Description
As its name implies, this mixed media box is made from milkweed seeds, beeswax, a balsa wood ladder covered in beeswax, and a cardboard box covered in beeswax.
I love the golden silky color of the milkweed seed, and it delights me to think I have a ready supply of seed for the plants which are food for the magic monarch butterfly!
Female monarch butterflies lay their eggs on the sprouted milkweed plant. The eggs hatch into tiny, black, yellow and white larvae. These caterpillars eat only milkweed, and they grow to 2,700 times their original size in only two weeks, molting five times in the process. After a hibernation in the pupae stage, within a chrysalis, the new-born orange and black Monarch emerges, its bright markings a warning to all predators. The milkweed upon which the Monarch has fed contains white latex, which is both acidic and poisonous to many animals, so the Monarch butterfly is toxic and awful-tasting to many predators, having absorbed the white latex into its own body as it grows.
Esoterically, this box represents the food the psyche needs to grow, to transform itself from an unlovely pest, the egoistic self, symbolized by the caterpillar, into the radiant glory of the Higher Self, symbolized by the monarch butterfly. This evolutionary process is symbolized by the ladder on the box, which represents material creation in a process of self-transcendence.
You can see the shot on this page of a group of these mixed media wax shadow boxes and icons. They look good either one at a time or in a group like this.
Contact me if you're interested in purchasing a selection of these pieces. I'm happy to discuss it and make an arrangement suitable to your needs.
Read more about my work in my artist statement, Creating Spiritual Art for the New Millenium and resume.
