How can a single moment of inspiration ripple out to create waves of change across the globe? As I reflect on my recent trip to Aotearoa, New Zealand, this single question winds through my ramblings, landing me at, not the beginning, but a beginning.

In the year 2020, amidst a global backdrop of uncertainty, I initiated The Chrysalis Project: Transforming Together. This project not only catalyzed personal and communal growth but also played a pivotal role in the passage of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan.

Fast forward to September 2024, this journey of metamorphosis took me to Aotearoa, New Zealand, for the International Teaching Artist Collaborative Conference (ITAC7). Alongside the incredible Pat Cruz, of TEACH-Arts we introduced a new iteration of The Chrysalis Project through a workshop aptly titled "From Imaginal Cell to Cultural Metamorphosis: Experiential Collaborative Art Making to Foster International Partnerships for Global Change." This workshop was not merely an event but a launchpad for turning a local endeavor into a global movement.

Crafting a Global Vision Through Art

During the workshop, participants delved into the themes of potential and transformation. We split into groups, each tasked with visually and conceptually representing stages of metamorphosis. One group sculpted a wire chrysalis, symbolizing both confinement and potential. Another group crafted a wire Monarch butterfly, destined to be a gift for our hosts, embodying gratitude and the interconnectedness of our communities. Meanwhile, others formed 'Imaginal Cells'—creative expressions that held personal and collective hopes for transformation. Together, we imagined how this offering might migrate through the world, from community to community and country to country, inspiring the creation of more imaginal cells at every stop.

A Symphony of Cultures and Commitments

As the conference unfolded, these imaginal cells became living declarations of our commitments to step into our power and effect change. In a spontaneously choreographed performance, the Monarch butterfly emerged from its chrysalis as Pat danced. This performance was underscored by the rhythmic beats of Indigeneous artist and activist Chantal Stormsong Chagnon, while I recounted the metamorphosis that takes place inside of a chrysalis, linking this to our own societal transformation and calling on attendees to join us in this movement. In total, it symbolized our shared journey from confinement to expansive possibility.

Setting Intentions into Motion

A core element of the installation is a fabric Monarch that I painted during the height of the pandemic in 2020, in my studio, with my child sprawled across my lap while we both dripped with sweat in the heat. Those wings were worn by many friends, whom I photographed and painted as part of my ongoing studio painting series, The Chrysalis Series. They hold deep meaning for me.

On the final day of ITAC7, we glued the participant created imaginal cells to the fabric Monarch, showcasing our collective artwork to the world. We then entrusted this butterfly to conference presenter and participant, Priya Gain. Priya is an arts educator and early career researcher in the field of aesthetic inquiry and settler-indigenous relational engagement in Aotearoa New Zealand. I can’t wait to work with Priya and others, and see how their imaginations transform this project.

Passing on the butterfly symbolizes the ongoing journey of our collaborative efforts as the project takes flight internationally. It was both difficult and liberating to set those wings free, to set them on a journey around the world—a tangible representation of my willingness to relinquish control and let go. They may come back to me one day, completely changed.

Reflections from a Changed Perspective

In the same way, I return home from New Zealand changed. After the conference I traveled around the South Island with Pat and another friend in a camper van named Dora. We had an incredible experience exploring Fjordlands National Park by boat amidst torrential downpours. While laughing and dancing and singing and dripping from head to toe on that boat, I witnessed a place from a dream—a dream that I had in 2005 while living and working in Alaska.

I recalled this dream just a few days earlier, in the final workshop I attended at ITAC7. In this workshop, through movement, art, and writing, I was asked to explore a moment in my life that changed me. What arose was the life-changing moment where I understood the power of collaborative art at a cellular level. This understanding, which transpired after the completion of The Plastic Whale Project in 2013, broke through many of my limiting beliefs like a damn giving way. As I moved and drew, reflecting on this moment, I was filled with gratitude of the life I get to lead today, that I get to be an artist, and I remembered the dream I had while in Homer, Alaska.

In the dream I stood on a cliff wall next to the ocean. As I stood there a massive whale, in a massive wave, came straight at me. I was sure I was about to die. Instead, the whale and the ocean wrapped me in the gentlest of all-encompassing hugs imaginable, then retreated, leaving me in awe.

While on this boat on the other side of the world—singing a song of self-worth and power to the waves and the rain—I saw the cliff face from my dream, the black rock with the ledge, waves crashing onto it. It felt so completely right. So full circle. I could feel how even when I had that dream in 2005, when I was in a very unhealthy place in life, the universe was holding me, calling me forward, saying “I’ve got you”, with a hug from a whale and a wave. Somehow this led me to The Plastic Whale Project, which opened the door for me to do the healing work I needed to do in order to be the person I am today.

A Continuous Journey of Discovery

Two days after that very wet boat trip I climbed Isthmus Peak—three and a half hours one way, nearly 5 miles and 4,000 ft elevation gain, surrounded by the most incredible mountain views I could imagine—on my own. I climbed and climbed, higher and higher, hiking through snow and slush that once again soaked my feet through and through. When I set out, I didn’t expect to reach the top, but little by little I did and was rewarded with a panoramic view, water on three side and mountains beyond mountains beyond mountains, blowing my heart wide open.

As I descended, I sang “I believe in being Ready”, by Rising Appalachia and just breathed, allowing myself to process the previous 2 weeks. I could feel the energy building inside of me with a question—a question I couldn’t ignore, even though I am as of yet uncertain what that question is. What I do know is the answer—Yes. A big, beautiful, bold, scary Yes! to whatever comes next. My spirit made this shift in that moment, on that mountain. After three weeks back in my own home, sinking into Fall, my emotions seem to have caught up. It may take a while yet for my body to get there, and even longer until my mind unwraps exactly what this Yes is for. Until then, I will continue to do my work, to show up as best I can, to rest and nourish my body, and be patience. It will all unfold in its own time, just as a butterfly knows when to emerge from its chrysalis.

Empowerment Through Art

Like this article, inner and outer change often meanders like a river, starting from a single drop, that coalesces into a rivulet, then a stream, joining with others in a way that, over time, has an unstoppable power that can shape mountains.

I will leave you with words an artist shared at the end of our From Imaginal Cells to Cultural Metamorphosis workshop in Aotearoa. This artist, a woman in the latter years of life said, “For the first time, I no longer feel small.” And I wonder. How might this new understanding take root inside of her and grow into something that changes not only her own inner landscape, but shapes the world around her?

What does your heart tell you? Leave it in the comments or drop me an email. I’d love to hear from your heart.

Until then, stay curious, creative, and courageous.

~Carrie

PS Interested in hosting and/or adding onto this project? Drop me a line!