# Sheila Butler

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{{Short description|American-Canadian visual artist and retired professor (born 1938)}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix = 
| name             = Sheila Butler
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| native_name      = 
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| birth_name       = <!-- only use if different than name -->
| birth_date       = {{birth year and age|1938}}
| birth_place      = [Leesport, Pennsylvania](/source/Leesport%2C_Pennsylvania), U.S.
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| education        = BFA 
| alma_mater       = [Carnegie Mellon University](/source/Carnegie_Mellon_University)
| known_for        = Visual artist
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| style            = 
| movement         = 
| spouse           = [KJ (Jack) Butler](/source/Jack_Butler_(artist)) 
| awards           = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) -->
| elected          = Fellow of the [Royal Canadian Academy of Arts](/source/Royal_Canadian_Academy_of_Arts)
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'''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](/source/Winnipeg_Art_Gallery)|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> is an American-Canadian visual artist and retired [professor](/source/professor), now based in [Winnipeg, Manitoba](/source/Winnipeg%2C_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](/source/University_of_Western_Ontario)|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> She is a founding member of [Mentoring Artists for Women's Art](/source/Mentoring_Artists_for_Women's_Art) in Winnipeg, Manitoba and the Sanavik Inuit Cooperative in [Baker Lake, Nunavut](/source/Baker_Lake%2C_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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Leesport%2C_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](/source/Carnegie_Mellon_University) (formerly the [Carnegie Institute of Technology](/source/Carnegie_Institute_of_Technology)) in [Pittsburgh](/source/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](/source/Jack_Butler_(artist)),<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](/source/Northwest_Territories), where they engaged and supported [Inuit](/source/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](/source/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](/source/University_of_Manitoba) and the [University of Winnipeg](/source/University_of_Winnipeg) between 1973 and 1989, before moving to the Visual Arts faculty at the [University of Western Ontario](/source/University_of_Western_Ontario).<ref name="UWO " /> She retired from teaching in 2004 and moved to [Toronto](/source/Toronto), [Ontario](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Eleanor_Bond), [Wanda Koop](/source/Wanda_Koop), [Eva Stubbs](/source/Eva_Stubbs) and [Diana Thorneycroft](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Visible_Language)|via=[HighBeam Research](/source/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](/source/University_of_Edinburgh) and the [Toronto Pearson International Airport](/source/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](/source/Mentoring_Artists_for_Women's_Art)|access-date=2016-06-15}}</ref> [Mentoring Artists for Women's Art](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/National_Gallery_of_Canada), the [Art Gallery of Hamilton](/source/Art_Gallery_of_Hamilton), the [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto), the [Winnipeg Art Gallery](/source/Winnipeg_Art_Gallery) and [University of Manitoba](/source/University_of_Manitoba) in [Winnipeg](/source/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](/source/The_Winnipeg_Free_Press)|date=14 January 2014|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref> as well as the [Robert McLaughlin Gallery](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Border_Crossings_(magazine))''
*[http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n82140687/ List of Sheila Butler works] at [OCLC Worldcat](/source/WorldCat)
*[http://opac.libraryworld.com/cgi-bin/opac.pl?command=signin&libraryname=mawa%20resource%20centre Reference Library] at [MAWA](/source/Mentoring_Artists_for_Women's_Art)
*[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](/source/Concordia_University)

{{Authority control}}

{{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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sheila Butler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Butler) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Butler?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.