underwater art

By Mary Sterenberg

Art comes in all shapes and sizes, and at the Franklin Park Conservatory’s Pacific Island Water Garden it takes the form of a fish—a Japanese koi to be exact. What appear to be overgrown goldfish glide through the dark water, their vibrant orange bodies splashed with startling white or black accents.

Though the koi may resemble goldfish, they are closer relatives of the carp. Bred for their striking colors and patterns, 27 koi currently live in “Annie’s Pond” in the conservatory’s water garden. They are a permanent exhibit and a lasting memory to Anne Miller, who hand selected and raised the pure-bred koi with her husband Dr. Bob Falcone in their Columbus home. Dr. Falcone donated the collection, appraised at $12,200, to Franklin Park after his wife’s death in 1998.

An animal enthusiast, Annie was fascinated by the color and shape of the koi. After reading up on the subject and examining many different fish, she bought most of her koi very young, gave them names and raised them as pets.

“There’s an extreme art-form to this,” Falcone said. “People who really know it can tell a prizewinning koi when they’re just three or four inches long.”

Annie’s fish now make their home in the conservatory’s recently refurbished water garden, which blooms with plants native to the Pacific Island region and offers a living art exhibit to visitors.

“Koi live to be 200, 250 years old and I needed to find a place where they could live out their lives,” Falcone explained.

And through Annie’s Funds for the Creative Arts, an associated foundation created by Falcone, a $50,000 endowment will pay for the ongoing care of the fish.

A lemon-colored koi sidles up to a sphere of blue glass bobbing on the water’s surface—a Niijima Float created by artist Dale Chihuly. The floating glass sculptures, speckled and swirled with color, shared the pond with the brightly colored fish last year while the conservatory hosted its exhibit of Chihuly’s hand-blown glass. Much of the rainbowed glass remains on display throughout the conservatory, including the Chihuly floats that now set a striking backdrop for the koi.

“The water garden is really one of the highlights of the conservatory,” said Paul Redman, former executive director of the facility. And for many years to come, Annie’s koi will continue to paint a colorful picture for Franklin Park visitors.

Mary Sterenberg is a freelance writer from Franklin County.

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