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Butterfly Print Project Overview

Updated: January 2018

“What is this special fascination all about? There are a number of reasons, I’m sure, but my strong feeling is that we need butterflies to remind us that positive change is possible, that there is magic to life, and that we have to be mindful of our surroundings, because if we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. Butterflies awaken our spirits and open our hearts. They give us a sense of hope and the possibility of our own transformation and evolution.”

Maraleen Manos Jones The Spirit of Butterflies: Myth, Magic and Art

Mission The Texas Butterfly Print Project is a multiple-year, fine art print creation project designed to accomplish two primary objectives:

To produce fine art prints by leading artists that will be included in a traveling exhibition and available for sale on an individual basis and as a boxed set. Proceeds from the sale of prints will support the North American Butterfly Association’s National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas. Initially, we anticipate a limited run of 25 prints per artist will be produced for the boxed sets, and 10

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single prints per each artist will be for sale on an individual basis. The artist list is under development. Careful consideration is being given to ensure a balance of artistic styles, gender, ethnicity, age and other factors.

Included with each boxed set of fine art prints will be a frontispiece introduction

by a highly regarded author and/or screenwriter. The box to contain the prints will be designed by a professional graphic designer, and hence will be a work of art itself, as will details of the interior of this specially created, unique container.

And equally if not more importantly, the project will serve:

To build national visibility for the North American Butterfly Association’s National Butterfly Center through a professional touring exhibition of the finished fine art prints, a video documenting the creation of the prints (which will include dialogues with the artists, our author partner, project organizers, and with Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg, President of the North American Butterfly Association), tandem educational programs for K-12 students, and associated printed materials (produced in both English and Spanish, wherever possible).

It is hoped that with increased visibility, a broad base of future sponsors will be

developed for the Center, and that people visiting the traveling exhibition (and young people participating in the educational programs being developed), will learn about the park and the important role butterflies play in the natural world.

The Butterfly Print Project is meant to be a program of the highest caliber, both in terms of the finished fine art prints produced, as well as the artists who create them. Each aspect of the project will follow suit. However, donors should be assured that close financial oversight will be maintained. Any funding that is secured beyond the scope of the Texas Butterfly Print Project budget will be awarded to the North American Butterfly Association. North American Butterfly Association | National Butterfly Center The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas is the culmination of a decade of planning for a facility devoted entirely to studying and appreciating wild butterflies. The Park is dedicated to education, conservation and scientific research. The subtropical climate of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and its unique diversity of butterflies attract visitors from around the world. Texas - and particularly South Texas - boasts more butterfly species than any other state in the nation.

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The Park involves not only educational programs for people of all ages, but very importantly, the re-vegetation of land along the Rio Grande River with a wide variety of native plants in natural plant communities that have all but disappeared from the South Texas landscape. These native plants are attractive to the many unique butterfly species that find their homes in South Texas. Re-vegetation has already begun. Financial support and some new construction has been provided by such entities as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Park Service, Mission Economic Development Corporation, The Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation, The Meadows Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc., The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston, and the Magnolia Trust. Butterfly Print Project Team

Carolyn M. Appleton, Austin, Texas Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg, President, North American Butterfly Association,

Morristown, New Jersey and National Butterfly Center, Mission, Texas Mark L. Smith, Mark L. Smith Art Consulting, Owner, Texas Art House

Contemporary Gallery, Johnson City, Texas The project was first conceptualized originally ca. 2008 by Carolyn M. Appleton (formerly of Corpus Christi), and Mark L. Smith (founder and former co-owner of Flatbed Press, Austin). Carolyn and Mark attended graduate school together at The University of Texas and have known one another for some thirty years.

In Thanks We wish to thank those who participated in the project’s early formation, who generously shared their ideas and contacts with us, among them the late Mike Hicks of HIXO, Katherine Brimberry, Flatbed Press, Austin, Texas; Shannon Wood Bush, Collector, Refugio, Texas; Deborah Fullerton, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas; Molly Hipp Hubbard, Houston, Texas; Meredith Long, Houston, Texas; and Laurey Peat, Dallas, Texas. Ongoing Project Tasks

Project Curator is Mark L. Smith. Mark will be considering artists based in Texas and nationally. Among the artists who agreed to participate in the project’s early stages are Kate Breakey, Vincent Valdez and Julie Speed. We will circle back to them about the revised scope of the project to see if they are interested in continuing, and more artists will be selected.

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As the project moves forward, we will identify a traveling exhibition partner to manage that aspect of the project. We anticipate the initial exhibition will occur in Austin, Texas, and the final stop to be the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas (where the traveling exhibition will remain and be owned by NABA).

Selection of an author to write the frontispiece will be underway once a

sponsor(s) is secured and funding for the project is in place. We are discussing the likes of Rick Bass; Oscar Casares; Thomas McGuane; Larry McMurtry; and Bill Wittliff, to name a few.

Charitable donations and underwriting will be managed by a partner nonprofit organization. Big Medium in Austin has agreed to assist but we are open to suggestions should there be a preference. A nonprofit museum or arts organization will need to serve as the project’s home base, and the place where underwriting is professional managed over the life of the project.

We already have the basics of a budget for the Butterfly Print Project. Once a sponsor(s) has been secured, Mark and Carolyn will work to refine the budget and we will review it with our underwriters and other partners. We intend to be transparent in all our work on the Butterfly Print Project.

Carolyn M. Appleton is working to identify underwriters. Inquiries are welcome.

In truth, the fewer number of underwriters we have, the more quickly we can proceed with the project. Hence, a significant commitment is hoped for.

We realize it may be best to leave the selection of a fine art printing facility to

each individual artist, rather than to require each artist travel to Austin to work at one individual printmaking company. Each artist has their own preferences; some may wish to print in-house. Certainly, we will provide basic parameters to the artists to ensure a somewhat unified boxed set of prints for sale. Having said that, if everyone agrees it would be best to do all the printing (and related filming of the documentary) in one facility, that is certainly be possible.

Our sponsor(s) will be invited to witness the print creation process, and they will

be included in the videotaping sessions (if desired). Their name(s) will be affixed to the boxed set frontispiece and all collateral materials. We are open to discussions about other ways to spread the work about the project and to honor our sponsor(s).

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Project Budget Estimate The Butterfly Print Project is anticipated to require funding at the level of $375,000 to $400,000 spread over a three-year time span. Included in this budget are the expertise/time of Carolyn and Mark, a professional graphic designer, fine art printing fees as needed, artist travel costs and honoraria, videotaping, printing of collateral materials, and potentially a professional touring company for the exhibition. Once the project is complete, the sale of the fine art print boxed sets and individual prints will support the National Butterfly Center’s ongoing operations. Auxiliary sales of brochures/videos, t-shirts and other items to be produced in tandem with the touring exhibition will also go to support the National Butterfly Center. In-kind contributions of butterfly and park information will be provided the North American Butterfly Association. It is our hope the budget may be decreased to some extent. If so, any funds remaining after project costs are fully covered will go to the National Butterfly Center. Written reports/updates will be provided to a donor or the donors/underwriters. Our primary sponsor(s) – those who have provided a substantial financial commitment to make the Butterfly Print Project a reality - will also receive one boxed set of prints for their own permanent collections. For More Information

Carolyn M. Appleton: carolynmappleton@gmail.com (512-954-4477).

Photograph of a Mexican bluewing butterfly shown on page 1 is by Jeffrey Glassberg.