The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, a pristine and peaceful respite in West Palm Beach, reopened for the new season Oct. 1 as workers completed a 10-year, $10 million refurbishment.
The “Protecting a Legacy” campaign refurbished the site’s three buildings and many of the massive brick sculptures created by the gardens’ founder, Ann Norton.
The reopening offers an exhibition of paintings by West Palm Beach artist Paul Gervais and the announcement of special events, including the ninth annual “Sculpture in Motion,” an exhibition of automotive excellence.
The gardens, a 2-acre property just across Flagler Drive from the Intracoastal Waterway, Norton’s vision of a permanent ”green oasis” is an idyllic enclave of subtropical plants and trees, especially palms and cycads. Pathways meander past her monolithic sculptures, a refuge for art lovers and others who find solace and inspiration in nature.
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100 years in El Cid
The gardens date to 1977, but they began long before that, after sculptor Ann Vaughn Weaver met Ralph Norton, founder of the Norton Museum of Art (then the Norton Gallery and School of Art), in 1942 when she accepted a job as an instructor. Despite a 30-year age difference, they enjoyed each other’s company, especially talking about art.
When his wife, Elizabeth, died in 1947, the lonely widower asked Ann to marry him. She agreed as long as he conceded he was marrying an artist and wouldn’t try to change her.
She moved into the historic house designed by architect Maurice Fatio in 1925, and remodeled in the Monterey Revival Style by Marion Sims Wyeth after the Nortons bought it in 1935. Wyeth had also designed the Norton Museum, and Ralph had him build Ann a studio next door where the 5-foot-tall sculptor would conceive works six times her height.
For the garden, Norton hired botanist Sir Peter Smithers to sculpt a junglelike sanctuary to further her commitment to preserving Florida’s rare flora and fauna.
In 2020, Norton’s tropical gardens were designated as an international arboretum with one of the largest collections of palms and cycads in South Florida — more than 300 varieties.
As a result, it’s also home to wildlife, birds and butterflies in abundance. The black-and-blue Atala butterfly, once believed extinct, is drawn to the gardens and can be seen with other species darting among the flowering foliage. The revival of the garden has caused a revival of the plants and animals that also thrive there.
Now, more than 100 sculptures adorn the property, including the 27-foot tall “Gateway 3” sculpture dwarfed by palms that tower above it.
As you walk the pathways, Ann Norton’s “Gateway” pieces materialize from behind the greenery. They are so organic it seems as though they, too, bloomed from the soil. There are eight monoliths, most sculpted from North Carolina brick, placed here.
Norton’s work, like “Seven Beings,” which she completed in 1965, would have been striking in a gallery but it belongs outside, a surprise hidden among the trees.
But even brick and stone can be victims of South Florida’s harsh elements. So, in 2015, conservator Rosa Lowinger and her firm, RLA Conservation, evaluated the nine major outdoor sculptures. Hurricanes, plant growth, moisture, and salt air were taking their toll. Some of the bricks and the rebar that is the framework for the work were damaged.
Kelly Ciociola, a principal conservator at RLA, and a team of skilled technicians conserved the sculptures, cleaning and removing roots that were causing tiny cracks, treating rusted rebar and creating restoration mortar and bricks as needed.
Now, the gardens and the buildings are restored.
Inside the buildings
The rooms in the house and studio are filled with windows with views of the gardens and that let in natural light. Pecky cypress ceilings and dove gray walls, built-ins, woodwork and hardwood floors are the backdrop for the art exhibitions that are the stars of the main house gallery.
In the back, a small museum store displays an eclectic collection of art books and prints. The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. In 2025, the designation was expanded to include the whole property.
When the Frances Fisher Art and Nature Conservatory opens in a few weeks, it will complete the work Ann Norton started in 1977 to preserve and conserve her historically significant home and art studio, and create the striking sculpture gardens, a natural and architectural treasure.
Margaret Horgan is the sculpture garden’s executive director now, but she started 13 years ago as a volunteer. Like so many, Horgan fell in love with the gardens, and she shared the dream to make the garden an oasis for 35,000 visitors each year.
“It’s spectacular,” said Enid Hinchey of Orlando. “And all without pesticides.”
Enid, who homeschools Evie, 14, points out a huge butterfly. She and Ed, a firefighter, came down on vacation and heard about the garden at their hotel. Even though construction and cleanup continue, it’s blissfully quiet among the lush vegetation. Insects buzz. Birds flutter in the treetops. Traffic sounds from Flagler Drive are muffled by the foliage.
