Metamorphic – image 2 from the series Pictures of 1000 Words: Abstractions of Ancient Wisdom
Metamorphic, along with the other 6 images in the series, has been installed into its official location for ArtPrize 2014 at the First United Methodist Church, at 227 East Fulton Street, Grand Rapids, MI. This photo of it was taken right after it was framed, while it was still in the shop. Thank you, Mr. Lane Elmer 🙂
Metamorphic is the second image in the series entitled “Pictures of 1000 Words: Abstractions of Ancient Wisdom”. It was created using the text from Proverbs 18:1 – Proverbs 21:24.
The subject matter of each image in this series is inspired by some aspect relating to design.
The theme of this second image, entitled Metamorphic, is bio-developmental design. A butterfly perched on a flower searches for nectar in this image. A three-stage existence from caterpillar through chrysalis to butterfly makes the butterfly truly a marvel of bio-engineering!
The life-cycle of the Butterfly takes it through two distinctly unique physical forms – the caterpillar and the butterfly. In its juvenile form, the caterpillar crawls around and eats plants with jaws that are designed for chewing. The transition between caterpillar to butterfly takes place during a chrysalis stage, during which its entire physical composition undergoes a dramatic and complete transformation. What emerges from the cocoon spun by the juvenile caterpillar looks nothing like a caterpillar. It looks like an entirely different creature, but in fact, it is merely the adult form of that very same caterpillar. As a butterfly, it is equipped with wings and a long straw-like mouth designed to consume liquid food only. Instead of crawling, its primary means of locomotion is flying, and of course, only as the adult form of the butterfly is it able to lay the eggs that will hatch into the next generation of caterpillars. The fact that the transition through the chrysalis stage is a one-way trip with no second chances is even more amazing than the fact that the fully-functional forms of caterpillar and butterfly are uniquely designed with completely different methods of locomotion and feeding. If the exhaustive overhaul of its physical body is not perfectly realized, the caterpillar would never emerge in the adult form required to lay the eggs for the next generation. In other words, for any unfortunate caterpillar that does not hatch from its egg with a fully-developed genetic blueprint for both caterpillar and butterfly stages, as well as the perfected genetic instructions for the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly, it would be the end of the line. The life cycle of the Butterfly is truly an exquisite masterpiece of biological design!