Grade: 1.9
Print: Palma, 1990, found steel
There is not a print for this piece. Please refer to the book, Deborah
Butterfield ,which can be found in the Art Docent supply closet (left hand
side). There are digital files of her work on the Lawton Art Docent blog as
well.
Original Size: 77 x 119 x 26 inches
Artist: Deborah Butterfield
Materials:
30 sheets (9” X 12”) white construction paper.
Trays of pre-cut shapes of various sizes (circles, triangles, squares,
rectangles, etc.) at least four of each shape per child. Cut shapes using
primary color construction paper.
30 glue sticks
Crayons to color in background if they have time.
Biography:
Deborah Butterfield was born is San Diego in 1949. She didn’t have
any brothers and sisters growing up so her pet cat was her best
friend. When she was a girl, sometimes she would ride around with
the local veterinarian (animal doctor) so she could see other
animals. She especially liked horses and thought she wanted to be
a vet when she grew up. Instead, she became an artist who
makes sculptures. Sculptures are artwork that you can see from all
three sides. (Like statues) Deborah became famous for creating lifesize (the size of a real horse) horse sculptures. The horses she
makes usually look kind and peaceful. When she is making a horse
sculpture she uses metal, wood, wire and junk she finds in scrap
yards or the garbage. Sometimes her neighbors will call her if
they’ve found a good piece of material for her to use. The artist
forms the metal, wood or junk into different shapes in order to make
her horses. One of her sculptures can weigh over 2600 lbs.
Deborah Butterfield now lives and works at her studio in Montana.
She owns 12 horses that she rides and trains everyday. There is a
gallery in Seattle that shows some of her sculptures. It’s called the
Greg Kucera Gallery and it’s near Pioneer Square Downtown. Have
your parents call ahead and see if it is ok to bring you by so you can
see one!
Suggested Presentation + Questions to ask the children:
• Who is Palma? What does Palma look like to you?
Look closely, what is
Palma made of?
Where do you think the artist found the materials
for Palma?
Can you see any shapes in Palma? Which
ones?
(circle for hip area, oval for body, rectangles for legs and
shoulder, triangle for head)
What colors are Palma? (Red, Blue &
yellow).They are all primary colors (red, yellow and blue they are
colors you mix to make other colors. Ex. Red + yellow = orange)
If
Palma were real, what kind of horse would she be?
Related Art Project:
Be sure to go over instructions before passing out any art supplies.
Tell the children they will be making their own animal with shapes. Remind
them how Palma is made out of basic shapes. Show the students an
example of different animals they can make by using the cut –outs.
Demonstrate a couple quickly or have a few already done on paper.
Don’t leave your examples out or the kids will copy them exactly.
(Suggestions: caterpillar, dog, cat, cow, bird etc.)
After they pick and arrange their shapes for their animal, help them to
paste their shapes on the white construction paper. If they have the time,
they can color in a background.
Remind the students to think about what their animal will look like before
they paste their shapes down and make sure each student has their
name on the back of their paper.
Additional resources:
Founrdry in Walla Walla that creates Deborah’s work:
http://www.wallawallafoundry.com/portfolio/butterfield.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_zTI1aMj7I
Seattle Gallery showing Deborah’s work:
http://www.gregkucera.com/butterfield.htm
http://www.lalouver.com/html/butterfield_bio.html
Vocabulary: sculpture, shapes, found objects and primary Colors