Imaginal Discs

Learning from Hungry Caterpillars, Transformation, and Metamorphosis

It is caterpillar season here.

I find tiny eggs and newly hatched caterpillars on my milkweed plants, and they quickly grow into fat full caterpillars. In between there are many milkweed plants munched and lots of frass (caterpillar poop).

A few months ago, I heard a reference to the caterpillar’s process of transformation on a podcast. The speakers referred to imaginal discs or imaginal cells, cells that are part of the caterpillar all through the process of transformation. The speakers used this as a metaphor for change and transformation, for the way something small might be part of a larger being through several stages before becoming fully realized in a final transformation.

You can read more about the science here:

Scientific American “How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly?”

Wikipedia Imaginal Disc Article

I appreciate the metaphor offered by this detail of the process of metamorphosis.

I’ve also been reflecting on how metaphor and metamorphosis both focus on change and transformation.

I wonder how this happens in our own lives and creativity too. Are there tiny cells that are part of us from the very beginning but wait patiently for the right time to be fully realized?

If you reflect on interests from your childhood, do you notice interests, hobbies, or passions that remain with you through different stages? How do they express themselves in different stages of your life?

My most recent wood block print series focuses on stages of monarch metamorphosis. I depict stages of what is seen on the outside as this mysterious process happens on the inside. I welcome you to live with this question posed by the metaphor of imaginal discs too.

In my own process I feel most like the caterpillar in the chrysalis right now, taking an intentional pause and leaning into slowness for the month of August. I feel more inwardly focused in this season. I still have a few queries out about my book; things are slower in summer so I don’t plan to send out more this month.

I’m treating August as a time to lean into presence and celebrate connection, make time for observation and wonder, and to welcome slowness.

Thank you for all who have written and shared your thoughts with me from my creative questions newsletter in April. I continue to welcome additional thoughts and reflections. You can find the questions here.

And thank you for reading, sharing, and being part of creative community through this newsletter.

With a grateful heart,

Kathryn

Upcoming Events:

On Thursday, August 20, I will have an artist talk and reception at Shirlington Library to share my Mother Trees series that is on display there throughout the summer.

Learn more about the event and register on the library website. The exhibit is up just inside the entrance to Shirlington Library through the month of August. Visit the Shirlington Library website for their hours.

Here is a story in Zebra Press about my Mother Trees Exhibit:

Kathryn Coneway’s Mother Trees Exhibit at Shirlington Library

This is a lovely follow-up to a 2020 article in Zebra Press about an earlier iteration of this work during the pandemic:

Local Artist Transforms Her Exhibit Work Into Street Art

Many thanks to Susan Mulligan Fleischman for both of these articles.

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September 4-25, I will be part of the 9th Teeny Tiny Trifecta at Second Street Galleryin Charlottesville, Virginia. Three of my woodblock print octopuses will join this fun show featuring a gallery full of art, all of it with 8-inch outer dimensions. I participated in 2023 and it was a fun exhibit.

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