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Center for Art Design and Visual Culture - UMBC
A bench at the Joseph Beuys Sculpture Park surrounded by flowers.
A bench at the Joseph Beuys Sculpture Park surrounded by flowers

Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership


Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership was built at UMBC to strengthen our social bonds, foster human and natural wellness, and provide a safe and accessible green space for both the campus and the surrounding communities. Through UMBC’s Wellness Initiatives, outreach throughout the metro area, and collaboration by diverse groups, we activate this space—which inspires creativity, collaboration, and healing—as a community.

Background

Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) was an influential German artist who came to prominence in the 1960s. He is known for his performances, sculptures, environments, vitrines, prints, posters, and thousands of drawings. He was a charismatic and controversial artist, a committed teacher, and a political activist who highlighted the need for greater environmental awareness across the globe through his ongoing social sculpture project, 7000 Oaks. With the help of Nature Sacred and over 20 organizations in Baltimore, 7000 Oaks, inspired the planting of hundreds of trees and several stones by over 500 people in Baltimore Parks and at the UMBC sculpture site in 2000-2001.
In a 2025 survey, UMBC and its local community described this garden as a source of wellness, retreat, learning, and communal experience enhanced by its natural setting. Here, you may find people participating in classes, concerts, art activities, and mindfulness programs, as well as taking time for quiet contemplation or informal social interaction. During this process, with community input, CADVC updated the name of this space to reflect community nomenclature, and now refer to this site as “The Rock Garden.”
The Rock Garden is associated with other regional installations of rocks and trees in Baltimore City produced under the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership with Nature Sacred. These can be found in Carroll Park, Patterson Park, and the Wyman Park Dell. The Rock Garden is also interconnected with other UMBC green spaces. Just upslope from the garden, the Knoll is a small rewilded forest area creating a natural buffer from campus buildings. Beginning at the adjacent parking garage, the Herbert Run Greenway provides a nature trail used by both animals and people crossing the southeast part of campus and into CERA, another rewilded forest area.
To learn more about the nascent Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership from those directly involved, visit our 20th Anniversary Oral History Collection.

Various images of events taking place at the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership public space.

Get involved with the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership

Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership Journal

At the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership at UMBC, there is a bench on which you can find a blank journal. This journal provides park visitors with a forum in which to write or to sketch. Over the years these public journals have been collected, scanned, and archived at CADVC.

Please be advised the journal has not been edited in any way and may contain content of a serious or adult nature. Parental guidance is advised.

Journal Content

Journal Scans (PDFs)
A lined journal from the Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership is open to a page with green writing inside.
Photo by Abhik Saha
A closed green Joseph Beuys Tree Partnership journal lies on a wooden bench in the park.
Photo by Abhik Saha

Visitor Information

Our exhibitions and events are free and open to the public for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University’s nondiscrimination policy.

If you need specific accommodations at one of our events, whether in person or online, or to experience an exhibition, please contact CADVC at cadvc@umbc.edu or 410-455-3188 as soon as possible.