Nine years ago, when local resident, art collector and Bridgewater State University benefactor Lawrence Doherty moved three sculptures from Harvard University to a studio in upstate New York, he had no idea he was forging a connection that would soon transform Bridgewater State University’s campus.

The sculptures were the work of Hudson Valley artist Greg Wyatt. They had been displayed since 1990 in Harvard University’s Winthrop House Courtyard. However, upcoming renovations meant that in 2016 the art had to go back to its creator. During the move, Mr. Wyatt and Mr. Doherty struck up a friendship. At some point, Mr. Doherty asked the artist what he planned to do with the returning sculptures. “He asked me if I had any leads yet,” Mr. Wyatt recalled during a call over the summer. “Then he asked, ‘How about Bridgewater State University?’”

The following April, with the help of Jay Block, Bridgewater State University’s Associate Director of Collections and Exhibitions, the courtyard between Maxwell Library and the student union became home to one of the works: a life-size bronze sculpture of the legendary ballet dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov captured in flight, as it were.

What began with that one statue has evolved into the Greg and Fay Wyatt Sculpture Garden, a beautiful site full of works by Mr. Wyatt. Along with the Baryshnikov sculpture are 15 bas-reliefs devoted to poets and their relationships to dance, and the four ancient river goddesses; Anuket, Ganga, Mazu and Salacia.