SPRING LAKE — The Spring Lake Council Tuesday night approved the Greater Spring Lake Chamber of Commerce and the SL Business Improvement District (BID) request to install the Seward Johnson Sculpture exhibits on the four blocks of downtown Third Avenue.
With the council’s approval, The Seward Johnson Atelier, Inc. and the Spring Lake Business Improvement District plan to exhibit 16 life-sized sculptures by the world-renowned sculptor and New Jersey native in the Fall of 2022.
The sculptures will be on display in key outdoor locations in downtown Spring Lake for residents and visitors to enjoy from September through January 2023.
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Mr. Johnson’s sculptures are life-size bronze statues that are castings of living people, depicting them engaged in day-to-day activities.
Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1930, Mr. Johnson was a grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I, the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson, and Colonel Thomas Melville Dill of Bermuda.
Mr. Johnson died in 2020, at the age of 89, leaving behind countless statues exhibited internationally and in private collections, museums and public art collections.
Some of Mr. Johnson’s work can be enjoyed at the museum he founded in 1992, the Grounds For Sculpture, located on the former New Jersey State Fairgrounds in Hamilton, NJ, just a 50-minute-drive from Spring Lake.
In the fall of 2016, Spring Lake approved a four-month sculpture exhibit entitled “Celebrating the Familiar: A Walkthrough Spring Lake.” Thousands of visitors came to the downtown shopping district to see fourteen sculptures.
Spring Lake welcomed another exhibit of Mr. Johnson’s work in the spring of 2019 with sixteen different sculptures. Again, thousands of visitors came to see the exhibition, although Mr. and Mrs. Johnson could not visit Spring Lake for this exhibit.
The BID is currently seeking sponsorships to help pay for the transportation of the 16 sculptures. The sponsorship options are: Presenting Sponsor for $10,000, Platinum Sponsor for $5,000, Gold Sponsor for $2,500, Silver Sponsor for $1,000 and a Bronze Sponsor for $500. Residents can access sponsorship forms at visitspringlake.com.
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