Artist Statement

An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail visits our garden and gives rise within me to thoughts of vulnerability, the nature of vulnerability, and a responsibility to protect the vulnerable. I consider the spiritual image of a shepherd protecting vulnerable sheep, and also the counterpart image of hungry predators seeking the most vulnerable. Such thoughts fuel a fire within, an anger at injustice, an anger at the harm that irresponsibility or negligence can cause.

Working in pyrography, I began feeling the fire between my fingertips, a fire which felt like channeling an ancient force, to burn images into wood. Meditating on contemporary  iconography, I located images which, when combined, suggest a narrative tension around stories of vulnerability, of claiming agency, of navigating a landscape where predators roam freely.

Individually, each work in this collection contains its own drama between the vulnerable, the predator, and those who might be or might become a shepherd. Collectively, Shepherding a Butterfly encourages a pilgrimage which explores the process of nurturing the innate shepherd to watch over, guide, protect, and care for a vulnerable butterfly within the heart’s garden.