Grounds for Sculpture

Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) is a 42-acre nonprofit sculpture garden, arboretum, and contemporary art museum located in Hamilton, NJ, midway between Philadelphia and New York City. Founded by artist and philanthropist J. Seward Johnson, Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) combines art and beckoning spaces to welcome, surprise and engage all visitors in the artist's act of invention. GFS features an evolving collection of contemporary sculptures set within an imaginatively landscaped garden, a setting with spaces both grand and intimate, all designed to engage the visitor in a visceral immersive experience. The art collection includes many large-scale works--both figurative ad abstract--by 158 sculptors, with a total of over 270 contemporary sculptures.

GFS living collection contains about 60,000 plants representing an estimated 2,000 species. Except for about a dozen or so Maples on the property when construction began in 1989, all of the plants were chosen by the GFS project team of Curator Brooke Barrie, Architect Brian Carey and Project Manager Bruce Daniels, for specific purposes and/or specific sites and often as a living complement to the outdoor art. Plants were largely selected by the team for their color, form, or texture to harmonize with a particular sculpture. Plants were also chosen for their unique form or contorted shape. GFS continues to add to our living collection with interesting or unusual cultivars and species from purchases and donations.