Field of Remembrance, Cathedral of Sky Installation

The original installation of this art piece was conceived of by Florida Gulf Coast University Art Professor Patricia Fay and Integrated Studies Chair Dr. Maria Roca. The piece was installed on the FGCU campus in March of 2021 and consisted of ten thousand handmade blue and white porcelain votive flowers meant to illustrate the magnitude of the number of lives lost to the Covid-19 virus in Florida. At that time, the two thousand blue-glazed votives represented the lives lost in the local Southwest Florida area.

In the last month, the number of Covid-19 cases has been growing faster than ever due to the new, more dangerous Delta strain of the virus. In light of the recent surge, the Alliance has teamed up with Fay and Roca to display the Field of Remembrance once again. Shown here are 3,500 porcelain votives which we estimate to be close to the number of lives lost in Southwest Florida since the beginning of the pandemic.

Since our founding in 1975, the Alliance for the Arts has always done its best to support the local community through art. With this installation, we hope to give visitors the space to honor those we have lost. We also hope visitors will remember that the danger of the pandemic has not yet passed and it will take a large-scale community effort to bring the virus under control.