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Monarch butterflies and alligators exemplify interdependence and connectivity in nature. This artwork is inspired by the Monarch, the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration. The Monarch Butterfly migrates following plants coming into bloom from north to south in the fall, and returning in the spring, connecting the open prairies of USA and Canada with the mountains of Central Mexico.
The interdependence of the Monarch butterfly and the Milkweed flowers they follow across the continent is so strong that one would not survive without the other, ultimately creating a figurative allegory for human relationships.
“Monarch-summer metamorphosis”. Sotoneware, underglazes, terra sigillata and washes. 12x10x10 inches.
For thousands of years the people living in central mountains of Mexico have believed these butterflies are the wandering spirits of the dead.
During the spring the butterflies keep within the Alligator’s distribution range, and there have been reports of butterflies sipping on crocodile tears to get sodium and other minerals, a behavior known as lachryphagy, which literally means “tear-feeding”, a magical moment captured in my imagination.
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