Grounds For Sculpture, Part I (A Photoessay)

No idea how many parts this will end up being... I took a ton of photos! ;)

The Grounds for Sculpture is located in Hamilton, NJ, near Trenton. I had never heard of it until I got Sarge. On the way to his barn, there were these huge faces on the side of the highway, and a sign pointing to the exit, for the Grounds for Sculpture.

Finally, one day, I decided to check it out. I followed the signs... and also found that I was following a path of sculptures scattered throughout the town.

It was pretty cool to have them throughout the area!

One in particular, right before the turn for the Grounds for Sculpture, really caught my eye. (In fact, in caught my eye enough that I missed the sign for the turn, ended up in a sketchy part of the Trenton outskirts, and hurriedly had to backtrack.)

I did find the Grounds, though! Unfortunately, that day happened to be a Monday-- the day they're closed. So I went back this past weekend! Hooray!

My companion and I arrived at the Grounds, paid our $8 student fee to get in, read the many, many rules in our brochure (don't chase the peacocks! don't climb on the sculptures! no outside food and drink!) and started exploring. We were initially greeted by a peahen.

The Grounds incorporates a lot of pretty landscaping, water, and architecture.

Many of the bodies of water scattered throughout the 35 acres contained ducks and fishes. These fish were huge; I feared for the safety of the ducks.

The place was lovely, and as more things restart their growing and begin blooming, I'm sure it only gets prettier.

They had a ton of these red-blooming trees; so pretty!

Some of the sculptures were a little odd. This horse caught my eye...

Rather boxy, don't you think? Nearby was another odd one. Wasn't too sure what to make of it...

Hooray sheep!

There were some more obscure sort of statues, too.

Everything was separated by trees and landscaping, with paths leading throughout. It was very well-planned.

A lot of the trees were labelled, too. You could tell that the plants were selected just as carefully as the sculptures.

We kept hearing bells and chiming sounds, and soon found the source...

This interactive sculpture had metal rods with which you could hti the pieces to make music. The sculpture was called Seat of Sound, and done by Robert Cooke and Daniel Goode.

All of the sculptures had little plaques (though some were hard to find!) and we also had a map-booklet that listed the names, artist, materials, etc.

The plaques also said whether or not you could touch the sculpture. Arthur was glad that this one was touchable, and posed.

I have tons more photos, so keep an eye out both for more photoessays, and for individual photos!