While I was planning my route to get to Cedar from East Lansing, I noticed a sculpture garden that is in Grand Rapids, so I decided to stop in there on my way. Actually, it was a little bit out of my way, but I decided to stop in anyway – it got great reviews online. It’s called the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Here’s a link: https://www.meijergardens.org/
Here’s the route I took:
I got there around 11:30 or so and that was good – it got much more crowded by the time I left. I thought I would spend an hour there, but, it was way bigger and way more interesting than I had anticipated, so I spent probably 1.5 to 2 hours. I was excited to get to Cedar to meet River and Adam in person, but, I also wanted to see the entire park. What a dilemma!
Unfortunately, much of the interior was being renovated, so most of the exhibitions inside were closed. But, there was plenty to see on the outside.
I basically did a counter-clockwise walk around the gardens, starting on the Frey Boardwalk, seeing the Michigan Farm Garden, doing a quick stop into the Japanese Garden (which was huge!) then around the Sculpture Park to the Main Piazza and out.
As I was finishing up my circle, I happened across a volunteer there, which turned out to be great! She was a fount of knowledge! So, for those of you who have been to Michigan (and probably other states in the midwest), you are probably familiar with Meijer’s Supermarkets. Frederik started, and ran, this supermarket chain for many years. His wife Lena was an avid gardener and belonged to the West Michigan Horticultural Society. Long story short, Frederik offered to buy a large parcel of land if the Horticultural Society maintained the property. Eventually the 158-acre property was developed into what it is today. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in that area.
But, here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for – photos!
Sculpture in the lobby where I bought my ticket!
Here’s a closeup:
First sculpture I saw. But I can’t find the name of it!
Along the Frey Boardwalk
“Pine Stumps”
Michigan’s Farm Garden
Part of the Japanese Garden
Cedar Rapids Arch
“I, you, she or he …”
“Listening to history”
“Spider” by Louise Bourgeois – if you look at my blog from when I was in Bilbao, you’ll see a much bigger spider sculpture in the photo I took in front of the Guggenheim Museum!
“Espaliered Girl”
“Plantoir” – if you look at the blog from when I was in Cleveland, you’ll see another Claes Oldenburg piece – the giant FREE stamp!
“Male/Female” – this is from the back of it – I didn’t do that loop
“Neuron” by Roxy Paine (look at the blog from East Lansing!)
“Cabin Creek” by Deborah Butterfield – around this spot is where I ran into the nice volunteer woman. She told me a lot about this sculpture – it was originally made out of driftwood, but the artist realized that the driftwood would not last through many MI winters, so, she dismantled the piece, used the driftwood to make castings so she could recreate each piece in bronze, used acid to etch the bronze to make it look like driftwood, and then reassembled it again. Wow!
And here is “The American Horse” by Nina Akamu. This beast is 24 feet high!
Foreground shows the master model, and about 8 feet away from it you can see a much smaller horse. The smaller one is so people with sight-impairment can ‘feel / see’ the sculpture. Amazing!
“Lying Man”
The American Horse from a bit farther away – look at how small the people are!
“Visitation: Yea, A Slight Lapse of Purpose, Gifts, Hand Stands and The Majorette”
This was the end of my tour of the Gardens. I would love to go back and spend more time there, but that’s all the time I had on this trip. Next up – driving to Cedar!