{{Short description|American-Canadian visual artist and retired professor (born 1938)}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Sheila Butler | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- just the pagename, without the File:/Image: prefix or brackets --> | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different than name --> | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1938}} | birth_place = Leesport, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | education = BFA | alma_mater = Carnegie Mellon University | known_for = Visual artist | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = KJ (Jack) Butler | awards = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) --> | elected = Fellow of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts | patrons = | memorials = | website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} --> | module = }}
'''Sheila Butler''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|RCA|size=100%}} (born 1938)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wag.ca/art/collections/canadian-art/display,contemporary/53642|title=Canadian Art Winnipeg|publisher=Winnipeg Art Gallery|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> is an American-Canadian visual artist and retired professor, now based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.<ref name="UWO " >{{cite web|url=http://www.uwo.ca/visarts/research/artcoldcash/index_biographies.html|title=art and cold cash|publisher=University of Western Ontario|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> She is a founding member of Mentoring Artists for Women's Art in Winnipeg, Manitoba and the Sanavik Inuit Cooperative in Baker Lake, Nunavut.<ref name="Gallery Q " >{{cite web|url=http://www.galerie-q.com/canadian-masters/sheila-butler|title=Sheila Butler|publisher=Galerie Q|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IQwxAQAAIAAJ&q=%22sheila+butler%22+visual+artist|title=Volumes 28-29|publisher=Arton's Cultural Affairs Society and Publishing|magazine=Fuse Magazine|date=2005|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/a-show-with-drawing-power/article17984077/|title=A show with drawing power|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|first=Gary Michael |last=Dault|date=15 April 2008|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> She is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.<ref name="Routledge " >{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYxmAgAAQBAJ&q=%22sheila+butler%22+visual+artist&pg=PA102|title=North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary|publisher=Routledge|first=Jules|last= Heller|author2=Nancy G. Heller|date=2013|isbn=978-1135638894|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref><ref>Jackson, Marion Elizabeth. ''Baker Lake Inuit Drawings: A Study in the Evolution of Artistic Self-Consciousness''. Michigan, MI: University of Michigan, 1985. Print. {{OCLC|54855662}}.</ref>
==Career and education== Butler was born in Leesport, Pennsylvania.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Herstory: Art by Women from The University of Winnipeg Collection|last=White|first=Laura|publisher=Leamarc|year=2013|isbn=978-0-9921187-0-9|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba|pages=31}}</ref> She obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with honors from Carnegie Mellon University (formerly the Carnegie Institute of Technology) in Pittsburgh in 1960.<ref name="Routledge " /> She moved to Canada in 1962 and became a Canadian citizen in 1975.<ref name="Routledge " />
===Baker Lake=== In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she along with her husband Jack Butler,<ref name="CRANDALL2 " >{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQJJCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Sheila+Butler%22+&pg=PA371|title=An Annotated Bibliography of Inuit Art|publisher=McFarland|date=2001|isbn=0786430915|first=Richard C. |last=Crandall|author2=Susan M. Crandall|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> served as a special projects officer for the Northwest Territories, where they engaged and supported Inuit artists.<ref name="Routledge " /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bO1WTEEHgH0C&q=%22sheila+butler%22+visual+artist&pg=PA117|title=The Way of Inuit Art: Aesthetics and History in and Beyond the Arctic|first=Emily Elisabeth |last=Auger|publisher=McFarland|date=2005|isbn=0786418885|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> They initiated a printmaking project, sewing projects and a shop.<ref name="UVIC " >{{cite web|url=http://www.learningcentre.coop/resource/history-baker-lake-sanavik-co-operative#_ftn31|title=The History of Baker Lake (Sanavik) Co-operative|first=Jennifer |last=Alsop |author2=Dr. Ian McPherson|date=28 May 2000|publisher=University of Victoria|access-date=2015-03-05|archive-date=2015-02-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219223132/http://learningcentre.coop/resource/history-baker-lake-sanavik-co-operative#_ftn31|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gquqnLOBH9gC&q=sheila+butler&pg=PA527 |title=Art and architecture in Canada: a bibliography and guide to the literature to 1981, Volume 1|publisher=University of Toronto Press|date=1991|first=Loren R. |last=Lerner|author2= Mary F. Williamson|isbn=0802058566|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> When the Butlers first arrived, they faced staunch skepticism about their programs.