Walker Art Center / Sculpture Garden, Minneapolis

The Walker recently got a facelift courtesy of the architectural talents of the world renowned Frank Gehry, but even before the renovations, the museum was well-known nationwide for showing cutting edge art and dance and really anything that is ground breaking.

The focus here is on modern art, which is not my favorite, but if you are interested in this style, the Walker is top-notch.

The Wlker Art Center has had a varied history, but since I knew it in the 1960s it has been a place for the latest art movements to find a place to be displayed. Now the new addition to the modernist brick building has been finished and just opened.
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You may not like the art, but the building is worth the visit. Please see the travelogue on this page for more pictures of the new addition.

This place holds special meaning for me.
I was married in the greenhouse portion of the Sculpture Garden, right in front of the big fish fountain. It was March, and we wanted somewhere green with palm trees and flowers.. This was it.
The garden itself is worth a trip, especially in warmer months. This is where the Spoon and Cherry (bridge) is. It is right next to downtown, and just a few blocks north of Uptown, so you will easily be able to walk there.

The Walker is one of the countries foremost contemporary art museums. I beleive it is free on Mondays, but check ahead if you´re strapped for cash. Otherwise it is about 7.00 dollars if memory serves me right, I usually managed to get free passes.;)
They have a fabulous program of unusual concerts that they sponser, often held in their auditorium. This is where I discovered my beloved fadista Paulo Braganca, so I´ll be forever indebted to the Walker for that.

Walker Art Center Sculpture Garden
A great place to spend a lazy afternoon. Well known sculptures from artists around the world can be found in this vast park. It's also a great place to take pictures of the Minneapolis skyline.

Sculpture Gardens at the Walker Art Museum
Located near Loring Park, outside of the Walker Art Museum, the Sculpture Gardens is a great place to visit. A free exhibit, it is fun to just walk around and look at the different sculptures. One of the pieces, Spoonbridge and Cherry, has become a Minneapolis landmark. A giant spoon with a cherry at it's tip with a fountain flowing out of it's top, it has downtown Minneapolis as it's backdrop.

Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
The Walker Art Center is one of the nation's primary resources for contemporary art. Focusing on the visual, performing, and media arts, the Walker takes a multidisciplinary approach to the creation, presentation, interpretation, collection, and preservation of the arts. It is known for its major exhibitions of 20th-century art, for its presentation of vanguard music, dance, theater, film, and video, and for its innovative education programs. Many of the performers are invited to participate in artist-in-residence activities and are frequently commissioned to create works that premiere in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, a project of the Walker and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, is adjacent to the museum. The Walker's permanent collection of more than 8,000 works represents important artistic currents of the 20th century, in a range of styles from figurative to abstract.

Visit the Sculpture Gardens near the Walker Art Center, take in a show at the Guthrie Theater
The Sculpture Gardens provide a peaceful setting containing unique and interesting sculptures, adjacent to Loring Park and right next to the dynamic atmosphere of downtown Minneapolis. The Guthrie Theater, currently located with the Walker Art Center, is nationally-reknowned for its productions.

This is a definate must see! The park not only has art, but one of the best views of downtown Minneapolis that there is.

The park commenly has events going on, so check it out on a summer weekend.