LYNN — A studio at Galleries at LynnArts (GALA) is being covered from floor to ceiling in hundreds of multi-colored origami butterflies for Stefanie Timmermann’s debut exhibition, “Metamorphosis XX.”
Timmermann uses butterflies, which appear to be rising out of a dirty container, to symbolize rebirth and change, what she describes as an “earthier version of the phoenix out of the ashes.”
“The idea was to take all the negative moments that have amassed in 2019 and to make something beautiful come out of it,” said Timmermann.
She has been coming in every Tuesday to add butterflies to the exhibit, which remains a work in progress. She hopes she can continue working until February or March until there are more than 1,000.
“Making something beautiful isn’t something that is instantaneous,” she said, explaining why she chose to produce process art. “It’s something that you have to keep working at again and again and again.”
It originally took Timmermann about 10 minutes to fold a butterfly, but now she can make one in less than four minutes.
Timmerman says that the installation is not for sale, but instead intended for the community.
At some point, Timmermann intends to hand over her exhibit to others, allowing them to add work of a similar theme, making the exhibit a community effort.
“I’m feeling comfortable now to bring other people in and make this a cohesive and wonderful look,” she said.
This is Timmermann’s first major exhibit with GALA, where she began as a board member two months ago.
Timmermann began working as an artist full time in 2003. Prior to that she had worked as a scientist, trained in molecular biology.
“I’ve always been someone who was drawn to the arts, and it was always about choosing between science and art. I chose science for a while, but combining the two was not really that hard,” she said. “I like to be able to learn something when I do art. Anything I do now, I try to figure out how it works and why it works.”
She currently resides in Swampscott and is also a member of ReachArts, a local nonprofit.
GALA is planning a rebirth of its own, as it prepares for a life after COVID-19.
GALA recently released its list of themes for 2021 exhibitions, which include minimalism, nature, life experiences, pop art, and “unraveling time and space,” though it does not yet have a set timeline as to when these shows will begin due to the virus.
“We want to keep the dates flexible,” said gallery director and artist Annette Sykes. “We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen going forward. We would hope to start in March, but it’s hard to say for sure.”
In the second GALA studio, work from friends and GALA board members hang from the walls, as a temporary show until they can launch their season in full.
Particularly striking is the work of Anselmo Vasquez Paz, a Dominican immigrant to Lynn, who carves iconic religious sculptures out of reclaimed wood.
The tall, slim carvings show religious figures with faces twisted in sorrow and anguish.
Sykes’ own series of paintings, titled “I Miss My Students” hangs on the adjacent wall.
“I called it ‘I Miss My Students’ because I do — they’re my kids,” said Sykes, who works as a life skills teacher at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute. The Tech, like all Lynn Public Schools, has been remote since last March.
One of Sykes’ paintings depicts three students making calzones, another shows a student dressed for graduation, and a third shows a student cleaning a mirror.
GALA is holding showings in its second gallery of members’ artwork, by appointment only. The production of Metamorphosis XX can be seen on a Facebook Live feed, and from the street, though it is not yet open to the general public.
Guthrie Scrimgeour can be reached at [email protected].
