Christo and Jeanne-Claude: "Surrounded Islands"

Like Francois Davin, Christo and Jeanne-Claude employed hundreds of members of the community of Greater Miami, Florida in order to create "Surrounded Islands." This work, in which eleven islands in Miami's Biscayne Bay are surrounded by over 6.5 million square feet of floating, pink fabric, required the help of seamstresses, contractors, and engineers alike. The woven polypropylene fabric exteded 200 feet from each island out into the bay. According to their website, "The luminous pink color of the shiny fabric was in harmony with the tropical vegetation of the uninhabited verdant island, the light of the Miami sky and the colors of the shallow waters of the Biscayne Bay." The artists and helpers worked on the project for three years before its official presentation (1980 to 1981). The work stayed on display for two weeks after its completion.

original sketch

completed work

For more information on Christo and Jeanne-Claude, click here.