced it has received a donation of $2.5 million from the Lilly Endowment to fund in part the development of the third floor for exhibit space. Some of the objects stored here will be used for future exhibits — including those that have never been displayed — but others might have to go to storage elsewhere or find new homes.
Tommy Washbush
The Rock-It plane on the third floor of the Madison Children's M
The Rock-It was created from a salvaged small plane.
“You can imagine that after 44 years of different [museum] exhibits, this is such an interesting floor,” says Linfield. “On one hand it’s material for the future. Then there’s some lovely favorite things with sentimental value.” There are also some pieces that haven’t been exhibited for 10 years, he notes: “We’ve got a whole new generation who’ve never seen it.”
It’s always a balancing act for the museum, adds Linfield: “What do we bring back? What do we reinvent? What do we repurpose? And what might we let go because we’re constantly building new things like the new exhibit, the Nice Age Trail?”
The museum employs its own artists and fabricators and works with a large group of local artists and project-based contractors as well, says Niggli. “We’re relatively rare in the museum industry nationwide in that we have our own fabrication shop and fabricators onsite,” says Linfield.
Tommy Washbush
The Sad Yeti sculpture on the third floor of the Madison Childre
Created for a 2021 outdoor installation on climate change, Sad Yeti was then donated to the museum.
“I think there is an authenticity to a lot of the pieces in that we do use and repurpose things,” adds Niggli. Take the rescued plane: “I think people sense that this is a real airplane that we modified. It’s not a plastic airplane that we just stuck on the floor. I think people pick up on that.”
Not too far from Sad Yeti stands a large piece from a 2015 exhibit of the work of cartoonist and UW-Madison professor Lynda Barry. An oversized composition notebook, it served as a photo op for kids. “That was a small exhibit that we did and it was very popular,” says Niggli. “It was all about drawing and had these great prompts to get kids to forget about what’s a good drawing, what’s a bad drawing and to just draw.”
Entering another room that overlooks the museum’s new Wonderground outdoor play space, Linfield spies an exhibit called the City Table, a 3D map of Madison’s isthmus. Kids can play with the buildings, cars and trees around such set landmarks as the state Capitol and Monona Terrace. Niggli says it’s a perennial favorite that the museum brings out about once a year as a pop-up exhibit.
“I remember playing with this with my kids,” says Linfield. “One of the wonderful secrets of the museum is that parents have as much fun as the kids.”
Just days after our tour, Sad Yeti was sprung from the storage space when Madison received its first good snow storm of the winter. The life-size sculpture of the abominable snowman was created by Gail Simpson and Aris Georgiades for the 2021 “Winter is Alive! A cooler world carnival” in Madison, and then donated to the museum.
“The Yeti hibernates basically,” says Linfield, “and comes down every winter.”
1980: Madison Children’s Museum founded
1991: Museum moves to 100 State St.
2010: Museum moves to 100 N. Hamilton St.
196,985: Total visitors in FY 2023-2024
4,413: Free visits to the museum in 2023
2,300: Number of children who got to pet a chicken at the museum in 2023
79,000 square feet: Total space over five floors, including a four-season rooftop and office space
36,000 square feet: Public space
13,775 square feet: Space reserved for future expansion
