Kimberly Butts
I am an art teacher, artist, and future art therapist.
I love helping people of all ages explore possibilities for self-expression using conventional and unconventional materials. I always have at least one artwork in progress and an extensive collection of future artworks in my mind, awaiting their moments of manifestation.
The Art Teacher
I earned my undergraduate degree in art education and fine arts from Purdue University in 2000. Over the next sixteen years, I had the pleasure of teaching art to thousands of elementary and junior high aged students in public and private school settings. Being an active member of the Illinois Art Education Association (IAEA) helped me to hone my educational abilities and keep up with shifts in pedagogy. In 2014 the IAEA presented me with the Illinois Elementary Art Educator of the Year award.
The Artists
All work and no Play-Dough makes for a very unhappy artists. Many working adults, even art teachers, often find it difficult to carve out time in their busy lives for creating their own expressive artworks. With limited time and dozens of work and life obligations demanding my attention I needed to adapt my creative process. I knew I had found at least one good solution to this issue when I learned about Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). Over the years I have created hundreds of ATC and swapped them with other ATC artists all around the world. I was especially thrilled the day I traded one of my ATCs for a needle felted ATC during a monthly swap in Milwaukee, WI. Not long before this swap, I attended a needle felting workshop during an IAEA conference and was immediately captivated by the multi-sensory experience of creating felted wool art. Felting gradually became my primary expressive art medium and I still find it to be the most versatile, forgiving, and satisfying medium to create with.
The Future Art Therapist
In 2017, I decided to pursue a master’s degree in art therapy because I want to help others learn how to use art and the creative process to cope with life stressors and manage mental health challenges. My lived experience with mental illness, intense grief, ADHD, and traumatic events amplifies my empathic capacity and passion to serve others as an art therapist. To that end, I am currently working towards my master’s degree in Art Therapy and Marriage and Family Therapy at Dominican University of California.