Vanishing XI (Bay Checkerspot Butterfly)

Holly Downing

This hand-colored mezzotint is from a series of prints Holly Downing has been doing featuring vanishing species, in this case, invertebrates. Each impression is printed in black and then hand-colored by the artist. There may be slight variations between impressions.

The striking Bay Checkerspot is a butterfly endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area and is threatened. The caterpillars eat only dwarf plantain and purple owl’s clover, both of which grow only in serpentine soils, which are high in magnesium and heavy metals, and low in nutrients such as nitrogen. Increased carbon dioxide from traffic has altered the soils these plants depend upon. Downing achieves the sense of something that is at once important and ephemeral; as much immortal in its significance as it is teetering on a precipice.