A Garden of Sculpture

I was sorry to read in the papers a last week that Seward Johnson had passed away. His name may not be familiar to some, but here in New Jersey, where he was born, we remember him fondly. Mr Johnson was lucky enough to be heir to the Johnson Pharmaceutical fortune but more than that, he was an amazing artist who created hundreds of works of art. He was also founder of a lovely place, not 45 minutes from my home, called Grounds for Sculpture.

Grounds for Sculpture, opened in 1992, is a magical place in Hamilton, New Jersey, not too far from Trenton. Beyond the vine covered walls you will find 42 acres of gardens and rolling hills featuring hundreds of Seward Johnson’s works along with those of other local artist. The park is filled with meandering paths, beautiful landscaping and surprises around every corner. Some of the pieces there belong to Johnson’s Monumental Scale collection, towering statues 20 feet tall, as well as many of his Beyond the Frame vignettes where the visitor can step inside famous Impressionist paintings. These are among my favorites along with his Celebrating the Familiar series. Several inside exhibits and restaurants are also on site. Miss Dee and I visited there in late August, our last outing of the summer break. Here are just a few of the lovely things we saw.

“A Turn of the Century” from the Monumental Scale collection, inspired by Renoir. This piece is about 20 feet tall and stands in front of Rat’s, one of the gardens artistic eateries..

“God Bless America” also larger than life! Obviously inspired by American Gothic.

Miss Dee getting to know one of the ladies in the Celebrating the Familiar series. This one is called “Captured”

A piece called “Summer Thinking” There is actually writing in the journal!

Here I have stepped into one of the vignettes called “Family Secret” from the Beyond the Frame series

So many lovely and peaceful pathways

Another Beyond the Frame vignettes sits at the edge of one of the property’s lakes. This one is called “Sailing the Seine”

“Daydream” a massive sculpture that can actually be seen from the road as you drive by the gardens

A Japanese inspired garden near the snack bar

Another Impressionist inspired piece “If It Were Time”

A fantasy in light and metal called “Fan”

A Van Gogh inspired room.

We made friends with this lovely lady at one of the inside exhibits. She is part of the Icons Revisited series

Even the Cafe where we had lunch was a work of art.

We had such a wonderful time exploring Grounds for Sculpture. We’ve already made plans to go again because our feet gave out before we saw even half of the many pieces on display. I think the Fall would be a great time to go back. Every season in fact, will add something new. Seward Johnson, in his 89 years on Earth, certainly added a great deal of beauty to the world.

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If We Were Having Coffee-Catching Up

If we were having coffee… on this blustery South Jersey morning, I would invite you in, offering a cup of strong French roast or tea if you prefer. I would apologize for my long absence from the Coffee Share siting that life simply got in the way for a bit.  You’d completely understand, I’m sure.

Things have been happening around here, I’d explain. In the months I’ve been away, young Mr D has graduated from college and moved into the working world, still finding his way but moving forward just the same. My darling Miss Dee is working her way through her collegiate junior year,  shuttling between home and a university 45 minutes north. She’s become very disillusioned with said university, both the classes and living away so has decided to return to our local college next semester. This is a happy decision for me because it will lighten my worry field a bit!

As for me and the D-man, we’ve just been tap dancing through the school year, working on some home renovations and enjoying time with friends and family. What more could we ask!

If we were having coffee…I would say that while on the topic of friends, I was happy to spend this past Sunday in the company of my oldest and dearest, four girlfriends I’ve know for over thirty-five years! How wonderful and relaxing it is to keep company with people who know you so well and share so much of your history.  We’ve grown into such diverse, busy lives; one a single working mom, one a divorcée with grown children, one a retired widow and one like me, married and finishing up raising her children. We find it impossible to get together more than a few times a year and yet, despite the time and our differences  we still connect the moment we get together, talking in an abbreviated language only we understand and laughing at old jokes only we would get. One friend just returned from London where she went with her daughter to cheer on our local Philadelphia Eagles football team, and one just returned from Spain where she visited her daugher who is studying abroad. As you can imagine, we had lots to talk about!

If we were having coffee…I would tell you that we took advantage of our school holiday yesterday by hopping on over the bridge to Philadelphia and visiting the Museum of the American Revolution.  It’s been open for a few years now but we’ve never had a chance to go before. My whole family are history buffs, in fact, my father-in-law taught high school history several careers ago! He is like our own private tour guide when we visit historic places! This trip, however was just me, D-man, and Miss Dee.

The Museum, located at 3rd and Chestnut, right near the historic district, is set up wonderfully efficient, starting with an introductory film about the Revolution, then winding through a circle of displays chronicling it from year to year.  There is a giant replica of a liberty tree complete with an actual section taken from the last one that stood in Boston.  They have artifacts and stories from soldiers on each side and the civilians caught in the middle as well as lots of interactive displays. I found it interesting and informative especially the section on how the Revolution effected the Native Americans, which is a subject that isn’t given nearly enough attention. Probably the most important artifact on display there is the tent that housed General George Washington through out the war. Amazingly it survived in remarkable condition, handed down from generation to generation and donated along with his personal duffle bag to the museum when it opened.  What an incredible part of American History.

