Pinelawn Memorial Park workshop brings plants to life as works of art
Underneath a shade tent pitched beside a graveyard at Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum, a dozen or so craft-workshop participants sifted through cuttings of pink rosebuds, arbor vitae and prickly cryptomeria, choosing pieces of the plants for their works of art.
A light breeze provided some relief from the afternoon heat in East Farmingdale as Elizabeth Jin, an artist and designer from Huntington, spoke to the group about her approach to botanical art.
“The elements eventually wilt and fade,” she explained . Wooden hoops, which she outfitted with a web of strings for holding the foliage, represented “eternity — time without beginning or end.”
The free event, "Botanical Impressions: Art from the Grounds," was the latest in an ongoing calendar of public programs at the cemetery, from yoga sessions to beekeeping tours and ladybug releases.
Though cemeteries are often thought of as purely somber places, resident horticulturist Donna Moramarco said Pinelawn is also proud to host events like these that "celebrate life."
"People lose a loved one, but when they come here they should be able to reflect on that life and what that person meant to them," Moramarco said. "They can take in the trees, or maybe it's what's blooming, or it's the birds, it's nature."
Participant Linda Rondinelli, 77, of West Hempstead, said her husband, a bank manager, was buried in Pinelawn 26 years ago.
"I think it's a riot that I'm doing crafts here in a cemetery. I never heard of this before," Rondinelli said with a smile, adding that she visited her husband’s grave before the workshop.
"I told him, ‘OK we got to go do crafts, now. Come along!’"
Moramarco gave participants a rundown about the plant species they were using — which had all been taken from Pinelawn’s grounds. The cemetery was recently certified by Audubon International as a sanctuary, she explained, and maintains a native plant meadow as well as many native tree species like oaks and beeches.
Moramarco held up a cutting of a wild onion and showed it to the group.
"This is a wonderful pollinating plant," she said. "If you were to walk the grounds and you were to head up toward the mausoleum, you would find monarch butterflies on them, bees — all the good things that happen in a garden," she said.
Alaura Martucci, 36, of Ronkonkoma, said she didn’t have any relatives buried at Pinelawn but came because of the chance to enjoy the outdoors with her friend, Christine Aldaba, 36, of Patchogue.
"I'm just winging it," she with a laugh about her art piece, which included variegated euonymus clippings. "I’m just kind of letting the nature inspire the piece."
Stacy Avallone, 58, said she came from Dix Hills for the event and to visit the mausoleum where her mother, who died of COVID-19 in April 2020, is interred.
She said she enjoys coming to Pinelawn with daughter Victoria, 30, a children’s librarian.
"It's not just a cemetery — like, you almost forget there's a cemetery. It’s a memorial garden," she said. "It’s like you’re celebrating those who are here and their families."
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