Deborah Butterfield is an American sculptor renowned for her hauntingly beautiful depictions of horses, which serve as metaphors for the strength, fragility, and grace of the natural world. Each sculpture begins with months of foraging and construction, as she gathers tree branches, weathered planks, and steel scraps to build skeletal forms that are then cast in bronze, welded, and meticulously patinated. Despite their heavy material, the finished works maintain an uncanny resemblance to the organic elements that inspired them.
Born on May 7, 1949—the same day as the 75th Kentucky Derby—Butterfield cites the event as an early influence on her enduring subject matter. She earned her MFA at the University of California, Davis, where she studied under noted figurative sculptor Manuel Neri, and she also participated in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture residency in the 1970s. An accomplished dressage rider, Butterfield brings a deep, personal understanding of equine form and spirit to her work.
Her sculptures have been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally, with solo and group shows at major institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, the Neuberger Museum of Art, and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections.
Butterfield is the recipient of prestigious honors including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. She lives and works between her studios in Hawaii and Montana.