Mike MacDonald’s video installation “Touched By The Tears of a Butterfly” is the fourth in
a series of installations this artist has produced over the past ten years.
As with the other three, this work is a simple and direct presentation in the
passive defence of ecologies. Unlike the other three, this installation utilizes a single
video image, thus transforming the grid which marked the earlier work, as well as employing the
external elements in its realization.
“Touched By the Tears of a Butterfly” consists of seven rocking chairs, each a different colour
and placed before a silk scrim that flutters in the breeze of an air ionizer. The viewer is
invited to sit in one of the chairs to watch the fourteen minute video of a butterfly emerging
from a chrysalis and preparing to fly. Following are images of different butterflies feeding.
There are several images which can be said to be archetypal in their portrayal of transformation
or metamorphosis. An egg hatching, a flower blossoming, a butterfly emerging from a pupae are
symbols so concrete they cease to be metaphors. That MacDonald has begun to use this images
should have been predictable when one considers the simplicity of his project.
MacDonald’s career is noted for his use of technology to bring into focus areas seemingly
at odds with the technologies he employs.
These works in installation can be seen as a passionate voice in defence of the environment.
They don't give directions or chastise the viewer. It is as if their passion is used up
in their construction. There is nothing left for reprimands.
MacDonald utilizes his technologies in ways that are at odds with his message. The thirty-second
timing of the shots in the earlier grid works
(“Electronic Totem” 1987, “Seven Sisters” 1989, and “Secret Flowers” 1993) are reminiscent of
the TV commercial. The grid itself in “Secret Flowers” seems at odds with the floral cornucopia
that is the focus of the work.
In some ways “Touched By The Tears of a Butterfly” grapples with these dichotomies and in others
furthers them. The seven rocking chairs MacDonald picked up in antique shops along the
St. Lawrence River are painted the seven colours of the video colour bar. The colours at once
reveal the artist’s palette and function like his earlier grids. The length of the image itself
is not that of TV commercial but determined by the subject of the shot.
But the chairs provide an oddly human touch. Each asserts its own personality accented by the
bright colours. Together they provide a homespun feel; a funkiness and a sense of joy.
The small human scale of the video image is suggestive of a living room rather than a cinema.
The images of the butterfly emerging and then a host of butterflies feasting on the nectar
of medicine plants are images of threatened species. The delicacy of their life cycle make
them canaries in our ecological mineshaft. The first to go in an environmental situation that
is worsening. MacDonald’s message is one of warning . . . and mourning for what is lost.
The result is strikingly familiar. The quiet ambient simplicity of the earlier work is
still present, yet a transformation takes place before our eyes. the simple beauty of these
few shots speaks directly to what has been lost, while the intrusion of the technology slips away
unnoticed. Mike MacDonald, in a process not unlike his subject, transcends the contradictions as
he issues quiet warnings of our peril.
| 2001 | Touched by the Tears of a Butterfly—The Photographers Gallery SK |
| 2000 | Video Installations—Sacred Circle Gallery, Seattle WA |
| Butterfly Gardens—Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg MB |
| Touched by the Tears of a Butterfly—St. Norbert Arts Centre, Winnipeg MB |
| 1999 | Butterfly Garden—Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton AB |
| Butterfly Garden—Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff AB |
| 1997 | Touched by the Tears of a Butterfly—Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa ON |
| Butterfly Quilt—Confederation Centre Gallery, Charlottetown NC |
| Digital Garden—Mount St. Vincent Gallery, Halifax NS |
| 1996 | Seven Sisters—Yukon Art Gallery, Whitehorse, YT |
| Touched by the Tears of a Butterfly—Grunt Gallery, Vancouver BC |
