Last summer I wrote about a butterfly sculpture exhibit in Chicago’s Greek Town. This summer a different butterfly exhibit came to Chicago.

Presented by The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Flight of Butterflies features 39 butterfly sculptures, 10 of which are already located within a several-block stretch of The Magnificent Mile just north of downtown. The rest are on the museum’s grounds but slated to be relocated across Chicago July 15. The project echoes the museum’s mission to connect people with nature and serves as a call to action for wildlife conservation. Curator and project manager for Flight of Butterflies Cortney Lederer of CNL Projects told me she is “honored to have worked with a 30 dynamic, local Chicago artists to support their creation of unique public artworks that share their personal connections to nature.”

Naturally, the butterflies share the same basic shape, but each is unique, as is each design. The vibrantly colored butterflies add a lot of personality, especially with the concrete and steel of downtown Chicago as the backdrop. Also, at each location, there is a QR code which offers a cool virtual butterfly experience.

Area artist Cydney M. Lewis created one of the sculptures on Mag Mile. When asked about it, she told me, “My installation for the Flight of the Butterflies was inspired by the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a Butterfly. I used a variety of plastic bags which are one of the man made industrial materials that threaten the Butterflies existence. I titled the piece : Adapting to an Unnatural Habitat: a haiku

Like the Butterfly
Plastics need transformation
To help the Earth thrive.”

Cydney M. Lewis and her butterfly sculpture © CNL Projects.

Located near Lake Michigan, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum traces its roots to the Chicago Academy of Sciences in 1857. Chicago’s first museum of nature and science was rebuilt and relocated a few times before opening its present location in 1999. Among its many attractions, a live butterfly house is one of the most popular exhibits. As an added bonus, I always enjoy seeing the full wall mural painted by my artist friend Ali Cantarella.

I never need an excuse to visit the lakefront area, but the museum and the Flight of Butterflies give me even more reasons to spend time meandering around downtown and Near North areas. They provide added beauty to existing breathtaking views.

— John Wroblewski, online writer