For those without a place in the Hamptons, the Poconos or the Catskills, try a relaxing day trip to Storm King Art Center in the lower Hudson Valley where the melding of monumental pieces of outdoor sculpture and vast, landscaped vistas make you feel as though you are in a pastoral paradise.
Only an hour north of New York City by car (and close to two hours via Short Line Bus Service from the Port Authority, $45 roundtrip, including entrance fee), Storm King’s more than 100 sculptures by some of the most well-known artists of our time, from Mark Di Suvero to Maya Lin, are carefully sited within the 500-acre landscape of fields, hills and forests.
Everything has been done to make visitors easily enjoy the experience. My friends and I arrived close to lunch time and headed straight for the Café, an open-air canopied space not far from the bus drop off point. We were delighted by the quality and price of our light lunch. However, there are plenty of picnic tables for those who wish to bring their own goodies. Then we boarded the tram that circles the grounds and gives you a perfect, overall view of the treasures that abound. You can disembark and reboard where you wish. Bicycles are also available for rent. You may wish to linger in one or another section of the grounds, then head to the Visitor Center where docent-led walking tours are offered, as well as a museum shop and restrooms.
Particularly noticeable to this New Yorker was how relatively quiet, peaceful and unpopulated vast sections of Storm King were. There were, for example, less than a dozen visitors on our bus, which departs from the Port Authority at 10 a.m. and returns for a pickup around 6PM. (Most of the bus was filled by shoppers, headed for the Woodbury Commons shopping mall.) And though there were plenty of families who came by car, one had the feeling of being alone with a piece of art or vista.
My friends and I meandered at leisure. Some of us took the docent tour. Others did not. I particularly loved the landscaping, with sweeping vistas, beautifully planted tree allees, graceful walkways and manicured areas alternating with wildflowers, woodlands and ponds.
As we meandered down from the Museum Building towards the end of our visit, we heard strains of music emanating from the Café where we’d had lunch. Much to our delight, we enjoyed the last half of a beautiful concert, a guitar-saxophone duo consisting of Mike Benninger and Lois Hicks-Wozniak. Excellent musicians, they played a lovely arrangement of Beatles melodies as well as excerpts from Tangos by the incomparable Antonio Carlos Jobim. It was magical. A perfect finale to a perfect day.
Now that I’ve discovered how easy it is to escape from the city, I look forward to returning in the Fall when the landscape should be even more spectacular.
Photos by Eleanor Foa Dienstag
For more information go to the website for the Storm King Art Center
