The family of adjunct faculty member Matthew Plecity made the news in a feature on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s website. His wife Natalie, a landscape architect, and their children transformed the front yard of their Squirrel Hill home into a public art installation using survey flagging tape. The translucent plastic ribbon comes in many colors and behaves like the leaves of a tree, showing up darker and denser as it overlaps and rustling as it flaps in the wind.
What began as a way to engage in a family activity during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders has transformed into an engaging public art display that brings joy at a time when museums and galleries are closed to the public. Similar installations have begun popping up on neighboring streets, with flagging tape stretched from trees to porch railings, from downspouts to balconies, and everything in between. Ms. Plecity has created roughly two dozen of the new installations herself at the request of neighbors, including at the home of architecture professor Irving Oppenheim a few doors down.
At a time when people are feeling “bound” in their homes, these installations are a way to bring people together, while maintaining physical distancing.