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Art and Nature at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is a botanical garden, art museum, and outdoor
sculpture park located at 1000 E. Beltline Ave NE in Grand Rapids. A popular cultural site in
Michigan, the Sculpture Garden attracts 750,000 visitors annually. In 2023, 2024, and 2025, USA Today voted Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park the #1 Sculpture Park in the United States, a testament to its unique blend of Art and nature. The park’s permanent collection includes works by Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen, Henry Moore, Rodin, Barbara Hepworth, Richard Serra, Louise Bourgeois, Ai Weiwei, and Jaume Plensa, among others. Indoor galleries host changing sculpture exhibitions featuring works by notable artists such as Ai Weiwei, Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Mark di Suvero, Jonathan Borofsky, Alexander Calder, and Jim Dine.

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
Eve by Auguste Rodin, Summer

THE ART OF NATURE

Frederik Meijer n features Michigan’s largest tropical conservatory, accompanied by three
adjacent theme gardens. The Tropical Conservatory is a five-story, 15,000-square-foot facility featuring rock landscapes, a waterfall, and a variety of exotic plant selections. The conservatory houses tropical plants from around the world, including fig trees from India, exotic orchids from Central and South America, as well as Asiatic bamboo and banana trees. Additional indoor gardens include the nation’s most comprehensive carnivorous plant house, an arid house featuring Saguaro cacti, a Victorian conservatory, and a Seasonal Display Greenhouse.

One yearly event that has contributed to the garden’s fame is the annual Butterflies in Bloom event, held in March and April. Running now for over 30 years, Visitors can see over 60 species of butterflies and moths from around the world in the Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory. Walking along the tropical garden pathways, you encounter nature’s incredible artistry: the butterflies, living symbols of nature and beauty, flit about in the dense tropical garden.

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park

FREDERICK MEIJER GARDEN GROWTH

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park opened to the public on April 20, 1995. Frederik
Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park was initiated by a community effort spearheaded by the West Michigan Horticultural Society. They envisioned a cultural attraction that combined horticulture and sculpture and spent 13 years planning and fundraising. Fred and Lena Meijer played a crucial role by embracing the concept and providing support. The organization is now a non- profit, relying on grants, foundations, and donations from individuals and corporations. With community support, both financial and also volunteers, the gardens have prospered and continue to grow.

The most recent expansion was completed on November 22, 2021; the Frederik Meijer Gardens expansion further supports the mission to promote the enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation of gardens, sculpture, the natural environment, and the arts. New York firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners were selected to re-envision and expand the facilities. Williams and Tsien see architecture as “an act of profound optimism.” They have discovered a similar spirit in Meijer Gardens’ unique marriage of beautiful Art and inspiring green spaces. “From our very first visit, it was clear that Fred and Lena Meijer had given Grand Rapids an extraordinary gift. Yet after 25 years of rapid growth, the campus had become a disparate collection of built forms, taking the focus away from the beauty of landscape and sculpture,” said Williams and Tsien. “Our thought was that all new structures, as well as old, needed to come together as a coherent whole to enhance both the Gardens and the Art. From this simple thinking, our design approach has evolved to be one of horizontal buildings and walls, forming a calm and unifying frame so that sculpture and the gardens move to the forefront.”

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
Entrance to the 2021 Expansion Project
Bent of Mind by Tony Cragg

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
Lobby of the 2021 Expansion Project
Utopia by Jaume Plensa

ART IN THE GARDEN

Meadows and gardens are museum-like settings where sculptures blend seamlessly with the natural environment. The park’s designers have combined nature and Art with pathways that offer a variety of perspectives and a new angle of the sculpture’s beauty. The larger sculptures, Aria by Alexander Liberman, which stands 48 feet tall, or Neuron by Roxy Paine, spanning 52 feet, command more space in the park. Viewers can interact at several distances and experience the shifting shapes and tones.

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
Neuron by Roxy Paine

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
Aria by Alexander Liberman

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
Japanese Garden at Sunrise

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
Untitled, by Anish Kapoor

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden  & Sculpture Park
Children’s Sculpture Garden

IN THE WORDS OF RECENT VISITORS OF THE GARDENS & SCULPTURE PARK:

• Beautiful scenery and nature walk. I love the Japanese Gardens there. If you are looking for a great walking trail, this is the place!
• Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is not just a destination; it’s a quiet, living poem. The moment you step in, you’re embraced by a harmony of art, architecture, water, and nature that seems to conspire gently to soften you—to make you feel again.
• This garden was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The Japanese garden was absolutely amazing.
• Wow. Didn’t know what to expect. As soon as you walk in you’re met with an incredibly sculptured wall. Lots of very different sculptures exhibited indoors, as well as outdoors in wonderfully kept gardens. We saw kids that were also having a great time
• Beautiful place, lots of fun places for kids to roam – especially a fun water area and treehouse.

Photo courtesy of Frederik Meijer Garden & Sculpture Park
Sculptures by Jaume Plensa

Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park

HOURS
Sunday 11a – 5p
Tuesday   9a – 9p
All other days.     9a – 5p

The 158-acres are barrier free and handicap accessible