BY: BY S.L. STRACHAN, PHOTOGRAPHED BY CHERYL GERBER

Rediscovering the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden

In the Stressful and Busy Times
New Orleanians live in now, it’s important to take a break—if only for an hour or so. A favorite spot to clear heads and regain a sense of balance is the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden. Opened in 2003 and free to the public, the sculpture garden has been a hidden oasis in the city, tucked to the side of the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park.

Only parts of the garden flooded after the hurricane hit, and most of the sculptures came through somewhat unscathed, though the “Verlaine Tower” by Kenneth Snelson—the tall kinetic sculpture that rose up from the lagoon—is out being repaired. The grass may be patchy, some trees and shrubbery gone, but the garden, once the heat lets up, is sure to renew itself. Not unlike the city. •



The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, City Park, Weds.-Sun., 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.