Jim Butler drawing with a Korn's Lithographic Pencil on a large stone.

James D. Butler,  Born: 1945, Ft. Dodge, Iowa, lives and works in Bloomington, Illinois Education:  BS, University of Nebraska-Omaha and MFA, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Distinguished Professor of Art, School of Art, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois Awards: G.S.A. Commission, Oklahoma City Federal Courthouse, Art in Architecture Program, 1993  Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowships, 1989 & 1985  National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowships, 1985-86 & 1979-80 Illinois Arts Council Project Completion Grant, 1982-83  Wood Trust Graduate Fellowship, 1969-70  F.W. Vreeland Award, 1969  prints by James D. Butler

Statement: "For me, looking at art is a perceptual event. Paintings are inventions, whether they are abstract or representational. Finding a way to create in paint an experience that might parallel what I see is a significant part of the magic of art for me. I struggle constantly with what I see and how to represent it. Therefore, my working process involves considerable invention and re-invention, especially on large-scale paintings in which the technical problems sometimes are particularly difficult. I paint and erase, constantly building different surfaces in an attempt to reconstruct the three-dimensional image on a flat surface." --James D. Butler (from "Views Along the Mississippi River: James D. Butler" exhibition catalog)

Description of art from the artist's biographical summary: "Butler consistently favors sweeping, expansive views in his landscape paintings and drawings, views such as he enjoyed as a child atop that Iowa hillside. He uses landscape as a metaphor for the contemporary collective imagination of the nation, drawing the viewers' attention to the state of our relationship with the environment. He has long explored the changing effects of light, weather, and the seasons on the landscape. Particularly interesting to him is the order Man imposes on the land, visible in the geometric patterns of farmland and urban settings."
--Kristan H. McKinsey ((from "Views Along the Mississippi River: James D. Butler" exhibition catalog)

Exhibitions: Butler's work has been exhibited nationaly and a selected list of group exhibitons includes: 1996-97 "Rediscovering the Landscape of the Americas", Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico; 1996-97 "Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie", The University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, Iowa; 1993 "Four by Four", Sherry French Gallery, New York, NY; 1992 "The Challenge of the Landscape", Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL; 1990-91 "Slected Artists", Babcock Galleries, New York, NY; 1990 "Contemporary Landscape", Babcock Galleries, New York, NY; 1989 "40th Annual Academy-Institute Purchase Exhibition", American Academy Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; 1987 "In a New Light: Three Views of the Heartland", State of Illinois Gallery, Chicago, IL; 1985 "Heartland Painters", Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL; 1984 "A New Look at American Landscapes", Frumkin and Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL.

Selected Public Collections: The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, IL; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; The New York Public Library, New York, NY; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Selected Publications: Arthur, John. "Midwestern Romanticism". Springfield, IL: Springfield Art Association, 1996. Arthur, John, "Spirt of Place - Contemporary Landscape Painting and The American Tradition". New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1989. Dunbar, Michael. "Portrait of Illinois". Springfield, IL: Capital Development Board, 1994. Goldman, Betsy Schlein. "James D. Butler Paintings and drawings from the Heartland", "American Artist", August 1986. Gussow, Alan. "Rediscovering the Landscape of the Americas". Santa Fe: Gerald Peters Gallery, 1996. Hammil, P. "Tools as Art". New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995. Hanson, Joyce. "Getting Back to the Landscape", "Inside Chicago", December 1989. Harris, Neil. "Visions of America: Landscape as Metaphor in the Late Twentieth Century". New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994. Haydon, Harold. "A Return to the Traditional Touchstone of Painting", "Chicago Sun - Times, May 1973. Kinsey, Joni. "Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie". Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. Kinsey, Joni, Rebecca Roberts and Robert F. Sayer. "To Recover a Continent: New Perspectives on the American Prairie". Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998. Krantz, Claire Wolf. "In a New Light: Three Views of the Heartland", "New Art Examiner", December 1987. Pohlman, Lynette L. "Land of the Fragile Giants: Landscapes, Environments and Peoples of the Loess Hills". Ames, IA: Brunnier Museum, 1994. Levisetti, Katherine. "Art in Chicago: A Study in Contrasts Offers Food for Thought", "Chicago Today", May 1973. Lucie-Smith, Edward. "American Art Now". New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1985. "Midwest Realists", "American Artist", April 1985. "Midwestern Printmakers", "Motive Magazine", February 1969. Mullins, Jesse. "New Horizons: Landscape in a Reordered World", "Art Today", Winter 1987-1988. Shane, George. "Yes and No on Art Show at Omaha", "Des Moines Tegister", March 1968. Spector, Buzz. "Under Midwestern Eyes,", "Art Forum", October 1986. Yood, James. "Midwestern Art", "Arts and Antiques", November 1988.

(biographical information last updated on March 26, 1998)

Current Exhibition link