Weekend Showcase: West Metro Destination Blends Sculpture Art with Mini Golf

Big Stone Sculpture Gardens and Mini Golf is a creative experience and the brainchild of Bruce Stillman.

Stillman bought the 17-acre property and decided to mix in his love of sculpture.

“I was polishing, grinding metal. And I just wanted to do landscape sculptures,” he recalled. “It’s like another idea of presenting the best art I can find. I think some of it is better than what you see in museums, nowadays.”



On the day CCX News visited, Stillman happened to be giving a tour for Friends of the Institute, an organization that supports the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

“The most fun is exposing children to the arts in a way they like it rather than going through a museum and, ‘oh no you can’t touch anything.’ And that part’s good,” said Marie Eggemeyer with Friends of the Institute.

All hands on!

A giant snapping turtle made from old tire treads weighs over 10,000 lbs. at Big Stone Sculpture Gardens and Mini Golf in Minnetrista

You can indeed touch everything and usually climb on it too.

 The mini golf is what gets people here.

“I like the boat hole. I like how when you get inside and you’ve got the light shining through there. It’s kinda cool,” said Brennan Riley from Plymouth, describing “Holy Ship!” the name of the hole.

Stillman says revenue from the mini golf helps pay for new sculptures.

“Fifteeen or 16 different artists have at least one work here,” said Stillman.

And when you’re done with the mini golf there’s always a quiet little corner somewhere to simply enjoy the day.

“It’s all my intuitive nature. How I work with nature. And it’s not too organized by a committee. I see things a certain way. And so I get to just do ’em the way I see ’em and not have to compromise,”
said Stillman.

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