Steffany Butts - Boucher
BIOGRAPHY
Steffany Butts - Boucher is a Transcendental Artist, Instructor, Certified Sound Practitioner, Licensed Spiritual Healer, Art-Life Coach, Communications and Programs Manager at the MAC, and owner of ECHO Studio in Manitou Springs, CO. She received her MFA in Sculpture from Parsons School of Design in New York City and her BFA from Western Illinois University. She has shown her work throughout the United States including Illinois, Colorado, Cleveland, Brooklyn and New York City, in addition to Stuttgart, Germany. Her work is in private collections throughout the United States, including New York City, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado & California; and Internationally including Germany, Iceland, Italy, Helsinki and Canada. Venues of collaborative, individual, group and invitational exhibits include: Kreuser Gallery, Colorado Springs, CO; Manitou Art Center, Manitou Springs, CO; Modbo, Colorado Springs, CO; Pikes Peak Community College, Colorado Springs, CO; Pencil Factory, Brooklyn, NY; Niagara Space, NYC; ArtLot, Brooklyn, NY; HereArt, NYC; Crosby Street Project Space, NYC; WIU Gallery, Macomb, Illinois; Sullivan Taylor House, Macomb, Illinois; ArtHauz, Co-op Gallery, Macomb, Illinois; Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany.
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The accordion, clarinet, piano harp, saw, theremin, experimental and self-constructed instruments are utilized by Steffany in performance along with her layered video projections. Performances & recordings include: video Projections for the Four Moons and at the Time Travelers Circus, Florence, Colorado; Over and Under the Pulaski, Composed & Performed on Site: Accordion, Brooklyn, NY; Belaphant: Experimental Recordings & Performance with Danyel Wendrof, Brooklyn, NY; Accompany, Brooklyn Silent Film Social: Saw, Accordion, Theremin, Brooklyn, NY; Mouth, A Collaborative Project and Recording, Parsons- The New School for Design, NYC
Her teaching experience includes Independent Classes & Workshops; Kreuser Gallery, CO; Parsons School of Design, NYC; Bemis School of Art and Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs; in addition to K-12 schools and educational programs. Her teaching spans 22 years. She taught in the subject areas of Foundation Studio classes in both Art and Design, Sculpture and Drawing, in addition to Art History.
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​The common thread within my life is that art and music have always been my communication tool. This work has been evolving over a very long period of time. My connection to this work began when I made my first marks, and first sounds. The moment when I learned that a single line or sound existing is a form of communication and a series of marks or sounds becomes fine language. VEIL is a collection of artifacts from my meditative practice on the value of communication, connection, time, observation and being present. Thread, fiber, textiles, perma-chrome ink, alcohol ink, oil of wintergreen and paper coalesce into sentences which have become the mapping of my journey. I was once an art history teacher and taught design at Parsons living as an artist in New York City and now, I have added in work within the scientific & spiritual realm. We carry sound within our bodies, veils of mist that sift and connect in with our pulse, our neural pathways. We utilize music and visual art to synthesize our experiences, to celebrate, to express and heal. Art, visual & auditory along with the tools we use to create it become artifacts for another lifetime; a symbol that tells a story for how we once lived. I am in love with prehistoric drawings - petroglyphs, the history of sound, the ecology of sound, and how our visceral discernment of them reactivates the process of storytelling - human connection. When I am working in my studio, I begin first by experimenting with materials to see how they interact and play. Once I feel a sense of flow, I continue to work intuitively and invite my own story to entwine & evolve. Each piece is another characteristic detail, another code to the story.