If you like an urban garden setting along with beautiful sculpture then you may want to pay a visit to the new offering at Frederick Meijer Gardens. Opening today, the Stuart and Barbara Padnos rooftop sculpture garden.
“We are so excited to have this brand new space. It is situated on top of the new education wing.”
That’s Laurene Grunwald, Director of Sculpture, art collections, exhibitions, installations at Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.
She says the new Stuart and Barbara Padnos Rooftop Sculpture Garden is now open. It’s located on top of the recently completed 22,000 square foot Covenant Learning Center. It is part of the Welcoming World: Honoring the Legacy of Love expansion project. A unique, rooftop garden.
“It really does add a different experience and a new layer. It’s almost an urban feel on this roof and you don’t I think you realize you’re on a roof until you go out onto the space.”
Stuart Padnos was an accomplished sculptor and several of his pieces are in the permanent collection. Grunwald adds they were also able to get additional pieces on loan from the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.
“We are very excited to have these loans. For at least a year. We’re hoping for longer. But they’re an iconic works from their collection but they had been in storage and they wanted to have them out in the public.”
The pieces on display include significant modern and contemporary sculpture from Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Marino Marini and David Smith. Grunwald says visitors will have a lot to enjoy and the space is designed to accommodate daily visitors and special events.
“It’s designed where you can flow through and sit in many different locations to kind of meander the 22-thousand square feet of the space itself. And then there is a big open, back court area to be utilized for events.”
Grunwald says it merges Lena Meijer’s love of gardening with Frederick Meijer’s passion for sculpture.
“That is the center of our mission to have horticulture and sculpture live together.”
The 115 million dollar “Welcoming the World: Honoring a Legacy of Love expansion project underway at Meijer gardens is addressing facility needs that came from significant growth over the institutions’s 24 year history.
