Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is a sculpture garden and an icon on Minnesota


The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is a crown jewel of Minnesota and the centerpiece of the garden - Spoonbridge and Cherry is a water sculpture, which is an icon of Minnesota. The garden is a free museum is a park, which residents and tourist value as an economic and educational asset for the state. The garden has been open for over 22 years and over 7.2 million people have visited the garden.

The gardens are located on Vineland Place and is an 11 acre garden created as a joint project of the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation board. The gardens opened in 1988 with an expansion in 1992 adding another 3 1/2 acres and the 300 foot long Alene Grossman Memorial Arbor. The Walker Art Center oversees the artistic programs and exhibitions and the Park Board maintains the grounds. There are 40 permanent art installations at the garden and several temporary pieces, which are placed in the garden at different times.

The centerpiece of the garden - Spoonbridge and Cherry was created by Claes Oldenburg who is known for his oversized renditions of ordinary objects. He was asked to design a fountain-sculpture for the garden; the spoon appears in many of Oldenburg's works and became the theme for the garden's project. The Cherry was contributed by Van Bruggen as a playful reference to the garden's formal geometry. Bruggen also created the pond shape in the form of a linden seed, these trees were planted along the alleys before the fountain was created. The 5,800 pound spoon and 1,200 pound cherry were built in a shipbuilding yard in New England and become a beloved icon of the garden.

The `Garden Seating, Reading, Thinking' sculpture was created in 1987 by Kinji Akagawa and combines the simplicity of Japanese aesthetics with a concern for the impact of art on public places. The artist wanted this sculpture to be used for private activities such as reading and thinking. The bench is made from unfinished green basalt and highly polished granite, a horizontal slab of cedar, which recalls the forest from the regions past is also used.

Free tours of the gardens are held during May until September with an Art on Call Audio Guide. Garden, Gallery and Architecture tours are offered at the Walker for free. There are four courtyards in the garden, two are perpendicular with gravel-lined walkways, which are planted with linden trees at regular intervals. The Standing Glass Fish is the focus of the central house of the Cowles Conservatory and is surrounded by palm trees.

There are four courtyards in the southern half of the garden, each is 100 foot square and bordered by dense evergreen hedges, which are planted in low, carnelian granite walls. In this outdoor gallery sculptures by Tony Smith, Ellsworth Kelly and Richard Serra are able to be viewed by visitors.

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