Grounds for Sculpture

Grounds for Sculpture opened in 1992 on the former New Jersey State Fairgrounds. It has become a premiere destination for cultural and artistic appreciation in New Jersey. GFS was founded by Seward Johnson, a New Jersey native and a philanthropist who was known for his painted bronze statues. His legacy has lived on and has been enjoyed for the past 30 years.

Mission Statement:     Grounds For Sculpture combines art and beckoning spaces to welcome, surprise and engage all visitors in the artist’s act of invention.

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I've heard of GFS since high school. I think the creative writing classes and/or the senior art classes got to go to GFS as a inspiration for their work and I was always jealous they got to go somewhere on a field trip. It always sounded like fun and super interesting. I had forgotten about GFS up until a few years ago when someone mentioned it to me. Fast forward a few years and Kyle and I made a trip out to Hamilton, NJ to experience it all. 

The ride from the shore was pretty easy and as we got closer,  we saw signs directing us to the entrance. What made it even more fun was the sculptures outside the gates you got to spot before you actually got in. 

We saw a hitch-hiker a little bit before the entrance that I actually thought was real! Haha I had to do a double take. I knew from seeing that this is going to be fun. 

As we pull into the entrance, we saw a group for sculptures that welcomed us.

It was so cute and it totally set the mood for our adventure. 

Kyle was telling me that the last time he was here, there was a Peacock roaming around. I got pretty excited. I love peacocks!  The peacock must have been on vacation because we did not see him roaming around. 

We parked and made our way into the visitor center for a pitstop. Before we even got into the visitor center Kyle spotted the first Seward Johnson X Van Gogh sculptures. Painting by the Glow of the Green Fairy and A Turn of the Century; it was Van Gogh painting his bistro painting along side a Western couple dancing (A Turn of the Century). It was surreal. I will say this multiple times throughout this post.... the amount of detail in these is incredible. Thank goodness they were touch friendly because I just had to touch almost everything to see if it felt real as it looked.

One we made our way inside, we found the history of Seward Johnson and how he got his start. It was an interactive exhibit and it was FULL of history, art and really neat snippets of history. There were so many different sculptures inside mixed in within the history.

This sculpture, Double Check, was located in New York City near the World Trade Center and on September 11th, rescue workers found this and thought it was a real person. Unbeknownst to them, it was one of Seward Johnson's sculptures. 

This vignette, at first glance, looked like I stepped into a jazz club. At closer inspection, I realized 1. I am going to think every sculpture is a real person and 2. LOOK AT THAT DETAIL!

Another September 11th memorial  that was near Ground Zero.

My favorite part so far of this adventure, was stepping into Van Gogh's painting, "The Bedroom". It truly felt like we were in the painting. The attention to detail and the shape of this room was brilliant. This got me giddy to see what else Grounds For Sculpture has to offer

After we got done in the History of Seward Johnson, we found the map of the grounds and we were off to explore more. We first encountered this huge knight titled "King Leer" by Seward Johnson. He was massive and his had a big presence. 

After a short walk up hill, and after seeing a very large lounge couch with a lady on it ("Confrontational Vulnerability" by Seward Johnson) and this bronze totem pole ("Space, Conquer or Die-Swiatowid" by Andrezj Pitynski), we stumbled upon this group of ladies in the woods just sitting around titled "The Hunting Party" by Seward Johnson. Again, the detail was so thoughtfully done. I only took photos of the detail because I was so impressed.

We came along this path that was lined with these skinny trees. It seemed surreal (didn't everything we encountered look surreal?!) Across the dirt path, was this curious bridge/path covered in greens. 

We winded our way through the paths and ended up coming upon this in water sculpture. After crouching down to see it fully through the trees, it was really unusual. The reflection on the water really drew me to this.

Right after we passed by the above water sculpture, we came upon Monet's water lillies complete with the bridge. It was as if we were walking directly through a Monet painting.  

After walking through the painting, we came across a stone castle.  I loved walking through this and looking at how it was constructed. The stones were not perfect yet, they still somehow fit together to make a building. As we entered this stone castle, I heard water ; I saw a window that perfectly framed the waterfall just outside the window. 

After we walked out, we made left and found a new section that revealed the whole waterfall and new sculptures. 

