Exhibition - Equine Muse: Deborah Butterfield March 25, 2010

For more than thirty years Montana artist Deborah Butterfield has interpreted her equine muse in a plethora of materials, scales, postures, and moods. This exhibition highlights three sculptures by Butterfield from the YAM's permanent collection, and invites the viewer to experience three different constructivist approaches to her subject. Brown Horse Thought, the largest work in the exhibition, is an unusual, full-scale double portrait that is a recent gift from the artist. Derby Horse, a rarely seen, near half-size work appears to be made of found materials, as is often the case with Butterfield's work. Instead, the work is made of patinated bronze. The final work, Leona, is a rather rare, near half-size work that is made from mud and straw over a steel armature. Exhibited here for the first time, Leona is among the last artworks donated to YAM by our late, great patron Miriam Sample. YAM invites you to come and see these wonderful works of art, which are celebratory, elegiac, tender, and confident. Don't miss a fourth sculpture by Butterfield, tethered in our lobby, the ever-popular Ferdinand.