Lexington, KY - When we think of equine art, we often conjure up images of paintings or bronzes of fox hunts and horse racing, or photographic images of Kentucky's finest champions. Deborah Butterfield is an artist with a whole other take on equine art, and her sculptures have put her at the top of her field as an American artist. Her sculptures are large, evocative, tender and powerful all wrapped up together and have become iconic additions to many of America's most esteemed museums' collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Denver Art Museum, and urban public art landscapes such as Seneca Park in Chicago and the University of Texas at Austin. Touring exhibitions of her work have been shown worldwide.
If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing one of her pieces up close, a look through the large, illustrated coffee table books, Deborah Butterfield by Robert Gordon, published by Henry Abrams with an introduction by Jane Smiley and dedicated to her work, or Horses: The Art of Deborah Butterfield by Donald Kuspit, would be the next best thing.
"The relationship I have with horses has all the same facets as any other relationship. There is love, heartache, joy and death," said Butterfield. Viewing her work, one cannot deny she must have deep love and understanding of horses. Her great affection for horses has made them the singular focus of her work for more than 30 years. Her earlier works were made of wood, sticks and wire, but she discovered that for longevity, metal was better. The sculptures are constructed of scrap metal or are created from metal and wood and a mix of materials and then cast in bronze. In each instance, she imbues the piece with an emotional language of each horse's unique personality and character that can only come from the keen observation and connection with her subject that any horse lover will recognize like an old friend.
When viewing the work, you can hardly believe her chosen materials will so directly translate a real horse: the regal form, the muscle, the sinew, not to mention the nature and spirit of the animal. But it does, and the results can be quite moving.
Originally from California, Butterfield was born the same day as the 75th running of the Kentucky Derby and perhaps was fated to be a lifelong horse lover. Later, inspired by the winning horse from that long ago Derby Day she named a horse sculpture "Ponder." Her original plan was to become a veterinarian, but she was always a talented artist as well. In the struggle of what to pursue, art eventually won out. Her experimenting with horse as subject started early on but didn't become her main focus for awhile. She credits her study of the horse as helping her find her voice as a woman and as an artist.
She found her way, along with her husband, artist John Buck, to Montana where they live and work today. They have two sons. She is an accomplished equestrian and raises horses of her own that often become subjects of her art. Her work is often monumental, which requires a large studio space.
"I pretty much maintain my own junkyard," she noted with a laugh.
She works with things like crushed metal, a hydraulic press, a cutting torch and a chain hoist to create her horses. It's hard work, but it suits her, and she has been doing it for decades, so she has developed a patina with the process as well as the patina that ends up on the finished product.
Kentuckians love their horses and will easily feel the power of Butterfield's work. Whether you see her work in a museum or in a book, it's hard to forget a Butterfield horse.