If you follow my work, you are probably most familiar with my public art. And public art does make up the bulk of my work. There are times though, when there is absolutely nothing better than being in my studio, or on a beach, or a mountainside, making art all for myself. When I work on a public art project, I do my best to facilitate other peoples’ ideas and to set mine aside. When I work on my own personal art, it’s just the canvas and me.

Of course, it’s never really just me.

Receive

Bathe in moonlight
at the river’s edge.
A light pulses within

There used to be this idea that artists had a muse, a genius, which brought them their ideas and helped them with their work. Today, we call the artist the genius, which can be a lot of pressure. It can also make our egos really big! Elizabeth Gilbert talks about this in her book “Big Magic”, which I highly recommend, and this Ted Talk.

For me, I give credit for much of my creative work to the Universe. ‘Uni’ translates as one and ‘verse’ means song, so universe literally translates into the ‘one song’. I love that. And so I try to play my part of the song in as much harmony with the Universe as I can. We are co-creators. Therefore, if I make an amazing piece of art, great! Thanks Universe! And if my art sucks, well, it wasn’t all my doing. Thanks universe.

I digress.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I had an amazing opportunity to co-create and facilitate The Chrysalis Project: Transforming Together, a collaborative Art in Action Project. Shortly thereafter I was invited to paint a mural as part of Olympia’s Artists on Board program. I still had butterflies and transformation in my soul, so I designed and painted the Chrysalis Mural Project with Heidi Zharghami. Even after that, butterflies and chrysalides, transformation really, felt present. So I began a studio painting series, The Chrysalis Series.

Unfurl

Begin to open – extend
the wings of your being
as slow as the sunrise. Be
patient

For this series, I found a fun way to bridge my participatory art and my personal art. I crafted a pair of monarch butterfly wings and invited a few friends to participate. One by one, I led them through a meditation, exploring the transformation that happens when a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. I then interviewed them about what came up during the mediation and photographed them wearing the monarch wings in nature.

I began painting the series by playing off of these initial photographs and interviews of my friends’ experiences of Transformation. Then, I followed my creativity and curiosity, augmenting reality with complete creative license. It was a really fun process and I love the results almost as much as I love the process.

The collaboration of ‘The Chrysalis Series’ is far from over. I shared my initial paintings with 2 writer friends, Jennifer Johnson and Kathleen Byrd, both of whom were also muses for my paintings. They wrote and shared back poetry, interspersed in this article, that brings an entire new element into the work. I love this back and forth: inspire and be inspired and inspire again, adding, changing, creating something more than we could on our own.

In many ways, life feels like too much right now. We’re in the midst of multiple crises: a climate crisis, a pandemic, a racial reckoning, a political and moral battleground, an economic crisis. On top of all of that, many of us have our own personal crises, sometimes related to the previous crises, sometimes in addition to them. It is hard. It is scary. It is frustrating. It is overwhelming.

Solace

Time to fold, a gentle
nod to your breast; Protection is
a rhythm. Let your wisdom guide you

We are all going through more than we imagined. We really are in the Chrysalis of Humanity, choosing what we will be when we reemerge from our chrysalides. Melting down into Imaginal Cells, the primordial goo that a caterpillar dissolves into before rearranging itself into a butterfly, can be painful and frightening. We don’t know what comes next. There is incredible uncertainty. But we can’t stay in this state forever. We will never fly unless we allow ourselves to fully go through this process.

Inside of the darkness, we
Awaken to a new world.
Surrender to the transformation occurring, inside and out.
Complete the current cycle.
No judgment, it created the fertile compost for growth and change.
It is Just over. Done. Complete.
Awaken to the new world.
Created through women, defending and honoring the wild and real.
Awaken or be done. Complete.
Back to the womb.

~Jennifer Johnson
Writer, Model, and Muse for “The Chrysalis Series”

Making art helps to move me through the process; to get me unstuck. I love those moments in my studio where I’m following my curiosity, completely in the moment, with no judgment. I step back and… Wow! I created something beautiful!

When I shared these paintings with Jen and Kathleen, I let them go. They became something new and different in their eyes. They each have their own experiences with the art. From their hearts, words came forth, became part of the magic of co-creation, in complete harmony with the One Song.

Alight

Stand in full strength.
Lift with earth energy
to the sky that is the sun
in communion with the
moon. Light the way —

As we release the paintings and poems further into the world, they change again and again in the eyes and hearts that behold them. As we follow our hearts through each moment, we contribute to the symphony of the One Song.

As you take in these images and words, what does your heart tell you?

The above poems Receive, Unfurl, Solace, and Alight were written by poet and muse for the Chrysalis Series, Kathleen Byrd.