<ref name="CRANDALL " >{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4p8ZrkbSCkC&q=%22sheila+butler%22+artist+website&pg=PA181 |title=Inuit Art: A History|first=Richard C. |last=Crandall|date=2000|publisher=McFarland|isbn=0786407115|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> The local clothing factory had recently closed and many of the established printmakers had left.<ref name="CRANDALL2 " /> The community had already seen a series of unsuccessful government programs and arts and crafts officers.<ref name="CRANDALL " /> In Richard Crandall's book, ''Inuit Art: A History'', he noted that the Inuit community, prior to the Butler's arrival, "had spent thousands of hours on printmaking projects only to see them fail".<ref name="CRANDALL " /> Nonetheless, the Butler's printmaking project began in the craft centre and offered a wage of $1.25 to $2.00 per hour for those willing to study printmaking.<ref name="CRANDALL " /> By 1970, the Canadian Eskimo Arts Council approved the sale of a collection of 31 prints and requested a special exhibition for the spring and the program expanded adding two more positions.<ref name="CRANDALL " /> Eventually, the Butlers founded the Sanavik Co-operative<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sanavik |url=https://arctic-coop.com/index.php/member-co-ops/kivalliq-region-co-ops/sanavik/ |access-date=2023-02-12 |language=en-US}}</ref> who mission was to "foster and coordinate the art activities in the settlement, and to be able to contract for other community services."<ref name="UVIC " />
===Academic career and artistry=== In late 1972, Sheila Butler left the Northwest Territories and assumed teaching positions the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg between 1973 and 1989, before moving to the Visual Arts faculty at the University of Western Ontario.<ref name="UWO " /> She retired from teaching in 2004 and moved to Toronto, Ontario.<ref name="Gallery Q " />
As a visual artist, her work centres around the human condition.<ref name="Routledge " /> Some of her series have included bodies swimming, in tents, sleeping, while other works focus on violent images from the news media.<ref name="Routledge " /> In particular, her work delves into the treatment of women.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Herstory: Art by Women from the University of Winnipeg Collection|last=White|first=Laura|publisher=Leamarc|year=2013|isbn=978-0-9921187-0-9|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba|pages=33}}</ref> Examples of such work are ''Bedroom'' (1982) and ''The National and the Journal'' (1984). Gary Michael Dault from ''The Globe and Mail'' said, "drawing has always been a central fact of her [Butler] existence as an artist (her wispy, sprawling drawing installation, The Essential Tremor, a sort of enterable dream journal, is one of the strongest works in the show)."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/frank-uses-trees-to-paint-trees/article1331117/|title=Frank uses trees to paint trees|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=16 July 2005|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> Further, Dault described Butler as a "veteran artist" and "a brilliant (and inexplicably undervalued) painter".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/defining-the-divide-between-safety-and-risk/article788705/|title=Defining the divide between safety and risk|first=Gary Michael |last=Dault|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=7 August 2009|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> Butler explored themes of violence and fear in her collection ''The National and the Journal'' along with other artists including Eleanor Bond, Wanda Koop, Eva Stubbs and Diana Thorneycroft.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/scene/other/2013/03/07/herstory/|title="Herstory" exhibit reveals recurring themes|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|date=7 March 2013|first=Alison |last=Gillmor|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref>
Between 2004 and 2007, Sheila Butler, along with northern-Canadian writer Ruby Arngna'naaq, artist William Noah, southern-Canadian visual artist Patrick Mahon, and Jack Butler, formed the Art and Cold Cash Collective, a five-person artists' collective.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1473430031.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063213/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1473430031.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 October 2017|title=Excerpts from the Drawn like Money Series|date=1 January 2008|first=Patrick |last=Mahon|magazine=Visible Language|via=HighBeam Research|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> The exhibition called ''Art and Cold Cash'' toured to Canadian art galleries and Arctic settlements, as well as the University of Edinburgh and the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
