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60-674: Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park includes a tropical conservatory, an 8-acre Japanese garden, major works of modern and contemporary sculpture on the grounds and indoors, along with a series of outdoor gardens and nature trails. It is a well attended cultural site in Michigan, having attracted 750,000 visitors annually between 2015 - 2017. Meijer Gardens has continued to grow its permanent collection of sculpture from major figures in Modern and Contemporary art while building additional structures for indoor and outdoor gardens. In 2018, Meijer Gardens

120-487: A 285-acre wildlife sanctuary. Her business grew and prospered steadily over the years. Frostic was recognized as a successful entrepreneur at a time when few women were celebrated for this. The Detroit Free Press reported that she had 34 employees working in her printing business in 1985. Several of Frostic's prints are in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts . She was a long time member of

180-424: A New American Garden by influential landscape designer James van Sweden, known for his painterly approach to garden and landscape design, and an English Perennial & Bulb Garden from designer Penelope Hobhouse , an award-winning garden designer, lecturer and author. The English Perennial Garden was redesigned by award-winning designer Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio of Vermont. In 2003, two additional aspects of

240-845: A covered stage and tiered lawn seating for 1,900 persons. Past musicians featured in the Amphitheater include Harry Connick Jr. , B.B. King , Sheryl Crow , the Steve Miller Band , and Wynton Marsalis . Meijer Gardens includes a 30-acre (12 ha) outdoor sculptural park, which opened on May 16, 2002. The museum has exhibited the work of world-renowned artists including Jonathan Borofsky , Alexander Calder , Tony Smith , Anthony Caro , Antony Gormley , Mark di Suvero , Anish Kapoor , Jenny Holzer , Richard Hunt , Joan Miró , David Nash , Arnaldo Pomodoro , Keith Haring , Laura Ford , and Kenneth Snelson among others. Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park primarily collects

300-495: A green sod roof. On April 26, 1964, her new shop opened for business in the completed building of her own design. From an area of the shop, the Heidelberg presses could be observed from above, rhythmically printing away on the various paper products. Her artwork frequently depicted the natural world surrounding her shop: trees, plants, birds, mushrooms, flowers, berries, and animals. She incrementally grew her property into

360-639: A key point in his career and the development of modern painting. It reflected Matisse's incipient fascination with primitive art : the intense warm color of the figures against the cool blue-green background and the rhythmical succession of the dancing nudes convey the feelings of emotional liberation and hedonism . At the start of 20th-century Western painting , and initially influenced by Toulouse-Lautrec , Gauguin and other late-19th-century innovators, Pablo Picasso made his first Cubist paintings based on Cézanne's idea that all depiction of nature can be reduced to three solids: cube , sphere and cone . With

420-465: A large relief sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa carved from four white marble slabs, each at 19 feet in height. Modern art Art of Central Asia Art of East Asia Art of South Asia Art of Southeast Asia Art of Europe Art of Africa Art of the Americas Art of Oceania Modern art includes artistic work produced during

480-442: A life-long Michigan resident, artist, author and businesswoman known for her naturalistic block prints of local flora and fauna. The garden features woodland plants including ferns , hostas , bleeding hearts , rhododendrons , and azaleas . Opened on June 10, 2015, the 8-acre Richard and Helen DeVos Japanese Garden supports horticulture and sculpture. Designed by Hoichi Kurisu , president and founder of Kurisu International, Inc.,

540-489: A member of the Horticultural Society approached Frederik Meijer , (founder of Meijer grocery megastores ), to request the donation of a parcel of land. The site, which contained a stream and wetland areas, had originally been earmarked by Meijer for the construction of a new superstore. However, an alternative location for the store was found, allowing the more environmentally sensitive lands to be used for

600-512: A member of the jury at the Salon d'Automne where he exhibited three of his dreamlike works: Enigma of the Oracle , Enigma of an Afternoon and Self-Portrait . In 1913 he exhibited his work at the Salon des Indépendants and Salon d'Automne, and his work was noticed by Pablo Picasso , Guillaume Apollinaire , and several others. His compelling and mysterious paintings are considered instrumental to

660-596: A search for more realism in the depiction of common life, as found in the work of painters such as Jean-François Millet . The advocates of realism stood against the idealism of the tradition-bound academic art that enjoyed public and official favor. The most successful painters of the day worked either through commissions or through large public exhibitions of their work. There were official, government-sponsored painters' unions, while governments regularly held public exhibitions of new fine and decorative arts. The Impressionists argued that people do not see objects but only

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720-473: A summer shop selling her prints, books, and other items in the historic tourist town of Frankfort on Lake Michigan . Her Frankfort shop, located directly in the town, was quite successful and three years later she moved there permanently to operate her business year round. In 1960 she bought 40 acres (160,000 m ) of land in Benzonia with the intention of moving herself and her shop further inland into

780-549: A tool and die draftsperson in the Willow Run bomber plant of Ford Motor Company where she became skilled in production. After the war, Frostic started her own production printing company in Wyandotte, known as Presscraft Papers, by turning her linoleum block carvings into stationery goods and prints through the use of Heidelberg printing presses. In the early 1950s, she shifted her attention farther North and opened up

840-491: Is a paved path that winds through a forested section of the property. The trail presents various native ecosystems of West Michigan and provides sites for bird watching along areas of natural prairie and wetlands . . It is connected to the Frey Boardwalk. The Peter M. Wege Library, which holds reference books and periodicals on horticulture and sculpture , is also named for Peter Wege. The outdoor gardens include

900-536: Is closely related to Modernism . Although modern sculpture and architecture are reckoned to have emerged at the end of the 19th century, the beginnings of modern painting can be located earlier. Francisco Goya is considered by many as the Father of Modern Painting without being a Modernist himself, a fact of art history that later painters associated with Modernism as a style, acknowledge him as an influence. The date perhaps most commonly identified as marking

960-656: Is named for Frostic, who donated millions to the university. Frostic set up a metals studio in the family home and started a business, Metalcraft, where she produced objects and was commissioned to make two copper vases for the wife of Henry Ford, Clara Bryant Ford . In 1929, Frostic worked as a summer camp counselor at Osoha of the Dunes, in Frankfort, Michigan. She continued her artistic endeavors in metal and plastic, while teaching in Dearborn and offering metals courses at

1020-509: Is well attended and popular with visitors of all ages. Christmas and Holiday Traditions takes place from November through the first week of January. The Gardens' annual event includes the display of holiday items and symbols of more than 40 nations and cultures. David Hooker was the President & CEO at Meijer Gardens from 2006 to 2022. Charles Burke was appointed as Hooker's successor, starting in 2023. In 2022, Meijer Gardens announced

1080-730: The Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan , named an area of the park, with many indigenous plants and animals, the Gwen Frostic Woodland Shade Garden in her honor. The Gwen Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University was named in her honor in 2007, after her $ 13 million bequest to the University in 2001, the largest single gift in the school's history. While given as an unrestricted bequest,

1140-400: The narrative , which was characteristic of the traditional arts, toward abstraction is characteristic of much modern art. More recent artistic production is often called contemporary art or Postmodern art . Modern art begins with the heritage of painters like Vincent van Gogh , Paul Cézanne , Paul Gauguin , Georges Seurat and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec all of whom were essential for

1200-437: The 1980s and 1990s, as evidenced by the rise of neo-expressionism and the revival of figurative painting . Towards the end of the 20th century, many artists and architects started questioning the idea of "the modern" and created typically Postmodern works . (Roughly chronological with representative artists listed.) Gwen Frostic Gwen Frostic (April 26, 1906 – April 25, 2001) born as Sara Gwendolen Frostic ,

1260-683: The Northwest Michigan Artists and Craftsmen. Frostic remained actively involved creating art and working in her business well into her nineties. She lived at the Benzonia property until her death in 2001 a day before her 95th birthday. Much earlier, in 1960, Frostic was rumored to be a millionaire from her business, but as she lived a simple, modest life, this was unconfirmed until the public announcement that she had left $ 13 million to her alma mater, Western Michigan University. Frostic's shop, Presscraft Papers, remains open in

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1320-566: The YMCA in Detroit. As the supplies of metal began to dry up due to World War II , Frostic turned to more readily available materials and began printmaking , using the Linocut technique of carving linoleum blocks. Due to her exploration with plastic, she was also commissioned to make a piece for the 1939 New York World's Fair . During World War II, Frostic worked full-time, six days a week, as

1380-484: The attention of curators and critics, at the expense of more traditional media. Larger installations and performances became widespread. By the end of the 1970s, when cultural critics began speaking of "the end of painting" (the title of a provocative essay written in 1981 by Douglas Crimp ), new media art had become a category in itself, with a growing number of artists experimenting with technological means such as video art . Painting assumed renewed importance in

1440-576: The birth of modern art as a movement is 1863, the year that Édouard Manet showed his painting Le déjeuner sur l'herbe in the Salon des Refusés in Paris. Earlier dates have also been proposed, among them 1855 (the year Gustave Courbet exhibited The Artist's Studio ) and 1784 (the year Jacques-Louis David completed his painting The Oath of the Horatii ). In the words of art historian H. Harvard Arnason : "Each of these dates has significance for

