Sunday, May 18, 2008

Grounds For Sculpture is a Wonderland!

After asking many friends to come with me, I decided I couldn't wait any longer for their plans to coordinate with mine. I got the directions off the internet and drove to Grounds For Sculpture.

I figured that if I wanted to I could talk to some visitors and then I wouldn't feel so alone. It just so happens that there was a lecture by four artists about their show there this summer. During the lecture, I saw a peacock outside and he took my interest more than what the artists were saying.

He spread his feathers and then two females approached him. At one point, two human girls in their teens were chasing the peacock and a worker at the gardens went out the glass door to warn them not to do this. I couldn't wait for an appropriate time to leave to communicate with this amazing bird myself.

The maintenance worker knew tons of info on the peacocks. It is Spring...mating season and although the females may not look interested, the man promised there would be baby peacocks soon. They can fly up into the trees and they eat cat food. No visitors may feed them, though.

So after the lecture, I didn't see sculptures. First, I saw my new love, the peacock. Before closing time, I got a call on my cellphone, because I had left my journal on my seat during the lecture. The peacock was still strutting. While the kind worker handed me back my journal he said to the peacock "Oh, go get a room!" LOL

During my visit, I wandered around and it is breathtakingly beautiful there. I am leaving up the slideshow so you may see it. The artist, J. Seaward Johnson, takes famous paintings and creates likenesses of them in sculpture form. They inhabit this gorgeous space such as a Renoir of people picnicing on the grass ... I think it is called "The Boating Trip". Many sculptures may be "touched with care and respect". There are many benches and tables with chairs to sit on and enormous trees, a lake, grassy hills - a paradise.

I saw "Baruch Ashem" and it is even more stunning in reality. If you can, I recommend visiting this paradisal space which is only 75 minutes from Manhattan.

2 comments:

Wanderer said...

Beautiful peacock. Beautiful sculpture. I really like "Baruch Ashem". I even swiped a picture of it from the site. Joyful, yet surreal. I wish I could go to the sculpture grounds, but I live six hours west of NYC. I grew up in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but left when I was 27 and have been living in the wilds of Western N.Y. ever since--I saw a bear cross the road outside my house a year and a half ago. No peacocks, but very occasionally I see a pheasant, sometimes wild turkeys.

I'm glad you got your journal back.

Kate

nancy said...

Kate,

The wilds of western N.Y. sounds so interesting to me. However, wherever I have lived, it seems it is always nice to venture out to explore and then come back home and cocoon. The peacocks were amazing!

Bears and pheasants and turkeys, oh my!!!

Nancy