Since 2004, a swarm of stainless steel butterflies has served as a swirling entry archway greeting playground visitors to Margate Park. This is Entryway, one of four steel sculptures created by James Brenner. Deeper into the playground, Brenner positioned three giant bugs—a bee, a dragonfly, and a butterfly. These sculptures, mounted on flexible poles, float and flutter high above a blue “pond” drawn onto the parkscape by varying the color of the soft playground surface. The overlapping metal screens forming the 5-6 foot wingspans create fascinating moiré patterns against the sky and as shadows on the ground. The Margate Park sculptures are composed of low maintenance, long-lasting materials and help create an atmosphere of play and fantasy by inverting the scale relationship of the raised insects to the children. Entryway, along with Dragonfly, Butterfly, and Bumblebee in Margate Park were part of a larger project including playground designers, other artists, Chicago Park District Officials, and community members who worked together to create a visually rich and stimulating environment.
