The bright colored leaves, yellow buses, and passing ISU students make the campus dance. The walking speed of students gets faster and faster as the air gets colder. Today, I decided to tour the artworks on the ISU campus instead of sitting in front of the desk at my place, despite the tough wind.
The freezing wind bit against my cheek, but an encounter with a beautiful fall scene while walking made me forget the cold of the fall. Whenever I met a beautiful campus scene or artwork I became a photographer.
When I returned to the Design building, I suddenly remembered one of the artworks standing quietly
across the Design building. Three huge pieces of heavy stones… It looked like three puzzle pieces
nobody could make sense of until all the pieces fit together.
One day when I had just started the graduate program, I was riding the bus and saw a beautiful white butterfly flying away. The “white butterfly” as I call it, is not really a white butterfly, but empty space forming the shape of butterfly. This butterfly sculpture gave me a good impression two years ago.
Today was the first time I stood next to this sculpture to observe its detail. The white stone has a very beautiful edge with a gray colored pattern on the surface reminding me of moving waves or wind.
I wondered why the artist chose to display a butterfly on our campus. A few questions sparked in my mind about butterflies which I have answered them below.
- How long do butterflies live?
It depends on the size of the butterfly, the species of the butterfly, where it lives, and what time of year it became an adult. If the butterfly is smaller in size, it will probably not live as long as the large butterfly. Now of course, the size of the butterfly is not going to be the only factor affecting the life-span of a butterfly, but is a major factor.
- What is the average life span of a butterfly?
It is usually about one month. However, butterflies perched on flowers in our yards will live only about one week. Tropical Heliconians and Monarchs are the only butterflies that have an average life span of about nine months.
- How do some butterflies survive the cold winter without migrating?
If the butterfly eggs were laid just before the cold weather, the egg will stay in egg-form until the weather warms up. If the weather starts to turn colder and the adult butterfly does not migrate south, the butterfly will hibernate somewhere until the weather warms up. Because of this, a butterfly could technically live for many months past the average life span, depending on the climate and stage in their life the butterfly is in when winter comes.
The White Butterfly on campus we have now does not consider the weather change. It is always on
the ISU campus in the winter and summer as a wonderful artwork. The size of this artwork matches
the building right next to it and the gray color pattern on the stone pieces goes with the color of the
building as well.
The bottom of the pieces are wide and heavy while the top is narrow and light, making the heavy stones look stable and well-built. I think the gray pattern shows the natural shape of a moving butterfly. The three different sized stones make the artwork more interesting and attractive. The edges of the stones are well- polished and not too sharp nor too dull.
The sculpture of the butterfly does not impact viewers during the cold weather as people focus on hugging their jackets closer to keep themselves warm from the cold wind. But when the weather lightens up, more people will open their eyes to enjoy the butterfly’s beauty. Despite the cold weather today, the butterfly on our campus still stands in its usual spot reminding us of the beauty of spring that is to come.
- by Sodam Lee
- by Sodam Lee
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