Niki is born in Arizona. When she is two months old, her family moves to Palo Alto, California.

Niki’s parents love nature, and the family goes on many camping trips together. Niki’s favorite place to visit is Yosemite.

A friend introduces Niki to her future husband, Clyde Butcher.

Niki graduates from Cubberly High School. After graduating high school, she attends Foothill Junior College, where she studies art and English.

Niki says, “I do,” and the couple moves to San Luis Obispo, California.

After they marry, Niki takes English classes while Clyde finishes his last year at California Poly Technic University. Niki spends the next few years studying, working a variety of odd jobs, including as a bank teller and telephone operator, and living a life among artists and other free spirits.

Niki and Clyde have their first child, Jackie, in 1967. The young family moves from the city to the desert for a short time to be near relatives. While pregnant with her second child, Niki longs to return to the west coast. In 1969, the family moves to Huntington Beach. Niki raises her children in unconventional, nature-based settings. The family travels from city to forest and desert to seashore. She instills the love of nature in her children as they travel and live in a pop-up tent in state and national parks throughout California.

After years of living on “wheels,” Niki and Clyde move to southern California and, with partners, start a photography business that distributes Clyde’s photographs to large department stores. Niki becomes the office manager of the business. The family goes from living on wheels to living on water when they move aboard a 35-foot sailboat and live on the moorings off of Newport Beach, California. The company grows quickly, and as the pressures of running a large business mount, Niki and Clyde decide to take a break and sail their boat to Mexico. They take the kids out of school and “boat-school” them for three months.

After returning from their trip to Mexico, Niki steps down as office manager and focuses on being a full-time mom. The family sells their

35-foot sailboat, and Clyde begins working on building a new 20-foot sailboat that can be towed to any coastal area of the country. In 1977, they sell the business in California, and the following year, the family trailers their new 20-foot boat to Florida, where the water is warm and clear. Florida sailing does not disappoint, and they soon start making plans to move to Florida, where they can sail year-round.

Niki and her family move to Florida. She and Clyde participate in art festivals and explore their new home state. Niki primarily photographs things that she knows will sell in order to help support her family.

Niki discovers old hand-painted postcards and begins using the technique of hand-coloring black

and white images with oil paint. She photographs funky wayside places, beautiful landscapes, unique people, and historical landmarks and then adds color as a tool to draw attention to certain aspects of an image.

Her work becomes recognized and begins winning awards. She is able to focus on photographing and hand-painting images that she loves and not worry as much about their marketability. Niki discovers what she now calls the “Real Florida” after a visit to Tom Gaskins’ Cypress Museum. After an invitation into the swamp, she becomes enamored with Big Cypress National Preserve and begins to fearlessly explore and photograph it with her husband. Both Niki and Clyde enjoy success and become established and recognized in art festivals throughout the United States.

On Niki and Clyde’s 23rd wedding anniversary, their only son, Ted, is killed by a drunk driver as he and his friend return home from the movie theater. Niki’s daughter, Jackie, drops out of college, and Niki, Clyde, and Jackie struggle to understand how to live without Ted.

Niki, Clyde, and Jackie go to the Bahamas together in an attempt to learn how to go from being a family of four to a family of three. Jackie decides not to return to school and instead starts her own business using Niki’s pastel hand-painted images on postcards. Niki and Clyde continue to participate in art festivals throughout the United States.

A fateful stop at a run-down orchid nursery changes the trajectory of Niki’s life as she begins

to see hope in the future. After discovering the property in Big Cypress National Preserve is for sale, Niki shares her dream of owning a home and gallery in the swamp with Clyde. They make an offer and purchase Orchid Isles Nursery and build their new home and the Big Cypress Gallery in the middle of the Everglades.

Niki manages and runs the new Big Cypress Gallery in Ochopee while learning the intricacies of living in a swamp. Niki is involved with conservation efforts in the Florida Everglades, and she and Clyde encourage activism and interest by inviting people on “swamp walks” behind their gallery. She becomes a grandma for the first time when her daughter, Jackie, has Kayla. Niki and Jackie begin workshops at the Big Cypress Gallery, teaching others how to hand-paint black and white photographs.

Niki becomes a grandma for the second time when Robbie is born. Jackie sells her business and starts to become more involved with Niki and Clyde’s business.

Jackie and her husband, Neal, join Niki and Clyde’s business and open the Venice Gallery and Studio. They move production from the Big Cypress Gallery to Venice, and Niki continues to manage and live at the Big Cypress Gallery, where her art is exhibited.

With some of the workload shifted from the Big Cypress Gallery to the Venice Gallery and Studio, Niki finds time to travel and photograph. She and Clyde make three trips to Cuba in 2002 for the Year of the Mountains Conference.

Niki happily moves into the digital age; she especially loves that her workspace easily travels with her. With most of her time occupied with managing the Big Cypress Gallery, digital painting and photography offer a much more expedient and less messy way to express her art.

Niki’s work is exhibited in a dual exhibit with her husband, Clyde, in Fort Myers’ History Museum. Niki and Clyde start to hand over responsibilities to

their staff at Big Cypress Gallery, knowing they will soon want to be closer to doctors and family.

Niki and Clyde move to Venice to be closer to family and medical facilities. They travel between the Big Cypress Gallery and the Venice Gallery and Studio frequently, photographing along the way

Niki makes the transition completely to digital photography. Using a Wacom tablet and Photoshop, she employs a similar technique to her oil hand-painting process and begins to explore new techniques in digital photography and production.

Niki’s husband’s health declines, and in 2017 he suffers a stroke. Niki spends the remainder of the year working to help Clyde regain his mobility and heal.

Myakka River State Park becomes a healing ground for the couple, much as Big Cypress National Preserve was a sanctuary after the loss of their son.

Myakka River State Park, with its gentle terrain, allows Clyde to maneuver through the area, and the peace of the river and swamplands act as a salve as both Niki and Clyde adjust to their new circumstances.

Niki and Clyde begin to travel and photograph more. Niki’s granddaughter, Kayla, majors in photography and graduates from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and joins the family business in Venice

Niki and Clyde begin to travel and photograph more. Niki’s granddaughter, Kayla, majors in photography and graduates from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and joins the family business in Venice