By Ray Barrington
News-Chronicle
The colorful painted aluminum butterflies that flitted through downtown Green Bay last summer are returning in even bigger numbers this year.
The painted metal sculptures, a fund-raising project for The Einstein Project educational program, will appear downtown from Memorial Day to Labor Day, this year in two sizes, said Einstein Project executive director Jon Streu in announcing the names of the artists at a news conference on Thursday.
The butterflies are displayed by various local artists, this year tying with the theme "Bringing the Wonders of the World to the Fingertips of Children."
After their summertime display, they'll be auctioned off to raise money for the Einstein Project, a school-business-community partnership to improve science, mathematics and technology education.
Last year's auction of 36 butterflies brought a net $53,000 to the project, said development director Kristine Schuetze.
This year, there will be 51 butterflies, with 31 four-foot and 20 two-foot wingspans.
The local artists show a wide variety of range in age, from elderly to 4-year-old Isabella Eggebrecht, who is working on a butterfly with her mother, Candace.
Johnson Bank is the participating sponsor, Brian Kult, local president, said the S.C. Johnson family connection is appropriate. Jean Johnson, wife of Sam Johnson of the consumer products company family, is a strong supporter of science and the family has several pilots and has founded a private school in Racine.
And Jean Johnson bought one of the cows in a Chicago downtown event - one of the first of the downtown art events that have become popular - brought it to Racine, and helped start a similar program there.
There was consideration given to changing from butterflies this year, Schuetze said. "We had a lot of discussions internally about what type of bug, insect, animal ... critter ... we were going to use," she said. "But we already had people asking Ôwhen are the butterflies coming back?' So we decided to do butterflies one more time, but we didn't want them to be the same."
Several events will be linked to the butterfly display. "Flutter Day," an event for children, will be held July. 16 at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.
Jeff Mirkes, director of Downtown Green Bay Inc., said last year's display was successful in drawing people downtown.
"I remember when we had the tall ships downtown last year, and the Pride of Baltimore blasted off its cannon as it left, scaring the daylights out of a group of women who were admiring the butterflies on the Nitschke Bridge," he said, adding that he ran into the women later and found out that they had eaten and shopped downtown.
"Last year we had a trolley tour, and we didn't know how it was going to go over. We scheduled 10 trips and the first nine were full."
Another trolley-tour date is planned August 15. An exact date for the mid-September auction has not been set.
Artists will will decorate the butterflies in "Butterflies on Parade II" and their themes were announced Thursday. They are:
Tracy Athney, "Exploring the World with Books;" Jeff Benson, untitled; Ned Cain, "Flutter;" Hank Carlson, "Evolution;" Amelia and Linn cornelius, "Seasons of Life;" May Curran, "Roots Wings and the Places Between (I and II); Amy Lynn Davies, "Personality Originality;" Jamie Doeren, "Never Alone;" Candace and Isabella Eggebrecht, "China Bell;" Candace Eggerecht, "Queen's Gate;" Helen Ferslev, "After the Storm;" Mindy Frank, "Future;" Nancy Gezella, "What Wonders Lie Within It;" Amy Graff, "Tiger Swallowtail;" Steve Hass, untitled; Vicki Helms-Kostka, "Nature's Not-So-Gentle Balance;" Jeanne Heuer, "Under the Canopy;" Lawrence Jankowski, "Wings Take You There;" Will Jantalezio, "Have You Ever Seen a Butterfly with Blue Eyes?;" WIlliam Jauquet, "Fly Away Butterfly;" Naomi Jenkins, untitled; Timothy Leurquin, "The Journey Continues; Harlan Ott, "Natural Beauty;" Carol Pearson, "Riodinidae;" Mary Pozza, "Like a Mirror;" Linda Rauscher, "Smiling Faces;" Jason Reimer, untitled; Nancy Reinhert and staff, Butterfly Books, "Flight of Fancy;" Judith Ribbens, "The Green Gem" and "A World of Water;" Katy Ruiz, "Traveler of Wonders;" LaDonne Salentine, "Whimsical Dream;" Linda Secor, "Nature's Secret World;" Linda Silvasi-Kelly, "Lepidoptera Equinoctial Wisconsin;" Shawn Stender, "Busserfly;" June Stube Kashnig, untitled; Elizabeth VanDeVen, "Pegasus;" Natalie Vann, "Microscopia" (I and II); Katie Verbeter, "It's All at Our Fingertips;" Angela ANn Wix, "Leaving Prints;" Kim Wozniak, "Fingerprints" and "As They are Planted, So Shall They Grow;" Rusty Ziegler, untitled; Michelle Zjala, untitled.
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