The Butterfly Effect

Creating a second life from previous work.

“Sky Lanterns” appeared on the cover of a book called Exploring Art Quilts to my surprise in 2020 . The book was an overview of the art quilt movement published by Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). It was the first of several yearly volumes. My art quilt on the cover was a response to a call for entry from SAQA for an exhibit titled Aloft.

If you don’t know anything about “juried” shows of course it means your artwork will be judged by an individual or several individuals who select work from a pool of entries. The exhibition often asks the artist  to respond to a specific theme. I think of this as a kind of like a writing prompt you might get in school:“Tell a reader about your summer vacation” “Write a short essay about the early life of Abraham Lincoln”.
“Write a poem about the sound of water”.

The difference is that the language is visual and more open ended than a school assignment. These kinds of calls limit the artist, but they also sometimes help the artist explore  beyond their safe zone.

This call for entry was an opportunity to do something outside of my typical photo based figurative  work. First I had to find a visual describing what it means to be “aloft”.  Aloft could be floating in the sky like a bird, or zooming around the globe in an airplane. Although there were many possibilities, one had to choosen to meet the challenge of creating on a deadline. It is not the usual way I work. There is not enough time to make a series within the theme and select the best from that series.  I settled fon creating a sketches and small pieces to work out my idea.

In the past, I have treated calls for entry like a to do list. I would stack a printed list of calls and clipped them together above my desk. I would record three dates. The due date for submission, the date for acceptance (or rejection), and the date to work was to be delivered to the venue. Then I would pull them off the clip. The most current call at the top and take that call to my studio to figure out what I was going to make.

This worked out well for a period of time. These limitations helped me to discover new ways of working and new themes.  I was able to create some really memorable pieces that have had a second life beyond responding to a call for entry. Sky Lanterns was one of those pieces that had a second life.

The history of the sky lantern  is very interesting. In contemporary culture they are often associated with daylong events that include music, food, and culimnate with lighting the lanterns when the sun sets. Participants send their hopes, prayers, or intentions aloft. It’s a new age spiritual practice. Interestingly these spiritual symbols were created for war.

The lanterns are attributed to the sage military strategist Zhuge Liang whose formal title was “Kongming”. He is said to have used a message written on a sky lantern to summon help on an occasion when he was surrounded by enemy troops. For this reason, they are still known in China as Kongming lanterns.

Today there are sky lantern festivals all over the world and one of them happens to be close to where I live now. The festival is advertised as being sustainable by using biodegradable materials with no fire danger. After the event is a massive clean up leaving the site as it was found. It attracts large diverse crowds. 

I believe I first saw sky lanterns growing up in Hawaii. I’m not sure in what context, but I remember seeing people setting paper lanterns off  to float over the beach and out to sea. Hawaii has a very large Asian population. It was likely during the Chinese New Year where lighting a lantern is a  symbol of letting go of troubles and disappointments of the past. As I thought about the call, this memory of objects floating in the night sky came into my consciousness.

When I began working on my submission I created a series of paintings of clouds. I used a night sky and added these fluffy white cumulus shapes with the colors of the last bits of sun peaking out at the edge. I printed this in a large format (50 x 36) with roughed in lanterns. When the linen cotton canvas came from the printer I painted the entire surface, as I always do; and added the lanterns with organza fused in place. It was a very pretty result. The exhibition traveled extensively. 

Aloft - Feb 26, 2020  Oct 01, 2023
See the World from a New Perspective!
Birds, insects, and even some mammals are able to fly and soar. Plant seeds and kites are carried on the breeze, and the perfect pass can float through the air. Humankind has dreamt of ways to fly from Icarus’ attempt to create his own wings to the advent of airplanes, satellites, and space exploration. This exhibition provides new perspectives through which to see our world.

---

After Sky Lanterns was returned from the travelling exhibition, the idea of setting aloft hopes and intentions had a second life. My last completed project called “Butterfly Effect” includes three lanterns floating with a crowd of  purple and blue butterflies. It is an extension of the idea of a spiritual experience. In this case, instead of letting go of troubles; it’s about opening to possibilities of a beautiful future. 

Butterflies are associated with spiritual concepts throughout many cultures and in many periods of time. Butterflies' metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly is akin to the souls’ evolution or personal spiritual growth.

In Greek mythology the butterfly is representative of the Goddess of the soul,  Psyche. Some Native American Tribes believe that a butterfly is a traveler between this world and the spirit world. In Japanese folklore, the butterfly is believed to carry the souls of the deceased to the afterlife. In Christianity, butterflies have been a symbol of resurrection since medieval times.

The butterfly effect is a  mathematical theory developed by an MIT professor Edward Lorenz. He was an American mathematician and meteorologist who researched during his long career the theoretical basis of weather prediction by studying the behavior of dynamical systems. He developed what is know as “chaos theory”.  

Although I don’t understand the complex mathematics of the theory, the core principle is that prediction is tricky if not impossible. The butterfly effect is a metaphor describing the theory in which a butterfly flaps its wings in India. The tiny change in air pressure of those wings causes a tornado in Iowa. A key prinicple is that everything is connected. A small action by a seemingly powerless creature can start something that will have a huge impact.

(Lorenz coined the term “butterfly effect” to demonstrate the idea that small changes can have large consequences. Lorenz originally used a seagull causing a storm but was persuaded to make it more poetic with the use of a butterfly and tornado .)

I used the lanterns floating away to represent our seemingly unsolvable problems and the possibility of seeminly small unconnected actions bringing solutions in the future. The child featured represents that future. He’s my grandson and I believe that his future will be bright.

This is a complex piece with layers of meaning that started with a call for entry five years ago and a memory from childhood. 

Until next time..
Margaret