Zen as Art: Art as Zen Part II

About a year ago, Rapid Growth got the opportunity to check out the new Japanese Gardens at Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in the article Zen as Art: Art as Zen. The $22 million project will take three full painstaking years to complete, starting in 2012 and opening in the summer of 2015.

After visiting it last year about this time and witnessing the massive transformation of the construction site, we thought we’d catch up with our friends at the Gardens and see how things have progressed in a year. With placement of over 3800 boulders (sourced almost exclusively from Michigan), thousands of plantings, waterfalls beginning to flow, and the beginnings of placements of the six sculptures that will adorn the gardens, it was quite exciting to see the progress.

The sound of trickling and cascading water permeates the air throughout the new gardens, which is pretty difficult to convey in pictures. It was also very noticeable this time around that many of the walking paths take you on little adventures, with boulder staircases and stone bridges over small brooks (while still incorporating ADA accessible pathways). We also ran into our old friend from our last visit, a large majestic blue heron trying to catch fish in the collecting pools of one of the waterfalls.

Stay tuned to Rapid Growth for grand opening events of the new Japanese Gardens next summer. It will come faster than you think.

Photos by Jeff Hill