Take Flight — Hinged Butterfly

The Story

The artist keeps a bin of reclaimed hardware — hinges, handles, hooks, brackets — collected from salvage yards, garage sales, and thrift stores. The first time she saw a beautiful old hinge, she knew it must transform into a butterfly. The warm, varied patina of this hinge catalogs a lifetime of stories. Beauty exists in the contrast of the rust and layers of paint on the hinge’s body vs the luminescence and newness that the glass reflects. Not completely old nor new, this butterfly carries volumes of tales; the stories of the past, a transformation, and a new life.

The glass has its own history. Purchased in a lot from an estate, the artist discovered coveted fragments of Fremont and bright pink striker glass, both very valuable. The Fremont multi is sought after and difficult to make. This glass is painstakingly mouth blown and then flattened into a sheet through a very labor intensive process. Change is intense and very difficult. Lotus knew that this glass was exactly what the butterfly needed— a symbol of metamorphosis.

The base is interesting as well. A found item in a small salvage store, the artist had no idea what it was. She saw its beauty though and knew it would serve a future purpose, so she grabbed it for later inspiration. During the butterfly build another maker, while helping weld, suggested that it needed something spring-like to mount to. This coil immediately came to mind and was exactly what was needed to give this new creature flight. Interestingly enough, a third maker has speculated that it is an old soldering gun holder which would bring the tool full circle back into the metal shop — taking flight from tool to art.