Kathy Butterly's Sculptures Are Tiny Time Capsules of Life As She Sees It

As an undergraduate student at Moore College of Art & Design in Philadelphia, Kathy Butterly thought she’d be an oil painter, not a sculptor. “I had never seen works in ceramic that moved me,” she says. “The pieces I had been exposed to were mostly utilitarian and ‘earthy.’ I wanted to make art that conveyed ideas.” But a 1984 exhibition of sculptures by boundary-pushing artist Viola Frey changed all that. “I saw how ceramic materials could resolve my need to work both two- and three-dimensionally,” says Kathy. “Clay is such an expressive material.”

Four decades later, Kathy has sculpted her own life outside the lines, creating evocative studio ceramics while splitting time between—and taking inspiration from—New York City and Maine. “Contradictions are important to my work, and these two polar opposite places are real influences,” says Kathy. “In New York, I absorb the intense energies, the graffiti, the sounds. In Maine, I have a garden and watch bulbs develop and bees pollinate. I observe how petals glow like the glazes I use—how insane colors are in nature!” Still, for Kathy, inspiration isn’t confined to geography. “Currently, I’m thinking a lot about the environment and politics and society—how messed up it all is, yet also how beautiful it is, too,” she says. “There are always dualities.”

Thriving Artists

Country Living is proud to be one of 12 Hearst magazines partnering with the Whitney Museum of American Art to amplify the voices of female artists in honor of International Women’s Day 2023. For this historic collaboration, each artist contributed a piece she feels speaks to the name of the initiative: THE ART OF MOVING FORWARD. Women are not just surviving, but thriving, moving ever forward to lead, define, and shape a challenging world, and these artists exemplify that.

This program is being presented in partnership with Johnnie Walker, which has awarded more than $1 million in grants to women-owned businesses and is helping women overcome historical barriers by showcasing stories of their progress.

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