Stephanie Butler
Stephanie Butler grew up in a household where artmaking was tolerated but not encouraged. Creative projects were treated as temporary distractions rather than meaningful pursuits, and the arts were not considered legitimate work. From an early age, she internalized the idea that art was not something she was supposed to do, particularly as a girl, and opportunities to explore materials or ideas freely were limited.
In her mid-twenties, Butler made a deliberate decision to reclaim a creative life. Living according to others’ expectations had led to suppressing core parts of herself, and she recognized that creativity was not optional but essential. She returned to school, earning a BA in Art Education along with a teaching credential, followed by a master’s degree in Art Education. She spent years teaching visual art in public schools, where she found deep purpose in helping young people make art every day.
At the same time, teaching required a degree of self-erasure. Under constant scrutiny and constrained by expectations of professionalism, Butler found herself suppressing her own artistic voice. Even within her personal studio practice, she noticed that she was still making work shaped by what felt acceptable, appropriate, or safe for a teacher. Her art reflected the same self-censorship she had been navigating professionally.
After leaving K–12 teaching, Butler began consciously removing that internal filter from her work. She explored themes of self-censorship through painting and later through a solo exhibition reflecting on teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The absence of negative repercussions from that work marked a turning point, giving her the freedom to engage more directly with difficult and charged subject matter.
Her current body of work, Traps, represents her first intentionally political exploration. The series was inspired by a metaphor shared by musician and artist Jack White in 2023, comparing the appeal of authoritarian figures to a Venus fly trap that ensnares willing participants. That image stayed with Butler and became the conceptual foundation for a ceramic installation that imagines a garden where authoritarianism grows.
Each wheel-thrown ceramic trap in the series contains a single trait, rendered in cursive text that is 3D printed and leafed in metal. Individually, these traits may be benign, beneficial, or ambiguous. Together, and under the right conditions, they form a system that sustains something far more dangerous. The installation currently includes more than sixty traps and continues to expand, reflecting the complexity and scale of the ideas it examines.
While Butler plans to continue developing sculptural work, she is also returning to painting in acrylic and drawing in oil pastel. Alongside her studio practice, she remains closely connected to writing through collaboration with her husband, a novelist and high school teacher, for whom she is creating cover art for an upcoming book. Their shared creative life is grounded in mutual encouragement and an ongoing effort to balance teaching, making, and personal expression.
