Today we’d like to introduce you to Clyde Butcher.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri on September 6, 1942, Clyde was the only child of Clyde and Edna Butcher. His father was a sheet metal worker and traveled around the country working various jobs for the government. In 1956 the family moved to California where they settled in Beaumont, a high desert town in Southern California.
After high school Clyde went to college at California Polytechnic in San Luis Obsipo. He married Niki Vogel in 1963 and graduated in architecture in 1964.
After graduation he and Peter Portugal created their first business together photographing architectural models for architects. After two years they realized that even though their photographs helped architects sell their ideas, most architects couldn’t afford the time it took to accomplish the images. (Today, using the tools of a computer, it would be quick!) The business stopped. Peter and Clyde, remaining friends, went their separate ways.
Clyde worked in the architectural office of William Pereira in San Francisco, and then in William Pereira’s Los Angeles office. In 1967 his daughter, Jackie was born followed by his son, Ted, in 1969.
In 1969, after a down-turn in the economy, Clyde lost his job and turned to his skill as a photographer to make a living. He took his work to street art festivals for two years and then joined with Peter Gates and Richard Pucillo to form a business selling Clyde and Richards color photography as wall décor. To make the photographs “useful” Clyde silk-screened a clock face onto the front and then inserted a battery clock on the back, making “picture clocks”. The business was the largest importer of battery clocks in the United States. It had 200 employees, a manufacturing plant in Anaheim, California and Akron, Ohio. It produced picture clocks for Penny’s, Montgomery Ward, Sears, and many other large stores, also selling the clocks overseas and in Mexico.
To escape the pressure of the business, Clyde and his family moved aboard a sailboat where they enjoyed nature, the water and raised their family.
In 1977 the picture clock business was sold.
Clyde built another boat, put it on a trailer and took it across the country to sail around Florida. He and his family fell in love with Florida and moved there in 1980.
In 1981 Clyde began, once again, taking his color landscape photographs to the street art festivals around the country.
In 1986 Clyde’s son, Ted, was killed by a drunk driver. Clyde stopped photographing in color and returned to black and white photography.
In 1992 Clyde and his wife purchased 13 acres of land/swamp surrounded by a million acres of wilderness in Big Cypress National Preserve where they built Big Cypress Gallery and their home.
In 1999 Clyde moved his darkroom from Big Cypress Gallery to an Industrial Park in Venice Florida. This allowed him to have a bigger darkroom so he could create larger photographs. He chose Venice because his daughter and her family lived there.
In 2000 Clyde’s daughter, Jackie Butcher-Obendorf, came to work for Clyde, and her husband, Neal Obendorf, became Clyde’s darkroom assistant. Clyde’s second gallery, Venice Gallery and Studio was created.
In 2004 Jackie became the gallery director for both Big Cypress Gallery and Venice Gallery & Studio.
In 2010 Clyde and his wife, Niki, left their home Big Cypress, and moved to Venice, Florida. Big Cypress Gallery remained Clyde’s gallery and their home was turned into a vacation rental.
“Wilderness, to me, is a spiritual necessity. When my son was killed by a drunken driver, it was to the wilderness that I fled in hopes of regaining my serenity and equilibrium. The mysterious spiritual experience of being close to nature helped restore my soul. It was during that time I discovered the intimate beauty of the environment.
My experience reinforced my sense of dedication to use my art form, photography, to show people that there is a unity between all undisturbed natural places, whether a peak of a renowned mountain range or a stream-bed in an urban watershed. My hope is to educate…to let people know our land is a special place and to inspire others to work together to save nature’s places of spiritual sanctuary for future generations.” -Clyde Butcher
Through the Lens of Clyde Butcher
Clyde Butcher’s monumental photographs celebrate the beauty of the American Everglades. Their scale, extraordinary clarity and tonal range set them apart as exceptional works of art, earning him recognition as the foremost landscape photographer in America today. These powerful black and white images are portraits of the eternal bond between man and nature that is the soul of the Everglades. From the deepest cypress strands of the sawgrass prairies, coastal waters and languid estuaries, to pinpoint still-lives of rare species, Clyde reveals its ecosystems in magnificent detail. He makes an unquestionable case for why we should care about its future. As an early proponent of the Everglades restoration stated, “The Everglades is a test. If we pass, we may get to keep the planet.”
His Vision
Butcher brings the unique light and clarity of his artistic vision of this mysterious and primeval place rarely seen by humans. His goal as an artist, is to preserve our natural heritage that is America’s Everglades for future generations.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not smooth at all, the previous chronology presents some of the many struggles encountered… From the many transitions in location and professions to the death of Ted in 1986 life has presented many difficulties. Adapting beyond these and persevering beyond these negatives enables a positive result… as with photography; a negative can yield a positive.
Clyde Butcher Galleries – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I have three galleries. My goal is to inspire people to connect with nature through my art, those that aren’t adventurous enough to go waist deep in the swamp can hopefully be transported there through my photography and realize the beauty and importance of those environments… To instill a desire to save and preserve our sacred earth.
Big Cypress Gallery, in the Western Everglades offers swamp walks, cottage rentals, and a gallery… there are an array of ways people can connect with nature. Swamp walks enable people to physically travel to environments I capture in my photographs, to be present deeper connection with our planet and a beauty often unknown. Cottage rentals are available for people to really experience the serenity emanating from the sacred swamp.
The proudest thing my company can do is save the everglades. What sets me apart is perhaps my love for our state, and further more for our planet… we only have one.
My other two galleries are located in South West Florida. Once in Venice, FL [Venice Gallery & Studio] and the other in Sarasota, FL [St. Armands Gallery].
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Hopefully saving the everglades.
Contact Info:
- Address: 52388 Tamiami Trail
Ochopee, FL 34231 - Website: www.clydebutcher.com
- Phone: 239-695-2428
- Email: bcg@clydebutcher.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clydebutcher/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clydebutcher
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClydeButcher?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Image Credit:
Black and White images by Clyde Butcher
Color images of swamp walkers Scott Randolph
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