Meryl Ann Butler 

Professional Activities: Selected Career Highlights 

• 2016-present. Owner/instructor at Ocean View Arts, artist studio/studio school. Traditional and contemporary art courses and workshops in traditional realism and crafts including: charcoal, pastels, oil painting, watercolor, pen and ink, design, anatomy, portraiture, perspective, illustration, color theory and application, composition, perspective, value relationships. Annual student exhibitions, vibrant scholarship program. Since March 2020 OVA has been moving into a hybrid model and activities are being restructured as online offerings offered on a sliding scale, no one is excluded from art. In-person group classes are expected to resume after the pandemic fully subsides.
  
• 2001-present. Publication of over 700 articles and other contributions on OpEdNews.com; over 2.5 million views, (as well as hundreds of contributions to other publications since 1985.) Popular series include Art and Creativity; Labyrinths and World Labyrinth Day. OEN Managing Editor (volunteer position) since 2012. OpEdNews.com/MerylAnnButler.
  
• 1989-present. Faculty member at art and quilt-related conferences, guilds, and quilt shops, including VAEA State Conference, The Labyrinth Society Annual conferences, Pacific International Quilt Festivals (CA), Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festivals (VA), and the International Quilt Festivals (Houston, TX) presenting a wide selection of topics including: Art Fundamentals for Quilters, Values and Chroma, Color and Design, 90- Minute Quilts, Creativity, Wearable Art Design, Mandalas, Kaleidoscopes, Labyrinth Design & Construction.
  
• 1980-2021 Private art lessons/tutoring. Educating adults and children in charcoal drawing, oil painting, pastel painting, pen and ink drawing, watercolor, Prismacolor pencil, fiber art, quilting, wearable art, sculpture, 3-D design, labyrinth installation and design, and a variety of additional media.
  
• 2006 – 2011. Author/editor: Author of More 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares (Krause, April 7, 2011), 90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon (Krause, 2006), and editor for multiple book projects.
  
• 1985-2005. Association for Research and Enlightenment and the Cayce-Reilly School: Arts- related workshops and classes for adults and children.
  
• 2005. Stevenson Art Academy, Oyster Bay, NY. Guest instructor for an intensive course, Portfolio Development for High School Art Majors.
  
• 2002-2003. The Learning Tree, Chatsworth, CA. (2002-2003). Labyrinth workshops.
  
• 1985-2001. Contemporary Art Center of Virginia (formerly Virginia Beach Art Center.) Classes for adults and children including: art history, charcoal drawing, traditional painting, pastel painting, cartooning, sculpture, calligraphy, stenciling, kaleidoscope design, and crafts.
  

Professional Activities: Selected Highlights Meryl Ann Butler Page 1 of 2 

• 1995. Co-authored core curriculum of five post-graduate level courses, Art and Healing.
  
• 1992-94. Eastern New Mexico University, Portales, NM Lecture: The Role of Art in Personal and Planetary Healing (Art Department). Courses: Color Theory and Application, and Wearable Art, which included a fashion show of students’ work.
  
• 1974 – 1983. Butler Art Studios, Louisiana: Art classes for adults and children in traditional realism and crafts including: charcoal, pastels, oil painting, watercolor, pen and ink, design, anatomy, portraiture, perspective, illustration, color theory and application, composition, perspective, value relationships. 

 
Art Production/Exhibition Highlights

• 1975 – 2021. Typically 10-15 major pieces plus a varying number of smaller works produced annually, primarily commissioned art in a wide range of styles and media, including traditional oil painting, airbrushed designs on vehicles, kaleidoscope design, fiber art, graphic design, decorative mural painting, mixed media visionary art, labyrinth art installations and portable canvases, wearable art, and costuming for dozens of plays for community theatre.
  
• Artworks  are in collections around the globe. Various international projects including: faculty advisor for and designer of The Love for All Mankind/Anti-Apartheid Quilt, a group quilt project at ENMU (1993), designer and creator of the First U.S.-Soviet Childrens’ Peace Quilt Exchange Project (1987-88)
  
• One-woman show featured work in a variety of media including charcoal, oil, pastel, acrylic, raku pottery, colored pencil, fiber art. Aug. 9 through Sept. 5, 1999. Association for Research and Enlightenment, Virginia Beach.
  
   
  Memberships
  
• Ocean View Business Association, Chesapeake Bay Artist Association, National Art Educators Association/Virginia Art Educators Association, Tidewater Quilters Guild founding member The Labyrinth Society.
  
