Butterfly Suitcase

Clyde, a former mill worker, lives in Bynum, just south of Chapel Hill and north of Pittsboro, near the path of the Haw River through Chatham County. He has been making his critters, as well as paintings of penguins, butterflies, elephants, and pandacows (his version of the Belted Galloways in residence at Fearrington Village), since 1982 and welcoming any and all fans to see his creations at his home, the exuberantly-painted Critter Crossing on Bynum Hill Road. Before you even get to the Critter Crossing, you will see critters of all shapes and sizes in the yard of almost every resident of Bynum. If you stop at the Bynum General Store, you will see a large painting of penguins on the wall. But you cannot miss the Critter Crossing when you finally get to it–the tin roof is painted with sea creatures, penguins march across the walls, and the yard is filled with critters of all shapes and sizes. Clyde is often on his front porch with a chainsaw, carving and assembling a new creation. He embellishes the critters with paint, glitter, fake flowers, spots, dots, bottle-cap or baseball eyes, and anything else to hand that will bring out the personality of each wooden animal in his menagerie. And Clyde isn’t just locally famous–his critters are in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution and have visited the Great Wall of China.

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