New mosaic in Torrey Hills to feature butterflies made by local children

Torrey Hills Shopping Center has commissioned Carmel Valley mosaic artists Helen Segal and Barbi Dorfan to design and build a mosaic art installation at the center’s fountain, integrating 2,000 ceramic butterflies created by children at 10 local schools. Segal and Dorfan began working on the fountain last week.

The butterflies in the fountain are part of the Butterfly Project, founded by educator Jon Landau and artist Cheryl Rattner Price in 2006 at San Diego Jewish Academy. The butterflies are painted to represent the 1.5 million children who were murdered during the Holocaust. The art project paired with a meaningful lesson in history has now become a global unifying art movement that has reached over 120,000 participants. Every butterfly painted memorializes a child that was lost and a voice that is gained.

The public is welcome to come learn more about the project and paint a butterfly on Saturday, July 11, from 12-2 p.m. at Torrey Hills Shopping Center (4639-4653 Carmel Mountain Road | San Diego, CA 92130).

When completed, the center of the fountain will feature landscaping and three mosaic women reaching to catch the butterflies.