NMHU Art Club

The New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) Art club created around 2,000 butterflies made from biodegradable paper and approximately 100 larger butterflies were made from thin sheet metal. The butterflies were placed around the university, plaza, NMHU Library and the Carnegie Library, leading community members from one butterfly to another. Butterflies are a dynamic symbol for life, peace, and harmony, and the sculpted and colorful versions were intermingle and interacted with the community. Butterflies act as pollinators in nature and are essential to our ecosystem, though recently the overall butterfly population has seen a decline. The fragility of the species was mirrored by the delicate paper used in the construction of the butterflies, and the fragility inherent to the installation in the outdoor environment converged natural entropy with art.