Park News
Kaleidoscope Park to Unveil Janet Echelman’s Butterfly Rest Stop
Signature Outdoor Public Art Installation Among the Largest in Texas
FRISCO, Texas (June 28, 2024) – Kaleidoscope Park is a place where nature meets culture and art abounds. Located adjacent to HALL Park’s Texas Sculpture Garden, Kaleidoscope Park’s centerpiece will be the captivating work Butterfly Rest Stop. Created by world-renowned sculpture and fabric artist Janet Echelman, the magnificent art will hang overhead in the Park’s Arts Plaza. The butterfly theme highlights the area as an important corridor for the monarch butterfly’s migration. The piece was installed across several days with the work being tensioned atop its massive pylons on Thursday, June 27. Butterfly Rest Stop represents one of the largest outdoor public art installations in Texas and is a truly significant contribution to Frisco’s Public Art Program.
Butterfly Rest Stop explores the interconnectedness of humans and nature in the public sphere. Butterflies and other pollinators play an important role in Earth’s ecosystem, but monarch numbers have declined in recent years due to the loss of milkweed along their migratory routes that pass through Frisco each year. The design of Butterfly Rest Stop echoes the forms, patterns and colors of milkweed flowers. Made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers like those used by NASA to tether the Mars Rover, the sculpture is comprised of two five-petaled forms that float gently in the air. The intricately designed work uses nearly 90 miles of fiber to create the 165-foot-long span. To further the pollinator message, native milkweed has been added to the Park’s Arts Plaza to welcome monarch butterflies to the Park.
“Great art enhances our lives and causes us to step back from our daily routines and think about the world we live in,” said Craig Hall, founder and chairman of Hall Group. “Janet Echelman’s unique works have inspired millions around the world, and we are thrilled to bring her newest creation to the great city of Frisco.”
“Janet’s ability to interpret the natural world in such a beautiful way makes her an ideal partner for Kaleidoscope Park,” said Shawn Jackson, Executive Director of the Kaleidoscope Park Foundation. “We are honored to showcase the work of this world-renowned artist as the iconic image for the Park.”
Echelman is known for creating large-scale artworks that transform with wind and light, changing shape and color in response to the forces of nature. Her works have been displayed in Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, Santiago, Beijing, Boston, New York and London. Butterfly Rest Stop is Echelman’s first permanent Texas art installation.
“It’s meaningful to me to be asked to contribute to this new, beautiful public park for North Texas. When I learned the monarch butterflies migrate through the area each October, I wanted to plant milkweed underneath to help create a sustaining pollinator corridor, and to suspend my first flower-inspired sculpture in the sky to remind us of our interconnected destinies, and of the interconnected systems of the natural world of which we are a small part,” Echelman said.
The public is invited to view Butterfly Rest Stop and the complete Kaleidoscope Park during its Grand Opening this fall. Once open, the Park will offer free programming that reflects the unique character of North Texas, including concerts, diverse musical and dance performances, and a variety of health and recreational activities. The Park will also feature a children’s play area, dog park, performance lawns, technology terraces, shaded promenades and plazas.
The city of Frisco is enthusiastic about the impact Craig Hall has had on the public art environment for residents and visitors. The City of Frisco Public Art Program promotes cultural, aesthetic, and economic vitality in Frisco, Texas by integrating the work of artists into public places, civic infrastructure, and development of the community.”
“Craig Hall has always been passionate about art, which aligns with the City of Frisco’s commitment to our public art program,” said Mayor Jeff Cheney. “We’re excited to be home to Butterfly Rest Stop. The signature sculpture will help showcase Kaleidoscope Park and create an amazing gathering place for our residents, members of our business community, as well as visitors.”
The six-acre Kaleidoscope Park is located near the Dallas North Tollway at Warren Parkway in Frisco, Texas, and in neighboring distance to The Star, Stonebriar Centre, Legacy West, The Shops at Legacy, The Boardwalk and Granite Park.
Butterfly Rest Stop by the numbers
791,788 knots tied by hand and by loom
88.9 miles twine in netting
3,423 lbs weight of sculpture
165 ft length of total sculpture (including rope structure)
133 ft length of sculpture net
65 ft highest point
106 mph design wind load
9,090 sf projected area of net in plan
3,967 sf surface area of netting
3,384 plants which sustain pollinators
ABOUT KALEIDOSCOPE PARK
Kaleidoscope Park is a dynamic, innovative arts and culture destination for North Texas currently under construction. The Park will be home to free, year-round public programming, including films, diverse musical and dance performances, and a variety of health and recreational activities. The Park will feature monumental works of public art, architecture, and gardens set among a children’s play area, dog park, performance lawn, outdoor workspaces, and shaded promenades and plazas. Learn more at kaleidoscopepark.org.
ABOUT THE KALEIDOSCOPE PARK FOUNDATION
Kaleidoscope Park Foundation is a nonprofit public-private partnership between Communities Foundation of Texas and the City of Frisco. The Foundation’s mission is to thoughtfully engage the diverse and rapidly growing communities of North Texas through free public arts and culture programming that is genuine, inclusive, and accessible. Operating as a Foundation supported by private donations, financial support for development, operations, and programming is always welcome.
ABOUT COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS
The mission of Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) is to improve the lives of all people in our community by investing in their health, wealth, living, and learning. CFT works to accomplish this by growing community giving, expanding community impact, and advancing community equity. With a vision of building thriving communities for all, CFT works locally and across the state with many individuals, families, companies, foundations, and nonprofits through a variety of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking initiatives. CFT professionally manages more than 1,300 charitable funds and has awarded more than $2.5 billion in grants since its founding in 1953. CFT is committed to serving and understanding donor needs, expertly handling complex gifts, wisely managing charitable funds, and leveraging its community knowledge to increase charitable impact, in addition to powering several initiatives including the W. W. Caruth, Jr. Fund at CFT, CFT for Business, Educate Texas at CFT, Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy at CFT, GiveWisely, and CFT’s North Texas Giving Day. CFT’s North Texas Giving Day raised $64 million on a single day in 2023 to help over 3,250 North Texas nonprofits. Learn more at www.CFTexas.org.
ABOUT HALL PARK
A pioneering development in Frisco since the mid-1990s, HALL Park today encompasses 2.2 million square feet of office space throughout 15 completed buildings. One-third of the park is dedicated to green space and includes three miles of walking trails, over 200 works of art including the Texas Sculpture Garden, the largest private collection of contemporary Texas sculpture made available to the public. In October 2021, its developer, HALL Group, commenced construction on the first phase of its new masterplan development that will evolve HALL Park into a dynamic mixed-use community. Upon completion, the full masterplan–anticipated to span 20 years of development–will encompass approximately 9.5 million square feet of usable mixed-use space with a projected value of around $7 billion. Learn more at hallpark.com.