Celebrating Houdini

Houdini’s (not-so) Vanishing Elephant, Saturday, October 3, 10am-2pm

Join us on the first Saturday of the month for a special Art Activity Day celebrating the Fox Cities’ own Harry Houdini! Make a special Art Activity Day activity (pre-registration required), watch a magic show and listen to a poem about Houdini.

Did you know that Harry Houdini once made an elephant named Jenny disappear? Create a glass elephant suncatcher (pre-register,  $20), inspired by Houdini’s famous illusion or create a pet of your own, like one of his many beloved pets. We’ll be joined by the famous Rondini, who will be performing a magic show in the Miron Construction Gallery at 11AM. After making a free activity in our McClanahan Study Gallery, listen to a special poem about Houdini written and read by Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Brenda Cárdenas at 1 p.m. in the Miron Construction Gallery.

Pre-registration for the glass activity is required. Click the image below to register today!

Rondini has been performing as a magician since 1977.  He has been awarded the title of the fox cities favorite performer many times but has performed throughout the mid-west.  He met his fiancé, Angel, in 2013 and they began performing together as partners on stage and have performed in West Palm Beach and have just returned from performing in Venice Italy. 

Brenda Cárdenas is the current Wisconsin Poet Laureate and recipient of a 2026 Academy of American Poets’ Laureate Fellowship. She has authored Trace (Red Hen Press, 2023), winner of the 2023 Society of Midland Authors Award for Poetry and silver winner of Foreword Review’s Indie Poetry Prize; Boomerang (Bilingual Press); and three chapbooks. Her poems and essays have also appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, such as American Poetry Review, Poetry, Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, and Prairie Schooner, which honored her work with their Strousse Award. She has co-edited two poetry anthologies, including Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest. Cárdenas is Professor Emerita of English at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. You can find her at brendacardenas.net.

Art Activity Day, A Celebration of Houdini is sponsored in part by Celebrating Houdini 1926-2026.