Milkweed Peekaboo - Another piece in the current show at my gallery.
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Another piece currently in my gallery, this one I'm always shocked hasn't found a home yet. I mean, I feel that way about a lot of the work I show here, but I get that it's not easy for most people to invest in original art. It's also such a personal connection to make. I'm pretty biased towards most of what comes here, but I too do not have the means or the space for everything.
This one actually does live in our home normally, though. Part of the package of living with artists is you get to enjoy their work for extended periods. Almost like a free rental system. Lol. It works out for me.
ABOUT it. Mikey, before we met, lived for a while in Wiarton. He was then and is now an actor, but when SARS hit Toronto that first time, the industry dried up immediately. Like a worm in the sun. He was forced to leave his apartment and ride out a couple years with family. In the meantime, he got a job working with nature, another of his passions. Just a short drive away from Wiarton in Red Bay, a farm called Earthbound Gardens.
Earthbound Gardens is most famous for its internationally renowned daylily selection, it being home to the former mayor of Wiarton, and rumours of swinger parties. It's also a registered Waystation for the Monarch Butterfly migration path through Ontario.
One of Mikey's jobs on the farm was to oversee the care of the milkweed crop for these butterflies. Captured above is a shot of two caterpillars nearly ready to ensconce themselves inside their chrysales to await transformation. He says, within an hour of the photo being taken, the leaf they shared was entirely consumed.
For the frame, he took great care to emulate the striped pattern of the caterpillars. From the white matting to the yellow-tan of the wood (stained with turmeric and walnut) to the black exterior, the frame of this piece encapsulates the caterpillars just as they would soon be to do from that moment.
The bark inlay used up the very last of Mikey's bark materials at the time of this project, right down to the satisfying millimeter, leaving nothing to waste, which is something he holds in great importance.
I got a little TikTok of him talking about it if you want to hear the artist directly. :)
https://www.tiktok.com/@gallery.222/video/7361836121384406277?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7361878102634759685
As well, if you like what we do, and you just want to support us a little teensy tiny bit, we are more than happy to accept donations through Ko-fi. These I split with the artist half and half at time of donation.