105 YEARS
Teton Valley News - December 31, 2014 - Page B1
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B1teton valley news - December 31, 2014
Marian Butler hard at work on a new painting.
etting G thedetails TVN Photos/Stephen Henderson
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she was “doing it all wrong,” she even quit painting for a few years. “I didn’t paint because I Marian Butler turned 89 last thought I couldn’t paint the way week, and she’s still I was supposed to,” getting the details she said. “It comes just right. I didn’t paint out of everyone difLast week, the ferently.” because I Alta, Wyoming, resiBut years later, was a painter. dent was working on she said she can’t a new 24-by-48-inch I painted change the way she work of the Teton because I paints. peaks. She refers to “That little patch needed the the Tetons, which of rocks took me a money. loom just around whole day to paint,” the corner from she said, pointing Marian Butler her home as “The to a reprint of the on why she began Peaks.” For her, Tetons in the sumpainting there’s no need to mer, painted from specify. She’s paintthe viewpoint on ed them dozens of the top of Grand times, often taking Targhee. “To this many hours to comday, there’s not one rock out of plete tiny details in her work. place—I enjoy that.” Art critics and teachers This artist, whose work could throughout her life, she said, be confused for photographs, has have criticized her attention to painted the local peaks—and detail. After one class many years more—for most of her life. It ago in which the teacher insisted was a 50-cent prize she won at
Butler's paintbrushes inside her home studio.
Stephen Henderson TVN Staff
Butler fills out the colors and shadow of a Teton glacier.
age 13 that helped her realize her talent was more than just an interest. And decades later, when her first husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and with children living both in and out of the house, she began painting more regularly to supplement the family income. “I didn’t paint because I was a painter,” Butler said. “I painted because I needed the money.” Today, she paints as a way of leaving something behind for the growing number of her descendants. Butler calls nine living children hers, as well as 42 grandchildren. Now, her daughter has taken up the task of getting prints created. “My daughter said, ‘Let’s duplicate them!’”
A painting of a Swiss landscape by the artist hangs in her living room.
Butler said. They’re now reproduced by a professional in Salt Lake City. 24-by-48-inch prints sell for $310, and 18-by-36-inch prints for $235. The price her daughter charges, Butler said, is to cover only the cost of printing, as well as shipping. These days, Butler said her goal is to leave each of her children with three paintings each: a portrait of each, a painting of “The Peaks” and a painting of the Swiss landscapes from which her first husband’s family came. It’s a way of helping the children remember their heritage. “It sometimes makes you a little more serious about living when you know where you come from and you know where you’re going,” she said.