This father and son team have been fascinated by butterflies their entire life. What started as a Boy Scout merit badge for Salvatore Ciccarello (the father) became a lifelong fascination for him.

While other children in school where checking out fiction books Sal was reading every book he could get his hands on about butterflies and anything to do with their environment. His fascination continued into adulthood and he became a member of the Utah Lepidoptera Society in 1985.

The earliest childhood memories of his son Joseph Ciccarello are of accompanying his family on weekend excursions to the Rocky Mountains to enjoy time together, to climb and to collect butterflies.

When Joseph was seven years old he moved to the Tampa Bay area with his family. He continued to have the fascination with the beauty of exotic butterflies, more so than his other siblings and so father and son became a team in their butterfly hobby. Before long they started ordering exotic butterfly specimens from the world wide butterfly farms to enhance their already magnificent collection.

At the Age of ten Joseph saw a piece of butterfly art and decided that he could do better. He wanted to create something special; butterfly art that would take people's breath away. After completing several works, he would carry a big box full of his exotic butterfly pieces around selling them door-to-door. His butterfly art sold well and he continued doing this for 11 years.

Joseph at 17 was working hard to achieve the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts. As his final requirement he chose to build and plant a 7500 square foot exotic butterfly garden in Fort DeSoto Park. The money for this project he raised with the door-to-door sales of his butterfly artwork. The butterfly garden was a huge success for a season but was destroyed by Hurricane Allison and an unusually cold winter. He was of course successful in his endeavor and is now an Eagle Scout.

He continues to create beautiful works of art for serious art collectors and businesses. Quite a number of his exotic butterfly art pieces have found their way into private homes and the homes of beginning collectors too.