It’s easy to forget how close you are to downtown, and that’s the point.
Planning for the future
As the projects neared completion, the board was focused on making the garden sustainable. The solution: A $1 million gift from Frances Fisher, ANSG’s board chair, provided the money to set up the Magnolia Society. ANSG donors who contributed $100,000 or more toward the Gardens’ “Protecting a Legacy” campaign became the founding members and provided the garden’s first endowment. The founders chose the magnolia as a symbol of strength, beauty and endurance.
With this gift, Fisher, who shared an Alabama upbringing and a love of art and nature’s interconnectedness with Norton, has provided for the garden in perpetuity, Horgan said. It’s not a new focus for the Palm Beach philanthropist. In 2014, she established the Gardens Conservancy, which is still active.
The new facility, the Frances Fisher Art and Nature Conservatory, will house the Susan and Bob Wright Indoor Classroom and Lecture Hall, the Archival Library, and the Legacy Gallery. Here, Norton’s drawings and sketches will be protected and displayed for the first time.
Horgan said the indoor classrooms will allow more teaching opportunities for local students, especially on rainy days.
The garden is entering a new phase, Horgan said. “We haven’t had an endowment until now. Now, we take a deep breath and plan for the future.”
If you go: The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens — 253 Barcelona Road, West Palm Beach. Free for members, $15 adults, $10 age 65 and older, $7 students. Free for children younger than 5. Annual memberships start at $100 for individuals, $175 for families. Special events have separate pricing. The garden is open from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, Oct.-June. www.ansg.org or call 561-832-5328.
This fall at The Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens
“Imperiled: Florida’s Wildlife and Habitats, Recent Paintings by Paul Gervais” is on display through Jan. 11. These exquisite works by West Palm Beach artist Paul Gervais adorn the Norton House Gallery’s pale gray walls with colorful birds and astonishing landscapes that seem lit from within. More than 30 paintings comprise this exhibit mounted in partnership with the National Wildlife Refuge Association which supports our Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in western Palm Beach County.
In conjunction with the exhibit, the Gentlemen of the Garden are hosting Ann’s Great Wildflower Giveaway from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. To celebrate Florida’s Native Plant Month. Guests will receive free native plants and seeds to take home to create more habitats for butterflies, pollinators and wildlife. Artist Carl Stoveland and the Urban Sketchers will be painting and sketching live in the garden focusing on the beauty of wildflowers. Reservations are required. This special event is free for ANSG members plus one guest, and visitors get two-for-one regular garden admission. Free native plants while supplies last.
The ninth annual “Sculpture in Motion: The Art of Pre- and Post-War Automobiles,” the garden’s annual event honoring Gold Star Families of Palm Beach County, veterans and Friends of Fisher House, takes place from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. Experience the wonder of classic pre- and postwar automobiles on display in the garden. Group tours of these works of automotive art by renowned automotive historians are offered throughout the day.
The highlight is the conclusion of the event at 4:15 p.m. when the Grand Tour Parade of Cars departs from the main lawn and heads north on Flagler and across the Royal Park Bridge for a tour of Palm Beach. Tickets are $30 adults, $25 ANSG members and seniors, and $12 age 18 and younger.
The exhibit “Auto Motion: Sculpture by Rene von Richthofen” opens Nov. 15 in the Caroline & Nick Rafferty Legacy Gallery in conjunction with “Sculpture in Motion” and runs through Dec. 31. Using a monochromatic color palette, found objects and toy cars, von Richthofen creates “meticulously thought-out creations.” Included with garden admission.
The popular Jazz in the Gardens Concert Series, “Celebrating the Greats,” kicks off its seventh season from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, with a performance by Allison Briggs. Visiting world-class artists who will perform beloved works in the garden this season include Yvette Norwood-Tiger on Jan. 11, Troy Anderson and The Wonderful World Band on Feb. 8 and Nikki Kidd on March 8. Reservations are required. Tickets are $35 adults, $25 ANSG members and seniors, and $12 age 18 and younger.
“As I worked in the garden I came to feel that there was a strong affinity, much more than I expected, between the palms and the sculptures. . . . It is the bold and noble simplicity of design that gives the palms their grace and their majesty. It is the same boldness that gives Ann’s complex sculptures their beauty and their nobility.”
– Sir Peter Smithers, 1913-2006, Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens landscape architect
