Butterflies become a metaphor for humanity as nationally known 

author kicks off ARTsySTEM Symposium

By: Kristen Steiner

Rebecca Solnit give lecture in USU's
Caine Performance Hall

Thursday at 7 p.m., Utah State University students, faculty, staff and residents of Cache Valley entered the Caine Performance Hall to hear author, artist and environmentalist, Rebecca Solnit, give her lecture on butterflies and their relation to life.

Solnit came as a guest to the university to work with classes given by USU’s art professor, Alexa Sand, and as part of the ARTsySTEM Symposium created by Mark Lee Koven, a USU art professor, assisted by Nancy Huntly, USU’s director of ecology. 

Solnit’s lecture, which read like a poem as she presented it in a soft and fluid voice, was full of references to nature and the metaphors it creates in the lives of humanity.

“All great metaphors come from the natural world,” Solnit said as she began her lecture.

Lecture Logo

The image of her lecture logo, a map of San Francisco pointing out places to find butterflies and queer public spaces with a gay man wearing a yellow dress, holding a net full of butterflies, was projected on the screen beside her, giving the audience an overall feel for her lecture, while her words further defined the beauty that comes from the small, seemingly insignificant butterfly, and the weight that it can truly carry, both literally and figuratively.

Most of the lecture was comparing these beautiful creatures to the everyday lives of people, especially those who identify themselves with the LGBT community.

“Queer history gets asphalt spots and butterflies get dirt ones,” Solnit said while talking about the imprint that both make in the world. “The two subspecies are both like and unlike in many ways.”

As she continued to read from her prewritten lecture, Solnit went on to tell several stories and relate many of her points back to books she has written that focus on the environment, history and gender equality.

“I liked how fluid it was in that it was read like a poem,” said Madeline Walker, a USU fine arts graduate student commenting on the lecture itself.

“I like how in talking about metaphors,” Walker said, “she made many metaphors herself.”

Solnit is a well-known author, activist and environmentalist. She has written more than 15 books ranging in topics from geography to the arts and from feminism to politics. She has received several nominations for her writings and has also been the recipient of several awards such as the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts and the Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction.

“I am an artist with a great interest in natural history,” Solnit said. “Actually, I am just a writer with way too many interests.”

Solnit’s lecture was the kick-off event for “ARTsySTEM Symposium: The Changing Climates of the Arts and Sciences.” The event spans from Thursday through Saturday and will include panel lectures with science and art experts and USU professors, an art and science research speed dating event, a lecture from keynote speaker Paul Vanouse and a trip to the Spiral Jetty on Saturday morning.

For more information on the ARTsySTEM Symposium, visit http://artsystemsymposium.tumblr.com/post/115316757784