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Red Cluster
Paper, encaustic
14” x 8” x 5”
2013
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Amber Bronze Cluster
Paper, encaustic
12” x 7” x 5”
2013
The story is told of a man who was walking through a forest when he came upon
a butterfly freeing itself from its cocoon. The man watched the butterfly struggle
and fight to get its entire body through a small hole in the cocoon. The butterfly
struggled and struggled, the man watched in fascination. Then the butterfly
stopped struggling. The man grew concerned. After waiting awhile with no
movement from the butterfly, the man got out his pocket knife and cut the hole
in the cocoon making it bigger. The butterfly slid out of the cocoon onto the
ground.
But what the man didn’t know was that in order for a butterfly to have strong
wings and a solid body it needs to struggle and fight its way out of the cocoon. It
needs to slowly and gradually squeeze through the small hole in the cocoon
because that process transforms its body. Squeezing through the hole in the
cocoon squeezes all the fluids from the body into the wings making them solid
and strong and creates a strong body. But something wasn’t right with the
butterfly. Its wings were limp and its body was mushy and weak. The butterfly
spent the rest of its life crawling. It never was able to fly. It needed the strength of
its struggle to soar.
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