Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites is proud to announce the opening of its new garden at the Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts!  Designed and installed by Scott Rothenberger‘s PLACE, it is a culmination of over a year’s hard work and dedication.

Just as the historic architecture of the Kemerer Museum is blended with contemporary additions the newly designed and installed gardens and “outdoor rooms” use traditional horticultural samplings and classic landscape architectural elements in a creative contemporary way. The main design focus was to provide additional outdoor space and additional paved  surfaces for programs, parties and events and enjoy outdoor landscapes with art.

The garden consists of two main entertaining spaces: the cocktail garden and the chapel garden. Both areas were created using a unique paving surface, called “exposed aggregate concrete”, to give a richer look reminiscent of an English pea gravel courtyard, while providing a non-slippery surface for safety.

The chapel garden has an enormous classical pergola to provide ample shade and a wonderful sense of enclosure. Scott designed the pergola to be painted the “black green” used on the doors and shutters of the museum to give the structure a contemporary flair while tying in with the garden’s wrought iron furniture and fencing. The gardens are lushly planted using site appropriate sustainable plantings in large groupings of color and textural interest. Once the gardens mature there will be little need for seasonal mulching and ongoing weeding; the “good” plant material will fill the space and provide years of interest that is ever changing. Evenings are highlighted with low voltage landscape lighting to provide a soft romantic glow.

Another exciting feature of this beautiful garden is the sculptures displayed, created by artist Milan J. Karlik, Jr., a native of Bethlehem and sculptor of over 40 years. His pieces, including those featured at the garden, are primarily welded, stainless steel. The four sculptures displayed at Kemerer are particularly suited for the types of gardens that surround many historic Bethlehem homes:

“Solar Column” is simply a vertical non-objective paean to the sun.  Perhaps in an earlier epoch it might have served as a sentinel to a sun-god.  The wings on top reach out to the sun, and the end tips of the rods are polished to two dots of light.

“Sunscope” got its name after completion.  Kralik’s works are meant to be non-objective experiments in balance, shape and space, which this one is.  He realized some elements resemble components of large ground-based telescopes; hence the name.

“Sunscope Two” received its name on the idea of a sun streaming light into the mirrors of a telescope.

“Helios” is Greek for sun. Outdoors, the sun reflects off the triangular plate, the ring and the links of chain.  The whole piece relates to the astronomical ebb and flow of energy and particles and light.

“All my sculpture is derived from the process of problem-solving for pleasure – I enjoy the puzzles of balance, symmetry and asymmetry, negative and positive space. The works seldom reference the outside world, yet are often inspired by shapes in nature: circles, curves, diagonals, angles of sheared rock, the yaw, pitch and roll of a bird’s flight. Small and human-scale works are often suggested by found objects which can be clamped together in trial fits. Large works grow from cardboard maquettes. Each scale has its own rewards. Pedestal-sized pieces invite intimacy; human-scale sculptures meet the viewer at eye level; outdoor works juxtapose against the sky. In each case, welding allows the suspension of gravity. I like permanence and beauty. I like non-objectivity, patterns, the additive process, craftsmanship, variety of texture, verticality and, especially, shaping space. Space should not be merely occupied; neither should it be controlled; rather, it should be inhabited by a sculpture – for the pleasure of the observer.” – Milan J. Kralik, Jr.

Mr. Kralik has played an important role for the Board of Directors of the Lehigh Valley Art Alliance, and was on the Board of Trustees of Leonardo da Vinci’s Horse, Inc. from 1993 to 2003.

Renting out the garden site for special events and celebrations can be made by contacting Shannon McCauley, the Site Rental Manager,at 610-882-0450 ext. 20 or emailing her at smccauley@historicbethlehem.org. More information and details can be found on their website at www.HistoricBethlehem.org.