BUS TRIP to Grounds for Sculpture

Join us for a fun-filled day in Hamilton, NJ with a docent-led tour and lunch at beautiful Rat's Restaurant. After lunch there will be plenty of time to explore the grounds and gift shop on your own.

Read on:
Since its inception in 1989, Grounds for Sculpture has acquired over 270 contemporary sculptures by American and international artists. Thousands of exotic, rare, and flowering trees and shrubs have been purposely planted on the park grounds, including numerous varieties of bamboo groves. The large works of art are scattered throughout the meticulously designed gardens, tucked away behind hedges and other naturalized plant groupings, found in ponds, and along the large lake that borders one side of the park. A sense of mystery and awe is created as visitors come across sculptures at the end of a hidden path or through an opening between the trees and shrubs. To add to the whimsical nature of this special park, white and multi-colored peacocks are allowed to roam freely.

Philanthropist and Grounds for Sculpture founder, J. Seward Johnson, is, in his own right, an internationally acclaimed sculptor of life-sized sculptures of ordinary people in contemporary life situations. Throughout the park, Johnson has recreated contemporary scenes and tableaus reminiscent of Impressionist paintings by incorporating sculpted figures into landscaped elements. Visitors are encouraged to walk around or through these human-scale, three-dimensional works of art.

Grounds for Sculpture also houses temporary exhibits inside temperature-controlled buildings, including a new conference and event center. Located on the grounds of the old New Jersey State Fairgrounds, a few of the buildings in use are remnants of the Fair’s exhibit halls.
Rat’s Restaurant, along the waterfront edge of the Park, was designed in a French provincial style with blue slate roofing and burnt sienna-colored stucco walls. With a patio overlooking a lily pond and wooden foot bridge, J. Seward Johnson designed Rat’s Restaurant to give visitors the feeling that they stepped into the French town of Giverny, which inspired the art of French Impressionist, Claude Monet.
(Excerpt from an article on examiner.com by Laurie Millman Rubin)

Wear comfortable shoes for walking on paved, dirt, grated and wood-chipped paths. Trip goes rain or shine.

Cost:
$85 for Nyack School District residents
$90 for Out-of-District
Please make payment at least 72 hours after registering.
Payment in cash or checks made out to Valley Cottage Library.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

GROUNDS FOR SCULPTURE WEBSITE

Video of Grounds for Sculpture