Art, Deborah Butterfield

Art Sunday; Deborah Kay Butterfield

I came across this artist earlier. I wasn’t looking for art at the time I was looking for pictures of horses to draw for my horse loving daughter, and this is what I found. I love the way she fashions horses from pieces of twisted wood. The wood retains its natural form and somehow these natural pieces of wood are merged together to form the distinct shape of the horse. What she does with wood and metal is quite remarkable. Personally I prefer the twisted wood horses to the metal ones........
Deborah Kay Butterfield (born May 7, 1949) is an American contemporary sculptor. She divides her time between her ranch in Bozeman, Montana and her studio in Hawaii. She is best  known for her slightly surreal sculptures of horses which are always made from found objects, sometimes metal, and sometimes  pieces of wood.
Originally she chose to create self-portraits using images of horses. Gradually, the horses themselves became her primary theme and the self portrait element of her work became less and less evident. Butterfield earned her bachelors degree in 1971 and an M.F.A. in 1973 at the University of California, Davis, where she met her husband, artist John E. Buck. They married in 1974.
Her work has been exhibited in galleries internationally and there is growing demand for her work by private collectors. She began crafting horses out of scrap metal and cast bronze in the early 1980s. She would sculpt a piece using wood and other materials fastened together with wire, then photograph the piece from all angles so as to be able to reassemble the piece in metal. She only works in the winter, so pieces usually take 3 to 5 years.
More information here



http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa365.htm
the video at the bottom of the page is interesting, its the artist herself talking about her art. Unfortunately the interview cuts off suddenly and I'm still looking for the video that follows on.

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edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 25 mitchylr said Wow, amazing work!! I love it!! If I had the space and the money, I'd buy one of her works. yeah me too.............in fact If I had the money I'd make the space :-)

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Jun 25 Wow, amazing work!! I love it!! If I had the space and the money, I'd buy one of her works.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 24 Such beautiful pieces! Being from Kentucky, I love horses too. Hopefully you'll find the rest of the interview.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Jun 24 Quite interesting and stunning. I like the lines a lot. Reminiscent of early pen and ink sketches by some artists like Bernard Buffet.

delete reply kathyinozarks wrote on Jun 24 very neat Loretta-thanks

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 24 those are really cool.....the speak, somehow.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 24 artprevails said I feel such spirit in these pictures of Deborah's work. Really draws me to them! wow...Beautiful. exactly how I felt. also, I used to be quite afraid of horses, when my daughter was younger I didn't even like going into the stables because I felt too close to the horses, now when I visit her I help groom and feed her horse and I love to put my arms around its neck..........I'm changing the way I feel about horses and i think this allowed me to really appreciate Deborah's work

delete reply artprevails wrote on Jun 24 I feel such spirit in these pictures of Deborah's work. Really draws me to them! wow...Beautiful.

delete reply rabbitfriendhere wrote on Jun 24 the video did cut off unfortunately, but i can really relate to that love of making things. i do it all the time when i putter around the house. i love her horses too. horses are quite hard to get right. i think because a lot of the definition of a horse is in his muscles and they're hard to draw or paint. wood works well for defining a horse i think! thanks Loretta! :-)

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Jun 24 her work is just so cool :)

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jun 24 wonderful loretta what a cool find