Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas

This sure is one of the more prominent pieces in the garden. Made of steel and designed by Mark di Suvero in 2001, his sculptures are said to 'expand to architectural scale the constructivist explorations begun by Pablo Picasso, Julio Gonzalez and David Smith in the first half of the century'. The whole piece weighs 22,000 lbs and spans 47 feet and all carefully balanced. The huge steel piece outside the Meyerson Symphony Center is also by the same artist.

I loved this piece, it was cute and right outside the main building. I was originally designed by Joan Miro 1944-46 and enlarged in 1966-67. The artists engages in surrealism and the exploration of dreams, memory and the subconscious. The piece suggests many forms, from bird to animal with the horns of a bull on the head, to even a pagan fertility idol. Its well rounded and made of bronze.

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The garden is set on one and a half-acres with stoned walkways, pools and fountains and many different types of trees as well as benches for sitting and admiring the sculptures. The back end of the property are terraced with spring flowers.

There is also James Turrell’s ‘Tending’. This is like a room with a square cut out in the ceiling for viewing the sky. There are seats all around the walls for just viewing and apparently at sunrise and sunset when the sky colourations changes rapidly, the sky through the opening, edged by the sharp rim edges, seems to take on extraordinary colours and appears dense and flat.

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The gardens are located opposite the Trammel Crowe Gallery, in downtown Dallas. Raymond and Patsy Nasher began their Collection more than fifty years ago. They first became interested in Pre-Columbian art back in 1950 and bought the first works in their sizable collection of objects from ancient Latin America. They went on to purchase other ethnographic and archaeological works as well as acquire a number of important American modernist works. The centre opened in October 2003 and there are around 25 large-scale sculptures from the Nasher Collection. Some of the pieces have been on view in Florence, Italy.

This sculpture down by the fountains is called ‘Squares with Two Circles I(Monolith) by Barbara Hepworth and was designed and cast in 1963-64. This was one of the earliest pieces that Nasher bought.

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This is a really huge exhibit and is animated. The hammer arm is motorised and moves up and down. The sculpture is supposed to idolise the worker and the drudgery and heroism of labour. The artist is Jonathan Borofsky and was created 1984-85.

There are three central pavilions on the main floor for displays taking up 10,000 sq ft of space. At the time I visit, there was a Picaso display being exhibited in one of the galleries. There is also a café and a shop on this level. The glass doors at the back take you out into the garden.