Butterfly sculptures decorating Greektown
Greektown’s newest public art exhibition, The Dance of Psyche, consists of 26 vibrant three-dimensional sculptures of butterflies that showcase the creativity of 13 professional or emerging artists, 2 Chicagoland high schools, and 11 local Greek language schools. Here are a few we’re highlighting this month:
The first is Weiner Werkstatte Butterfly by Diane Thodos. This butterfly has designs based on the artistic fabric patterns of the Viennese Art Nouveau movement that happened in the early 20th century. This dynamic, creative movement celebrated a new decorative and spontaneous spirit that often-combined abstraction with motifs from nature.
The next is Apollopsychē Melitaea by Terry Poulos. Terry aimed to create a conjunction of the Apollos butterfly species, the Greek god Apollo, Psychē the Greek goddess of the soul, and the butterfly species Melitaea cinxia.
And finally, Petalouda Sophia by Kiki Whitehead. Kiki was inspired by the word “Petalouda,” which is the Greek word for butterfly and is correlated to Psyche, the Greek goddess of the soul. This piece is dedicated to her Nouna (godmother) Sophia. She says there was never a kinder gentler soul that walked this earth. Sophia made her way to heaven during the making of this project. Kiki says, “One thing is for certain, the angels have met their match for she is putting all of them to shame.”
