In the first of our ‘World Travel Blogger’ series of articles, American Dr Jessie Voigts, of Wandering Educators, shares her love of travel and art with a look at a very unusual family attraction in the USA.
Looking for a quirky outdoor adventure among art? If you’re anywhere near Michigan, take a day to visit the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. It’s a world-class institution, one of the nation’s most significant sculpture and botanic experiences. Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park was called one of the world’s 30 ‘Must-See Museums’ by Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.
Igor Mitoraj ‘Light of the Moon’
Meijer Gardens contains the largest tropical conservatory in Michigan; one of the U.S.’s biggest children’s gardens; arid and Victorian gardens featuring bronze sculptures by Degas and Rodin; a house of carnivorous plants; and an outdoor amphitheater. The internationally acclaimed Sculpture Park includes a permanent collection with works by Rodin, Oldenburg, Moore, Bourgeois, and Plensa. Indoor galleries host changing sculpture exhibitions with recent exhibitions by Picasso, Degas, Butterfield, di Suvero, and Calder. You can attend outdoor concerts, and classes in a variety of subjects.
But what does that mean for a visit? Come along and see!
When you first enter, you’ll see gorgeous flooring – an art installation that includes bronze fossils of all types. Take a look to the right at the enormous Chihuly chandelier by the cafe. Stop in at the special exhibits, or peek into the classrooms and take a class! Keep on going to the arid gardens for a bit of warmth in the winter. During the late winter months, in the hot and humid conservatory, you can see the Butterflies in Bloom exhibit – it’s the perfect breath of spring!
Once outside, you have many paths to follow, all strewn with extraordinary sculptures. Straight ahead is the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden, in which you can enter through a tiny, child-sized door, or through a regular gate for those of us past the age of 5. You can splash in the pools shaped like the Great Lakes, use all five of your senses, explore with dragons, foxes, and spiders, play in the story telling garden, enter a beaver lodge or a rock quarry, play in a treehouse or a log cabin, and meander through a labyrinth.
This leads to the Michigan Farm Garden, which is based on a 1930s farm, and has a century-old barn, gardens, an 1880’s farmhouse, sugar shack, and bronze animals to show visitors how a farm might look, back in the day. The vegetable gardens are planted with heirloom seeds. There are other walks (including one in the wetlands, so watch for wildlife), but my favorite is the main sculpture walk. It’s paved (as is the entire walkway through all the areas, easy for handicap access), and leads through meadows, marshes, hills, a waterfall, lakes, and grasslands to show you sculptures from artists around the world.
Nina Akamu ‘The American Horse’
This is the joy of Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park – you never know what’s around the bend! For more information visit the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park
Jessie Voigts has a PhD in International Education, and is the publisher of Wandering Educators, a travel library for people curious about the world. She founded the Family Travel Bloggers Association and the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program. She’s published two books about travel and intercultural learning, with more on the way.
You can usually find her family by water – anywhere in the world. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.
From Zoë Dawes:
Many thanks Jessie for sharing one of your favourite places in America – I can see why you love it. What a great combination of art, outdoor and indoor attractions and it looks great fun too!
On your next trip to the UK you may like to visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park …
http://www.ysp.co.uk
From Wandering Educators:
One of our VERY favorite places in the world!
From D.J. - The World of Deej:
Had no idea this spot existed…Michigan is full of surprises:)
From Keryn @ walkingon travels:
I have always wanted to see this garden. The company I used to work for designed one of their books. I was teased with images of the artwork for months. One of these days we will get there.
From Zoë Dawes:
Hope you do get there Karyn. It looks like a beautiful combination of attractions, and how fascinating to be involved in one of their books.
From Turtle:
Sounds like a great place to explore. It’s funny how these kind of parks aren’t very well-known at all. Some place seem to get all the attention (deservedly or not) and then somewhere like this gets hardly any.
From Zoë Dawes:
So agree Turtle re that some places get exposure and others don’t. The idea of the World Travel Blogger series is to have locals around the globe share their fav ‘quirky’ places that people would love to visit if they only knew about them
From Ava Apollo:
Quirky, indeed, but really cool-looking! If i’m ever bored in Michigan, I know how to kill a few hours.
From Zoë Dawes:
Cheers Ava – great to discover more unusual places to visit isn’t it.