Linda Butti

STORY

I grew up in an Italian American neighborhood in Brooklyn.  My grandfather, an immigrant, had built a row of attached houses and gave one each to his children; this meant I grew up being intertwined on a daily basis with a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles….it was fun, but involved and crazy a good deal of time! My father was a craftsman; he fixed accordians and made bellows for them…As a child, I was fascinated! I would go down to the basement and watch him turn ordinary sheets of cardboard into bellows…glue cooking on his stove, cutting out designs from sateen and gluing them on…I was mesmerized and my future was set…an artist……that’s what I wanted to be…Our house was always filled with music and books, and as a child in the 50’s- coin collections, stamp collections, and craft type hobbies. All of this added up to making art.  It was also a very good escape, as the constant bickering and fighting  that went on in this whole block of families led me to my private world of art.  I was the artist of the family and that made me special!

BUT, the family’s general idea of being a girl was to look pretty and find a good husband and have lots of children…….that didn't work well with me, as I did want a husband, but not the house, kids and those types of responsibilities…I only wanted to make art.

While I was married to my first husband in my twenties, I got my MFA (1975) and began exhibiting (first two group shows were in juried exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum,1977,’79) and teaching art.  But the marriage didn't work out.  I realized I needed to find my own vision of what life was and I needed to breathe.  The man I married was a good man, but we were young and I needed space and to take myself and art to a better place.  What saved my life was therapy and joining a womens’ art group –Women in the Arts Foundation, Inc.  To this day, I still belong.  This group was non judgmental  and opened to any woman who wanted to be an artist. I met older artists who were successful in the art world and they gave me the confidence to continue to pursue art seriously.  I got divorced at 30 years old and moved to Staten Island.  My art career took off in a wonderful new strong direction and I began to fly!

I met Dan Werner, curator of the Newhouse Gallery at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, SI, who liked my work and gave me a solo show there. He then introduced me to Nancy Stein of Nancy Stein Fine Arts Gallery in upper Manhattan.  Nancy became my first art agent; she was an incredible influence on me and to this day we continue to be very close friends.

In the 80’s and 90’s ,I had art agents, sold to corporations , was in a ton of shows and also began adjuncting in college at night while holding onto my day job of teaching art in prison. There was no stopping me- I was an independent, fairly successful artist making my way into the world.  My boyfriend at the time, who turned out to be my present husband, and I bought a small house in East Hampton in the 90’s…there was a lively art scene there and it afforded more opportunities to show and sell my work.

We sold that lovely little house five years ago, because though we were out there a lot, our main home was Staten Island.  It became too difficult to handle two houses and the art scene had changed by then…Our friends had left and the art world became extremely high end, leaving out a lot of us local artists.  So, here I am now.  I am 73 years old and though I don't have the vim and vigor and ambition that I had in earlier decades,  I still make tons of art and it is my life.   My art work continues to consist of lyrical interpretations of nature, intuitively executed, in my studio at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island.

When I had lived in Brooklyn, throughout my twenties, I had been painting interior scenes, using family and friends to sit.  Running out of friendly subject matter after a few  years , I had turned to interiors, which coincided  with my move to Staten Island.  I began painting empty interior scenes of the halls of Snug Harbor Cultural Center, then in its infancy to what it is now.  But, after a short while of living in Staten Island, I realized I was surrounded by fabulous trees and woods and became dumbstruck by all the nature around me! That’s when my fascination with nature began and it continues today!

I was mesmerized by the light, shapes, movement, sounds and colors surrounding me in the parks and woods.  (Remember, I had grown up in Brooklyn, where there was one tree on the block that was green, turned brown….and then was leafless……!)  I had had no idea of the constantly moving sensations that existed in nature.

I was hooked, and I began my journey into a world of movement, impressions, emotions and intuitions.  Living part time in East Hampton had increased my love of the spiritual beauty of nature.

My work is about beauty. I find beauty in nature, in the nuances of color and light that is all around us. When I am uplifted into the realm of visual beauty, I am able to transcend this reality into a different realm of meditation and joy.

Throughout my career so far, I’ve had thirty solo shows in the metropolitan area, over one hundred group shows, nationally and internationally, and have work in thirty- seven public collections and numerous private collections.  I’ve been awarded seven NYSCA grants, one NYC Public Works grant  and several honors and awards, including Honoree in 1991, by the National Organization of Italian American Women, Staten Island Chapter.  Presently, I am an adjunct Full Professor of Art at St John’s University.  You can see my work and more  in my website www.lindabutti.com.

I thank my father who insisted I have a teaching job in order to provide the basics for living and afford the independence  that being an artist requires.  I thank my mother for her zaniness, and her own particular brand of insanity, that helped fire my imagination into a world of dreams and possibilities and breathing….

Is it hard to be a ‘woman’ artist? I don’t know. I grew up in a time period where female generations before me paved the way. Did I get as far as I could have, hampered by being female? I don’t know. I experienced advantages and disadvantages to being a woman artist. I never concerned myself with that. I just persevered to be an artist. Simply put, it’s hard to be an artist, male or female.  Period. It is not an easy life.  Tons of rejections, tons of competition, tons of doubt and insecurities which ebb and flow. But it is a life full of surprises, discoveries and learning…Always learning…always discovering a new approach or idea and that makes it exciting and rewarding! It’s not always understood or accepted by others. But that doesn't matter. You make the art for yourself- your own vision...your own way…it’s something you need to do. And I feel lucky and blessed to have chosen this life. For me, there is no other life than a life in art.

Linda Butti  - Feb. 27, 2024