Nature-Based Sculpture Program

Walking Tour Brochure | Sculpture Map

Human communication with and expressive translation of Nature is ancient and fundamental to the human psyche. It is from this ancient connection that we receive our most basic cosmological, mythological and psychological nurturing. And it is through Nature-based sculpture that we find opportunity to discover direction and inspiration in returning to and maintaining our ancestral roots as integral beings of Nature — birthing, reflecting, embracing, nurturing, creating and dying.

The sculpture program extends the life of this temporary art form, which is typically exhibited for no longer than a few months. The South Carolina Botanical Garden is able to enhance sculptural longevity through site/sculpture function, integrating living plants and providing horticultural care. The result is a unique collection of living sculptures that grow, transform and decline seasonally over years and decades. It is through the rhythms of these natural processes that The Garden’s public art program offers us opportunity to reflect upon those intersections ‘Where Nature and Culture Meet’.

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The South Carolina Botanical Garden features one of the largest collections of nature-based sculptures in the country. The extended-ephemeral pieces were each designed on-site by international artists and built by local volunteers and students within one month. Upon completion, the pieces begin to return to nature, so while many may still be found in the Garden, others have disappeared without a trace.

Spread over 300 acres, the 15 nature-based sculptures of the South Carolina Botanical Gardens are creative interventions developed with local natural materials to suit their separate unique sites. Since its inception in 1995, the SCBG’s sculpture program has worked with artists of national and international prominence to create a world-renowned collection of nature-based site-specific sculptures. Placed in various terrains, without explanation, visitors to the garden experience the art outside of the more common context of gallery or museum space.

Dr. Dylan Wolfe and Students Examining The Space in Between

Dr. Dylan Wolfe with students looking at and exploring Spaces in Between. The South Carolina Botanical Garden features one of the largest collections of nature-based sculptures in the country. The extended-ephemeral pieces were each designed on-site by international artists and built by local volunteers and students within one month. Upon completion, the pieces begin to return to nature, so while many may still be found in the Garden, others have disappeared without a trace.

An Overhead View of Natural Dialogue

“A sculpture trail consists of works planned to interpret each site and having a single approach route which is carefully managed to enhance each work. A trail is most effective in a diverse landscape. …. Since conventional nature trails and walks were only of limited success it was decided to commission a sculpture trail. This would provide an interpretation of the forest through the eyes of artists rather than foresters.” -Martin Orrom

Natural Dialogue

“When I asked what was meant by natural materials, I was told anything that comes from the earth.” -Phillip B. Mayer

The Space in Between

“They are created to be an integral part of the landscape. People just happen upon them.” -Ernie Denny

Natural Dialogue

“Contrary to the traditional sculpture park ideology, Earth sculpture embraces the philosophy that sculpture, like all human culture, should work in partnership with the environment, that things man-made should become a part of the cycles of nature, and that the transformation brought about by decomposition is a part of the beauty of art and of Life.”

“I knew that if you could create art that was a space that people could experience that they would get something of value out of it.”-Ernie Denny

All of the projects have cost somewhere between 3000 and 5000 dollars and have been alternately been funded by: Lee Gallery, City of Clemson, National Endowment for the Arts and the South Carolina Botanical Gardens through donors.

The Devotion of the Sunflower