We pull off a country road near Frodsham into the yard of Cheshire Woodworking to meet Ciarán Ó Braonáin, woodworker extraordinaire and a Dubliner from his boots to his beard. Together with his wife, Claire, and their children, he moved to northern England — although he still enjoys a pint of the black stuff—and from his workshop creates incredible gunboxes, tables, boxes and furniture, as well as leading popular courses for wannabe woodworkers.
Butterfly Art
Butterfly art has been making the rounds lately, and rightfully so. These creatures are beautiful and have vibrant colors that stand out. It only makes sense that artists use them as subjects for their ideas and creations.
Multiple artists throughout the ages have created artworks with butterfly designs, styles, and influences. This allows the person to make a piece that stands out and carries some symbolism.
In this article, we discover what butterfly art is and why it has become popular, plus provide you with some butterfly art examples. By the end of the piece, you will have a better understanding of butterfly art and its meaning.
What Is Butterfly Art?
Butterfly art can be any artwork that represents a butterfly or has similarities to its appendages. Artists have various ways to show butterflies in their designs, so it would be best to look at some examples to find your favorite styles.
David Kracov is an artist who creates butterfly art using metal as his canvas. With his art style, he brings various layers of depth to his pieces. If you are a fan of colorful, vibrant butterfly artwork, we suggest checking out this artist.
Is Butterfly Art Popular?
Ever since the old days, humans have studied butterflies in a child-like manner. These insects are unique and come in various shapes, colors, and sizes. Many collectors around the world have been preserving butterflies for decades.
You can see that butterflies have always been a popular subject, so they shine so brightly in the art world.
Butterfly art sales have grown exponentially in recent years, primarily through online portals and art galleries worldwide. There is no stopping the excitement people get when seeing a piece that looks incredible and has great detail.
SN
The context and idea of humankind in harmony with nature is a continuing theme in SN’s works. His collections change through compositions and materials, from photography to painting, icons to animals; however, one thing remains constant, the conversation between humans and nature.
For many years SN has been using mounted butterflies to paint his canvases with colors found only in nature. However, he has taken the metaphor of the butterfly to new heights in his most recent collection. Starting in the framework of photography, the artist photographs his models in nature, interacting with the grasses, the fences, and the fields. These models are equipped with rifles or arrows to become the keepers and protectors of the fields in which they stand.
The final product is a black and white photo with only the natural hues of the blues and yellows of the butterfly’s wings that bring life and color to the canvas. The butterflies seem to have fluttered into place, dressing the warrior so that she prepared for the battle of protecting the environment and the animals. SN’s collection is a metaphorical warning combining natural materials and human forms to show how we, as humans, must now act in order to protect the only resource that we truly have.
Explore SN’s beautiful symbolic butterfly art exclusively at Eden Gallery here.
David Kracov
Butterflies are a common thread that binds David Kracov’s work. The artist often uses one or multiple hand-painted butterflies that seem to flutter in place, adding beauty, color, and deep meaning to each individual artwork.
“I am obsessed with colors and butterflies and how the two work in synchronicity.” David Kracov uses his contemporary butterflies to paint his sculptures with optimism and joy. Kracov’s sculptures are a study of how applying colors can create a sense of movement. The philosophy of the same name inspired Kracov’s wall sculpture, The Butterfly Effect. It states that one small change or action can have a major impact on the future. Making the artist wonder if everyone acted in good faith, making a single good gesture, what vastly unimaginable effects it could have around the globe.
Kracov spent almost four years designing Reflections as his tribute to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, in the terror attack on New York City. As someone who spent much of his youth in and around the city, he was deeply affected by the events. “The only way I knew how to deal with my thoughts was to create not just a sculpture, but a statement.” At first glance, the viewer sees the colors and majesty of all the butterflies, but upon longer views, they see the reflection of what once was. Kracov created 2,977 butterflies to honor each of the lives lost, allegorically sending their souls home.
Plum Ulysse
The French artist Plum uses colorful feathers to create works of art that often pay homage to symbols iconic in the world of art. Sometimes these works are tributes to 21st-century artists, and sometimes to powerful metaphors, but all share the unique signature of Plum’s recognizable medium.
The Ulysses butterfly is one of the best known in the world, both for its magnificent color and for its extraordinary swallowtail wings. In some cultures, a blue butterfly is seen as a wish granter. When it comes to your presence, you have the unique opportunity to make a wish. The butterfly’s meaning changes throughout different cultures around the world, but it remains strongly symbolic throughout. Plum uses his unique artistic point-of-view to create the Ulysses butterfly using his colored feathers as the medium, staying true to his style but also playing on the lightness and etherealness that the feather and the butterfly share.
Explore more of Plum’s feathered artworks here.
The afterlife of butterflies
- Neville Chamberlain and Sir Winston Churchill were both keen butterfly collectors.
- The favourite pastime of many a rural vicar, Lepidoptera collecting reached its heyday in England in the early years of the 20th century, when vast collections of moths and butterflies were regularly sold at Sotheby’s.
- Damien Hirst is among the few modern artists to have utilised the mesmerising shapes and colours of butterfly wings.
- In 2017, a man was convicted of illegally catching and killing the rare and protected large blue butterfly on reserves in Somerset and Gloucestershire. He was sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence.
- It isn’t illegal to catch certain butterfly species today, but you need the permission of the landowner to do so and a sure knowledge of the species you’re collecting.
Peacock butterfly (Inachis io) and Small tortoiseshell butterflies (Aglais urticae) feeding on Buddleia flowers (Buddleia davidii), Derbyshire, UK, September.
