Strolling Around The Hakone Open-Air Museum

There's no better setting to enjoy big sculpture than a large, meandering outdoor location. In the United States, Storm King is the gold standard. In Japan, head to Hakone Open-Air Museum.

The space is the first of its kind in Japan and it opened in 1969. The collection numbers more than 1,000 pieces, of which 120 of the sculptures can be found on display at any given time.

A view of some of the spread.

Hairy head and lawn maze. Many of the works are site specific.

One of the major pieces, Woods of Net.

Ahh, yes, the net part. Inside the wood hive is a wonderful, kid climb friendly net experience by Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam. Back outside, major bag woman and friend.

We're fried, time to lay (on) an egg. Sorry.....

Richard Serra At Storm King Art Center

Storm King is made for Richard Serra. You may remember him for being involved in one of the more unfortunate public art installations in history. Back in 1981, Serra won a commission and installed a site-specific sculpture in a federal plaza in New York city. It was titled "Tilted Arc" and was a large swath of a steel wall that bisected the plaza. While beautiful and interactive to the site, the work ruined the plaza as a place to walk through easily. The lawsuits came and eventually Serra's scultpure was removed. The case serves as an example of the limits to public art.

No matter, Serra has created excellent work elsewhere in more receptive and accommodating spaces. Check out the Dia Art Foundation for great examples of Serra's work.

Storm King has an excellent piece called "Schunnemunk Fork." It's a simple enough concept, a group of steel slabs similar to "Tilted Arc," emerging in a landscape. Unlike the urban plaza location, Storm King offers plenty of breathing room.

Among the flora, elevations and light, Serra's work presents constantly changing versions to enjoy. Amazing stuff, see for yourself.

Storm King Art Center

Modern sculpture sometimes means monumental sculpture and often that means a compromised viewing experience. Big pieces, little urban spaces. Not so at the fantastic Storm King Art Center.

The center is located about an hour north of New York City and it's basically rolling farmland for sculpture. There's plenty of room to roam, more than 500 acres. You can get all the perspective you want. The site also allows artists to create site-specific works impossible to do anywhere else. A stone wall wandering around for more than 1,000 feet? Go ahead!

Sarah and James popped in for a stroll and enjoyed connecting with nature and metal and stone and figures and abstracts and the imaginations of many talented sculptors. Thanks!

A typical view.

Did we mention a lot of the works are kind of big?

Nature, subtly effected. There are also smaller scale works to enjoy.
Sarah, riding a Maya Lin wave of grass, Wavefield. Sublime.

The open spaces still allow for pieces to interact. Sarah, doing some gravity interacting with a chair sculpture.

Even temporary things becomes works of art at the center.

Next up, Richard Serra, an artist custom-made for a place like Storm King.