The Seward Johnson Center for the Arts.

I'll tell ya, walking along the grounds of sculpture the other day was a workout that was filled with awe, and fun! We loved every moment of that place, and the kids really got a kick out of seeing all those sculptures. Good thing we came early in the afternoon where we squeezed in the rest of our time hitting this museum right next door. 

This museum is where they have local artists work on exhibit. Here is this one from Paul Henry Ramirez titled "Rattle". The kids especially loved the pops of color, and the music that was playing in the background. It was totally fitting for the exhibit. 

Noah's favorite was the sculpture of the Mona Lisa. He said that she should smile bigger. I chuckled a bit when he said that. 

There were other sculptures inside this museum, and this one was my favorite, "the girl with the pearl earring." 

I thought this chinese sculpture was interesting. I personally think that all asian women are beautiful! 

And talking about beautiful get a load of this portrait. It's amazing how times have changed. Back then this was considered beautiful, and you know something it still is. Now the world thinks that skinny is better, and that's definitely not true! No matter what, women of all sizes are beautiful! 

This display was pretty cool.  it's called "Merge" and it is all done from maps!

 I like how "chill" noah looks in this photo. 

These are all painted serving trays, and we noticed some that are exactly like some of the sculptures on the grounds.

And a bittersweet exhibit. 

A 9/11 memorial display. With the anniversary coming up next week this is in remembrance of that dreadful day. Bittersweet for sure. 

Truly a wonderful place to visit where you can really appreciate local artists, and just art period! 

Grounds For Sculpture.

Sometimes some of the best hidden gems are found right in our backyard. 

One Sunday after church we decided to go for a drive around different towns in our area, you know, to get more familiar with our surroundings, and stumbled upon a street full of random sculptures behind a gated face. We noticed a few people walking around, and knew it had to be some kind of artsy place because of where we were at. So as we traversed to the other side of the building it was then where we saw a sign that read "Hurrah welcome, Grounds for sculpture." Being the art lovers that we are, we decided to put this on our "places to go in our surrounding area list", and what do you know...the kids and I checked this place out last week!

I can't even begin to describe how amazing this place is, and these sculptures are huge! I can't even imagine how the artists come up with such ideas. So talented. I mean, check out this monstrosity of old ladies chatting! Chelsea and I gave Lexie a boost up on the bench so she can sit next to them while I took a photo! 

The detail in this sculpture was absolutely phenomenal. They made their wrinkles on their hands, and face so realistic. This picture doesn't do it justice. You need to come here in person to take a closer look. 

It took us about three hours to cover the entire grounds including the museum which is on the other side of the sculpture grounds. We walked through many unique sculptures, including this one of a man buried alive only showing certain parts of his body. Pretty cool. 

This is one of the sculptures that we saw on our Sunday drive that caught our eye, and got us interested in coming here. 

This one cracked my up! I really thought they were real people sunbathing! Noah thought it was especially interesting. Not sure if that's a good sign or not. After all...it is art. 

And this one where Chelsea is mimicking  the jogger. 

Noah wasn't too pleased when he realized there was no drink inside this coke sculpture. 

Lexie thought this idea was pretty neat. Any guesses as to what it is. 

In 2012 people in the community, and the artist came together to create a memory from their childhood, and with that memory the artist created a large scale drawing. As all the peoples drawings of their memories overlapped on the same paper, the artist created this installation out of paper pulp and epoxy. A layer of white paper pulp was layered over and around the red lines. As the white paper deteriorates the original line drawing will be revealed again. I look forward to seeing the drawing when the white paper crumbles to the ground! Such a cool idea!

And a few random sculptures that were all over the garden.

 Noah in 10 years. 

 Making my bed, and laying in it too! 

Special thanks to the little girl who took this pic. 

 Lexie all day. #reading

The look on Noah's face when he realized he has a full day of school now! 

And more random sculptures.

 For a minute I thought I was in D.C. when I saw this replicated sculpture of these statues waiting for the soup kitchen to open. 

Noah, my navigator of maps. He loves holding the map, and guiding us to where we need to go. 

We walked along a garden where they had bamboo shoots, and there's even a lake that lead into it. 

Although exhausted by closing time, we still managed to check out the Seward Johsnon Center for the arts which will be on another post. 

I call this 'reflection.'

It was literally a little after 5pm when Noah and Chelsea were making music. These cymbals are so loud, and I'm glad that we were one of the last people to leave because if you follow my snapchat (my username is r_jorgensen if you want to follow), or my IG snaps you can hear how loud they were while they were drumming on them! 

This place truly is a hidden gem, and worth getting membership for. It is a perfect place to walk around, and the scenery is perfect. A lot of green grass, a nearby lake, a courtyard with a mini water fall where you can find koi fish swimming in a pond, and more sculptures. Even my camera was in awe by taking all these photos which I'm not sorry for! 

Absolutely breathtaking. 

So fun to be exploring more places in our surrounding areas!