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Born in Atlantic, Iowa, Brandie Butcher-Isley grew up with her parents in a small rented house across the street from her Grandparents. Close to her family, she continued to spend summers with her Grandparents even after moving to Des Moines at the age of 4. Her mother recalls Brandie’s interest in art sparking during this time. She remembers Brandie drawing since she could wrap her fingers strong enough around a crayon to put it to paper.
Brandie Butcher-Isley – Artist Statement
I am a self-taught mixed media artist living with my family in West Des Moines, Iowa. Art has been my lifelong obsession. It is what keeps me grounded and happy. After many artistic endeavors I find myself here today and I only hope to continue evolving. My art as you see it today grew from a shoebox of photos of family relatives my grandmother gave to me. Inspired, I wanted to tell their stories. Armed with a lifetime of shared family history, I began down the path I am on today. I have moved from my family collection to discarded photographs of individuals discovered at estate sales and antique stores who have now found their place in my art. Not given the privilege of learning their history, I have built a fictional story through layers of paint, ephemera, and many mediums, to breathe life back into these individuals whose photographic records have been misplaced or forgotten.
Accomplishments:
Most Recently:
• Brandie’s collage paintings have earned her the honor of being chosen by Metro Arts Alliance as their November 2008 Featured Artist.
• Been published in November’s issue of Pasticcio
• Published twice in Somerset Studio Magazine.
• Exhibition 36, a Gallery of mixed media Inspiration by Susan Tuttle. (Description and preorder availability on www.amazon.com and due to arrive in bookstores November 2008.)
Awards:
• “Best in Show” at West Des Moines Iowa’s Valley Junction Fall Art Market, 2008,
• "Best 2-d Artist" at West Des Moines, Iowa's Valley Junction Fall Art Market 2007.
• Honorable mention award from the Des Moines Women’s Club Annual Art exhibition 2008
• Winning prize of a CD cover art contest for an up and coming local band.
Influences & Inspirations
Growing up, Brandie always wanted to be the next Mary Cassatt. When she realized this was not going to happen, she decided she would learn from her soft compositions and colors and be inspired by her vision. She wishes for her work to be as insightful as Mary Cassatt’s ability to reach inside her subjects and bring out their vulnerability, their soul.
Brandie attributes her inspirations to her life experiences, both past and present, by the experiences of others, music, literature and poetry, children, sunlight, moonlight, eavesdropping, people watching, old books and sheet music.
If there were a constant inspiration, it would be old photos for Brandie. “These people speak to me and require I tell their stories,” states Brandie.
What’s on tap now
A longtime member of ZNE www.zneart.com (variaZioNE), an online group of mixed media and Indie Artists, she will be instructing a weeklong workshop at the organization’s conference in Pleasanton, CA next April/May. Brandie is also active in teaching workshops at The Art Store, two of which are coming up in November. Along with teaching, she has exhibited her art at many shows this past season throughout Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Nebraska.
Coming up next:
• Metro Arts Two Rivers Expo, November 8 & 9, HyVee Hall
• Art on display and for sale at
Arte gallery in the East Village
400 E. Locust St., Suite 3.
• Visual Pros, an exploration of language in art.
November 15- December 31, 2008
Your Art’s Desire
12928 Minnetonka Blvd
Minnetonka, MN 55305
Next Year:
• ZNE Convention 2009 April 29th- May 3rd
• Omaha Summer Arts Festival June 26, 27 and 28, 2009
• Ritual Café, Des Moines, IA the month of July, 2009
• Valley Junction Art Market September 18th 2009
For more information please contact:
www.littlepiecesofart.com
brandie@littlepiecesofart.com
515-710-4406
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