1500-501: The development of modern art, but none categorically marks a completely new beginning .... A gradual metamorphosis took place in the course of a hundred years." The strands of thought that eventually led to modern art can be traced back to the Enlightenment . The modern art critic Clement Greenberg , for instance, called Immanuel Kant "the first real Modernist" but also drew a distinction: "The Enlightenment criticized from

1560-425: The development of modern art. At the beginning of the 20th century Henri Matisse and several other young artists including the pre-cubists Georges Braque , André Derain , Raoul Dufy , Jean Metzinger and Maurice de Vlaminck revolutionized the Paris art world with "wild," multi-colored, expressive landscapes and figure paintings that the critics called Fauvism . Matisse's two versions of The Dance signified

1620-527: The early beginnings of Surrealism . Song of Love (1914) is one of the most famous works by de Chirico and is an early example of the surrealist style, though it was painted ten years before the movement was "founded" by André Breton in 1924. The School of Paris , centered in Montparnasse flourished between the two world wars. World War I brought an end to this phase but indicated the beginning of many anti-art movements, such as Dada , including

1680-575: The facility first opened: The Fred & Dorothy Fichter Butterflies Are Blooming , and the Christmas and Holiday Traditions . Fred & Dorothy Fichter Butterflies Are Blooming is held annually in the Lena Meijer Conservatory from March 1 through April 30; it is one of the largest temporary butterfly exhibits in the nation, with thousands of tropical butterflies from Central America, South America, and Asia. The butterfly exhibit

1740-412: The first clear manifestation of cubism, was followed by Synthetic cubism , practiced by Braque, Picasso, Fernand Léger , Juan Gris , Albert Gleizes , Marcel Duchamp and several other artists into the 1920s. Synthetic cubism is characterized by the introduction of different textures, surfaces, collage elements, papier collé and a large variety of merged subject matter. The notion of modern art

1800-500: The first decade of the 20th century were Fauvism , Cubism , Expressionism , and Futurism . Futurism took off in Italy a couple years before World War I with the publication of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti 's Futurist Manifesto . Benedetta Cappa Marinetti , wife of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, created the second wave of the artistic movement started by her husband. "Largely thanks to Benedetta, her husband F.T. Marinetti re orchestrated

1860-473: The focal point of new artistic movements. The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of Abstract Expressionism , Color field painting , Conceptual artists of Art & Language , Pop art , Op art , Hard-edge painting , Minimal art , Lyrical Abstraction , Fluxus , Happening , video art , Postminimalism , Photorealism and various other movements. In the late 1960s and the 1970s, Land art , performance art , conceptual art, and other new art forms attracted

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1920-470: The forest. Her new property was located in a rural wooded riparian area on the Betsie River , initially accessed only by dirt roads. Frostic oversaw the construction of the print shop and dwelling, building it in relation to the woodlands. She conceived of a number of naturalistic and artistic elements including large stone boulders and a natural spring flowing inside the structure and an area with

1980-416: The garden includes a variety of horticultural elements, including zen -style and bonsai gardens, scenic bridges, waterfalls, and a tea house. Kurisu's garden contains several contemporary sculptures by major international artists selected especially for the location. The Japanese Garden includes a ten-foot work in granite by contemporary artist Anish Kapoor . The Wege Nature Trail, named for Peter M. Wege,

2040-506: The garden were completed and opened to the public. The Michigan Farm Garden, with heirloom vegetables, orchards, and figurative animal sculptures, provides families with the opportunity to experience the context of a 1930s farm complete with a 100-year-old barn and replica farmhouse from Lena (Rader) Meijer's childhood, and the Frederik Meijer Gardens Amphitheater, an outdoor musical and theatrical venue with

2100-831: The grounds of the early park, then known as the Michigan Botanic Garden, and making plans for the nature trail. Frederik and Lena Meijer, of the Meijer Corporation , were instrumental in supporting the development of the project through the donation of land, financing, and by providing their sculpture collection to the park. The museum was renamed the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in their honor in 2002. The Gardens provided an outlet for Fred Meijer's growing collection of large-scale sculpture from Marshall Fredericks and for Lena Meijer's love of plants and flowers. Three areas of

