Chicago, IL, “De Flor en Flor,” 2024
Exhibiting at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum April 25 - July 14, 2024
Re-installing at West Pullman Park August 2024
“De Flor en Flor” pays tribute to Mexican culture and honors my roots through nature’s interconnectedness. Inspired by papel picado, each delicate cut-out symbolizes nature’s essence, evoking growth, vitality, and spiritual harmony. Through this piece, I celebrate life’s beauty, reflecting on nature’s enduring spirit in my origins and heritage.
Link: Peggy Notebaert Museum
About the Project
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences is excited to announce the arrival of the Flight of Butterflies! This spectacle is an expansive, city-wide outdoor exhibit combining nature, art, and storytelling to deliver a powerful and memorable experience to Chicagoans of all ages.
This transformative collaboration weaves together the vibrant tapestry of nature with the rich diversity of Chicagoans. Embracing the ethos that everyone has a unique relationship with nature, the Museum invites local artists to adorn aluminum butterfly sculptures with original designs that symbolize their personal connection to the natural world. Through this endeavor, the Museum seeks to showcase not only the kaleidoscope of artistic perspectives but also the profound diversity of narratives rooted in the relationship between humanity and nature.
As these sculptures disperse from the Museum to their locations across the city, each butterfly becomes a living testament to the artist's journey, embodying themes of metamorphosis and adaptation, and mirroring the dynamic changes observed in the natural realm. By intertwining these artistic expressions with the captivating allure of butterflies, the Nature Museum celebrates the rich cultural mosaic of Chicago and also invites a call to action for the conservation of locally and globally imperiled wildlife and habitats.
This project amplifies the Nature Museum’s mission to create positive connections between people and nature, and illuminates our vital conservation stories. As a beacon of environmental stewardship, we are dedicated to butterfly conservation efforts. Nestled within our vibrant walls is a haven for these delicate winged creatures, where we support global conservation of tropical butterfly habitats through partnerships with butterfly farms. Our local conservation work takes flight in the Judy Istock Butterfly Conservation Lab, where we rear locally imperiled species such as the Baltimore Checkerspot so that they can survive cold winter conditions. Our conservation work also includes the preservation of locally imperiled reptiles and amphibians, some of which are reared in our Mysteries of the Marsh exhibit and Blanding’s Turtle Conservation Lab.
The Museum serves as a center for education and awareness, enlightening visitors about the importance of preserving and supporting habitats of butterflies and other wildlife and the role these enchanting species play in ecosystem health. We are proud leaders in multiple community science initiatives, including the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, the Illinois Odonate Survey, and the Calling Frog Survey, which engages over 300 community scientists every year to collect quantitative data on butterfly, dragonfly, damselfly, and frog populations on over 144 routes across Illinois.
The Nature Museum not only captivates the imagination and celebrates diversity with these breathtaking displays but also stands as a steadfast champion for the conservation of these wonders, inspiring a shared responsibility to safeguard our natural world. We are proud stewards of our environment and local communities and we invite you to join us in this journey of wonder and beauty!