In 1983, Plug-In-Art (now Plug-In ICA) created an exploratory committee of women to find ways in which to integrate and promote female artists in Winnipeg.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mawa.ca/about/history|title=History|publisher=Mentoring Artists for Women's Art|access-date=2016-06-15}}</ref> Mentoring Artists for Women's Art was founded based upon the recommendations of the committee, with Butler as a founding member.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collective.thenewgallery.org/index.php?g=detail&object_id=245|title=MENTORING/manitoba artists for women's art (MAWA): a catalytic situation|date=6 February 1991|publisher=The New Gallery|access-date=2016-06-15|archive-date=2016-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308141856/http://collective.thenewgallery.org/index.php?g=detail&object_id=245|url-status=dead}}</ref>
A retrospective exhibition co-curated by Pamela Edmonds and Patrick Mahon, entitled ''Sheila Butler: Other Circumstances'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Updates |first=Jen Zoratti Posted: Last Modified |date=2024-09-18 |title=Recentring visual artist Sheila Butler and her female gaze |url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/2024/09/18/recentring-visual-artist-sheila-butler-are-her-female-gaze |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=Winnipeg Free Press |language=en-US}}</ref> was held in Winnipeg in 2024, and in London, Ontario in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-12 |title=Other Circumstances |url=https://satelliteprojectspace.com/other-circumstances/ |access-date=2025-01-25 |website=SATELLiTE |language=en}}</ref>
Her work is in such public collections as the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the University of Toronto, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and University of Manitoba in Winnipeg,<ref name="UWO " /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/historic/31427844.html|title=Anirniliit a fresh breath of cold winter air|newspaper=The Winnipeg Free Press|date=14 January 2014|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> as well as the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://rmg.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll?search&APPLICATION=COLLECTIONS_WEB&DATABASE=COLLECTIONS_WEB&language=144&REPORT=WEB_RMG_ART_SUM&ERRMSG=[RMG_INCLUDES]no-record.html |website=rmg.minisisinc.com |publisher=Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa |access-date=17 July 2025}}</ref>
==Books and published work== *Butler, Sheila; Winnipeg Art Gallery. ''Sheila Butler, Recent Paintings: the Winnipeg Art Gallery March 15 to April 26, 1981''. Winnipeg, MB: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1981. Print. {{ISBN|0889150915}}. *Engelstad, Bernadette; Butler, Sheila; Driscoll, Bernadette; Winnipeg Art Gallery. ''Baker Lake prints & print-drawings, 1970–76: Feb. 27–April 17, 1983, the Winnipeg Art Gallery''. Winnipeg, MB: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1982. Print. {{ISBN|0889151113}} *Moppett, George; Butler, Sheila. ''Sheila Butler, paintings 1986''. Saskatoon, SK: Mendel Art Gallery, 1986. Print. {{ISBN|0919863272}} *Butler, Sheila; Whitehouse, Diane. ''Diane Whitehouse, paintings, rooms and other walled places''. Winnipeg, MB: University of Manitoba, 1986. Print. {{OCLC|16182945}}. *Butler, Sheila; Wight, Darlene. ''The first passionate collector: the Ian Lindsay collection of Inuit art''. Winnipeg, MB: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1991. Print. {{ISBN|0889151598}} *Burke, Rebecca; Butler, Sheila. ''In Search of Medusa''. Sackville, NB: The Owens Art Gallery, 1996. Print. {{ISBN|088828134X}} *Butler, Sheila; Fischer, Barbara; Patten, James. ''Sheila Butler: Matters of Life and Death''. London, ON: London Regional Art and Historical Museums, 1997. Print. {{ISBN|1895800455}} *Feheley Fine Arts. ''The Butler Collection: early Baker Lake drawings''. Toronto, ON: Feheley Fine Arts, 1999. Print. {{ISBN|0968486703}} *Butler, Sheila; Reid, Stuart; Parkins, Ilya. ''Sheila Butler: Sympathetic Magic''. Mississauga, ON: Mississauga Art Gallery, 2000. Print. {{ISBN|1895436400}} *Butler, Sheila. ''Nursery Rhymes''. Winnipeg, MB: University of Winnipeg, 2000. Print. {{OCLC|62768979}}.
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== *[http://bordercrossingsmag.com/magazine/issue/issue-14 Interview with Sheila Butler] ''Border Crossings'' *[http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n82140687/ List of Sheila Butler works] at OCLC Worldcat *[http://opac.libraryworld.com/cgi-bin/opac.pl?command=signin&libraryname=mawa%20resource%20centre Reference Library] at MAWA *[http://ccca.concordia.ca/artists/artist_info.html?languagePref=en&link_id=179&artist=Sheila+Butler Sheila Butler Artwork Catelog] at the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Artists, Concordia University
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Sheila}} Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century Canadian women artists Category:Academic staff of the University of Manitoba Category:Academic staff of University of Winnipeg Category:Canadian academics of fine arts Category:Canadian women academics Category:Canadian women painters Category:Carnegie Mellon University alumni Category:People from Berks County, Pennsylvania Category:University of Western Ontario alumni