A spectacular creature has landed at McKinney Meadow on NC107 in Cashiers, a beautiful butterfly with translucent wings that cast a kaleidoscope of blues, purples, and oranges when the sun shines through. If you haven’t had a chance to view this newest art installation, drop what you’re doing and head over there.
“Butterfly Effect” as the artist, Georgia Watts Ricard, named it, is one of the latest in a series of art installations gracing public spaces across Cashiers as part of the Public Art initiative led by Vision Cashiers.
In 2023, Vision Cashiers Public Art Task Force established a working partnership with The Bascom, a center for visual arts, to install outdoor sculptures in Cashiers for a period of two years. The Bascom’s Biennial Outdoor Sculpture Program invites talented artists to submit their work, ensuring the selection of outstanding pieces. Every two years, five sculptures are chosen for The Bascom campus while two exceptional pieces grace the Cashiers area.
“We love collaborating with the community and are excited to bring Butterfly Effect to McKinney Meadow,” Niki Kinkade, The Bascom’s executive director, said. “Art and Nature are a natural fit and this piece is perfect for its new landing spot.”
Vision Cashiers, whose mission is to foster prudent, sustainable growth of Cashiers while preserving and capitalizing on its natural assets and heritage, believes that public art activates the imagination and encourages people to pay attention to and perceive more deeply the environment they occupy.
With that in mind, McKinney Meadow is the perfect space for the structure. The small but mighty 2.11-acre native mountain meadow sits along the southern entrance into Cashiers and provides excellent habitat for many wildflowers, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators which enjoy or require open habitats. Places such as McKinney Meadow are increasingly important as native plants and pollinators continue to decline worldwide and locally due to loss of habitat (for example land use changes such as mowing), pesticide use, climate change and more.
In Cashiers, McKinney Meadow, which is conserved in perpetuity with the Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust, provides a haven for native plants and pollinators, so much so that it has been named an official stop on the “NC Butterfly Highway”, a statewide conservation initiative that encourages areas of native landscaping to provide a sort of pit stop for butterflies.
Many butterflies are specialists, which means they rely on one specific host plant on which to lay their eggs, and to provide food for their caterpillars and adults so places with an abundance of native plants like McKinney Meadow are extremely important for their survival. In turn, pollinators are important for our survival and are a strong indicator of a healthy landscape. A walk through McKinney reveals that this meadow is buzzing with life. Without this life many of our treasured places and their associated ecosystems would collapse.
To truly appreciate all that McKinney Meadow has to offer, the Land Trust encourages the public to walk the sweet, gentle trail that meanders through the meadow. Drive down Cashiers School Road and look for the parking area on the left, soon we will have a sign making it easier to discover. You might find that there is more to this property than meets the eye and perhaps even consider transforming a section of your own landscape into life-supporting native habitat.
Some believe that when a butterfly lands it’s a sign of transformation, hope, and good luck. While our planet and our community alike face many challenges with climate change, habitat loss, and declining biodiversity, we still have plenty of reasons to be hopeful about the future. We can and are working together to protect and care for our natural places here on the Plateau and those who depend on them. Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust is a nationally accredited 501c3 charity that has been conserving our most treasured natural places for well over a century.
To learn how you can help to save our forests, wetlands, vistas, and meadows, visit Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust at hcltnc.org. To learn more about Vision Cashiers Public Art Task Force visit visioncashiers.com/public-art, and to learn more about The Bascom visit the bascom.org.