Polk Museum of Art creates living art exhibit with plants and greenery

LAKELAND, Fla. - The Polk Museum of Art transformed their outdoor sculpture space with a different type of wall covering.

"This is art in itself," shared Alex Rich the Executive Director. "It's the art of plants, the art of living breathing things."

The museum transformed a blank wall into a living wall of plants and greenery.

Rich said, "When I look at it up close, I see something that is exciting... something that is alive!"

The idea came from a visit to San Francisco's Museum of Fine Art.

"In their atrium, they had this fantastic live wall... and that gave me the inspiration to bring this back to our museum,” explained Museum President Lynda Buck. 

It is certainly not the usual wall hanging expected for a museum.

"A lot of people think about coming to museums and seeing very static works of art,” said Rich.

They hope that this living wall changes that way of thinking.

"When you come through our lobby now, you look outside and you want to go outside and see it," related Rich about the wall. "Now there's another draw to go outside."

The museum made improvements while it was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The living wall is part of a phase 1 plan to reclaim outdoor sculpture space for an environment conducive to viewing larger pieces.

The phase 2 plan is to widen their courtyard access opening to allow for larger sculptures to share that space with the Living Wall.

Click here for more information about the Polk Museum of Art and their reopening status.