An artist who draws magic from wood
Ben Butler didn’t always know that art would be his calling. It wasn’t until he started attending Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine that he discovered he was an artist at heart. Having had a passion ignited, he immersed himself in the study of the arts and influenced by a couple of important mentors, he gravitated towards the artform of sculpture.
“What I love about sculpture is that it has a lot in common with drawing,” Butler stated while installing his latest work titled Great Water at Baird Center. “I think about all of my works as a drawing because I’ve always been fascinated by the magic behind making individual marks that are inherently abstract, inconsequential and small but then those marks accumulate into something that tells your brain that there is something else there. That is the same way I approach my sculptures.”
When talking to many people about sculpting, they automatically assume the artist is using clay. But the art of sculpting is creating any three-dimension work using carving or casting of the material the artist chooses and the different materials that can be used are as diverse as the artists themselves. Michelangelo used marble to create his sculpture of David and for The Thinker, Rodin worked in bronze. Butler has used steel, concrete, acrylic and other materials for his pieces, but his favorite material to work with is wood.
“Wood’s an organic material, so it’s never going to do exactly what you want it to do,” according to Butler. “The color and the texture. There’s always variation there. So, you really just have to understand that and taking advantage of that.”
Having grown up in the Chicago area with Lake Michigan serving as the backdrop of his childhood, Butler didn’t have to dig very deep to find inspiration for Great Water.
“I grew up on Lake Michigan and have vivid memories of sailing and being at the lake when I was a kid, so creating something that honors this amazing ocean of fresh water is special to me.” Butler said.
Great Water is made from over thirty-five wood panels, with each panel consisting of five layers of individually cut pieces of wood that are layered on top of each other to create the illusion of movement and depth. To add the additional tone and texture that a person would see when gazing at Lake Michigan, Butler used a different species of wood for each layer.
“In this hall here, there is so much space,” Butler stated. I knew right away that I had this opportunity to do something enormous that would read a particular way from 150 feet away and then as you approach, it would shift and kind of grow in complexity and texture.”
Great Water is part of the We Energies Foundation Art Collection located at Baird Center. Ben Butler is one of the thirty-three artists, most from Milwaukee, Wisconsin or with special ties to the area who have works featured in the collection. Learn more about Ben and watch videos about his creative process at https://bairdcenter.com/art-collection/ben-butler/. You can discover more about the other artists and their works at https://bairdcenter.com/art-collection/.