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CommunityAnnmarie Garden featured in Smithsonian Affiliations newsletter
Friday, May 9, 2008
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Although it often means visitors to Annmarie Garden incorrectly assume the park is owned by the Smithsonian Institution, Annmarie Garden is happy to be a member of the Smithsonian Affiliations Program. In fact, the staff and board of the garden believe their productive use of the program has been crucial to the successful development and expansion of the site, according to a press release.
As the article in the Spring 2008 Smithsonian Affiliations newsletter describes, Annmarie Garden is considered one of the great successes of the program. As a result, the garden is building its reputation as an attractive tourist destination and regional arts center, thanks to its 30-acre sculpture park, a recently opened art school, and a new museum-quality 15,000-square-foot exhibition hall (scheduled to open the weekend of May 30).
Over the past five years, Annmarie Garden has slowly and rather quietly installed more than 25 pieces of world class sculpture on loan from the Smithsonian Institution. Artists include George Rickey, Barbara Hepworth, Cesar, Francisco Zuniga, Kenneth Snelson, Sorel Etrog, Robert Engman and Jules Olitski, to name but a few. Access to these loans has enabled the garden to expand and enhance its collection and develop into significant sculpture park, a place to enjoy the wonderful relationship between art and nature.
Those who have never visited a sculpture park are invited to take advantage of the approaching spring to visit Annmarie Garden. The delightful feature about a sculpture park is that even people who don’t consider themselves art lovers end up enjoying the experience. Taking a walk at Annmarie Garden is not a normal walk in the woods; It is a chance to look at, talk about, argue about, laugh about or just simply enjoy differing interpretations of art, nature and life.
And to answer the question, no, Annmarie Garden is not owned by the Smithsonian Institution, but the answer to that question is perhaps another element of the success of Annmarie Garden. The operation of the garden is made possible by several entities. The Smithsonian owns the bulk of the sculpture, but Calvert County owns the property, the nonprofit Koenig Private Foundation operates the Garden, and Ann’s Circle, another nonprofit, hosts the programs and serves as the fund raising arm for the garden.
To read the full text of the article about Annmarie Garden in the Smithsonian Affiliations newsletter, go to www.affiliations.si.edu.
