Kathy Butterly Ceramics Biography

Kathy butterly s beautiful and odd sculptures are the result of a literal manipulation of traditional ceramic forms.

Kathy butterly ceramics biography.

100 years of american ceramics museum of fine arts boston pretty raw. Through her practice butterly engages with concepts ranging from materiality and line to the history of the vessel. Butterly received her bachelor of fine arts from moore college of art in philadelphia pennsylvania in 1986 and her master of fine arts from university of california davis in 1990. Butterly s work consists of multi layered glazed ceramic sculptures presented on pedestals or.

Kathy butterly 1963 new york times writer ken johnson described kathy butterly s small forms as goofy yet irresistibly enticing little odalisque s 1 starting with a simple shape butterly pokes pulls adds until the form becomes what it is meant to be a process she calls a rorschach test combined. Her latest exhibition of new work titled thought presence on view now at james cohan gallery in new york presents 24 new vessels that demand a full 360 degree exploration. Kathy butterly is an american sculptor born in amityville new york in 1963. Kathy butterly is known for her elegantly designed and decorated small scale porcelain sculptures.

Impulses that form clay institute of contemporary art philadelphia pa 2007 kathy butterly yerba buena center for the arts san francisco ca. Image gallery 2016 2017 quality of line the armory show 2017 additional work. She uses traditional ceramic forms as her starting point referring to these. The finished form is created by twisting pinching building and otherwise manipulating the perfect classic vessel form to create unique pieces.

Nature sculpture abstraction and clay. Kathy butterly and jill bonovitz locks gallery philadelphia pa 2009 big gulp shoshana wayne gallery santa monica ca solo exhibition dirt on delight. 2013 2015 the weight of color shoshana wayne gallery 2015 enter tibor de nagy gallery 2014 additional works. She lives and works in new york city.

Sculptor kathy butterly thinks of herself as a painter who happens to work with clay three dimensionally she is known for abstract ceramic vessels ranging in size from small to nearly five feet tall whose twisting forms with pinched openings resemble shrunken hybrids of alien life forms and domestic objects from which something is oozing leaking or dipping as described by. The artist creates the sculptures in response to her surroundings and topics of the day. Kathy butterly and ann king lagos moore college of art design philadelphia pa. Kathy butterly from her east village new york studio kathy butterly creates small ceramic sculptures that are cartoonish beautiful and grotesque.

Each sculpture begins with the same cast vessel form. Kathy butterly has created distinct evocative sculptures for more than two decades contributing to and expanding the tradition of studio ceramics.