David Butler Spotlight
David Butler
Written by Mark Moore, April, 2026
Arriving at CCAD David realized: “Every kid there was the best artist from their high school. And most kids were from much bigger schools with more advance arts programs than Mount Vernon High where I went. Technically they were pretty far advanced in drawing and painting.” This led him to being more inventive about how he approached art. It was an eye opener. He didn't think about the competitiveness of the arts, but more so “how you're going to differentiate yourself from everybody else when you're all being taught the same curriculum.”
David took into consideration the pros and cons of fine arts vs. graphic design when considering his career post college. “I knew that it would be very difficult to be a fine artist and pick up graphic design work on the side. It's more pragmatic to be a graphic artist and work on your fine art on the side. Eventually through patience and work they both became my career.”
David Butler, Granville designer and fine artist David Butler has been a self-employed artist since opening his own studio in 1992. He has done extensive work in branding, graphic art, store and restaurant design, as well as exhibiting his fine art nationally. He attended the Columbus College of Art and Design and graduated in 1988 with a BFA in Commercial Advertising (Graphic Design) minoring in Photography and Illustration. It was here he met his wife Amy Butler, a fashion design major focused on textiles and surface design. They have lived in Granville for 23 years.
DESIGN:
David has done design work for several local restaurants. He created the identity for Three Tigers Brewing, as well as the exterior of their renovated fire station. He continues to create all of their cans, t-shirt designs and posters. He also designed the West Church Social 10,000 sq. ft. bar and the Everett Speakeasy hidden in the back. You can see his work on the walls and on the shirts at Harvest Pizza as well. His fine art has been showcased across the country, and locally at the Granville Center for the Arts and Newark Station. Along with design and artwork for international clientele including Cirque du Soleil, Rolling Stone, Nike, and American Eagle. David has found a way to follow the two artistic passions that started his journey at a young age.
He loves to collaborate with people, “because everybody brings something unique and fresh to the table. And I feel that curiosity is my strongest asset in being an artist, because I don't judge anything. What's the point? You know, I'm just curious about everything, and I'm always fascinated to hear other people's take on what they think about things. The most beautiful thing that I can do is help make someone else's vision come true.”
FINE ART:
Narrative. Dreamscapes. Introspective. The core of David Butler's fine art work is surrounded by these three aspects. When talking about the introspective aspect he mentions, “My collage work can be very weird and intense, but my sculptures are very naive and childlike. There's a profound innocence to my sculptures that are very much like folk art. ”He dives into the impact of the subconscious world within his work. “I believe that we have the capacity to see other dimensions in our dreams, in our subconscious. Through these dreams we are peering into realities that we can’t begin to understand in our awakened state.
Without art, David believes that, “we’d be primordial beings,” lacking a sense of curiosity. He believes art is the root of everything, for all of the subjects that we learn in school, to the businesses that people run. “Fundamentally at its core, I think art is storytelling, and without stories, we have no way to relate to our understanding of what or who we are. Art leads to literature, and literature leads to communication, which is core to the advancement of everything. And it pains me when people say, I don't have an artistic bone in my body, because every single person does. They simply don’t recognize their own abilities of self expression as valid.”
One piece of advice David gives: “Be patient with yourself and be patient with the world that surrounds you. Sometimes you have an understanding of where you want to go and what you want to do, but the world around you doesn't have any clue how to support that. Confidence can be elusive. I knew a lot of really talented artists that had no self confidence. They lost their spark, and never went into art. It’s okay, that’s life. That's what happened. [But] they still nurtured unique perspectives by studying art, made lifelong friendships, and carried with them a different way to see the world."