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Arts & Entertainment

Colorful Butler's Master Marbling

A "city girl" at heart, this New Jersey native is steeped in a craft that dates back at least to the 17th Century in Turkey.

Ingrid Butler, 65, lives Mill Valley and works in a Sausalito studio with her copper-artist husband. A Southern New Jersey native, she first experienced marbling through a class in the Bay Area and has had a studio in the ICB (Industrial Center Building) for over a quarter of a century.

We caught up with her in the studio and got her take on her life as an artist and living in Mill Valley.

Mill Valley Patch: What brought you to Mill Valley from Southern New Jersey?
Ingrid Butler: After I graduated from college – I went to the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence – I went off to Italy, and worked there for three years for a graphic designer as an apprentice. Then at some point, I decided I should come back to the United States, but where did I want to go? Italy had been so gorgeous, the only place I could think of was San Francisco. So, I came here with about a thousand dollars [laughter] – this was a long time ago, 1972 – and a big brown suitcase, and I made my way from there. A college friend had invited me out, and it was perfect timing.  

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MVP: What is a marbling?
IB: It goes back in time to Turkey, where the Turks were the first to marble.  They would float color pigment on water and manipulate those colors into patterns, and then print legal documents on them. If anybody tried to tamper with the amount or the date specified on the document, the colors would come off, and you would know that the document was not valid anymore. That was the origin. Then the trades routes opened up between Istanbul and Italy and marbling went to Italy. But the Italians would use it for bookbinding, covering boxes, etc. From there, it spread throughout Europe.    

MVP: You came to the Mill Valley with, as you explained it, “a thousand dollars” and a brown suitcase. Were you already interested in marbling at that point or did you become a marbler in the Bay Area?  
IB: My grandfather Kirkpatrick back in southern New Jersey had a beautiful, traditional library with the moving ladders to get to the books, and as a child I loved playing on the ladders. As an older teenager, I started looking at the books, and they all had these beautiful marbled end papers in them. I wanted to know how that was done, but it was a total mystery, and nobody could tell me. Then I went off to art school for four years, and nobody knew anything about marbling there. Then my husband and I took a four-hour marbling class with a German woman who had studied with a Turkish marbler in Istanbul. I fell in love, and so did my husband, but we only knew the bare essentials. At that time it was sort of a secret. There was no information on marbling. From there I worked less in the city [as a clothing store manager], and more in my studio. Eventually, I simply gave up my job, and became a full time marbler.  

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MVP: What is it about paper and colors that has inspired you to continue to be a marbler for 25-plus years?
IB: When I was in art school, I had Joseph Albers as a color teacher – he is a god in the world of color. He really influenced me. I have a knack for color.  Women have more color cones than men, and I can see colors really well. I studied color, and I just loved it, I just loved it. The flavor and tastes of colors.  People have asked me, “Do you get bored with what you do?” I say, “No!”  Every season I have new ideas. I am addicted to this process. I love it.

MVP: What have been working on recently?
IB: I had a job with the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation that actually won an award for its graphics.  It was a report [2010 Report – Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation] where my husband and I had done some of these targets with a repeat pattern. The theme was targets because we had met this young kid going off to Afghanistan, he had just signed up for the army. We met him on a plane, it was actually his first time on a plane. I was in tears, I said to my husband, 'We should kidnap this kid,' because he was so sweet, so innocent. But he wanted to kill those guys over in Afghanistan. My husband went online, bought a bunch of big targets. We came into the studio and starting painting them. The target was taken from being a killing practice to a piece of art in our exhibit.     

MVP: You have a lot of variety in your work, how do you choose what to do on a given day?
IB: Everyday is different. I have a white bedroom. Everything in it is white.  Sometimes I just lay in that white bedroom because I have been painting with colors all day long, and it allows me to clear my head, and come up with a new color pallet. I almost make the papers in my head the night before, and then come in and make them. And my motto is, every piece has to be perfect, there are no boo boos. 

MVP: You travel all over the world showing your work, yet you always come back to Mill Valley. Why?
IB: I am a “city girl” at heart, so living in Mill Valley is in the woods for me [laughter]. But Mill Valley nourishes me, it calms me in order for me to get focused again on a new body of work. 

MVP: Do you consider yourself an artist?
IB: People tell me I am artist, but I call myself a craftsperson. Yeah, I’m an artist, but basically I am no different than a plumber or a bus driver, people who are good at their craft. I think most artists need to be craftspeople first. 

MVP: Tell us something about you that might surprise people; something your friends may know, but not your clients might not.
IB: This year I was offered two separate jobs in Venice, Italy to teach marbling. That was a surprise to me. One marbler, and one book binder asked me to come and manage their school. That was a real honor. If I was younger, I would do this in a second… but I am here [and] I have my business to tend to.

MVP: If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask yourself, and how would you answer it?
IB: What are your future plans? I would say… well, that is a very good question [laughter]. I figure, I don’t need to live forever. I am very practical, but I will just keep being an artist in one way or another for however long that lasts. I always have been, and I always will be.

MVP: What is your favorite thing about Mill Valley?
IB: The crows, and the ravens [laughter]. I also like the fog. I just love that combination. Does that sound strange? I like watching them come into the valley.

MVP: If there was one thing that you could change about Mill Valley, what would it be?
IB: I wish Mill Valley had more diversity. More diversity. Like a true urban setting.

Learn more about marbling, Ingrid, and other artists at the ICB Art Center Winter Open Studios event, on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 6:00 p.m.

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