Programs and Bio

Kim’s Lecture and Workshop Programs

All programs are designed for libraries, conservation organizations, garden clubs, schools, botanical gardens, landscape and design professionals, garden shows, private groups, and special events.

Late Generation Methuselah Monarchs New England Asters, Cape AnnSpangled Dawn ~ Monarch Butterfly Roost, Gloucester

Film Screening and Q&A with the Director, Kim Smith

Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly

Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly is a 56-minute narrated documentary film that takes place along the shores of Cape Ann and in the heart of Mexico’s forested volcanic mountains. Every stage of the butterfly’s life cycle is experienced in vibrant close-up, from egg to caterpillar to adult, and set to the background of sea and forest, sun and wind.

By the millions and millions the intrepid monarchs journey thousands of miles. The most magical thing is that this migration happens in our midst, unfolding in backyards, farms, meadows, and along the shoreline, wherever milkweed and wildflowers grow.

The Monarchs are in great peril. Although the butterfly’s spectacular migration evolved over millennia, the last decades of human activity have put this phenomenon in grave danger. Beauty on the Wing is a film for all ages, created for all to gain a deeper understanding of the symbiotic relationship between habitats, wildflowers, and pollinators, and the vital role they play in our interconnected ecosystems.

Filmed in Gloucester, Massachusetts and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserves at Estado de México and Michoacán, the film illuminates how two regions, separated by 3,000 miles, are ecologically interconnected.

Since its premier, Beauty on the Wing has received a number of honors and awards at environmental film festivals and children’s film festivals. Beauty on the Wing was awarded the 2020 Best Documentary at the Boston International Kids Festival, the 2021 Best Feature Film at the Providence Children’s Film Festival, the environmental award at the Toronto International Women Film Festival in May 2021 and Gold at the Spotlight Documentary Awards. One of the greatest hopes for the film is that it would be inspirational and educational to both adults and young people and we are overjoyed Beauty on the Wing is finding its audience.

Beauty on the Wing is now airing on over 270 public television stations across America from New York to San Francisco and everywhere in between. This represents 89 percent of US households and 23 of the top 25 markets.

For more information, please contact Kim Smith at kimsmith.designs1@gmail.com and visit the film’s website here: Beauty on the Wing

Lecture and Slide Presentation – Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly

The Monarch’s life story is one of nature’s most incredible examples of adaptation and survival. But the Monarch migration is in great peril. Learn how you can help. Through photographs and discussion, Beauty on the Wing tells the life story of the Monarch Butterfly, the state of the butterflies migration and why they are in sharp decline, and the positive steps we can take as individuals and collectively to help the Monarchs recover from the devastating effects of habitat loss and climate change. (1-1.5 hours).

Monarch Butterfly Roost, Cerro Pelon

Lecture and Slide Presentation – The Pollinator Garden

Following the rhythm of the seasons, celebrated landscape designer Kim Smith presents a stunning slide show and lecture demonstrating how to create a welcoming haven for bees, birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Native plants and examples of organic and architectural features will be discussed based on their value to particular vertebrates and invertebrates. (1.5 hours).

Lecture and Slide Presentation – The Hummingbird Garden

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only species of hummingbird that nests in Massachusetts. Learn what to plant to help sustain this elusive beauty while it is breeding in our region and during its annual spring and fall migrations. Through photographs and discussion we’ll learn about the life cycle of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird and the best plants to attract this tiniest of breeding birds to your garden.

Life Story of the Piping Plover

Why Give a Peep for the Plovers?

The Piping Plover is only one of a handful of birds thats nests on North Atlantic beaches. By learning about this tiny but most resilient of shorebirds, we gain a deeper understanding on how best to protect the Piping Plover and our shared coastal habitat.

Told through the lens of Kim Smith’s photo journal work, the Piping Plover’s life story is presented from migration to nesting to fledging. We’ll also cover the current status of the bird’s population, learn about where Piping Plovers spend the winter, and how communities and conservation organizations can work together to help Piping Plovers flourish for generations to come.

If you are new to or have ever considered joining our Piping Plover Ambassador group, this presentation is a great way to become introduced to Piping Plovers. Please come and learn more about these most lovable and charismatic of shorebirds.

In May of 2019, Kim was featured in Audubon Magazine for her work protecting and documenting Piping Plovers, “How Plover Chicks Born in a Parking Lot Spurred a City to Make Its Beach Safer.”

