Brittle Star Park, (sculpture).

Brittle Star Park, (sculpture).

Lembeck, Jack, sculptor.

Banks, Susan, sculptor.

Luciano, Miguel, sculptor.

LANDMIND, fabricator.

Brittle Star Park, (sculpture).

April 15, 1995. Dedicated April 25, 1995.

Reinforced concrete, stained with acrylic, French terra cotta tile, palm trees, and mulch.

Approx. 7,200 sq. ft.

A landscaped park with a mural, a seating area, and a walkway of reinforced concrete in the shape of a starfish. The star fish's five legs span the park and form the walkway. The starfish's arm at the north end continues vertically up a wall. Palm trees are planted throughout the park, as well as plants. The painted mural features indigenous Florida plant life. The park is walled on three sides, with a fence on the remaining side.

Animal -- Other -- Starfish

Landscape -- Plant

Outdoor Sculpture -- Florida -- Miami

Administered by Miami-Dade Community College, Environmental Education, 300 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Miami, Florida 33132

Located Brittle Star Park, 319 N.E. 2nd Avenue, across from Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida

Brittle Star Park was named for the brittle star, a starfish from South Florida. The Park was designed, created, and built by thirty art students from Miami-Dade Community College's New World School for the Arts, all taking environmental public art, an experimental class taught by Professors Susan Banks and Jack Lembeck. The students were asked to create a space for public use that is integrated into the community, and utilized a lot that had been vacant for twenty-two years. They created the Park through LANDMIND, a practical laboratory they created for the design, development, and production of environmental/public arts projects in downtown Miami. The recycled donated materials used included broken French terra cotta tile, twenty truckloads of mulch created by Hurricane Andrew, and damaged-but-healthy plants and trees. The mural was designed and executed by a team of students headed by Miguel Luciano. The Park was an "Earth Day sanctioned" beautification project, enabled by the Downtown Miami Partnership, which worked with Downtown NET, New World School for the Arts, Miami Parking System, and Citizens for a Better South Florida.

IAS files contain articles from the Miami Herald: April 6, 1995, pg. 15 and April 21, 1995, section B; and a brochure from the Downtown Miami Partnership.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Florida, Miami survey, 1995.

Miami Herald, April 21, 1995, sect. B.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

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