Brenda J. Butka

Artist Statement

Art is another way of being present, acknowledging the luminous nature of the life around me, paying the tribute of time. All I want in a painting is for it to feel alive--which is not the same as photographically accurate, or well-composed, or even a recognizable subject. Although many abstract paintings have this quality, I seem to require a visual buzz from the actual world--which could come from a pair of green-handled garden clippers or from people reading on the beach or the tree at the end of my driveway. Or flowers.

Tool Series

Scythe

0/C, approx. 20 " x 60"

This antique scythe belongs to Sheryl Evans, the widow of a fantastic Vandy art prof named Don Evans. She still lives in the old, unpainted house on Little Marrowbone Road, and at a Fourth of July party after his death, she handed out baggies containing his ashes to be distributed wherever those who loved him thought fit. I thought he would love to be in the perma