Crystal Bridges Trail
Length: 1 -1/2 miles
Surface: hard surface, walking and biking trail
Difficulty: Moderate slope
Part of the City of Bentonville Trail System, Crystal Bridges Trail connects the Art Trail with downtown Bentonville. The trail begins at NE 3rd street, and culminates at NE A Street at the northern edge of the Museum grounds, near the trailheads for Slaughter Pen Hollow. Crystal Bridges Trail features a beautiful walk through Compton Gardens, a mountain bike trail, and an overlook area where guests can view the Museum campus from the ridge above.
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Crystal Bridges Trail Photo Gallery
Art on the Crystal Bridges Trail
Paul Manship
Group of Bears
modeled 1932, cast ca. 1999
Bronze
88 x 72 x 56 in., 2200 lb. (223.5 x 182.9 x 142.2 cm, 997.9 kg)
In 1929, Paul Manship began work on a huge bronze gateway filled with animal figures for the Bronx Zoo. He sculpted these bears as part of that design, which was never executed. Manship later combined three individual bears on a single base to form Group of Bears. This casting was produced from the original mold after Manship's death by his son, John Manship.
George Dombeck
Tour de Tree
2010
Bronze
It takes a sharp eye to spot George Dombeck's Tour de Tree, a cast bronze sculpture of an apple tree bearing branches and twigs in the form of a bicycle. Primarily known as a painter working in watercolor, Dombeck was born in Paris, Arkansas, and now divides his time between studios in Brooklyn and the Arkansas Ozarks.
Robert Tannen
Grains of Sand
2011
Native stone
Grains of Sand, by conceptual artist Robert Tannen, encourages exploration of the Museum grounds, in a kind of sculpture scavenger hunt. Fifteen Arkansas boulders of native limestone and sandstone are placed along the trails. The title, Grains of Sand, and the boulders themselves, refer to the ancient sedimentary rock in the Ozarks.
Pat Musick and Jerry Carr
A Place Where They Cried
2010
Native stone
76 x 672 x 864 in. (193 x 1706.9 x 2194.6 cm)
Photography by Timothy Hursley
A Place Where They Cried is a tribute to thousands of Native Americans who perished during the forced migrations of Indian Removal on the so-called "Trail of Tears" (1837–1839). Using the natural setting as a backdrop, the artists organized a processional formation of human-scale monoliths of native stone that appear to travel the terrain with stoic quietude.