Brookgreen Gardens,
founded in 1931 on the Northeast coast of South Carolina, was the
first public sculpture garden in America and exhibits an outstanding
collection of American figurative sculpture. Brookgreen's collections
are four-pronged: (1) American figurative sculpture, (2) native plants
of the Southeast and exotics adapted to the climate, (3) native animals
of South Carolina, and (4) historic objects pertaining to the four
plantations that comprise the property of Brookgreen Gardens. The
E. Craig Wall, Jr. Lowcountry Center at Brookgreen Gardens is a facility
devoted to the interpretation of the history and natural history of
this pristine 9,000-acre property. Accordingly, the sculptures exhibited
in the courtyard of the Lowcountry Center depict animal and plant
species native to the region. On display, in addition to Cathy Ferrell's
Great Blue Heron, are Warm Currents by Steve Kestrel (river stone),
Doe by Marion Branning (bronze), Springtime Frolic by Joseph Boulton
(aluminum), and Lowcountry Harvest by Berry Bate (iron, copper, bronze).
The nearby Cultural Garden displays crops and plants that would have
been cultivated at Brookgreen Plantation in the 19th Century, such
as rice, corn, grapes, herbs, other fruits and vegetables. The Cornhusker
by Christian Peterson (bronze) and Freedom's a' Comin' by Ken Smith
(stone) are exhibited there. Today, Brookgreen Gardens is a National
Historic Landmark due to the significance of its founder, sculptor
Anna Hyatt Huntington, as an artist and patron of the arts, and to
its status as an important site for women's history in America due
to the great number of women artists represented in the collection.
