Flowers for Hoagy

With his left hand perched atop his piano and his right hand playing the keyboard, the Hoagy Carmichael Landmark Sculpture rests in a comfortable spot next to the IU
Cinema.

A flower is often found in the bronze statue’s hand.

The flower is not a part of the sculpture. Rather, a real one is placed through the statue’s slightly open hand and on its fedora.

“Generally, it’s IU patrons that walk along and pick one off, like our mums or our petunias, and puts it there,” said Mike Girvin, campus division manager of the IU Physical Plant.

Girvin said his first year at IU was the same year the sculpture found a permanent home in Bloomington. Still, Girvin said his department had no role in the placement of the flowers and maintains he has never personally placed a flower on the statue.

The flowers and the people who place them on the sculpture often change. Except for winter, Hoagy sees a different flower each season.

“I’ve seen every different flower that we’ve grown in his hands at one time,” Girvin said.

IU normally grows an array of flowers such as tulips and petunias in the spring and mums in the fall.

During his time at IU, Carmichael led IU’s band, appropriately named Carmichael’s Collegians, and went on to become an acclaimed jazz composer. Carmichael’s song “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” won him an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1952.

Sculptor Michael McAuley, who also grew up in Bloomington, said it was a year-long process to sculpt the statue. The flowers have become a consistent part of Hoagy’s presence.

“They just keep reappearing, because now it’s turned into a tradition,” McAuley said.

The statue has its own blog, which includes pictures of the sculpture in different cities and settings, from different angles and with different items in its hand.

Here on IU’s campus, in the midst of students hustling between classes and visitors taking a break to sit and enjoy the weather, Hoagy and his flowers remain a constant reminder of the spirit of generations past.