Kathy Butterly is an American sculptor born in
Amityville, New York
Amityville () is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village in the Babylon (town), New York, Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island, in New York ...
, in 1963. She lives and works in New York City. Butterly received her
Bachelor of Fine Arts
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA).
Background ...
from
Moore College of Art
Moore College of Art & Design is a Private college, private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1848 by Sarah Peter, Sarah Worthington Peter as the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, and was renamed the Moore Colleg ...
in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, in 1986 and her
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...
from
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...
in 1990.
Butterly's work consists of multi-layered glazed ceramic sculptures presented on pedestals or plinths specific to the works in question.
Peter Schjeldahl
Peter Charles Schjeldahl (; March 20, 1942 – October 21, 2022) was an American art critic, poet, and educator. He was noted for being the head art critic at ''The New Yorker'', having earlier written for ''The Village Voice'', ''ARTnews'', and ...
has called her "today’s liveliest master of clay." Her work has been compared to that of
George Ohr because of its "penchant for crumpled shapes, twisted and pinched openings." Among Butterly's vast library of visual references to historical ceramics, her particular invocation of Ohr in her "thin-walled, manipulated pieces" has also been noted by
Roberta Smith
Roberta Smith (born 1948) is co-chief art critic of ''The New York Times'' and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position at the Times.
Education and early life
Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawre ...
. She contorts traditional ceramic forms before adding layer upon layer of glaze, even to the point of adding volume in some cases, firing the works repeatedly. Butterly is very well known for her glaze development and use of color, deploying a range of materials to achieve various finishes from translucent varnishes to puddles of neon color. She eschews large-scale formats, preferring concise compositions expressing various moods.
Major solo exhibitions include: ''ColorForm (2019) at Manetti Shrem Museum of Art;'' ''Thought Presence (2018)'' at James Cohan Gallery; ''Kathy Butterly- The Quality of a Line'' at The Armory Fair (2017); ''The Weight of Color'' at Shoshana Wayne Gallery (2015); ''Enter'' at Tibor de Nagy Gallery (2014); ''Freaks and Beauties: Opener 10: Kathy Butterly'' at The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum. Her work was included in the ''54th Carnegie International''. She is represented by
James Cohan Gallery in New York, and the Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Santa Monica.
In 2018, Butterly's work was included in a gift of modern ceramics by Robert A. Ellison Jr. to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Kathy Butterly Artist WebsiteButterly biography at Carnegie International
Review of Butterly's Work in ''The Brooklyn Rail''Interview with Butterly in ''BOMB Magazine''
1963 births
Living people
American sculptors
Moore College of Art and Design alumni
University of California, Davis alumni
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