Funny story: As I was talking the photo below photo, what I thought were two humans were sitting on the ledge and I didn't want to get them in the photo. After taking the photo, I realized, those humans, were actually the sculptures "Sitting by the Siene II" by Seward Johnson. See below for the human like sculptures.  You would think, this far in, I would realize that? Nope, this continued on the WHOLE time we were there. 

Another view of the pretty waterfall. 

As we walked through this section, these vignettes were set up of painters and their subjects. It was really neat to figure out what painter was painting what. 

The amount of detail in every sculpture was incredible.

Even the paintings were full of detail. 

There was this really neat wooden chair, I sat in to take a short break before moving on to the next vignettes.

Kyle had said in the beginning, we had to keep our eyes peeled for hidden sculptures because its know that they are everywhere. Well, he was right, we stumbled upon this fisherman and I think his fish ended up being one of my favorite parts. The colors looked so realistic like the fish should have been flopping around.

 

Around the fisherman, there were these bushes of these purple berries. I was in awe of how nature made these and how on one stem, there was a beautiful gradient of color.  Nature is so cool!

Another view of nature doing what it does best. 

We came across more water lillies and this really neat scene titled "Leucantha" by Philip Grausman.

The smoke/fog really set the scene and made it more creepy (if that makes sense). 

After passing by the fisherman again, we found ourselves crashing a dinner party. There was so much to see and catch. There was a guide to who's who at this scene titled "Were You Invited?"  This was based on the French impressionist Pierre Auguste Renior's "The Luncheon at the Boating Party." Can you find the real party crasher?

After the party, we walked over to "The Employee Shower." I know, how strange that sounds but again the detail in the clothing was unreal!

We had to sneak a photo in the mirror. It was just too good to pass up. 

This fence post below was part of the above exhibit as a divider from other exhibits. I was so enthralled by it and how the colors just melt together, I just had to snap a photo of it. It's the little things.

This sculpture was along a path we took and all I could think of was the movie "Everything Everywhere All At Once" and the hot dog fingers aka "Dana" by Curt Brill. 

This was done by Seward Johnson, titled "Redon's Fantasy of Venus" and I am pretty sure, the colors did look as vibrant in real life as they do in this photo.

Again, I was so impressed by the detail in this hat, the straw like pattern and the crinkles in the bow make it like you can just pick it up and try it on.  The next two photos are from "Dejeuner Deja Vu" by Seward Johnson. This was set by a like and even the lake was impressive.

After the Deju Vu, we entered a small path that took us to a small amphitheater that had stone slabs for seats and this guy and his friends titled "The Oligarchs" by Michelle Post. There were no names on them but they were so curious! This guy was my favorite. His expression says to me "Is that so?" and I imagine his one hand on his chin as if he was thinking and if he had arms. 

After leaving the amphitheater, we came across "The Chamber of Internal Dialogue", featuring The Scream originally done by Edvard Munch. Kyle was really excited to see this. This was an actual building that you can 'go inside' and see the other side of the scream. It was very interesting. 

The next series of photos were all from the vignette, "If It Were Time" by Seaward Johnson. They were all based around the lake. As you can see it was a perfect weather day, blue skies and not too hot. 

Again with the hidden figures, we found this off the path and at first I walked right past them. In looking in the collection on GFS website, I could not find what the title of this was.  You could tell it was passionate and heartfelt and hard. 

After leaving the lakeside, we headed towards the Museum Orchard to find this; "Henry Moore in a Sheep Meadow" by Red Grooms. The color, the various styles and the whole picture it paints made me giggle and wonder what the artist was thinking. 

To the left of the sheep, was this guy below, who was aptly named "General Bronze" by Marisol Escobar. This made me giggle. I don't know if it was the stoutness of the general or the actual shape of him or the silly looking horse but I thought it was so funny.

"The Brazen Sphere" by John Newman was also in Orchard. We joked that this looked like a black hole or a vortex. 

"Depression Breadline" by George Segal was the next exhibit up next.  If it wasn't for for them being cast in bronze, you would have thought it was real people waiting in a bread line. 

We came upon this alien looking creature in a fountain. This alien "Dorian" by Bruce Beasley was in the Sculpture Court. I was really drawn to this sculpture and being able to walk around it make it really interesting to see. As we walked out of the this area, I walked along the ledge, almost like a balance beam to get a different perspective on this.

 

"Has anyone seen Larry? (The Three Fates) by Seaward Johnson was probably one of the most macabre sculptures that were on display.  I think I was actually speechless looking at this. I didn't know what to feel or what to think seeing this. I felt like this is on point for Halloween, props for the scariness.

