When ArtsWorcester put out a call last
spring for proposals for its next season of exhibits, Uxbridge, Massachusetts,
furniture maker Steve Butler and his wife, jewelry maker Liesl
Carlson, both got to work on individual proposals. After all, their
respective crafts are about as dissimilar as they could be.
A five-member panel, comprised of local
artists, art history professors, appraisers and museum curators,
reviewed the artists' submissions on their merits alone with no
information about the artists. Butler's proposal made the cut out of
more than 30 applicants.
Then, in the process of mapping out his
show, ArtsWorcester's Aurora Gallery, where his work was to be
featured, had a dilemma. Accustomed to having the walls hung with
art, the gallery staff wondered what to do to fill them, as Butler's
work was not, for the most part, wall-friendly. One of the gallery
staffers said, “How about Liesl's jewelry?” And a
husband-and-wife show was born. “Co-Habitat: The Studio Work of
Steve Butler and Liesl Carlson” is at ArtsWorcester's Aurora
Gallery through November 30.
Craft as art
Juliet Feibel,
executive director for ArtsWorcester, says, “Steve Butler's half of
'Co-Habitat' is ArtsWorcester's first exhibit of studio furniture.
We're thrilled to have it, and equally excited to show Liesl
Carlson's jewelry alongside it. This exhibit allows viewers to see
how craft can and should be viewed as art, and how the divisions
between the two are often meaningless.
“That
Carlson and Butler are also married gives us an unusual glimpse into
the shared world of two artists,” adds Feibel.
Cynthia Woehrle, manager of the Aurora
Gallery, says, “This show is fun and funky, and it's touchable,
which not all fine art is.”
The differences in the couple's work
extend beyond their materials, Woehrle notes. “They are very yin
and yang. Liesl says she couldn't draw or cut a straight line if her
life depended on it, and Steve's work is, of necessity, so precise.”
Because this was the Aurora Gallery's
first 3D show, Butler built all the pedestals on which his work is
displayed, and also made the cabinets where Carlson's jewelry is hung.
Carlson says, “I'm really happy with
how the show came out. It's really nice to see all my work on the
walls. I've never seen it like that, and it looks fabulous.
“It's also great to see so much of
Steve's work in one place,” she adds. “I can fit all my work in a
box, but it takes a storage unit for Steve's,” she laughs.
Asked whether they subscribe to a
particular school of art, Steve says, “I let other people define
us. All I know is I have to make stuff.”
Meet cute
Butler and Carlson met while Carlson
was a student in the professional crafts studies program at the
Worcester Center for Crafts, where Butler taught. Butler was running
the wood department, and as one of the program faculty, had to review
Carlson's work.
“The wood department was down this
corridor you had to go through to get to other places in the
building,” Carlson recalls, smiling. “I made a lot of trips down
that corridor.”
Says Butler, “She was very flirty.”
Today, the couple has been married
six-and-a-half years and has a four-year-old son, Quinn. Butler's
workspace is in their home's garage, while Carlson has a studio in
the shed out back, outfitted in large part by Butler, and with a
space set aside for Quinn to create alongside his mom.
The Aurora Gallery show marks the first
time the duo have shown their work together, but not the last. “We
will be showing together again at the Uxbridge Library in March,”
Carlson reports.
Says Butler, “We might have found
ourselves a husband-and-wife niche! But she still has her own path
and identity. We still have our separate things. We don't compete.”
In
fact, having a partner that understands the creative process makes
for some synergy. “We
constantly use each other as a sounding board,” Carlson
says. “I'm always asking, 'What do you think of this piece? Are the
proportions right?' Steve's sense of proportion is phenomenal; mine,
not so much.”
Butler adds, “Sometimes you need to
step back from what you're working on; you're too close to it. You
need someone else to take a look and tell you what they see. And
that's what Liesl brings to me.”
He notes that the fact that both are
artisans also lends their household a flexibility not every family
has.
“We both totally understand that
creating is not 9-5, so if one of us has to follow that middle-of-the
night inspiration, we get it. We're also very good at alternating our
studio times. Plus, it lets us be very free to be there for Quinn.”
The art of economy
Of course, having a two-artist family,
with all the accompanying vagaries of the economy and market for art,
isn't always a picnic. “It's not like when one partner has a
steady, high-income job and the other is free to create,” says
Butler. Both teach to boost income, and Carlson also recently began
working as a part-time realtor. Beyond that, the pair do everything
in their power to live frugally, aided by Carlson's bargain-hunting:
Butler points to a sparkling stainless steel coffee percolator which
Carlson found “for a dollar!”
The
drive to make ends meet while remaining free to work as artists has
had a direct effect on the work both Butler and Carlson produce.
“Much of Steve's work employs repurposed and upcycled wood and
objects, and Liesl's silver is recycled as well,” notes
ArtsWorcester's Feibel.
Butler observes, “Repurposing is a
trend now, but it's something we've always been into. It's like in
the Depression Era. We've never had any money, so we have to make
things work. It's a kind of pioneer spirit. It requires problem
solving.
“There's a greater sense of
satisfaction than just making the object...that you did it under
certain circumstances and you pulled it off. Sort of, 'Not only did
we make art, but we did it without any money,'” says Butler.
Working within limited means, says
Carlson, “is always giving a new direction to our work, so we're
constantly evolving.”
Angling to bring artists together
Butler, who hails from Canada
originally, and Carlson, who is from Mendon, came back to this area a
couple of years ago after spending several years living and working
in the Peters Valley Craft Center, a community of artisans, part of
the Delaware Water Gap recreational area. Both Butler and Carlson
speak glowingly of their time there, and it's where Quinn was born.
Driven by their first-hand experience
of the benefits of living and working among a community of artists,
Butler and Carlson hope to someday bring something akin to that to
the Blackstone Valley.
Bernat Mills, which had been a local
spot for artists and musicians to work and gather, burned down in
2007, Carlson recollects. Since then, she says, there's been no venue
for artists to work as a community.
The pair have put a fair amount of
personal effort into lobbying local officials for a craft center that
would offer classes and bring people together. For now, the effort is
on hold, but it's still a long-term goal.
Another effort close to Butler's heart
is pulling together a juried show of furniture created by regional
artisans. In fact, that was one of the proposals he submitted to the
gallery call for ArtsWorcester, though the individual show proposal
that became “Co-Habitat” ultimately won out.
“New England's got a long tradition
of fine furniture crafting. With the furniture design programs at
Rhode Island School of Design, University of Massachusetts at
Dartmouth, and Maine College of Art and the Holy Cross sculpture
department, there's a lot going on. So I'm looking for space to
curate an exhibition.”
In the meantime, Carlson is preparing
to teach her “Bangles, Rings and Things” class (note: that link will take you to a review of the class, which yours truly took at Carlson's studio last summer) as well as a class
on hollow form silver jewelry at the Worcester Center for Crafts in
January. Butler, who hosts a public-access cable show about creating
called “The Garage with Steve Butler,” is preparing to form a
production company and, if all goes well, take the show to the next
level: PBS.
