Frances Butler

Frances C. Butler (born 1940 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American book artist and educator. Butler received her B.A. in History at the University of California, Berkeley in 1961, her M.A. in History at Stanford University in 1963, and a second M.A. in Design at UC Berkeley in 1966. She was a professor at UC Berkeley from 1968–70, and began teaching at UC Davis in 1970. She ran Goodstuffs Handprinted Fabric at 6221 Hollis St., in Emeryville, CA, from 1973–79, and co-founded Poltroon Press with Alastair Johnston in 1975.

Poltroon Press
The Poltroon Press was one of several influential small presses in the San Francisco Bay Area, along with Rebis Press (Betsy Davids) and Five Trees Press (Kathleen Walkup, Jamie Robles, Cheryl Miller, etc.), which began their publishing and teaching activities during the mid-1970s.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Butler was the first visiting lecturer at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and "spoke of book arts in terms of re-defining tradition," challenging the center to adopt a more forward-thinking mission.

Selected solo & group exhibitions
Source:

1981 1979 1978 1977 1976
 * Diagrams of Natural Energy, Meyer Breier Weiss, San Francisco
 * New Dryads (Are Ready for Your Call), Piater Brattinga Gallery, Amsterdam
 * International Artists' Books Show, Art Institute of Chicago
 * Art for Wearing, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
 * American Illustration: 1800 to the Present, Oakland Art Museum
 * The Object as Poet, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.


 * California Design II, Pasadena Art Museum

1975 1974
 * Images of an Era—The American Poster 1945–75, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.


 * Clothing to be Seen, Museum of Contemporary Craft

1973 1972
 * Anatomy in Fabric, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Pop Fabrics, Victoria & Albert Museum, London


 * Block Brush and Stencil, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

1970
 * Design Eleven, Pasadena Museum of Modern Art

Selected permanent collections
Source:


 * Victoria & Albert Museum, London
 * The Museum of Modern Art, New York
 * The British Museum, London
 * Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York
 * National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.