2160-582: The hire of Suzanne Ramljak as Chief Curator. The Lena Meijer Conservatory was designed by Cox, Medendorp and Olson, and utilizes galvanized steel for the frame construction. In May 2019, the New York partners Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects were selected to re-envision and expand the facilities at Meijer Gardens, with the assistance of local partners Progressive AE and Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. The expanded and updated 69,000 square foot welcome center, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, displays

2220-433: The light that they reflect, and therefore painters should paint in natural light ( en plein air ) rather than in studios and should capture the effects of light in their work. Impressionist artists formed a group, Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs ("Association of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers") which, despite internal tensions, mounted a series of independent exhibitions. The style

2280-715: The many highlights for visitors is The American Horse , sculpted by Nina Akamu as a homage to the original commission to Leonardo da Vinci of the Duke of Milan , as well as works by Auguste Rodin and Degas in the Victorian Conservatory. The Sculpture Program of the Gardens features temporary exhibitions. Featured exhibitions have included works by Andy Goldsworthy , Tom Otterness , Magdalena Abakanowicz , and George Rickey . Meijer Gardens supports two large seasonal exhibition events, both started in 1995 when

2340-472: The organization began significant renovations and additions of new spaces. The expansion was designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects . The expansion featured a new Welcome Center and more exhibition spaces, allowing for larger and more diverse art installations. In 2023, Meijer Gardens welcomed their 14 millionth visitor. The Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory, a five-story, 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m) facility, supports tropical plants from around

2400-432: The original building (under new ownership) and continues to produce prints from her original linoleum block cuts. As of 2018, her nephew, Bill Frostic, was listed as the printing supervisor and has been running the presses for over 50 years. All 12 of the original Heidelberg presses remain in operation at the studio, and visitors can watch them in action during the week. Frostic carved over 2,300 blocks, which can be seen on

2460-402: The outside ... . Modernism criticizes from the inside." The French Revolution of 1789 uprooted assumptions and institutions that had for centuries been accepted with little question and accustomed the public to vigorous political and social debate. This gave rise to what art historian Ernst Gombrich called a "self-consciousness that made people select the style of their building as one selects

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2520-434: The painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), Picasso dramatically created a new and radical picture depicting a raw and primitive brothel scene with five prostitutes, violently painted women, reminiscent of African tribal masks and his new Cubist inventions. Analytic cubism was jointly developed by Picasso and Georges Braque , exemplified by Violin and Candlestick, Paris, from about 1908 through 1912. Analytic cubism,

2580-472: The park reflect the interests of Lena Meijer: a tropical conservancy and a children's garden (each named in her honor), and a replica of the family farm on which she was raised in Amble, Michigan . Meijer Gardens first opened to the public on April 20, 1995. The mission of Meijer Gardens is to support horticulture and sculpture in order to encourage appreciation of the natural environment and fine art . In 2017

2640-448: The pattern of a wallpaper." The pioneers of modern art were Romantics , Realists and Impressionists . By the late 19th century, additional movements which were to be influential in modern art had begun to emerge: Post-Impressionism and Symbolism . Influences upon these movements were varied: from exposure to Eastern decorative arts, particularly Japanese printmaking , to the coloristic innovations of Turner and Delacroix , to

2700-417: The period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of experimentation. Modern artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art. A tendency away from

2760-419: The permanent collection. In 2016, the museum acquired the archives of sculptor Beverly Pepper , over 900 works on paper. Following the museum's acquisition of Iron Tree by Ai Weiwei , a major exhibition of his work was held at the Gardens in 2017. The collection contains numerous outdoor monumental sculptures throughout the property and also indoors in the conservatory, specialty gardens, and gallery. Among

2820-591: The public garden. In January 1991, Meijer, Inc. donated 70.7 acres (28.6 ha) of land in Grand Rapids Township, Michigan to establish the new public garden. A $ 13 million capital campaign to develop the land into a public park was led by Earl Holton and additional support was provided by the Meijer Corporation's vendors. By 1993, Frederik Meijer and fellow Grand Rapids environmental philanthropist Peter Wege of Steelcase were walking

2880-467: The shelves of the studio. The current owners of Presscraft Papers raised funds and replaced a section of the roof structure that was in need of repairs. An award-winning picture book biography about Frostic entitled “Nature’s Friend: The Gwen Frostic Story” by Lindsey McDivitt was published by Sleeping Bear Press in 2018. It was named a 2019 Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan. Frostic

2940-728: The shifting ideologies of Futurism to embrace feminine elements of intuition, spirituality, and the mystical forces of the earth." She painted up until his death and spent the rest of her days tending to the spread and growth of this period in Italian art, which celebrated technology, speed and all things new. During the years between 1910 and the end of World War I and after the heyday of cubism , several movements emerged in Paris. Giorgio de Chirico moved to Paris in July 1911, where he joined his brother Andrea (the poet and painter known as Alberto Savinio ). Through his brother, he met Pierre Laprade,

