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'sAurora 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.