Hours old Piping Plover Chicks

Best Buddies Piping Plover Chicks

For Young and Old: The Magnificent Marvelous Migrating Monarch

Each living creature is bound to earth by many strands, weaving the intricate design in the web of life. The Monarch butterfly’s migration is a marvel of the most intricate behavior. Through short film, photographs, discussion, and often live caterpillars, this program shares the story of the life cycle of the Monarch within the species grander annual migration. Set to the stage of a meadow, marsh, and garden, this presentation can be tailored to fit all age groups. (1-1.5 hours)

Beautiful Birds of Coastal New England

Hundreds of species of birds find refuge along the shores of New England. Traveling through the four seasons, this program highlights some of the most beautiful and beloved, their habitats, and habitat protection. Learn how we can all help to ensure their survival, from some of our largest avian visitors and residents such as the Snowy Owl, Bald Eagle, Great Blue Heron, and Great Egret to the tiniest of birds, the Piping Plover and Ruby-throated Hummingbird, with many other species of herons, ducks, shorebirds, songbirds, egrets, wrens, and raptors included. Illustrated with Kim’s award winning photographs. (1.25 hours).

Snowy Owl Gloucester Massachusetts

Carolina Wren Snowy Day East Gloucester

Film: Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly

NEW PROGRAM: Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly is a 45-minute narrated film that takes place in a garden and at the sea’s edge. Every stage of the butterfly’s life cycle is experienced in vibrant close-up, from conception to pupation to metamorphosis. The film is suitable for all ages so all can gain a deeper understanding of the symbiotic relationship between wildflowers and pollinators and the vital role they play in our ecosystem. Filmed in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

From earliest recorded history the butterfly has represented life’s momentous transformations. None more so than black butterflies. In some cultures black butterflies are thought to foretell death, and in others the return of a spirit to the living world. Continuing today, butterflies are associated with spiritual rebirth and transformation. Their metamorphosis from caterpillar to adult, along with their graceful beauty and vibrant wing patterning, inspires poets and artists universally across time and cultures.

Discussion and Q & A with the filmmaker to follow showing.

Nature in Focus ~ Close-up Photography Workshop

This workshop by celebrated butterfly and garden photographer and filmmaker Kim Smith is based on her photo/journal work for regional and national publications and her acclaimed photography exhibits. Bring your camera and questions and Kim will guide you in capturing the beauty of the flora and fauna found in the garden. (1.5hours)

Butterfly Gardening

Author, illustrator, and designer Kim Smith presents the necessary elements for creating a sheltering haven for butterflies. Native plants and well-behaved non-native plants will be discussed based on their value to attracting specific butterflies. When we create in our own back yards a habitat designed for adult Lepidoptera and their caterpillars, we give back, one garden at a time, the gifts of grace and beauty we receive from nature. This lecture and slide presentation will help you gain a deeper understanding of the interconnected world that we human beings share with plants and butterflies and how to translate that information to your own garden. (1-1.5 hours)

Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities!

This inspiring presentation by author, illustrator, photographer, and noted landscape designer Kim Smith is based on the book of the same name, which she wrote and illustrated. Kim reveals how to create the framework, a living tapestry of flora, fauna, and fragrance that establishes the soul of the garden. Using a selection of plant material that eliminates the need for pesticides and herbicides, and guided by the plants forms, hues, and horticultural demands, Kim reveals how to create a succession of blooms from April through November. This presentation is as much about how to visualize your garden, as it is about particular trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, and annuals. Illuminated with Kim’s photographs and illustrations, and citing poetry and quotations from Eastern and Western cultural influences, this presentation engages us with an artist’s eye while drawing from practical experience. (1-1.5 hours)

The Fragrant Garden

The air impregnated with the scents of flowers and foliage imbues a memorable atmosphere in the garden, playing the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle role of strengthening the the ambiance we wish to create. Through photographs, examination of historical precedent, and discussion of specific plant varieties, celebrated landscape designer Kim Smith provides the key elements for creating a fragrant garden. Fragrance -elusive, emotionally colored, and so entirely related to experience – welcomes us as we walk though the pathways of our garden. (1-1.5 hours)

Your Garden as Habitat Workshop

Noted landscape designer Kim Smith presents the necessary elements for making your garden a haven for bees, birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Once you begin to think about your garden as welcoming food source and shelter, it will influence all your horticultural decisions. Kim will help you assess your existing garden to create a more life-sustaining ecosystem. Native plants and examples of organic and architectural features will be discussed based on their value to particular vertebrates and invertebrates. Bring photos and sketches of your outdoor space to class for comment and discussion. Through lectures, photographs, and supplemental reading you will gain a deeper understanding of the interconnected world that we human beings share with plants and wildlife and how to translate that information to your own garden.

Children’s Program: Through a Butterflies Eyes

Did you know that a caterpillar has six pairs of eyes and many noses? Did you know a butterfly tastes with its feet? And that its proboscis is a long double drinking straw that must zip together upon emerging from its chrysalis? We’ll learn all about how a butterfly sees flowers, butterfly and caterpillar anatomy, where to look for butterflies and caterpillars, and how to attract butterflies, moths, and caterpillars to your backyard.

Male Black Swallowtail Butterfly

BIO for Program Chairs

Kim Smith Biography

Kim Smith is an award winning documentary filmmaker, environmental conservationist, photojournalist, author, illustrator, and an award winning landscape designer. She specializes in creating pollinator habitat gardens utilizing primarily North American native wildflowers, trees, shrubs, and vines. Kim’s programs are developed from her documentary nature films and landscape design work.

Her film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, which premiered in August 2020, has won numerous awards and recognition, including 2020 Best Documentary at the Boston International Kids Festival, the 2021 Best Feature Film at the Providence Children’s Film Festival, the environmental award at the Toronto International Women’s Film Festival in May 2021, the Best Documentary at the San Diego International Children’s Film Festival, and Gold at the Spotlight Documentary Awards. One of the greatest hopes for the film is that it would be inspirational and educational to both adults and young people and we are overjoyed Beauty on the Wing is finding its audience.

Beauty on the Wing has aired on over 270 public television stations across America, from New York to San Francisco, and everywhere in between. This represents 89 percent of US households and 23 of the top 25 markets.

Kim is currently preparing to launch her newest documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay in the spring of 2024.

Completed March 2020 Snowy Owl Film Project

In May of 2019, Kim was featured in Audubon Magazine for her work protecting and documenting Piping Plovers, “How Plover Chicks Born in a Parking Lot Spurred a City to Make Its Beach Safer.”

In October 2018, Kim was interviewed by the BBC and PBS for her work in documenting the Monarch Butterflies. She worked with the show’s producers in writing and creating the story, providing film footage from her forthcoming film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly for the BBC produced show “Autumnwatch: New England.”

In April 2018 Kim was honored to receive the Salem State University “Friend of the Earth Award” and to give the keynote address for the University’s Earth Day Weeks events program. In 2017 she was named an Essex National Heritage Trailblazer and became an Essex Heritage Commissioner in recognition of her work connecting people to place.

Kim Smith Designs is her landscape and interior design firm. In conjunction with Cambridge Seven Associates architectural firm, Kim designed the award-winning Gloucester HarborWalk Butterfly gardens*.

Her book on landscape design, Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities!, which she both wrote and illustrated, was published by David R. Godine, Boston.

Kim is currently creating a documentary about the endangered Piping Plover. Her short films, A Flight of Monarchs, which was created for the Berkshire Museum, and BomBom Butterflies, have won critical acclaim. Her 45-minute documentary Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly is an inspirational story that both teaches about butterfly life cycles and reveals the connection between pollinators, plants, and the importance of conserving habitats.

For more information on Kim’s films and design projects follow her on YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram, and Twitter, and visit her design and Monarch Butterfly film website. Kim Smith’s blog has an average daily readership of 6,000 viewers.

For information about lectures and workshops that Kim teaches and a schedule of upcoming events, visit the Programs and Events pages of her website, for information about current short films visit the Short Films and Trailers page. For information about the Snowy Owl Film Project go here. For information about current public projects visit the Design Projects page.

*Please note that the Gloucester HarborWalk Butterfly garden is no longer a butterfly and pollinator garden. The garden is now under the care of a local community gardening group and it is planted primarily with with tulips, daylilies, and non-native plants.

Kim Smith Designs

Monarch Butterfly Film

Ipswich Town and Country Garden Club Has Some Nice Things to Say About My Screening of Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Marion Frost, two time past President and six time Program Chair for the Ipswich Town and Country Garden Club, wrote a very kind note about the Life Story of the Black Swallowtail Butterfly film and program that I recently gave to her club.

Hi Kim.

How often does something you’ve looked forward to for a long time live up to your expectations? Not often. But last night at Ebsco your presentation, including your film, your comments and your Q&A were just about perfect in my book! I’ll smile as I remember the evening.

I liked having the trailer for the monarch film first. You gave the group something to look forward to. Jesse Cook’s music is an excellent choice, I think. I drum to his music often. I was pleased with the questions and with your answers. It’s obvious you’ve done a lot of research. The way you answered questions made the group comfortable. Very nice! And the film. What can I say. I’d seen clips, but seeing the whole thing was something I won’t forget. I especially liked your reference to other butterflies and your comparison of the swallowtail with the monarch. Liv’s voice was just right for the commentary!

I know from experience that the presenter is the harshest critic of the presentation. I hope you were feeling pleased with your work last night. I’d be happy to repeat the whole evening!

I’m wishing you well with the editing.

All the best to you,

Mim

Thank you Mim. It was my joy! You and your fellow club members were so receptive and interested, it was truly a pleasure to give my presentation to the Ipswich Town and Country Garden Club! Many thanks again for your kind words.

American Robin and Staghorn Sumac