Coral Gables has found its new Umbrella Sky. Get ready for the next selfie sensation
Update on June 21, 2019: The new Sun Stories art installation is almost finished, said Coral Gables spokeswoman Maria Rosa Higgins Fallon. Weather permitting, she said, the temporary art display above Giralda Plaza’s pedestrian walkway should be finished some time in the coming week.
Coral Gables has found its summer sequel to last year’s huge Umbrella Sky Instagram hit on its pedestrian block, Giralda Plaza.
The Umbrella Sky follow-up? Sun Stories. Or, as you’ll soon be seeing all over social media (or so the City Beautiful hopes): #SunStories.
Coral Gables announced Wednesday it had selected Miami-based artist Jessy Nite and her conception of “a collection of multi-colored, plexiglass letters dancing from above creating playful sayings about the City Coral Gables across the ground as the sun passes through the day.”
We can’t make out many of the words reflected on the street in the rendering posted to the Gables Facebook page, but we think we see “Que Rico” and “You Make Me Hotter Than July” and “Dark and Stormy.”
We don’t see other words that might be more relevant to the Gables, such as “Code Enforcement Matters,” “Where’s the Parking?,” “Another New High Rise?” or “This is why Miracle Mile Was Under Construction for So Long?” But no matter.
We should note the wording is not yet finalized, according to Gables spokeswoman Maria Rosa Higgins Fallon.
Nite’s website describes her as a site-specific artist who has had her murals, sculptures and installations exhibited in London, Zurich, Vienna, Bangkok and through the United States. She is also creating an installation as part of this year’s O, Miami poetry festival which will be displayed in a field next to Robert is Here fruit stand in Homestead.
The city didn’t let Giralda Plaza stay unadorned for too long after the Umbrella Sky selfie sensation ended in September. Sunlit Sky sent shimmering splashes of gold over strollers’ heads in the winter.
But it didn’t create quite as much social media attention as the beloved roof of colorful umbrellas. What could? Our suggestion of a croqueta sky, maybe?
Sun Stories is expected to tell its tales above Giralda Plaza as a temporary installation in June, July and August, said Higgins Fallon.
This story was originally published March 28, 2019 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Coral Gables has found its new Umbrella Sky. Get ready for the next selfie sensation."
