INDIANAPOLIS, IND.- This summer, explore Summer Wonderland: Spectacular Creatures, an art installation featuring nearly 500 brightly colored sculptures in various sizes—from miniatures to larger-than-life creatures—all made from recyclable plastic, open June 1 through August 26, 2018.

Summer Wonderland: Spectacular Creatures is a campus-wide exhibition that fuses both art and nature in unexpected ways. The sculptures are the creations of Cracking Art—a collective of artists based in Italy—who create these works from recyclable plastic to speak to the increasing artificiality of society and to raise awareness of environmental issues such as, global warming, the overuse of fossil fuels and the importance of recycling. With unusual hues and sometimes unnatural sizes, the sculptures demand to be noticed and provoke conversations around the issues that concern the artists, like environmental sustainability.

Beginning June 1, Cracking Art’s colorful creatures will migrate to Newfields—hopping, crawling and slithering around campus. Explorers young and old can stumble upon snails climbing the walls in the Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion, mischievous meerkats in the Richard D. Wood Formal Garden, elephants roaming inside Lilly House, giant alligators sunning on garden pathways, bears picking apples in the Gene and Rosemary Tanner Orchard and penguins cooling off inside the Indianapolis Museum of Art in the Pulliam Family Great Hall.

For Cracking Art, each animal also has a specific meaning. The nearly 8-foot-tall, blue snail that debuted in the Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion in February, is a symbol of regeneration and renewal, while its shell suggests the simultaneously repetitive and progressive nature of time. Unique to this art exhibition, all of the sculptures can be touched and serve as perfect companions for a summer selfie.

Summer Wonderland: Spectacular Creatures marks the collective’s first collaboration with a major American art museum. Cracking Art invasions typically appear in urban environments. They have exhibited their work throughout the world — in various Italian cities, and as far as Thailand and China. Their works have brightened the United Nations headquarters, provoked conversation in Cleveland during the 2016 Republican National Convention and can be seen in Midwest cities such as Cincinnati and Louisville.

“Newfields is committed to hosting conversations about the critical issues of our time, and these sculptures inspire an important dialogue about the state of our environment. They also break down walls between Newfields’ indoor and outdoor spaces and remind the community how family-friendly our campus is,” said Dr. Charles L. Venable, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO. “Summer Wonderland is the first ever art exhibition in The Garden, inviting guests to experience art in unexpected places; but, the installation also spreads into the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Lilly House.”