Benches Program
The dictionary-shaped bench features images of a Jeep, a monarch butterfly and a Golden Tornado on it, which were each painted by area artist Tom Panei, based on a survey distributed to students of the school.
The bench is the first art piece of the Inspiration Trail, which itself is part of the Butler Rotary Club PM’s Rotary Cultural District.
The dictionary-shaped bench features images of a Jeep, a monarch butterfly and a Golden Tornado on it, which were each painted by area artist Tom Panei, based on a survey distributed to students of the school.
The bench is the first art piece of the Inspiration Trail, which itself is part of the Butler Rotary Club PM’s Rotary Cultural District.
Panei said the bench was built in Chicago and shipped to his studio, where he worked on it for two weeks straight to get it installed before the last day of school.
“My wife and I came up with a survey, certain places and ideas that inspired them,” Panei said. “We went through that and got about 20 ideas, and they got to choose from those 20 as to what would be on the bench.”
Leslie Osche, project manager for the cultural district through Butler Rotary Club PM, said the bench is not only a love letter to Butler but is dedicated to a longtime Rotarian, Alan “Al” McGrath, who died in 2021.
“Al did our dictionary project,” Osche said. “He would do dictionaries for third-graders and go into classrooms and present the students with dictionaries.”
Butler Art Center
The Art Center started in the 1920s as an art club and became established in 1934. The center hosts nine, month long art exhibits each year, as well as smaller artist exhibits intermittently. The center houses 7000 square feet of gallery space. There are art education opportunities such as an after-school art program, adult classes and workshops.
