North Central Michigan College is a community college in Petoskey, Michigan that sees around 2,300 students attend classes each year. The campus is located southeast of downtown and is home to classroom buildings, a library, sports facilities, a student center, and a nature preserve with trails. In the heart of campus you will find Harris Gardens, a sculpture park with more than 20 works of art spread out in the green space between buildings. We recently had a chance to stop by and check out the sculptures here and were very impressed. If you’re in the Petoskey area and enjoy seeing art, this is a must-stop that isn’t far from the shore of Little Traverse Bay.

The sculptures are all located in the space between the Harris Health and Sciences Building, the Student and Community Resource Center, the Borra Learning Center, and the library. According to the North Central Michigan College website, Harris Gardens were made possible through the donations of Jack Harris. “Mr. Harris personally curated 26 sculptures from world-renowned artists, determining their placement among lush landscaping, benches, and picnic areas.  He loved nothing more than to see students studying or relaxing in the gardens.” Harris was a local businessman and philanthropist who passed away in 2013, but this beautiful sculpture lives on in his memory.

A guide and map is available online, and each sculpture has the name of the artist and the name of their piece on a plaque in front of the art. We were able to view almost every one of the 26 pieces here and loved how they fit into the landscape. This must be an absolutely magical place for students to gather or study quietly!

The photos in the gallery below include the artist(s) name and the name of their sculpture, there are more detailed descriptions available from NCMC on their website. We parked in parking lot #6 on the south end of campus so we could also visit the trails (look for a post about that soon), but you can easily reach Harris Gardens from any of the parking lots on campus.