I have titled this set of three articles “One Thousand Butterflies” for two reasons. One is the wing-flap-typhoon-theory. The other is a wing-flap-before-our-eyes theory. If a butterfly flaps its’ wings on the opposite side of the planet, does the pushed air create a typhoon on our side of the planet? Or perhaps a wing flutters before our eyes and creates an even more profound affect than a typhoon. That depends on what we are measuring: we recognize beauty. But beauty has different angles, and we all use different lenses.
When I was in my twenties, I would alter small details to prove I could change. I believed that minute, consistent change was part of the key to a happy life as change is a form of freedom. Andy Warhol is famous for saying, “They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourselves.”
I love to challenge myself to make small changes. The practice reminds me that change is achievable. Movement forward is best accomplished in modest increments, like a simple wing flap.
Some people strive for a legacy. Some strive for security. You can accomplish both at the same time. For most artists who dedicate their life to art, as I have, the financial picture is more of a “squat pair.” The ability to sell your art is slim in the early years, but it progresses over time. The notion that things take a long time to happen, and then they happen all at once, is a part of the cosmic condition. All one must do is consider how far human invention has travelled in the last two hundred years, considering that humans have inhabited this planet for some two million years.
So, there you have it. Humans have been evolving in increments for a long time. An artist must do the same. And make no mistake, most of us in the total home and gift wholesale and retail category are artists in some form or fashion. Artists are change agents.
I used to write the number “two” with the loop. In 1994, I started writing number two in the way a typewriter would strike the key. Why? To prove I could. Yes, I am odd. I was in my middle twenties and moving rapidly towards a life-long artist career. Risky? Life is risky. If we do not change with intent through time, our purpose might pass us in the slow lane. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
The images below are of the same piece of art. One change affects the entire feel of the piece: I attached a small yellow butterfly to one of the images.
My mom passed away from Pancreatic Cancer in 2016; she was seventy. Ugh. Pancreatic cancer is the death knell. As my mother traveled through the process of passing on, she said, “If you see a yellow butterfly, that is me checking in on you.” I so love the feeling I sense when I see a yellow butterfly. My studio garden is a perfect sanctuary for butterflies, birds, squirrels, and flowers. Fate of fabrication? Does it matter?
The set of yellow butterfly wings that I attached to one of the paintings is a small increment of change. However, the eye is eventually drawn to the set of delicate yellow wings. It did not change the piece much; however, imagine that this piece is in the entryway of the home. A home where children are raised daily: school, play, dinners, scary movies at Halloween, backyard camping, repeat. That little set of yellow butterfly wings makes a big difference in the lives of humans who walk by the entryway thousands and thousands of times over ten to fifteen years. Choose wisely. Select with intent the small details that make such a difference in our lives. You do not need one thousand butterflies, just one set of “yellow wings.”
Let us stop here for now. I wanted to continue the “change conversation” from objects to art. I wanted to step into the inevitability of change as part of the human circumstance, and I feel we have done that. I look forward to seeing each of you in a few weeks for the third installment of Design Moonshine’s “One Thousand Butterflies 3/3,” in which we nudge the concept of change and design evolution just a bit further. Do I dare consider “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE?” Yes, the final article of “One Thousand Butterflies” regarding change will contemplate the inevitability of AI as a change agent in our industry.