Moving on from looking for poor Larry, we found this spaceship looking thing. "Schatz's Spaceship (Inspired by the Oloid)" by E. Calder Powel.  The wood grain detail was amazing! All I could think of was how they got that to look like wood.

After the spaceship, it was only fitting we saw a creature from the deep, "Carmelita" By Autin Wright. This was set in a lake and with all the greens around it. I would have loved to see more of this creature but what I saw was pretty rad. 

After seeing the creature, we came upon this sculpture and I couldn't help but laugh. The facial expressions and the scene was just so real life."Autin's Advanced Artistic Awakening" is truly really #reallife. 

After I stopped giggling at this, we walked toward this giant whale tail,  "Flukes" by Gordon Gund was just so fun. If it was in the water, I would totally believe it was a real whale's tale. 

We made our way through everything and we made our way to the Meadow. We saw this as we were walking in. I was drawn to it. As we were walking past it again, I had to stop. This time, I just started walking toward it, like I was drawn too. "Damascus Gate" by Walter Dunsenbery is made from travertine and was hand-carved and machine carved.
 

On our way to the Meadow, we also found a fenced off area where are some of the art that was not on display was being stored. Its like see backstage Disney!

We found this teenager talking on his cell phone holding his Michael Jordan backpack. Again with the details. The facial expression for a teenage was on point. 

"Bull #4" and "Bull #5" by Peter Woytuk greeted us. They were HUGE! All I could think was "Sitting Bull! Sitting Bull!"

Almost right next to the bulls were "God Bless America" by Seward Johnson. It was a play on the America Gothic painting by Grant Wood. These larger than life sculptures were striking. The house that was painted behind them to look like the background of the painting.

We were able to get a photo with them to show how big they really were. We look like ants!

Another look at the bulls and God Bless America.

We say "Daydream" by Seaward Johnson from a distance. How could you not?! These aluminium sculptures were massive.  The reflection in the brackish water against the blue sky were really striking. 

Up close they were even more impressive. The sheer size of them was incredible. 

We found this walker along the perimeter of the grounds and again, (like I have been saying all post) the detail was incredible.  My favorite detail is the headphones and walkman. Clearly this is an older sculpture.

Right around the corner from the walker, were two older women were sitting on a bench having a chat,   " Crossing Paths" by Seward Johnson. Again the immense size of them were impressive.  Their pose was really simple, two ladies having a nice chat in the park. 

On our way to the next perimeter sculpture, I found this really pretty leaf.  I don't think I've ever seen one with this pattern. I really liked it. 

An older man stopped mowing the grass to wipe the sweat off his brow, you guessed it, another sculpture and another time where I stopped and gawked at it, running my fingers over the details to see if they feel like the real thing. I was so impressed by this Cadillac hat and its stitching. 

One of the last sculptures we came to and one of the ones Kyle was really excited to show me was "The Awakening" by Seward Johnson. This was massive and really neat how it felt and looked like it was emerging from the ground. 

Again the attention to detail was amazing!

We found this spaceship looking object. This seemed like a theme here, spaceships. But on closer look, it kinda looks like a shell too. hmm....

Lastly, on our way out, we took a turn down Rat's Restaurants and we came across this waterfall with a girl who looked like she was sleeping on the waterfall. This was aptly named "Stainless Girl" by Seward Johnson. It looks so serene and with the water feature, that could have accounted for the girl falling alseep.

Wow! If you have made it to this point in the post, I am impressed. Grounds for Sculpture was super impressive and awe inspiring. I cannot believe it has taken me this long to get there. With writing this post, and going through the collections, there are over 400 pieces of art throughout gardens and their 42 acres. I noticed we did not see some of the pieces of work listed BUT I also did find that some of the works we saw were not listed. 

Point of reference: We spent about 2.5 hours here and we were able to cover just about everything, give or take some pieces.

If you plan to go to GFS, give yourself at least 2.5 hours. You do not want to rush through.  My only thing I wish they did was give out actual paper maps; they have an interactive map on their website and they provide a QR code around the grounds for access to it. 

You can visit their website, by clicking here.

Have you visited Grounds For Sculpture or another garden type art area? Let me know in the comments below.

[[...A self-directed experience accompanied by the joy of discovery, allowing for a greater appreciation and understanding of challenging works of art. Seward Johnson's vision (Joy of Discovery)]]