Butterfly Prints

Indeed, he has devoted his life to capturing these small, winged creatures--both literally and artistically.

Bill's father, Edwin Howe, was a cotton entomologist (a person who studies insects) for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Fearing a homeland attack by the Japanese after the start of World War II, Edwin Howe decided to move his family from Santa Cruz, California, to middle America. The Howe family arrived in Ottawa, Kansas, in 1942.

Although Bill remembers his father as being distant, he does credit his father for introducing him to the world of butterflies. He recalls a day when he was five years old and his father brought home a screen of caterpillars, leaving them on the dining room table. One day, the caterpillars turned into chrysalis and then full-blown butterflies. Young Bill was mesmerized. He accompanied his father on butterfly collecting trips and by the age of 11 was an avid collector himself. Over his lifetime, Bill has netted thousands of specimens from places such as Mexico, Colorado, and Tennessee, to name a few.

Bill graduated from Ottawa University in 1951 with a degree in biology. He went on to study at the Kansas City Art Institute where he refined his watercolor techniques.

The prints shown here represent some of Bill's scientific illustrations. On the left are moths drawn with colored pencil in 1950 when he was a senior in college at Ottawa University. On the right are various tropical butterflies from North and South America that Bill drew in 1951. The medium is colored pencil and watercolor.

Among the books Bill has edited and illustrated include Our Butterflies and Moths published in Kansas City in 1963, and Butterflies of North America published in 1975 by Doubleday. Through the medium of paint as well as pen and pencil, Bill has transformed the butterfly from a mere specimen to a work of art.

Today, Bill prefers to work in a looser style-creating landscapes with butterflies as subjects, using acrylic paints. He continues to work from his home in Ottawa where he paints by commission and also for his own enjoyment. His art can be found in institutions across the country, including the Smithsonian Institution and the Los Angeles County Museum.

This selection of Bill's work is in the collections of the Kansas Museum of History.

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