3000-471: The time of Frostic's birth, Fred was serving as school principal. One of seven children, Frostic had an older brother, Bill, and five younger siblings. Although precocious and already walking, at 8 months old, Frostic suffered a high fever from an unknown illness which then left her with lifelong symptoms similar to cerebral palsy . Despite physical difficulties including a limp and weak hands, Frostic showed an early interest in and aptitude for art. Her mother

3060-531: The work of Marcel Duchamp , and of Surrealism . Artist groups like de Stijl and Bauhaus developed new ideas about the interrelation of the arts, architecture, design, and art education. Modern art was introduced to the United States with the Armory Show in 1913 and through European artists who moved to the U.S. during World War I. It was only after World War II , however, that the U.S. became

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3120-589: The work of sculptors. It also contains drawings, provided they were created by artists who identify as sculptors. As of May 2015, the permanent collection contained over 300 artworks. It features works by prominent British and American sculptors including Claes Oldenburg , Louise Bourgeois , Richard Serra , Barbara Hepworth , and Henry Moore , in addition to major works by the international artists Coosje van Bruggen , Ai Weiwei , Beverly Pepper , and Jaume Plensa . Fred and Lena Meijer purchased another large work by glass artist Dale Chihuly in 2009 as an addition to

3180-595: The world. The conservatory houses diverse tropical plants, including coconut palms from the Pacific, fig trees from India, exotic orchids from Central and South America, and Asiatic bamboo and banana trees. Additional indoor gardens include a carnivorous plant house, an arid house for cacti and desert vegetation, and an area with a Victorian theme. Opened in June 2004, the Lena Meijer Children's Garden

3240-706: Was a strong advocate for her involvement in diverse activities despite her disabilities. Gwen lived with her family in Croswell , then St. Charles , before the family moved to Ann Arbor in 1917 while Fred earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Michigan. In 1918, the family settled in Wyandotte when Fred became the Superintendent of Wyandotte Public Schools . In June 1924 Frostic graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Wyandotte , where she had completed several courses in mechanical drawing and

3300-467: Was adopted by artists in different nations, in preference to a "national" style. These factors established the view that it was a "movement." These traits—establishment of a working method integral to the art, the establishment of a movement or visible active core of support, and international adoption—would be repeated by artistic movements in the Modern period in art. Among the movements that flowered in

3360-412: Was also inspired by and named for Lena Meijer. As with much of the larger park, this garden contains a number of sculptures. Included among the areas designed for children within the Lena Meijer Children's Garden are a log cabin, a labyrinth, and a rock quarry where kids can dig for buried fossils. The Gwen Frostic Woodland Shade Garden, dedicated in June 1998, commemorates the influence of Gwen Frostic ,

3420-546: Was an American artist, entrepreneur, author, and Michigan Women's Hall of Fame inductee. A lifelong resident of Michigan , Frostic is known for her naturalist, Linocut block print artwork, created using Original Heidelberg Platten presses . Gwen Frostic was born April 26, 1906, in Sandusky , Michigan , to Sara (née Anderson) and Fred W. Frostic. Her parents had both been trained as teachers in Ypsilanti, Michigan . At

3480-623: Was granted several honorary doctorates from Alma College , Eastern Michigan University , Western Michigan University , Michigan State University , and Ferris State University . In 1978, Governor William Milliken declared May 23 as Gwen Frostic Day in Michigan. In 1986 she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame . The Michigan Reading Association presents the Gwen Frostic Award to notable authors and illustrators who have impacted fostering literacy. In 1998,

3540-588: Was included as one of "Eleven of the World's Greatest Sculpture Parks" by Artsy . In 2023, USA Today voted the park the #1 Sculpture Park in the United States as part of their 10Best Readers Choice Awards. In the early 1980s, the West Michigan Horticultural Society, a non-profit organization in Grand Rapids, Michigan , was searching for a nearby site in order to establish a botanical garden and conservatory . As early as 1986,

3600-544: Was known for using a band saw to create event posters for her school. Frostic went on to study art education at Eastern Michigan University , where she joined the Alpha Sigma Tau sorority and earned her teacher's certificate. In 1926, she transferred to Western Michigan University where, in an art class, she carved her first linoleum block artwork. Frostic left Western Michigan University (WMU), just short of completing her degree, in 1927. WMU’s School of Art

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