Winged Life
Eternity by William Blake.
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy
He who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
Winged Life is a human-sized sculpture of a monarch butterfly in a resting position with its wings pulled back. This is not a flying a butterfly, but rather one that warms itself in the morning sun before taking off to its next destination, getting ready to take flight after feeding, nurturing, and resting. Winged Life symbolizes a moment in life when you need to let go of what was, spread your wings, and take off to a new adventure.
The inspiration of the sculpture came to Katy while helping to install another sculpture, Ethyl by Joel Dean & Yustina Slanikov. Ethyl is a life-sized sculpture of an endangered blue whale covered entirely of tiles made from recycled plastic; created to bring attention to plastic pollution in the ocean. At the celebration of the installation, there was a discussion about the crisis that is happening to Mother Earth. Someone stated that it was the job of artists to save the animals and creatures, pollinators like bees, bats, and butterflies. Katy was immediately struck with the image of a monarch butterfly, something that has held a very special place in her heart. When she was a little girl, her father took her to see their migration. It was a magical experience. She had never seen so many butterflies before. They were so bunched together they looked like leaves on a tree, but they were butterflies. Thousands and thousands of orange butterflies. It was one of those childhood moments of pure joy and overwhelming connection to the greater world.
The whale made the plastic pollution of the ocean into something tangible that you could see and feel. By making a monarch human size, Katy intends to make the plight of the pollinators tangible in a new way. The opportunity to feel, touch and experience the anatomy of a butterfly on a personal scale, something so small and fast moving it is rarely experienced beyond a tiny beautiful passing visual. Winged Life will be used to educate and inspire. Safeguarding pollinators is one of the easiest, most accessible ways to make a difference to our environment. The monarch butterfly is one of the most well known butterflies in North America. It has recently suffered serious population declines, and we are at serious risk of losing this creature forever.
In addition to her regular crew of builders and doers, Katy has teamed up with engineer and mechanical kinetics expert Matt Davis to create the complex movements of a butterfly’s wings. He is responsible for the design of projects of enormous scale, such as the 1,250 square ft expanding screen for U2’s 360° world tour and the 72 ft retractable arch for the 2002 Winter Olympic Medal Ceremonies. Katy worked with Matt when he designed the breathing of R-Evolution by Marco Cochrane in 2015. He has since done his own project for Burning Man and helped with the engineering and movement of other playa projects. What an honor to have such a big talent help bring this project to fruition.