The City of Auburndale wanted a refresh on the butterflies in the downtown butterfly garden, so they reached out to Auburndale High School Art teacher, Sherry Ross. When speaking with Cody McGhee, Director of Parks and Recreation, Ms. Ross pitched an idea. Each year, senior AP Art students would repaint the butterflies to create a changing display of AHS’ talented art students. Mr. McGhee loved the idea and very enthusiastically set about preparing the butterflies to get their makeover.
Students who expressed interest in painting a butterfly had their name placed in a cup and names were drawn. Since there weren’t enough butterflies for everyone and the butterflies were different, the chosen painters then drew the number of a butterfly they were to paint. Students worked for weeks to create their masterpieces…… each in their choice of color and style.
When the city picked them up today, they were thrilled with the gorgeous paintings. McGhee even mentioned that he might want to add more butterflies to the park to ensure that even more student artwork was on display for the community to enjoy.
Each butterfly is as different as the students creating them. We are so excited to have our students share their talents and give back to the community. They have been asked to create special artwork for the butterfly walk and Elainna Rolle will be enlisting other painters to help her accomplish this.
Photo 1 –
Sara Skudlarek, Elainna Rolle, Elizabeth Simons, Mr. Bruno, Lilia Ebert, Ulitza Cole all pose with their butterflies
Photo 2 - Ulitza Cole @art.uii
Photo 3 - Elizabeth Simons @Elizabeths_art2023
Photo 4 – Sara Skudlarek @sar_amercer
Photo 5 – Lilia Ebert @doodle_hunter_art
Photo 6 – Elainna Rolle @Elainnar_art
Photo 7 – Mr. Bruno and Ms. Ross
