A Sweet Morning at Meijer Gardens - 9/15/12

School is back on, ArtPrize has not begun, and the weather was comfortable in the 70s.  All this lead to a perfect time to re-visit Meijer Gardens. Small bonus - it was also the Herb and Gourd Festival. 

I thought there would be more to it but it was just in one room and cute enough. Quickly moving on, I visited these plants that give new meaning to the word "carnivore."

The Boardwalk offers great views of the marsh along with attendant wildlife. This image looks like an post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Get your ducks in a row - 

Bold fellow 

Fred's final resting place

Thanks a lot, Andre

Way too many dogs were everywhere as Paws with a Cause had an outing here today.

Just some favorites...

Many of the sculptures I love, and to many others I'm indifferent. But they finally installed a sculpture that I absolutely detest, Jim Dine's "Large Parrot Screams Color." It does not fit into this park at all and I hope it's on temporary loan. ArtPrize could probably use it.

After several hours of walking the park, I had my fill and headed out.

Here are two previous postings from visits to Meijer Gardens:

Chaos and Stillness - Meijer Gardens, 3/30/10

Chihuly Exhibit - Meijer Gardens, 5/12/10

Flickr Photo Album

And really? Not 15 or 20? :)

Chihuly Exhibit, Meijer Gardens - 5/12/10

The Dale Chihuly blown glass exhibit at Meijer Gardens is spectacular. We viewed it last week on a cloudy, cool day, well after the heavily-attended opening. Our plan was to take the tram to view the scattered works of art but we were informed at the Conservatory that we would not then be able to see every sculpture. So we took the brochure listing the site locations, and went back to the main desk for the standard Garden guide that showed those locations.

Volunteers posted at each exhibit were very helpful and we asked each time for the optimum route to the remaining sculptures. When we consulted our guide at Hekman Pond for the next best direction, she pulled out a map that showed the Chihuly exhibits with their locations. Just a minute now - why isn’t that available for visitors? It’s only in the hands of the volunteers, which is nice for them. But regardless, we did manage to get to each work, on foot, and without the ultimate location brochure.

The name of the exhibit, “A New Eden,” is maybe a little over the top but the works are magnificent and are wonderfully placed in beautiful settings. Various shapes rise up from the ground, towers ascend to the sky, colors float on water, plants spring up in the conservatory, and light explodes. The only site that was underwhelming was “White Belugas”; we missed it the first time as it looked like white garbage bags on the far side of a pond.

This exhibit is well-worth seeing and continues until September 30. If nothing else, it provides impetus to appreciate the beauty of Meijer Gardens, where art becomes one with nature.