The tulip country of western Michigan is home to one of the nation's foremost outdoor sculpture parks, Meijer Gardens, just outside Grand Rapids. (By coincidence, philanthropist Frederik Meijer and Portland's almost identically named Fred Meyer both made their fortunes with regional chains of grocery stores.) The Meijer estate seeded the 32-acre sculpture park, part of a 130-acre expanse, with Meijer's personal collection when it was founded 15 years ago.
The number of sculptures in the permanent collection has grown over the years to include 160 monumental works by the likes of Alexander Calder, Alexander Liberman, Henry Moore, Claes Oldenburg, Louise Nevelson, and Dale Chihuly, in addition to world-renowned works by Rodin ("The Kiss") and Degas ("Dancer Looking at the Sole of Her Right Foot").
Now, the scale of Chihuly's designs demands a grand public setting. The individual pieces of "Over Venice," for example, would make no visual sense inside a museum. So Meijer Gardens is an ideal venue for a temporary exhibit (through September) titled "A New Eden," featuring 15 Chihuly pieces. (There's a Facebook page with photos here and an effusive USA Today piece headlined, "Chihuly sculptures invade Michigan"
