The Butterfly Project

The roundabout pictured above is at 191st and Little Chicago rd. in Noblesville. It was sold to them as a kit of unpainted butterflies with poles. 12 butterflies for $12,700. Noblesville supplied the foundations, and I had hoped that they would have local artists to paint the butterflies. When that didn’t work out, we negotiated for me to paint them. I had also tried to get them to place some of the butterflies outside of the roundabout, they declined. They probably have about $20,000 in the project. It is a beautiful roundabout, but the concept is capable of being so much more.

Create a sculpture using at least 50 butterflies built by volunteers from our community

If we use a large enough number of butterflies, we will transform it from a piece of art, and turn it into an attraction. Just like Christmas lights, if you use enough of them, people will go out of their way to see them. Just imagine what 50 or more butterflies would look like.

The butterflies can be made to be moved around by mounting them on a concrete pad the size of a wood pallet. Any tractor with a set of forks could move them. There would be no need to install permanent foundations, which may save a little bit of money. But it totally changes the commitment level needed to try any layout. If the layout doesn’t work, just grab a tractor and rearrange them until it does work. It also makes it easier when it is time to replace the art. Just move the butterflies to a new location. And it makes construction activity in the area a non-issue. Any construction crew will be able to easily move them.

This site was created almost 2 years ago for this very project. If the community wants to be involved in public art projects, there needs to be a place they can go to join. Let’s place a few signs asking people if they want to help create our roundabout art and direct them to this site.