   
  Education
  
• Stevenson Studio and Gallery, Sea Cliff, N.Y. 1972-74. Selected for one of eight positions at the atelier of master of realism, Harold R. Stevenson, a student of Norman Rockwell. Curriculum included charcoal, oil, watercolor, pastel, pen and ink, anatomy, life drawing, still life, portraiture, landscape, illustration and teaching/classroom skills internship. Students attended 10 hours per day, 50 weeks per year.
  
• Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y. 1971. NYS Regents Scholarship.
  
• Stevenson Studio and Gallery, Sea Cliff, N.Y. 1968-71. Attended evening classes year round.
  

A-  At OVA, our philosophy is that learning is a process and that nobody is ever “wrong.”  To “fail” is just:

First

Attempt

In

Learning

A- No artistic ability is required!

There are only three requirements in order to learn to create the type of artwork that you see in the Student Gallery:

1. Ability to see out of at least one eye

2. Have the use of at least one hand

3. Be eager to learn

That’s all!

So, creativity is not some mysterious quality that some people have and some don’t, but a quality within everyone. If it has been blocked off, then it is just a matter of uncovering it again. Anyone who is provided with a supportive environment in which to learn the techniques of the masters, can learn to draw and paint well.

Keep up with art tips and tutorials by liking our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OceanViewArts/?pnref=lhc

A-  You would not be duplicating lessons, since each student goes at her own pace. If you come to two classes per week, then you will simply advance twice as fast as if you came to one.

A- Everyone is born creative! All children enjoy drawing until, someone, well-meaning or not, criticizes them. This results in a wound to the creative self, and in order to protect themselves, most children then close the door to their artistic expression rather than risk being hurt again. When they grow up, they still draw at the level that they were at when they were wounded, and never progressed from there.

So, creativity is not some mysterious quality that some people have and some don’t, but a quality within everyone. If it has been blocked off, then it is just a matter of uncovering it again. Anyone who is provided with a supportive environment in which to learn the techniques of the masters, can learn to draw and paint well.

Keep up with art tips and tutorials by liking our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OceanViewArts/?pnref=lhc

A- There is no danger of that! Students are taught in small classes, and each student is taught individually and progresses at her own pace. Students who are absent from a class don’t miss anything, they simply pick up where they left off. Students who prefer to spend more time on a project are not left behind, and students who complete their projects faster are not held back. Learning art is designed to be easy and fun at Ocean View Arts!  Students may make up missed classes, please ask your instructor for information on how to attend make up classes.

A-  The painting in the student gallery are very good paintings! Still, they are work that is created by the average student taught by Ms. Butler. Anyone who learns the Renaissance-type techniques that she teaches can expect to produce work of this caliber.

A- Courses are competively priced, currently $320 for an 8-week term, comprised of eight, 2-½ hour classes. This is $40  per class.  (Six-class Saturday semesters are pro-rated.) Special discounts are often available.

A- You can learn a wide variety of art techniques and media at Ocean View Arts.

Here is the general procedure which students follow at their own pace:

1. All students start with drawing basics in the first three classes. This offers a foundation of classical training as students learn to depict several simple forms in light and shadow.  (When several new students start out the term together they are generally taught as a group for the first three sessions, since mini-lecture-demos are part of these classes.)
2. Students then progress to drawing a simple still life in charcoal.
3. Students progress to painting a still life in a value study painting.
4. Students progress to painting a finished still life in a full color painting.
5. At this point, student and teacher confer in order to develop the individualized course of study that best meets the student’s needs and desires. Students can select topics from the following: advanced drawing, advanced painting, color theory and application, value studies, still life, landscape, portrait, figure and anatomy, pastels, pen and ink, watercolor, mosaic textile collage, or luminous colored pencil drawings. High school students may select a path of study designed to develop a portfolio for college admissions/scholarships. Students with examples of Old Masters style artwork in a varied portfolio are typically singled out for acceptance and scholarships.

A- Mature teens interested in art as a career can start at age 16, as long as they are comfortable with a 2.5 hour class period.  Private lessons with Ms. Butler are available for any age over two years old.

A- You will finish what is comfortable for you in the term. Most students continue to sign up for subsequent terms, and each student learns at her own pace.

A- The only classes currently available are private in-person or online classes as well as online workshops.

A- Please see the “Supply List” page for lists of supplies.