Sculpture garden in Hamilton, N.J. receives $3M gift

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Grounds for Sculpture, a 42-acre sculpture garden in Hamilton, New Jersey, has received a transformative $3 million gift from the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation.

The gift will be added to GFS’ endowment, raising it to $37 million. Director Gary Garrido Schneider said that endowment will help stabilize finances, which can fluctuate due to changes in the weather.

“About 60% of our revenue historically has come from attendance. Being so reliant on foot traffic and being an outdoor venue, we’re very vulnerable: cold winter, hot summer,” he said. “If it’s an unseasonably warm November or December, we also get the upside of that, but endowment gifts like this help even out those ups and downs.”

Grounds for Sculpture was founded in 1992 by the late artist Seward Johnson, known for making life-size sculptures of people doing common things, such as sitting on a bench reading a newspaper or, as was in front of Philadelphia’s Prince Theater on Chestnut Street for many years, a man holding an umbrella while hailing a cab.

Johnson’s cousin was Betty Wold Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and major philanthropist during her lifetime, particularly in the arts, education and health care fields. Seward and Betty both split their time between New Jersey and Florida and died within two months of each other in 2020.

Betty was a longtime supporter of Grounds for Sculpture and had begun arrangements to make a large gift before she died.

“Each time I spoke with Betty Wold Johnson, I was inspired,” said GFS board member Penelope Lattimer in a statement. “Betty was a woman of substance and grace. Cherished memories of my conversations and walks through Grounds for Sculpture with Betty give joy to my voluntarism every day.”

Grounds for Sculpture has a collection of about 300 sculptural works by contemporary and late-20th-century artists that rotate through a landscaped estate in Hamilton. It also curates temporary exhibitions in four indoor gallery spaces. It operates on an annual budget of about $9 million, according to recent tax records.

It is rare for a singularly large donation to go to a nonprofit not engaged in a capital campaign for a particular development. Schneider said Betty Johnson was instrumental in bringing other donors to Grounds for Sculpture during her lifetime.

“When I arrived 10 years ago, we had no endowment. We now have over $37 million in endowed funds,” he said. “People like Betty as well as many others have seen the importance and the impact that Ground for Sculpture has in our region and our community, and they want to see it continue.”