from separation to individuation ...

Paintings bY Deirdre Butler

17— 30 December 2004, Fringe Club

Artist’s Bio

DEIRDRE BUTLER 

London born, of Irish blood in 1955; peripatetic childhood living in Malaysia, Canada and Nigeria; convent boarding schooled in maths and sciences, I gained an M.A (Hons) Economics from St Andrews University Scotland in 1978. In 1983 I qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and worked in both the accountancy profession and banking in the city of London in the 80s. This was perfect experience for working in the corporate sector in HK, when I arrived here in 1989 with a husband. And I’d had no art experience, whatsoever, since the age of 13.

In 1991 things changed. I had a wonderful opportunity not to ’work’. I took my first art courses at the YWCA – Drawing with the Right Side of the Brain and Life Drawing. Slowly and gradually I got hooked. Over the next 10 years I took various courses and workshops at the Y, at the Fringe, at HK Arts Centre and became inspired by teachers and participants alike. Life drawing was the continuity and my passion, tempered of course by the other demands of a tai tai corporate wife - like tennis, entertaining and traveling.

In 2001 things changed again, rather drastically. I lost a husband. That sounds rather careless, actually we decided to separate. In fact, that is not strictly accurate either. He left me. It came as a tremendous shock and surprise to me. I was devastated and life took on an unreal hue. However I am a survivor and somehow I realized that I had a choice. I could sink into blame and desolation or I could swim…to freedom. A serendipitous coincidence, I discovered art therapy. From then on I used art like a rubber ring…a life saver.

Over the last 3 years I have experienced many different shades of hell and heaven on the road to self discovery and healing. Some of the more heavenly aspects involved immersing myself more in the world of art, all sorts….visual, bodywork, dance, performance, all stretching and all in their way therapeutic. I also have been living much closer to nature in a house by the sea in a small village on Lamma. In 2002 I took the Art Therapy Foundation Certificate course at HK SPACE. The following winter I participated in a 3 month programme, called Essence of the Arts, at The Findhorn Community in the north of Scotland. Nearing heaven can get cold at times, particularly in a Scottish December.

This exhibition…from separation to individuation….my first solo exhibition, I see as a milestone on my road. It’s the culmination of 3 years of seeking, looking inward, finding myself. Now it’s time to look outward and share.

Today I draw and paint for pleasure, sometimes therapeutically, and also because I am impelled to do so. A lot of the time the paintings paint themselves. Sometimes I try and give direction; it works…to a degree. Going forward, my artistic intent is to return to my life drawing roots and focus on a series inspired by dance. That’s the current intent, who knows where the dance of life will take me?

Deirdre
Hong Kong
December2004

The Exhibition

The Economist Gallery
Mon – Sat, noon – 10pm
2 Lower Albert Road, Central, Tel 2521 7251

from separation to individuation

The paintings in this, my first solo exhibition, have emerged mainly in the last few months, yet they have been gestating in the last 3 years. They reflect the hell and the heaven, and they trace the journey of making a painful separation from a husband and a marriage to reclaiming my own self-confidence and self-esteem and finding a contentment with life on my own.  

Separation, abandonment, despair, desolation, blame, loss, grief, healing, patience, release, self-discovery, communication, compassion, openness, surrender, freedom, individuation -

some of my feelings, emotions and experiences of the last 3 years that have birthed these images of the Individuation Series.

All true and yet more… bodywork, dance, dreams, words, poetry and people…all have inspired. And now as I look at the pictures, I think I see more heaven than hell…perhaps it’s all in the perception? Sharing these images, and words, is just another stage of my journey.

Previous Exhibitions

Other Work

For the last 2 years I have been running short Healing Art Workshops from my home at The GreenHouse, Luk Chau, Lamma Island. These do not require any formal experience, just a willingness to play with art tools, maybe splash a bit of paint around, and see what might happen…

For a review with pictures go to:
www.compunicate.com/Lamma-zine/PG-Healing-Art-WS.htm
or for more info contact me at: healingart_hk@hotmail.com.