Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park ~ The Outdoor Sculptures

 Frederick Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is a world class park with world

class attractions in Grand Rapids, Michigan.   This is more than a garden, it is

 a community and area treasure with many aspects of the fine arts on

permanent and traveling displays. Listed below are the major attractions:

• The Sculpture Park                                                                
• Gallery Collection                                                                                     
• Garden Trails & Conservatory Collection
• Sculpture Exhibitions
• Children's Garden
• Outdoor Concert Stage

 

Because this park offers so many attractions, I will just cover 

The Sculpture Park in this article. The 30+ acre Sculpture Park is set within

the gardens 125 acre site.  It features  outdoor sculptures from over 30

 reknown artists, including one of the two existing bronzes of DaVinci's Horse

Sculpture.  There is room for  80 sculptures to be eventually placed in the

Sculpture Park's variety of natural settings.

Artists represented in the Park include August Rodin, Aristide  Maillol, Jacques

Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Mark di Suvero, Magdalena

Abakanowicz, George Rickey, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje can Bruggen, Juan

Munoz, Hanneke Beaumont, Louise Bourgeois, and Mimmo Paladino are

featured.   This open air museum has the most comprehensive collection of

outdoor sculptures within the Midwest.     

                                             

 

                   

 There is a special element of discovery that permeates the park - you

can view the sculpture in and through meadows and trees, valleys and hills

 from many different vantage points. The Sculpture Park includes a family

friendly accessible fine arts experience that adults and families can experience

 through a variety of tour options: guided tram tours, adult guided walking

tours  (special dates and times) and self-guided audio tours.

                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you haven't made it to the Meijer Gardens yet,  DaVinci's Horse, Il Cavallo 

alone is worth the trip. Pictured above, the scale is gigantic.  This equestrian

giant weighs 15 tons and is 24 feet tall.  What you can't see is the placement,

set in an area between hills so the horse  can't be viewed until you wind around

 the gentle hills and there in the middle of a plaza sets the most magnificent

bronze equestrian sculpture in North America. The most amazing part is that

the 15th Century horse was only created in clay by Leonardo and destroyed by

the French Army when they invaded Milan, Italy in 1499 before it could be cast. 

 His blueprints and drawings were closely followed and this

 masterpiece came into being in 1999 when the artist, Nina Akamu, cast the

bronze form at an art foundry in New York state.  The second casting was shipped

 and unveiled in Milan, Italy in Sept, 1999, 500 years to the day after DaVinci

abandoned his project. 

  

 

Grand Rapids Ada Real Estate  ~   Westbrook Realty  

Il Cavallo photo by Bonnie Westbrook,

 Facts, photos,& Meijer Garden information, maps, taken from their website