5 minute read
BUTTERFLY EFFECT
from 405 HOME Fall 2021
by 405 Magazine
This wall installation, called “...Even in your Dreams,” was commissioned for a bedroom in Wayzata, Minnesota.
The Butterfly Effect
BY ADI MCCASLAND PHOTOS BY RACHEL MAUCIERI
AS METEOROLOGY PROFESSOR Edward Lorenz developed the idea that tiny changes can make big differences, he began calling it “the butterfly effect”—symbolized by something as subtle as a wing flutter in Brazil causing a ripple that sets off a tornado in Texas. Butterflies may or may not affect our weather, but they can affect our mood … and perhaps no one appreciates this more than metal artist Christie Hackler.
Non-linear Flight
Hackler’s father was a writer and designer, and her mother was a portrait artist and oil map draftsman. Creativity wasn’t forced upon her; it’s simply in her blood. To deny the arts would be to deny her spirit, and Hackler is nothing if not true to herself.
In the mid-’80s, she was engaged to her high school sweetheart—a fairytale-like engagement that ended just five days before she met her current husband of 32 years. She fell madly in love with him, and more than three decades and four children later, he still knows to bring her tumbleweeds instead of flowers.
“There is something metaphorical, something spiritual about them,” Hackler said. “The tumbleweeds are gloriously alive, and then they die, break off and go on the road. They’re dead, but still feel very alive, much like a memory.”
Motherhood came quickly for Hackler, and it would be many years before she returned to school. Even through the frenzy of raising a band of littles, she continued to flex her creative muscles by way of murals, pottery and baking. However, none of those outlets seemed to satisfy.
Metamorphosis
Craving a more involved endeavor in the arts, she enrolled in the University of Central Oklahoma’s ceramics program—an ambition that lasted only until later that day, when she met the metals teacher, Charleen Weidell. Weidell offered an explorative approach to learning, giving Hackler enough guidance to keep her safe while not stifling her. Art is subjective, after all, with very little right or wrong. Understanding that, in and of itself, is a masterful form of art and this “try it” technique fosters master artists.
In 2010, Hackler earned her metalsmithing degree. This was 14 years after the devastating loss of her six-year-old son, Thomas. When asked about Thomas, Hackler simply says that the tragedy has long been processed. It is both polite and clear: She neither needs nor wants sympathy. She has had her fill. She has moved past the pain, and she is undeniably devoted to focusing on the happy.
That’s when the butterflies emerged.
If you ask Hackler about her rise as an artist, she will tell you that success is in your own mind—that if you feel successful, you are successful. If you ask anyone else in her orbit, they would probably say it was March 2015, when she had her first solo show at The Project Box in Oklahoma City’s Paseo Arts District.
In the 16 months before that, Hackler and her husband, Jim, lost both of his parents, his brother and her father. While she was busy navigating the logistics of death, the show was sneaking up on her.
“Whatever I make,” she told herself, “it’s going to be all about happiness.”
She recalled a snapshot in time from nearly two decades prior. Hackler was driving her sons, six-year-old Thomas and oneyear-old Chris, home from school, and they found themselves suddenly enveloped in a kaleidoscope of migrating Monarchs. It was spontaneous, fleeting—and it was happy.
Artful Migration
At Hackler’s first solo exhibit, The Project Box was lined in skyblue panels, decorated with 300 meticulously welded, enameled, polished butterflies. Hackler worked nearly 400 hours on the installation and titled it “Forgive: A Migratory Experiment.”
“I realized that I needed to forgive the world for what happened to me,” Hackler explained. “There was no one to blame, but I needed to forgive the situation, to move on, to find happy.”
In April 2016, Hackler installed “Embark: A Migratory Experiment,” also at The Project Box—a display of the ubiquitous orange butterflies that flit on and off the rocks, symbolizing that we are all together, moving on a journey. In August 2018 at JRB Art at the Elms, she installed “Immortal: A Migratory Experiment,” an exploration of immortality and reality.
“These [installations] are metaphors of migrating out of grief and into peace and happiness,” Hackler said.
“A Migratory Experiment” is a concept with no clear point of culmination. Hackler will tell you that she is not special in this. “Loss is unavoidable and widely experienced,” she said, “and understanding that, I’m trying to make people feel less alone in it.” Her purpose is to evoke a sense of wonder and foster a sense of interconnectedness, and the kaleidoscope is ever-growing.
Though each of these installations was temporary, her mission is not. In this ongoing pursuit of propinquity, Hackler has made more than 2,000 butterflies, and names them after real children who are no longer earth-side. If you ask her about them, she will offer sweet details about both the butterfly and the person, all with a curious ability to meet your eyes, holding a peaceful gaze even while trudging through heartbreaking detail. This, too, is an art. Each child has a story, and each butterfly helps that story live on. It’s nuanced. It’s tender. It’s a perpetuation of happy.
It’s the butterfly effect.
TOP: Christie Hackler torches a tool to twist and shape metal artwork in her workshop. MIDDLE: Hackler’s hand-drawn butterflies are cut by PremierCraft, a local metal company, by the thousands. BOTTOM: “Resting Ground” is a life-sized bronze tumbleweed with 125 enameled steel butterflies.
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