Release Date: November 20, 2009

Opening of the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Rink Postponed Until Further Notice

Due to technical difficulties, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Rink will not open as originally scheduled. The Gallery will alert the press and public when the rink opens for the 2009-2010 season. For inquiries, please call (202) 216-9397 or e-mail ngaicerink@guestservices.com.

Sculpture Garden

Designed to offer year-round enjoyment to the public in one of the preeminent locations on the National Mall, the 6.1-acre National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden opened on May 23, 1999. The richly landscaped setting provides a distinctive backdrop for 17 works of modern and contemporary sculpture by internationally renowned artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Tony Smith, and others. Visitors may enjoy spacious seating and walking areas amid the native American canopy and flowering trees, shrubs, ground covers, and perennials. A majestic fountain in the summer, which serves as the ice rink in winter, is at the center of the Garden, and walking and seating areas offer visitors a chance to rest and reflect on the works on view. Also in the summer, the Garden is the setting for popular Friday evening "Jazz in the Garden" concerts. The Pavilion Café offers year-round food service, along with indoor seating.

The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden was given to the nation by The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.

The Sculpture Garden is located on the National Mall at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, in the block adjacent to the West Building of the Gallery. There are six public entryways to the Sculpture Garden, and it is accessible to visitors with disabilities. Admission is free. More information is available at www.nga.gov/exhibitions/sculptureinfo.shtm.

Pavilion Café

The Pavilion Café offers a panoramic view of the Sculpture Garden as well as a variety of food and beverages for visitors of all ages. Selections include freshly made sandwiches, gourmet pizzas, salads, and a variety of desserts. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, wine, and beer are available. Visitors may dine inside the Café or outside on the patios. To reach the Pavilion Café, please call (202) 289-3361 or visit www.pavilioncafe.com.

Café hours during the winter are as follows:

Monday through Thursday
10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Friday and Saturday
10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Sunday
11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

New Art Installation: Graft by Roxy Paine

At 45 feet high by 45 feet wide, American sculptor Roxy Paine’s newly installed sculpture, Graft (2008–2009), stands out among the trees in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, one-half mile from the U.S. Capitol on the National Mall. The Gallery commissioned Paine to make a Dendroid, as the artist calls his series of treelike sculptures, for the Sculpture Garden. The resulting work is the first by Paine to enter the collection, as well as the first contemporary sculpture to be installed in the Sculpture Garden in the ten years since it opened.

The stainless steel structure—which weighs approximately 16,000 pounds—was installed the week of October 26 by Paine and his crew, who welded together 37 different components that were transported from the artist’s studio in Treadwell, New York. The 43-year-old artist has shown his other Dendroids on the Roof of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, and outside the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, among other locales.

Groups and Tours at the Sculpture Garden and in the Gallery

To arrange a special guided tour of the Gallery's permanent collection for 20 or more adults during regular Gallery hours, call (202) 842-6247 at least three weeks (or up to four months) in advance. Information about other Gallery programs, exhibitions, restaurants, and Shops, is available at (202) 737-4215 or www.nga.gov.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov. The Gallery is now on Facebook—become a fan at www.facebook.com/NationalGalleryofArt.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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