Fish Out Of Water

Artist James Prosek is pleased his work may inspire conversation and conservation. Prosek specializes in painting fish like this grouper life size.

When the Indian River Land Trust learned that paintings of life-size fish would be displayed at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, they proposed an idea to make the fish even more realistic – and bring the lagoon to life. With the help of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and the Florida Institute of Technology, the Land Trust installed a 550-gallon, 5,000-pound aquarium in the museum’s Buck Atrium where fish indigenous to the Indian River Lagoon will live for the duration of the James Prosek – Ocean Fishes exhibit. The show opened on June 6 and will continue until September 6.

“You would be surprised,” says Ann Taylor, director of marketing and philanthropy for the Land Trust, “but there are a lot of people who live in this town who never really get to experience the lagoon or the beach or water in general, so this tank is really a tool to say that the lagoon lives and breathes.”

It’s also one of 25 ways that the Land Trust, which preserves nearly nine miles of shoreline and 1,000 acres of land along the Indian River Lagoon, is giving back to the community in honor of their 25th anniversary. At their annual benefit last November, the organization asked its members to support a number of projects including community events, beautification projects and larger stewardship projects.