March 2022 3-D Featured Artist Jan Butler

Jan Butler became acquainted with a woman who had two bachelor of art degrees and owned and operated a landscape design company. She also worked as a potter selling her artwork in local shows. As they became warm friends, they helped one another. Her friend seemed to constantly be in a crunch to make enough pottery for the shows she attended, so Jan began to assist her. “I began to effectively function as a pottery apprentice, learning pottery and the basics of art while we worked together,” said Jan.

With her newly developing interest in art, Jan began to take classes in acrylic, oil, pastel and silk painting and finally glass fusing. “I knew then I had found my passion,” explained Jan. “I liked the creative side of glass fusing. I especially liked the industrial side, particularly making murrini, a process that can be traced back to 16th century Venetian glassmakers, who layered many different glass colors around a core. The glass was then melted, stretched, cooled, and cut into small cross-sections which add splashes of color and detail to glass projects. As such, I tend to focus on pieces that incorporate stringers and cane.”

Jan is currently also working in Raku and will be presenting several pottery Raku pieces at the show. Raku is an ancient Japanese firing technique which involves removing pottery from a gas-fueled kiln at approximately 1,800 degrees, then placing it in containers filled with combustible material to create a reduced oxygen atmosphere. In turn, this produces beautiful colors.