Where the Gardens Grow

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Fernando Botero's 'Man on Horse' Bronze from the Gary Nader Collection at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden

Photo Credit: Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden

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Fernando Botero's 'Head' Bronze from the Gary Nader Collection at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden

Photo Credit: Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden

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Roy Lichenstein's 'Lamp' Painted Aluminum form the Estate of Roy Lichtenstein at Fairchild Tropical Garden

Photo Credit: Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden

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A replica of Michaelangelo's 'David' stands silhouetted against the blue sky at the far end of the Ringling Museum of Art's Italianate Courtyard.

Photo Credit: The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art

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Albin Polasek's Limestone 'Man Carving His Own Destiny' greets visitors at the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens

Photo Credit: Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens

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Albin Polasek's 'Evoking Memories' in Cement displays the sculptor's facility with different mediums

Photo Credit: Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens

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Albin Polasek's Terra Cotta 'Lada' displays an evolution of style

Photo Credit: Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens

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Albin Polasek's 'Forest Idyl,' Bronze, shows a mythical theme typical to the sculptor

Photo Credit: Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens

A beautiful thing happens when art steps outside. Outdoor sculpture and art gardens are a natural fit for Florida, with our welcoming weather year-round.

If the most eclectic thing you’ve ever seen in a Florida garden is a bougainvillea, then you’ve been denied some truly colorful sights. After all, what’s a common shrub compared to an eight-foot bronze rabbit by French artist Claude Lalanne, a gigantic ficus tree streaming with hand-written wishes from visitors as part of Yoko Ono’s Wishing Grove or a cobalt Dale Chihuly heron that practically vibrates with color?

These steroidal sculptures, installed among the rare palms and cycads are just a few examples of what you’d have seen if you visited the  Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Coral Gables this past year. As part of its “Art and Flowers” program, the award-winning botanical garden unveils a new installation annually during Art Basel week in December. The installations generally run through the end of May.

The money collected from the program’s entrance fees not only supports the garden’s ongoing efforts with educational outreach and awareness, but with the conservation itself. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden houses palm and cycad collections that are nationally recognized by the American Public Gardens Association.

The art installations are available for viewing during the days along with the plant and flower collections.  It’s a real treat to visit this living monument, which is accredited by the American Association of Museums, during one of their many festivals. Festivals run throughout the year and include the International Chocolate Festival, Mango Festival, Orchid Festival, Ramble Festival and Food and Garden Festival. You can bring in your own wine and cheese picnic, and relax for hours in this 83-acre paradise.

Indeed, epicurean pursuits are greatly encouraged in the premier sculpture gardens around the state. For instance, at the Norton Museum of Art Central Sculpture Garden in West Palm Beach, the 3,988 square feet garden, replete with plantings and sculptures alike, can hold 250 guests and is often utilized for standing receptions.

With two loggias on each side, a central fountain and majestic majul palms, the Central Garden, which has access to every gallery in the museum, is also a tempting place to take a cool break with a box lunch during the day.

Ditto the Italianate Courtyard at the back of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, which itself was built using the metaphorical blueprint of Florence’s Uffizi Gallery. With its 19^th and 20^th century replicas of ancient Greek, Roman and Baroque sculptures, many from the renowned Chiurazzi Foundry in Naples, Italy, the Courtyard sculpture garden is an outdoor companion to the interior collections of Titian, Veronese, Rubens, Hals, and Velazquez; decorative arts; and a collection of Cypriot, Greek and Roman antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Of particular note at the far end, a full-size bronze sculpture of Michelangelo’s David is often silhouetted against the blue Florida sky, and in the center, the fountain of Oceanus and the Fountain of the Tortoises (modeled after the original in Rome) are the perfect backdrop for wedding photos. 

Indeed, the Courtyard is the backdrop for a number of special events throughout the year, from weddings to hosting opening night of the Ringling International Arts Festival, a five-day cultural celebration of modern dance, music, theater and visual art that takes place Oct. 11-16 in 2011.

The Abraham and Dorothy Frischer Contemporary Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, on the other hand, is not a complement but a centerpiece. This 2.5-acre showpiece houses major contemporary work from internationally celebrated sculptors including Alfreda Halegua, Ernest Shaw, Doris Leeper and Fonchen Lord. The large-scale pieces certainly deserve reflection worthy of their size and global importance.

If you’re more interested in the three-dimensional outdoor art that artists of international renown—but local roots—have created, I suggest meandering over to Winter Park. Here, you can wander the grounds of the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens.

Though born in Moravia (now the Czech Republic), important sculptor Polasek “retired” in Winter Park, not only bringing many of his pieces with him (and buying back more), but continuing to work in mediums including clay, wood and stone. Today, more than 200 of his sculptures, in materials ranging from bronze to cement, whimsically dot the subtropical, Osceola Lake property.

Just as varied and diverse is the Contemporary Sculpture Garden at the Crealdé School of Art, a not-for-profit community arts center also in Winter Park. More than 60 Florida artists, including Johann and Kristin Eyefells, Cheryl Bogdanowitsch and Michael Galletta, are represented in this tranquil garden that details the art school campus.

You can arrange for tours or discussions by contacting the Crealdé office, but since all exhibits and lectures are open to the public, you also have the option of curating yourself. Or, if you’re so inclined, you can also walk inside and sign up for one of the classes taught by the faculty of 40-some professional artists.

After all, along with creating awareness and appetite, a place for social gatherings and a means for contemplation, that’s the most important mission of any sculpture garden—to inspire.