Butterflies Are Free

Butterflies Are Free

“I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. Mankind will surely not deny to Harold Skimpole what it concedes to the butterflies.”

― Charles Dickens, Bleak House

With the support of Butterfly Farms, Vista, California, Monica Meir and Marissa Martinez led a group of young artists in the creation of the Monarch Migration Wall Mural in Carlsbad, California. 

Marissa, a San Luis Potosi mural artist and Monica met while assisting in the Parque Tangamanga II Project, an international, collaborative effort creating public art and revitalizing public space.  Monica took the idea home to Carlsbad, presented a theme, Monarch Migration, which connects California to Mexico, to a group of local artists and neighbors, who created the mural. 


Marissa, coming from San Luis Potosi, Mexico with her artistic and mosaic skills headed the project.

Monica’s home and Monarch Mural Wall

Queen Bee and the Butterfly

Monica Meir

Monica said, “A neighbor thought we were creating graffiti and protested.”   But when the mural was complete, “People drive by and stop.”   Children and adults are inspired and when they stop and ask about the mural, Monica explains the Monarch migration and the importance of milkweed, which comes in multiple varieties and blooms from June to August, but in California the season can be longer.  “Weed” is not a just word for the beauty of this flowering plant.

Queen Bee and the Butterflies

I had an opportunity to visit Los Angeles and I wanted to extend the trip to see the mural.

Monica invited me to her home and we would visit Tom Merriman at Butterfly Farms with Mavis Ivene, a friend.  

We met at Monica’s and she gave us a quick backyard tour where she grows three varieties of milkweed and nectar plants. Two milkweed varieties were currently blooming; the third looked more like bamboo. “If you plant milkweed the butterflies will find you.”  

Monarchs cannot survive without milkweed; their caterpillars only eat milkweed plants. The nectar plants are for the butterflies, the fourth stage in their metamorphosis.

The Monarch mosaic mural design incorporates the metamorphosis: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly and the route of the Monarchs from North America to Mexico

   Backyard Tour               Milkweed, yellow variety    Nectar for the butterfly

 Entrance to Butterfly Farm    Monica - Tom - Mavis      Inside at Butterfly Farm

Love the sign, its questions for students and its corrected spelling of “nowhere.” 

Moral of the story: Plant Milkweed

Oakland Strokes