Nearly 45 years ago, Edward Lorenz, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology meteorology professor posed a question: “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” This idea became the basis for a branch of mathematics known as chaos theory.

The concept referred to as the butterfly effect has been embraced by popular culture, where the term is often used to emphasize the significance of small occurrences.

i learned about chaos theory embodied in "The Butterfly Effect" as a young artist. It has stayed with me in every work. Every brushstroke evaporates that which was beneath it just seconds ago. Did that brushstroke improve the piece or no? If so, how will it be recognized? How will that affect children, their ideas, their thoughts, their actions. And how will that translate in to the wider community, nation, world. It takes years for the outcome to manifest but each brushstroke matters and I believe, makes a difference. Those differences may be imperceptible but it matters...we just don't know exactly how b/c we will never know how the universe would have changed if the brushwork had been applied with a different color?

After the cloudy sky blue was painted in, I stuck pieces of deconstructed oil paintings that I had cut up directly on to the canvas. The pieces adhered as the oil paint dried. I have used these small rectangular pieces in a few other works. I chose the colorful pieces to represent the butterflies.

Photographed by Jay Daniel, Black Cat Studio, Novato, CA

Exhibited at: Marin MOCA, Novato, CA, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA and Fulton Crossing Gallery, Fulton (Santa Rosa), CA