sculpture garden research

trying to visit every garden and sculpture garden i can to research the future garden of the goddess (name is wip) . . .

The Awakening, Seward Johnson, 2014

this week my partner and i took a little day trip to Ground for Sculpture in hamilton township, nj for our anniversary and ultimately for my sculpture garden research as i have a bit of a secret dream of someday creating a sculpture garden- currently i’m calling this secret space i’m dreaming of “the garden of the goddess”.

we took our trip on a grey monday after we realized all the sunny weekend tickets were sold out, and we also took our trip with very little expectation or research, just planning to have a nice grey day walking around looking at things. the fountains are not yet on, but the grass is green.

Bull #4, Bull #5, Peter Woytuk, 2002

^these bulls had me feeling fecund and a bit juicy tbh

overall, Ground for Sculpture had sort of what I think of as a capital “A” Art/Art History amusement park type of vibe, but with no rides- think reproductions of famous paintings come to life like a giant American Gothic couple, a Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe manet picnic to stumble upon through a bush, the ode to matisse at the top of this post. it could almost at times be a eurocentric mini golf situation? a fun and funny vibe for many to photograph and insert themselves into a little slice of history or a particular culture? all these recreations were made by Seward Johnson and Seward Johnson atelier… come to find out when googling this man once we got home- he is a Johnson jr, heir to johnson sr’s fortune made from you guessed it- Johnson & Johnson. i did not tend to photograph his work much ( the dancers got me tho…)…

needless to say Seward will not be included in the garden of the goddess.

bathing in mud

Sumo, Ernest Johnson, 1994

Untitled, Ronald Young, 1981

open to future ideas about mouths as puddles/ puddles in mouths for the garden

Guard Beast, Dana Stewart, 1989- she loves dogs and we love that she loves dogs

moss palace …

Gossip, Martha Pettigrew, 2002 — i love gossip and the roots of the word so much, i will have to get to this at some point

this Kiki Smith piece is in a fountain part of the garden and i’m thinking when the water comes on she is squatting and peeing. i would go back just to see this and i am very open to many sculptures of non-men safely peeing outdoors in the garden.

Portal Rest, Horace Farlowe, 1999

portal rest…. portal.. rest….

Memory, Masayuki Koorida, 2011- memory welcome in the garden

Sage, Sage B, Magdalena Abakanowicz, 1988- sage welcome in the garden

The Nine Muses, Carlos Dorrien, 1990-97- not sure about this man and his headless women, but muses are welcome in the garden.

my sweetie with Pillars of Hercules, Benbow Bullock, 1995

we tried <3

<3 jess