James Butler
Professor of Studio Art
- Office
- Johnson 312
- Tel
- (802) 443-5231
- jbutler@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- On-Leave-Academic Year 2024-2025
Jim Butler teaches foundation studio art courses as well as two and three-dimensional approaches to making images in more advanced classes. He has taught at Middlebury since 1981 and is Co-Chair Of the Program In Studio Art.
Primarily known as a painter he also images through photographs, printmaking, drawing, as well as sculpture using experimental methods of glass fabrication. He has shown his work nationally and internationally for over two decades. In 2001 he was awarded a Mellon Foundation Grant for new work in glass. Committed to working collaboratively, Butler is one-half of the artist team The Civil Hand, whose large-scale glass/image piece “Hieroglyph” will be permanently installed in UrbanGlass’s renovated Brooklyn facility. Though nominally representational, his work is committed to finding conceptual diffraction between what is known and what is seen.
Courses Taught
ART 0201
Upcoming
Figure Drawing I
Course Description
Figure Drawing I: The Human Body as Expression
Depictions of the human are the longest historical record of our species. In this course we will learn to draw the human body as a key to unlocking that history and your imagination, to create new cultural stories. We will apply foundational knowledge obtained via deep analysis of skeletal/muscular anatomy to axioms of drawing including spatial reasoning using principles of geometry to depict the nude human form from life. You will learn to pictorialize figures meeting your creative intentions using inks, graphite, charcoal, and acrylics. Weekly lectures will survey figurative representation throughout the history of global art. Labs include application of linear perspective, movement, clothing, and implications of adornment. All levels; no pre-req; Content is connective to programs including Dance, Theater, History, and Philosophy. Lecture/Lab
Terms Taught
Requirements
ART 0302
Art of Pastel Painting
Course Description
The Art of Pastel Painting
In this class we will study and apply principles of making images using the medium of dry pastels. Pastel-painting involves sticks of dry pigment bound with gum-arabic and applied by the artist’s hand to paper. Used skillfully it is intense, direct, and expressive. Using pastels we will learn color theory and how to control value and perspective by creating images of still-life, interiors, and the human figure. This studio course will also include image-lectures on the history of pastel in art history. (ART 0156, ART 0157 or ART 0159 or ART 0185 or ART 1128 or ART 1129 or THEA 0101).
Terms Taught
Requirements
ART 0303
Painting the Figure in Oil
Course Description
Painting the Figure in Oil
In this course we will learn the how to paint images of human beings. The class will begin with an overview of artistic anatomy and resulting patterns of movement. This initial portion of the semester will focus on color theory and refreshing understanding foundations of describing form. Using this knowledge we will then paint in oil by directly observing the live model outdoors. Part of this class will focus on painting portrait images. Studio work will be accompanied by regular image-lectures of the pan-global history of depicting the human form.
Terms Taught
Requirements
ART 0317
Upcoming
Painting the Human Face
Course Description
Painting the Human Face
In this lecture and lab course we will create drawings and paintings of the human visage. Our class begins with an in-depth anatomical study of the human head, neck, and upper torso. This will lead us to analyze ways previous art of America and Europe has mapped forms of the human face to communicate expressive content in painting. Then, using oil paint on paper, panel, and canvas we will work from the live model to design our own contemporary images of human beings. Our goals will be imaginative expression of psychologies of those we depict and the stories they project. (Any Studio Art; THEA set design; or FMMC animation courses.)
Terms Taught
Requirements
ART 0348
Landscape Painting Outdoors
Course Description
Oil Painting Outdoors - Visually Interpreting The Landscape Around Us
In this outdoor lab we will create paintings directly from the fall landscape of Middlebury. Using oil paint we will learn how to set up a palette, deploy color theory in picture-making, and apply spatial principles in composing our paintings. Oil on canvas will be our gateway to understanding the natural world, our built environment, and transitory phenomena of weather and light. A portion of the class will address how to incorporate humans and animals into our images. Lecture and readings will address historical and philosophical ideas of landscape in culture. (one intro drawing course). 6 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
ART 0500
Upcoming
Special Project
Course Description
Special Project
Supervised independent work with a special project proposed by a student or a collaboration between a student and a faculty member on a special project. Admission by permission of a faculty member. 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught