Newsletter, June 11, 2025

Sleepless nights, a small outdoor project in Brooklyn, public art, Westbrook Gallery, Aage V. Hogfeldt, circle vs ellipse, Show&Tell, Two Coats of Paint Open Studios, teaching in the fall, more

Sharon Butler, Ionesco, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 42 inches

I must admit, I got very little sleep last night, given the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard and a battalion of Marines in Los Angeles. I worry that the White House is effectively asking Americans to come out and protest the ICE raids so that Trump can invoke the Insurrection Act and then, perhaps with an eye to cancelling the midterms, declare martial law in all the Blue states. Is this the beginning of a full-fledged civil war? This morning, I asked the national security analyst in the house how he’s feeling about what’s going on, and he said it’s not good but “don’t get ahead of yourself.”

So, with that bit of highly qualified optimism, I was able to sit down and write the June Newsletter.

Dear Friends, Family, and Colleagues,

I’m delighted to have been invited to do a small outdoor project at an artists’ non-profit space in Brooklyn, so public art has been on my mind. When I was growing up, one of my most memorable outdoor art experiences was driving by an avant-garde, artist-run outpost on the Boston Post Road (Route 1) en route to my grandmother’s beach house in Westbrook, Connecticut. Westbrook Gallery was founded in 1956 by Aage V. Hogfeldt – Danish immigrant, B-24 Liberator nose-gunner during the Second World War who flew 27 combat missions, Yale MFA, student of Josef Albers and Vincent Scully, and lyrical abstract artist – and five like-minded young guys who were disillusioned with the New York art scene. They built the gallery out of a ramshackle old icehouse and filled the nearby pond with Modern sculptures. They hosted exhibitions, dramatic performances, music, and what they called “slide operas,” which combined music, slide presentations, and text.

Westbrook Gallery, built in an old ice house, with King David sculpture at far right. The images is from a 1961 article from the New Haven Journal-Courier, via the Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven.

According to old interviews, the group was pretty far out for the Connecticut shore and never gained much of a local audience. But to young me, even though we never stopped or went inside, it was a magical place. I loved the huge outdoor sculptures, particularly the two-story white concrete one, which I interpreted as a female form, full-figured like my mother. From press materials for a 2024 exhibition about the group at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven, curated by Eric Litke and Peter Hastings Falk, I learned that the sculpture, called King David, was made by David T.S. Jones and was not a female figure at all.

Most of the guys moved on to other things, although I think Aage, who died in 2014 at 89, and the sculptures remained until the property was sold. One time, in the 1990s, before a new owner knocked down the structure in 2021, I stopped to explore. The building was in rough shape, dilapidated as if there had been a fire. The roof was leaky, and the space was full of dirt and small concrete objects. I didn’t know what they were, but I wish I had taken a few.

I also think about Peter Dudek’s mural project in North Adams, Massachusetts, which included a series of small wall paintings that were spread throughout the town as if arrayed for a scavenger hunt. Peter’s cleverly installed, enigmatic paintings forced you to get out of the car and walk around town to see them. That made for a more expansive and potentially immersive experience than the big drive-by murals that so many communities sink their public art funding into. I’ll have more info about my little project later this year.

Sharon Butler, Grips, 2025, acrylic, canvas, on canvas, 54 x 43 inches

In the studio, which has great energy (Graham, is that you?), I’m continuing work on a series of paintings that feature the circle. It strikes me as an inherently honest shape, but you rarely see it in the wild, as it were. Unless you’re standing right in front of the form, what you actually see is an ellipse. Circles are objective reality, whereas ellipses are all about illusion and point of view.

Link to Show & Tell. Note that the new date is June 22!

Artists’ Talk: I mentioned last month that I’ll be giving a talk in June at Show&Tell, a lively project organized by artists Alyssa Fanning, Michael Aaron Lee, and Patrick Neal. The monthly talks take place at the New York Irish Center in Long Island City. Richard Garrison will also be discussing his work. Our talks will be followed by Q & A and an opportunity to chat with everyone. Note that the original June 14 date has been changed to June 22 so that on the 14th, from 2–4 pm, we can all go to the No Kings protest at Bryant Park / Grace Plaza (NYC).

Show&Tell
New York Irish Center
1040 Jackson Avenue
Long Island City, NY

At left: Katie Fuller. At right: Marie Thibeault

Two Coats of Paint Residency news: This week Akron-based artist Katie Butler is in residence at Two Coats of Paint. Please join us for an Open Studio on Thursday, June 12, 3–6 PM.Read more about Katie’s work here.

Next week, June 15–19, Los Angeles artist Marie Thibeault will be in residence. Her Open Studio will be on Tuesday, June 17, 5–8 PM. Read more about Marie’s work here.

I’ll be hosting, and my studio will be open with some new work as well as some work in progress. Chris Joy’s studio will also be open. Let me know if you’re planning to stop by so that we’ll have enough drinks and snacks. If you can’t make the Open Studio, but would like to visit the Resident Artists while they’re in town, send an email to staff@twocoatsofpaint and put STUDIO VISIT in the subject line.

Location:
Two Coats of Paint, 22-19 41st Avenue, 6th floor, #10, Long Island City, NY

Teaching next year: For the 2025-26 academic year, I've been invited to mentor a ten-artist cohort in The Canopy Program, a wildly popular artist-run mentoring project in NYC, founded by Brooklyn-based artist Catherine Haggarty, in which a faculty mentor works with ten artists for three semesters. My group will meet on Tuesday evenings via Zoom. Learn more about the schedule, critics, and visiting artists for my cohort here. The application deadline is July 27.

Thanks for reading to the end of the newsletter. Look for the next one on July 10, the day the Buck Moon will rise after sunset and be visible in the southeastern sky – a perfect position to see it from the studio windows. If you are out in the streets on June 14, please take care not to be provoked into violence – don’t give them a reason. And try not to get ahead of yourself.

xx
Sharon

To see images and information about past projects, writing, and exhibitions, visit my website at www.sharonlbutler.com. Follow me on Bluesky at @sharonbutler.bsky.social and on Instagram at @sharon_butler.