Sheila Butler facts for kids

Sheila Butler RCA (born 1938) is an American-Canadian visual artist and a retired professor. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Sheila helped start two important groups: Mentoring Artists for Women's Art in Winnipeg and the Sanavik Inuit Cooperative in Baker Lake, Nunavut. She is also a special member, called a Fellow, of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

About Sheila Butler's Life and Work

Sheila Butler was born in Leesport, Pennsylvania, in 1938. She studied art at Carnegie Mellon University (which was then called the Carnegie Institute of Technology) in Pittsburgh. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with honors in 1960. In 1962, she moved to Canada and became a Canadian citizen in 1975.

Helping Inuit Artists in Baker Lake

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Sheila and her husband, Jack Butler, worked in the Northwest Territories. They helped and supported Inuit artists there. They started projects for printmaking and sewing, and even opened a shop.

When they first arrived, people in the community were unsure about their plans. A local clothing factory had closed, and many artists had left. The community had seen other government art programs fail before. But the Butlers' printmaking project began, offering pay to those who wanted to learn.

By 1970, their art program was doing well. The Canadian Eskimo Arts Council approved the sale of 31 prints and asked for a special art show. The program grew, and eventually, the Butlers founded the Sanavik Co-operative. This co-op aimed to "foster and coordinate the art activities in the settlement," meaning it helped organize and support art in the community.

Teaching and Creating Art

In late 1972, Sheila Butler left the Northwest Territories. She began teaching art at the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg from 1973 to 1989. Later, she taught at the University of Western Ontario. She stopped teaching in 2004 and moved to Toronto, Ontario.

As an artist, Sheila Butler's work often explores what it means to be human. Some of her art series show people swimming, sleeping, or inside tents. Other works focus on strong images from news media. She often looks at how women are treated in her art. Examples include her works Bedroom (1982) and The National and the Journal (1984).

A writer named Gary Michael Dault from The Globe and Mail newspaper said that drawing has always been very important to Sheila Butler as an artist. He called her a "brilliant (and inexplicably undervalued) painter." Sheila Butler also explored themes of violence and fear in her collection The National and the Journal. She did this alongside other artists like Eleanor Bond, Wanda Koop, Eva Stubbs, and Diana Thorneycroft.

Art and Cold Cash Collective

Between 2004 and 2007, Sheila Butler was part of a group called the Art and Cold Cash Collective. This group had five artists: Sheila Butler, northern-Canadian writer Ruby Arngna'naaq, artist William Noah, southern-Canadian visual artist Patrick Mahon, and Jack Butler. Their art show, also called Art and Cold Cash, traveled to art galleries across Canada and to Arctic communities. It was also shown at the University of Edinburgh and the Toronto Pearson International Airport.

Mentoring Artists for Women's Art

In 1983, an art group called Plug-In-Art (now Plug-In ICA) formed a committee of women. Their goal was to find ways to support and promote female artists in Winnipeg. Based on their ideas, Mentoring Artists for Women's Art (MAWA) was founded. Sheila Butler was one of its founding members.

Sheila Butler's artwork can be found in many public art collections. These include the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the University of Toronto, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

Books and Published Works

Sheila Butler has been involved in creating or contributing to several books about art:

• 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.
• 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.
• Moppett, George; Butler, Sheila. Sheila Butler, paintings 1986. Saskatoon, SK: Mendel Art Gallery, 1986.
• Butler, Sheila; Whitehouse, Diane. Diane Whitehouse, paintings, rooms and other walled places. Winnipeg, MB: University of Manitoba, 1986.
• Butler, Sheila; Wight, Darlene. The first passionate collector : the Ian Lindsay collection of Inuit art. Winnipeg, MB: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1991.
• Burke, Rebecca; Butler, Sheila. In search of Medusa. Sackville, NB: The Owens Art Gallery, 1996.
• Butler, Sheila; Fischer, Barbara; Patten, James. Sheila Butler : matters of life and death. London, ON: London Regional Art and Historical Museums, 1997.
• Feheley Fine Arts. The Butler collection : early Baker Lake drawings. Toronto, ON: Feheley Fine Arts, 1999.
• Butler, Sheila; Reid, Stuart; Parkins, Ilya. Sheila Butler : sympathetic magic. Mississauga, ON: Mississauga Art Gallery, 2000.
• Butler, Sheila. Nursery rhymes. Winnipeg, MB: University of Winnipeg, 2000.