Rebeca Piccardo/News Director
Hand-painted cubes with other garnishes floated around the lake behind the Green library on Tuesday, April 22.
These art installations, which will be floating décor for the lake until the end of April, were brought to the University by the PIAG Museum to commemorate Earth Day in conjunction with the palmetum ribbon cutting.
The “floating art tiles,” all carry an environmental theme, according to Ryan Vogel, program assistant of the Office of Sustainability and nature preserve manager. The floating art was a collaboration between the PIAG museum, the Honors College and the Office of Sustainability to celebrate the University palmetum on Earth Day.
A recent grant from the International Palm Society helped fund new “interpretative trail signs,” according to Vogel, which will help reintroduce the palmetum to students. Although the signs were not placed in time for the event, Vogel said they will be placed during summer.
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- At the palmetum ribbon cutting, Honors College dean, Leslie Northup called over all the partnering departments and organizations that helped with the event.
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- The University palmetum is one of the largest in the nation, according to Ryan Vogel, program assistant of the Office of Sustainability.
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- At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, lady bugs were released to keep pests away from the palms.
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- The floating cube installations are a part of the PIAG Musum.
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- The floating art installation will be a part of the FIU landscape until the end of April.
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- Professional artists created the cubes under the theme of how they each perceive the environment, said Leonor Anthony, Honors College artist-in-residence.
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- Leonor Anthony’s cube features Albert Einstein, one of the signature designs.
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- “Heart our Planet,” one of the cubes read. Other floating cubes contained a potted plant.
The University palmetum first started in 1992, to improve the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.
“Hurricane Andrew definitely took a toll here at FIU and removed a lot of trees form our campus landscape,” Vogel said.
Gregory Burdine-Coakley, assistant director of the Life Safety and Utility Systems department, first founded the palmetum with funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Vogel said. About 22 years since, Burdine-Coakley stood in at the event, in the midst of all the palms he had helped bring to the University.
Leonor Anthony, artist-in-residence of the Honors College, had helped coordinate the PIAG museum partnership for the event and even took part in creating the cubes. Her cube had Albert Einstein’s face painted on each side of the cube and a large clump of water bottles to illustrate Einstein’s hair.
“I want you to ‘think outside the box,’ that’s what it’s called,” Leonor said. “We need to be conscious every single day of the plastic that we use, the recycling that we need to be doing and to take care of out trees.”
Leslie Northup, dean of the Honors College, called all those who were partners in the event to put their hands together so that they could all symbolically cut the ribbon, commemorating the palmetum.
Vogel then announced the release of lady bugs, which eat pests that can be harmful to the palm trees, he said.
Yanina Velez, marketing and communications director of Rescue Earth said she was excited to be a part of the palmetum event. Rescue Earth is a Miami-based non-profit organization that seeks to raise awareness about environmental and social issues in Miami-Dade County.
“Our goal would be to educate students,” said Velez. “Education is the core of awareness.”
At the end of April, the floating cubes will be taken back by PIAG Museum to take to other events, according to Mireya Power, PIAG museum director.
-rebeca.piccardo@fiusm.com
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