SALT FLAT Guadalupe Mountains National Park will host and feature Harlan Butt as an Artist-in-Residence, a press release detailed.
The press release stated Butt uses an enameling process that melts glass onto copper cut in the shape of feathers. The feather replicates three birds found in the Guadalupe Mountains: Red-tailed Hawk, Steller’s Jay, and the Mexican Spotted Owl.
Visitors to the park will have a chance to see this process, the artwork, and talk with Butt at 11 a.m. May 7. The event will take place at the Pine Springs Visitor Center and is listed in the park calendar.
Butt is an artist with over 40 years of experience working in metal and enamel who specializes in making vessels inspired by the human relationship to wilderness and the natural environment. Butt is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Texas where he taught from 1976 to 2017.
Butt is past President of the Enamelist Society, past President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and a Fellow of the American Crafts Council. Harlan has been the Artist-in-Residence at Denali National Park & Preserve in Alaska (2010), Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (2014), Acadia National Park in Maine (2018) and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia (2020).
Butt lives with his wife Robin in Denton. He also maintains a studio in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, where he spends the summer months.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park has had an Artist-in-Residence Program for ten years and has featured twenty-four artists in that time. More information on the Program can be found on the Artist-in-Residence homepage.
