(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – A Butterfly Pavilion, filled with vibrant native and exotic species of butterflies, will be the centerpiece of the new exhibition, Butterflies, which opens at Berkshire Museum on Saturday, May 31, 2014, and runs through September 1, 2014. The exhibition will introduce visitors to the fascinating and complex life cycle of butterflies, including their remarkable metamorphosis, and suggest how we can protect their place in the natural environment. The inter-disciplinary exhibition will include works by contemporary artists, as well as historic and cultural artifacts from around the world.

A Butterflies Preview Party will be held Friday, May 30, 2014, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Guests will be the first to experience the live Butterfly Pavilion as well as enjoying the entire exhibition, interactive stations, and light refreshments. Admission to the Preview Party is $5, museum members are free. Reservations are requested; please call 413-443-7171 ext. 37.

The Butterfly Pavilion, the heart of the Butterflies exhibition, will be aflutter with a variety of vivid butterflies, representing species from around the world as well as those found in New England meadows. Wonderfully diverse in shape, size, and color, the exotic varieties include the Paper Kite from Southeast Asia; the Green Birdwing, boasting a wingspan of up to 8 inches; the aptly named Glasswing Butterfly; and the shimmering Blue Morpho. Butterflies from the eastern United States include the familiar orange and black Monarch; the cleverly camouflaged Question Mark, the hardy Mourning Cloak, and the Tiger Swallowtail. The spacious Pavilion will mimic a lush summer garden, filled with blooms and foliage to provide a suitable habitat for the butterflies. Admission to the Butterfly Pavilion is an additional $2 per person.

Butterflies will showcase the miraculous transformation that makes the butterfly’s life cycle uniquely compelling. While the beauty of the adult butterfly is acknowledged, what may surprise visitors to Butterflies is the magnificence of the caterpillar, which also boasts vivid colors and unusual body structure. The stunning photographs of biologist and educator Samuel Jaffe bring to light the hidden, and captivating, world of the caterpillar. Visitors will be able to experience live caterpillars and watch butterflies emerge in a chrysalis chamber.

“We are captivated by the transformative journey the butterfly takes from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis and final adult,” says Maria Mingalone, the curator of the exhibition and Berkshire Museum’s director of interpretation. “Of all insects, we are most familiar with butterflies and moths, and yet there is still so much to unearth about a creature we see visiting flowers in our gardens or fluttering around our porch lights. Utilizing the Museum’s resources in natural science as well as the butterfly’s powerful symbolism and how that influences art and culture, this exhibition will enable visitors to understand the biology of this complex insect as well as coming to fully appreciate the magnificent beauty of the butterfly.”

Because healthy habitats are crucial to butterflies and moths, visitors will learn how to create the best butterfly environments around their own homes to encourage native species, and also to understand threats to habitat that are endangering some parts of the butterfly population. They will watch rare footage about the extraordinary 2,000-mile migration of the Monarch butterfly and the unique biology of the “Methuselah generation” that makes the journey possible.

Beautiful, graceful, and visually captivating, butterflies have inspired artists for centuries; the exhibition will include butterfly-inspired works of art, from sculpture and mixed-media to video. Objects from around the world, such as an embroidered kimono and a six-foot African mask, demonstrate how butterflies have been portrayed in other cultures.

Youngest visitors to the exhibition will mimic caterpillars in caterpillar wiggle bags, and manipulate morphing a caterpillar into a butterfly with plush toys while older visitors can play a tessellation garden puzzle or try a popular African board game called Gulugufe (which means butterfly in the Chitonga language of Mozambique). Using USB microscopes, visitors are invited to observe in minute details the structure of a butterfly’s wings or the tube-like mouth structure called a proboscis. They also can learn what can be done to support local butterfly populations ranging from suggestions on how to create your own butterfly garden and to minimize use of popular garden pesticides.

Located in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at 39 South St., the Berkshire Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $13 adult, $6 child; Museum members and children age 3 and under enjoy free admission. Admission to the Butterfly Pavilion is an additional $2 per person.