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Andy Goldsworthy: Arches
Saturday, April 1, 2006
9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park
Admission Fee:
$7.00 (for Undergraduate students and Group Leaders*)
$10.00 (for Graduate Students and Faculty and Staff)
*Group leaders must be U-M faculty, staff, or GSIs

Group sales deadline for this event is: Friday, March 17.

To collaborate with nature means to remark on, to employ that force, to give the ceaseless passage of time and play of chance a place in your work. It means not dodging nature's bullet.

Using the often fragile and fleeting objects and elements of the natural world-snow, stones, twigs, streams-sculptor and photographer Andy Goldsworthy has emerged as among the most respected and influential artists working today.

"...one of the driving energies behind what I do is to understand the materials that I work with and the places they come from."

Born in England in 1956 and based in Scotland, Goldsworthy travels the globe creating and documenting sculptural pieces, some permanent, some that only survive temporarily. And beginning January 27, 2006, Meijer Gardens will mount the largest exhibition of his work in the United States during Andy Goldsworthy: Arches.

"The arch seemed an appropriate form to talk about ideas of travel because the stone, out of the context of an archway or a building, a free-standing arch, has a sense of a stone taking a walk; a stride; a movement. So that became the really important motivating idea behind the arches."

Central to the exhibition are two seminal works, the monumental stone Grand Rapids Arch and the related Herd of Arches, eleven smaller-scale arches. Complementing these larger works will be a selection of more intimate sculptures; a grouping of his "Forest Gatherings" reliefs; and original photographs, including examples from his Lake Michigan series.

"There is so much more to learn and I think that's what drives me on. It's not technical, academic knowledge; it's really a really important way of trying to understand who I am, what is nature?"

To make your experience of the Goldsworthy exhibition even more delectable, the Frederick Meijer Gardens has added these treats:

Rivers and Tides - the award-winning documentary by Thomas Riedeisheimer will be on view in the Hoffman Auditorium at the Frederick Meijer Gardens. The film depicts the magical relationship between art and nature while capturing Goldsworthy in the midst of constructing his work on-camera. PLEASE NOTE: We will also be showing the film on the bus on our drive to Grand Rapids.

The Making of Grand Rapids Arch - a new short film documenting the installation of the Meijer Gardens exhibition centerpiece, featuring exclusive commentary by Andy Goldsworthy.

Discovery Cart - various natural materials to create Goldsworthy-like pieces.

Foam Arches - A hands-on children's activity. Build your own arch, complete with keystone.

Family Looking Guide

Also features the special exhibit: "Foremost's Butterflies are Blooming"

Foremost's Butterflies Are Blooming is Meijer Gardens most popular annual exhibit and the largest temporary tropical butterfly exhibit in the nation. Between March 1st and April 30th visitors can escape the Michigan winter and mingle with hundreds of butterflies flying free in the 15,000 square foot Lena Meijer Conservatory.

Now in its eleventh year, the exhibit boasts a total of over 6,000 tropical butterflies-between 40 and 50 different species-from the Far East and Central America. Each week between 500 and 1000 chrysalides arrive at the Gardens and are painstakingly sorted, inspected, labeled and "pinned" in our sealed Butterfly Bungalow while visitors observe through Plexiglas. They are then placed in a special "emergence area" of the Bungalow where visitors can witness their magical transformation into butterflies!

For more info:

Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park
Article from the Sunday, February 19 Ann Arbor News