| 1994 | Secret Flowers & Seven Sisters—Sacred Circle Gallery, Seattle WA |
| 1993 | Secret Flowers & Other Works—Confederation Art Gallery, Charlottetown NC |
| Secret Flowers—Presentation House, North Vancouver BC |
| Secret Flowers—Oboro Gallery, Montréal PQ |
| 1992 | Electronic Totem—Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria BC |
| Seeing Red, Seeing Green—Pitt Gallery, Vancouver BC |
| 1991 | Seven Sisters—Mercer Union, Toronto ON |
| 1990 | Photo Collages—Grunt Gallery, Vancouver BC |
| 1989 | Plants & Totems—Terrace Art Gallery, Terrace BC |
| 1988 | Electronic Totem—Ksan Exhibition Centre, Hazelton BC |
| 1987 | Electronic Totem—Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC |
| 1984 | Electronic Totem—Video In, Vancouver BC |
| 2001 | Earthly Delights—Oakville Galleries, Oakville ON |
| Cime et Racines—St. Etienne des Gres PQ |
| Ten Little Indians—St. Norbert Arts Centre, Winnipeg MB |
| 2000 | Material Culture—Paris Gibson Museum, Grand Falls MT |
| Being on Time—Central Tech High School, Toronto ON |
| The View From Here—Museum of Northwest Art, LaConner WA |
| Crossing Over—McIntosh Gallery, London ON |
| 1999 | The View From Here—Fujinomina, Mt. Fuji, Japan |
| Framing Nature—Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton AB |
| 1998 | The View From Here—SeaFirst Gallery, Seattle WA |
| Home Base—Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops BC |
| Earthly Delights—Artspace, Peterborough ON |
| 1997 | Cyclic—Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris, France |
| Breaking Borders—St. Norbert Arts & Cultural Centre, Winnipeg MB |
| To Live & Die—Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC |
| Paysages Inter Site—Red Head Gallery, Toronto ON |
| Paysages Inter Site—Grunt Gallery, Vancouver BC |
| 1996 | Romance of the Land—Bellevue Art Museum, Seattle WA |
| Metissages—Optica, Montréal PQ |
| Beyond—A.K.A., Saskatoon SK |
| 1995 | Call of the Wild—Walter J. Phillips Gallery, Banff AB |
| It’s Time to Wear Our Blankets—Open Space, Victoria BC |
| Tea Party (Garden Project)—Presentation House, North Vancouver BC |
| Light Fantastic (Fringe Festival)—London, England |
| 1994 | These Are Your Instructions—Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon SK |
| Green the City—Halifax NS |
| Pe’l A’tukwey—New Brunswick Museum, St. John NB |
| Bath Fringe Festival—Bath, England |
| Images Festival—Toronto ON |
| Indigena—Windsor Art Gallery, Windsor ON |
| Pe’l A’tukwey—Des Brisay Museum, Bridgewater NS |
| Indigena—Heard Museum, Phoenix AZ |
| Pe’l A’tukwey—University College of Cape Breton, Sydney NS |
| Indigena—Glenbow Museum, Calgary AB |
| Pe’l A’tukwey—Eptek Exhibition Centre, Summerside PE |
| Pe’l A’tukwey—Beaverbrook Gallery, Fredricton NB |
| Viva Awards Show—Charles Scott Gallery, Vancouver BC |
| 1993 | Indigena—Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax NS |
| Pe’l A’tukwey—Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax NS |
| Indigena—Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg MB |
| Community Hall—Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff AB |
| Contemporary Canadian Native Art—Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops BC |
| Nomadis—Randolph St., Chicago IL |
| Contemporary Northwest Coast Art—Western Washington U. Gallery, Bellingham WA |
| Eh-toh simop—Muttart Gallery, Calgary AB |
| 1992 | Sacred?—Red Head, Toronto ON |
| New Territories—Montréal & Québec City PQ |
| Indigena—Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull PQ |
| Okanata—Woodlands Centre, Brantford ON |
| 1991 | Rat Art—A.V.E. Festival, Arnheim, Netherlands |
| Rat Art—7th Fringe Festival, Edinburgh UK |
| Rat Art—Northwest Film Festival, Portland OR |
| Rat Art—4th International Video Week, Geneva, Switzerland |
| Okanata—A Space, Toronto ON |
| Visions of Power—Leo Kamen, Toronto ON |
| 1990 | Spirit in the Land—Heritage Hall, Vancouver BC |
| Rat Art—Artropolis ’90, Vancouver BC |
| A Training in the Arts—Fine Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC |
| 1989 | Seven Sisters—Grierson Festival, Toronto ON |
| Beyond History—Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver BC |
| 1988 | Revisions—Walter J. Phillips Gallery, Banff AB |
| 1987 | Photo Collages—Kermodei Gallery, Hazelton BC |