Miss Dee channeling her inner revolutionary by sitting in a replica chair from the first Continental Congress.

It was a great way to spend a rainy Friday and I would highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in the Philadelphia area.  Tickets were more than reasonable,($19 for adults with a discount for students and educators) and parking at a nearby garage was less than $20.

Well, if we were having coffee…I would probably notice that it was time to start my day.  The bathroom won’t clean itself and the groceries won’t magically appear in the pantry.<sigh> Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me catch up a bit.  Hop on over to Eclectic Allie and catch up with a few more friends or even join in Weekend Coffee Share yourself.  I’d love to hear what you’ve been up too!

Happy Saturday!

A Day at The Met!

This Saturday Miss Dee and I took a trip to the Metropoliton Museum of Art in New Your City.  We traveled by bus, not usually my favorite mode of transportation but it was actually very nice. Our driver and tour director couldn’t have been more helpful, efficient and entertaining. Of course our very first order of business was to take a selfie on the bus!    Don’t we look happy!? Anyway, this was our first trip to the Met so I did a little research first. Here’s what I found out:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (colloquially The Met), located in New York City, is the largest art museum in the United States and one of the ten largest in the world.[7] Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments.[8] The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan’s Museum Mile, is by area one of the world’s largest art galleries.  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art

When we got there, we could see what a truly imposing building it was…

Here is some of the building’s beautiful architecture.

The collection is so endless, we knew we would only be able to see a small part of it so we decided to concentrate mostly on the American Wing.

This area is called The Charles Engelhard Court and it anchors the American Wing, added in 1924, to the main building. The graceful statue of Diana that stands in the center was designed by artist  Augustus Saint-Gaudens as a finial for Madison Square Garden.

At each end of the court are two very different architectural elements. One is this beautiful loggia or porch from the Long Island home of Louis Comfort Tiffany:

I wish I had gotten a better photo of the windows at the rear. They were really amazing examples of Tiffany glass. He is another Tiffany work that was along another wall in the court.

The colors and detail were incredible. I can’t imagine how many hour of work went into creating this. Below is another  Tiffany designed landscape in mosaic that sits along another wall.

At the other end of the court is the facade of a federal bank that was once located on Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. Kind of unusual to see a building inside a building! The front door is actually the  entrance to the American wing.

Once inside we wandered through the many galleries enjoying the numerous painting and sculptures by all the greatest American artist including Winslow Homer, Mary Cassatt, and one of my favorites, John Singer Sargent.

This one titled “The Wyndham Sisters” painted in 1899, is my favorite. It captures the elegance and beauty of the era. I love the softness in the colors and how each woman’s personality comes through. I’ve seen this work in books many times but I never realized how large it was till I saw it in person!

And of course, how could you have an American Wing without including…

Anyone living in the U.S. has probably seen a print of this painting by Emanuel Leutze (1816-1868) aptly titled “Washington Crossing the Delaware”. I know I have, but I never realized how massive it was in real life. Even the gold frame screams “Liberty!” Seriously, though, it is a very moving piece. I can understand why it has been reproduced so often.

After the American Wing, we had just enough time to take in a special Vincent van Gogh exhibit called “Irises and Roses”. No photos were allowed but they would not have done justice to these beautiful paintings anyway. The colors and textures were so rich.

By the time we boarded the bus for home we were exhausted but also disappointed. We hadn’t had time to see any of the European Impressionist,  the Greek and Roman statues, the Dutch and Spanish masters or about a thousand other things! We did get a quick look at the Egyptian wing but only because we had to go through it to get to the ladies room! It felt like we spent a lot of time trying to find our way around. Thank goodness for all those bored security guards willing to give directions!

All in all, Miss Dee and I give our trip to The Met two big thumbs up. We highly recommend it to anyone who loves great art, history and architecture. We, however, feel like we will need at least 10 more trips there in order to truly appreciate it!

For more info about The Met: http://www.metmuseum.org

A is for Art

Okay, so here goes my first post for the A to Z Challenge…..

To celebrate the first day of our Easter break  girl child and I decided to take a road trip with my sister and my wonderful mother-in-law  to the Brandywine River Museum  in Chadds Ford Pa. This was my first trip there but I have always loved the work of Andrew and Jamie Wyeth.  There is also a gallery dedicated to Andrew’s father N.C. Wyeth who illustrated countless books including the original version of Treasure Island as well as other artist from the Pennsylvania area.  It’s an amazing collection and I highly recommend it.

It is always inspiring  to see such beautiful artwork.  I needed a jump start  in order to start working on my own art again.  I have been drawing and painting since I was a little girl but it’s hard to find (or rather make) the time to really be creative.