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The grounds surrounding the museum are an integral part of the Crystal Bridges experience and not to be missed.
NATIVE PLANTS
NATIVE PLANTS
Most of the plants at Crystal Bridges are native to Northwest Arkansas. Others are cultivars of native species bred to provide a wide variety of bloom, foliage, and color from spring through fall.
To learn more about the various plant species and cultivars found on the Museum grounds, you may search the Crystal Bridges Plant Guide by bloom month, type of plant, and by trail. Crystal Bridges is always adding new plants to the grounds and the guide. The searchable guide provides information on many of the plants blooming at Crystal Bridges, along with tips from Museum horticulturalists for using these species in your home garden.
Waves of Rudbeckia spill down the hill next to the rustic textures of the mounds of grasses.
Penstamon marches along the edge of Crystal Spring.
Coneflowers planted on the roof. This idea was abandoned after one area was completed due to fear of leaks damaging the art.
Huge areas of wildflowers in the spring along the main entrance road.
Huge areas of wildflowers in the spring along the main entrance road.
Be prepared to see lots of insect pollinators visiting these plants.
Pollinators include bees, butterflies...
...and less popular beetles and wasps.
BACHMAN-WILSON HOUSE
BACHMAN-WILSON HOUSE
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has acquired a rare Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian house, known as the Bachman Wilson House. Originally located in New Jersy, the house was built in 1954 along the Millstone River. Due to repeated flooding, the house had sustained significant damage and relocation was the best way to preserve the structure. Crystal Bridges acquired the home, which was disassembled, moved and reassembled on Crystal Bridges’ 120-acre grounds.
I took the photos of the exterior of the house. No photos were allowed inside but I found the interior shots on the Crystal Bridges website. ENJOY YOUR TOUR...I DID!
Guided Tour - 10/12/15 Our guide showed us the display inside the south lobby of the museum. The drawer he has open contains samples of some of Wright's design elements.
Our first stop was the separate structure that contains displays and information about Wright and his design processes.
The first view of the front of the house is across the sweeping lawn. The stone walls and the plantings enhance Wright's design.
We entered the foyer through the unobtrusive front door. The ceiling was very low because Wright's big idea was to start out with a very compressed space to make the living area seem even more expansive.
The Lower Level
The Lower Level
The floor to ceiling double doors and windows were spectacular and the wooden design elements in the clear story above added interest. Our guide said the design may represent maple seeds and at certain times of the day they cast interesting shadows around the room. The Wright designed furniture didn't look very inviting though not sure it was as uncomfortable as it looked because we could touch nothing in the house. This was for the sake of preservation.
Our guide explained that all the lines in the room (windows, cement floor, bookcases, ceiling beams, and even the banquet cushions) lined up perfectly. This added to a feeling of tranquility. I'm sure in this linear environment if that subtle thing hadn't been done, it would have been chaotic. The kitchen which was called the "food preparation area" and powder room were tiny (smaller than many modern RVs). There was no dishwasher.
There was one small bedroom on the main floor which had a narrow hall (about 18" wide) leading to it. One woman in our group commented that if you were fat, you wouldn't be able to go to bed. Another person asked if there was a washer and dryer and the guide just laughed.
There were two more bedrooms and a "U" shaped balcony upstairs but those areas were not open to the public. We were not allowed to go up the delicate looking stairs.
My feeling was that this house, which was supposedly created for the common person, was totally unlivable by today's standards. I personally would not be comfortable living in this monastic environment. It is an interesting place in a beautiful setting and well worth the time to see it. I recommend the guided tour rather than the walk-through tour as the guide's enthusiasm and information really enhanced the experience.
CRYSTAL ALCOVE
CRYSTAL ALCOVE
Near the bridge on the South Terrace find this alcove. Inside, quartz crystals and quartzite rock! These massive boulders weighing up to 10,000 pounds contain quartz crystals from Blue Springs, Arkansas, in the Ouachita National Forest. They were donated by Avant Mining, LLC.
Come in and check it out....
This area was donated to Crystal Bridges by the Avant Mining LLC. With 11,400 acres of property, Avant Mining LLC is the largest quartz crystal mining company in the world.
OUTDOOR SCULPTURE - ART TRAIL
OUTDOOR SCULPTURE - ART TRAIL
Yield
Yield
Perhaps the most striking sculpture is Yield by Roxie Pane at the front entrance of Crystal Bridges. In my mind, this stainless steel tree is the symbol of Crystal Bridges.
In his body of work, Roxy Paine mirrors natural processes, drawing increasingly on the tension between organic and man-made environments, between the human desire for order and nature's drive to reproduce. His highly detailed simulations of natural phenomena include an ambitious series of hand-wrought stainless steel trees. Of all the ones I've seen in photos, Yield is the most lyrical and beautiful.
Maman
Maman
The scariest sculpture is the spider in the courtyard. It's huge and visitors either love it or hate it but none can ignore it. I personally love it. The sculpture was first cast in 1999 of stainless steel and marble by artist, Louise Bourgeois (December 25, 1911 – May 31, 2010).
After being rather crowded in the entrance courtyard, the sculpture was moved to a much more appropriate place on the south lawn in 2020.
More about Maman
More about Maman
The sculpture was first conceived in a small sketch the artist made in ink and charcoal in 1947. The artist's mother Josephine was a woman who repaired tapestries in her father's textile restoration workshop in Paris. When Bougeois was twenty-one, her mother died of an unknown illness. A few days later, in front of her father (who did not seem to take her despair seriously), Bougeois threw herself into the Bièvre River; he swam to her rescue.
Later, 6 Bronze versions were cast. The sculpture is among the world's largest spiders, measuring over 30' high and over 33' wide. It includes a sac containing 26 white marble eggs and it's abdomen and thorax are made of ribbed bronze. Like an umbrella against a storm, Maman shelters this space, looming over visitors in a protective, yet mysterious way. “Maman” is the French word for “Mommy,” and for the artist, the image of the spider refers to her mother, whom she has described as her closest friend. Though spiders can inspire fear for some, Bourgeois thought of the spider as caring, helpful, and hard-working—the way she remembers her mother. The sculpture balances delicately on leg-tips only a few inches wide, and seems to stand precariously on upward-arching appendages that bend unevenly, as if she is warding off a strong wind, or reeling from a blow. Yet stand she does, somehow managing to be simultaneously aggressive, protective, frightening, whimsical, and fearsome, all at once.
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