Josephine Sculpture Park...

Saturday, March 16th, I spent the morning visiting Papa. As the morning wore on, I sent a text to Claude and told him I really wanted to be outside in the afternoon. He could pick what we did but we really needed to be outside that afternoon. 

When I got home from visiting Papa, we decided we would visit Josephine Sculpture Park. It is just south of Frankfort, Kentucky off Hwy 127. I heard about this place on the news last year. It was on the news because once a year they craft festival on the grounds. That is the only time you must pay for parking. There is never an entry fee. The grounds have mowed grass paths through the natural landscape of trees and shrubs. You just walk through these paths and find big sculptures with plaques telling you the artist, the name of the artwork, and a bit out what it is depicting. 

Claude and I parked the Jeep and started walking. We have had so much rain that the places where the grass is thin were a bit muddy but we never really stepped in mud during all our walk. It was also still only in the low 40's so there were not many people there. This made for better pictures without having to wait and work around other visitors. You can take your pets but you must keep them on a leash and you must pick up after them. There were two couples with big dogs. 

Here are some pictures of the sculptures we enjoyed during out afternoon stroll. The first is me in front of some tree sculpture. We don't get tons of pictures of me because I am behind the camera. But Claude did get two of me this day and this was the first one.

Some of the sculptures are just to look at, some you may touch, others the kids could climb and play on. This was a kids climb and play on sculpture.  

This is a 'lodestone'. It is a place in Kentucky where True North and Magnetic North meet. It is made up of limestone rock that is already a part of the ground with a big piece of iron resting on that rock. Evidently they are putting these sculptures in places that fit this criteria around the world. Cool! 

We saw many uses of rebar in the sculpture world. This was one of them. It is actually a dome like structure that Claude is standing inside of. Hanging from the top on the inside a colorful wine bottles. 

This is actually a metal drum with items on the top that are turtle'esk. I do love turtles. 

And this interesting piece was titled Kentucky Fire Chicken! The cardinal is the Kentucky State Bird. Never heard it called a 'Fire Chicken'. But I like that name. 

The next four at the graphicologyhenge. Graphicology because it has to do with letters that people like to paint on buildings and train cars. Henge because the walls are formed in a circle, kind of like Stonehenge. The cool thing about this is kids are allowed to bring in paint and paint something on these walls. Claude quickly found that Harry Potter had been here. 

There were several trees that had to be cut down to make the park with its many paths. The trees needed to be removed to make way for other types of trees that needed to grow for whatever reason. The trees that were cut down were given to one of the artists. This artist carved the wood from the tree and it was placed in the tree that remained as a sculpture. We saw this type of sculpture in several places in the Park. The object in the tree branches is really a carving from the trunk of the tree that was cut down. It really looked like a concrete object nestled in the tree branches but it really is wood that is carves. 

This eagle is a large replica of much smaller carved eagles used in Native American rituals. My hubby is a regal eagle!! 

This was probably our favorite of the sculptures. It is beams that are like railroad ties that have been covered with strips of old tires. 

The solid inside cube is suspended in the outline outer cube. You can turn the inside cube around inside the outside cube without touching the outside cube. 

This is a boat and you can imagine it in water or in the air. When we were in Ireland there was a monument that had boats in this shape. Looking at this sculpture took me back to Ireland. Nice!

I cannot remember what this dress was to represent. Something ethereal. The thing that fascinated me was taking real lace to trip it and the coating the entire piece of artwork with something to keep it firm and able to without the outdoor setting,  

Okay, when we walked up to this I thought it might be a turtle. This made me happy because of my love of turtles. However, as you stand over it, it appears to be a snail. Hmmmm... The label just said it is to let you use your imagination. I stand with the turtle then! 

Claude trying to see if this one speaks to him. The post is all rock shapes stacked on each other. Then there are the things hanging from the top. No description of what the artist intended. I'm thinking he/she intended to have Claude pause and stare for a long time.

Some type of metal boat. 

These guys were title "Herb and Clarence". So, of course, our thoughts went to a "Where's Claudo?" picture. 

Every so often you would find a bench to sit on. We never sat on one but we determined Claude needs to make one of these for our back deck. Then we would let the grandmonsters paint it any way they wanted. They could paint it differently each time they visited. Sort of like our bench version of the graphicologyhenge.

This is an ox. It is made so that kids can insert plant starts that would grow in it.  

These two pictures are of an art object made with old tractor parts.  

A butterfly throne for Sandi. 

The next two pictures are the same sculpture. Actually there were 2 or 3 little sculptures that fit with it in the setting. I took the first one trying to imagine what it will look like as all this grass greens up this spring. It will just pop out over the top. Cool.  

This was another movable sculpture. Rectangles suspended in rectangles. They just spin around inside of each other. 

The most political statement made into a sculpture. That is a green dollar symbol hanging inside the frame base. The name on the sinking ship is the US Diplomacy. 

The cutouts on this object reminded me again of Ireland and the Celtic graphics that just weave inside of each other and never end. I love those patterns. 

Don't have any clue. The last sculpture and it is really out there. When I was a child, my parents had a set of encyclopedias. In each volume were several illustrated stories. One of these the people were portrayed with skinny bodies and lots of bubbly shapes on then, kind of like this sculpture. Don't remember what the story was even about. Just remember thinking the artist really reached to draw bodies like that, and, lo and behold, this sculptor did the same thing! 

We made a donation to keep this place going. Great walk and would recommend it to anyone. Now it was time to feed our tired bodies. Claude wanted barbecue. I wanted to find a new place. Googled barbecue in Frankfort, Kentucky. Found one place named Staxx on Hwy 127 in Frankfort. We found it and had a really good meal. Would go back there in a heartbeat.

As we left Frankfort, we spotted this guy advertising for a mattress store. It was a little windy and we both marveled at his ability to stay upright inside of a mattress costume. At least he is working to earn his money. 

We had a wonderful Saturday afternoon. Amazing the things you can find in your own area to visit and enjoy.