COURTESY DAVID J. BUTLER

Charlotte artist David J. Butler’s “Black Man” is part of the HOME exhibit at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art.

Home is a four-letter word with infinite layers.

“HOME” opens at the Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art on Nov. 6, where Charlotte-based creatives photographer and videographer David J. Butler, interdisciplinary artist Crista Cammaroto and fine artist J. Stacy Utley will explore every aspect of the word. The show was originally scheduled for the spring, but was postponed until the fall, but the concept for the exhibit remains the same.

“The topic always was not just home as in your home, but feelings of home,” Elder Gallery owner Sonya Pfeiffer said. “What creates a home, and what is home for Charlotte creatives?”

The opening on Nov. 6 is from 6-8 p.m. Reserved entry and face coverings will be required. Interactive outdoor waiting stations will also be in place.
A moderated panel discussion and Q&A “What is home for Charlotte Creatives?” will take place on Nov. 18 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. It will be livestreamed on the gallery’s Facebook page and YouTube channel from Johnson C. Smith University’s Arts Factory in Historic West End.

Speaker Ohavia Phillips will moderate the panel discussion and Charlotte Is Creative co-founders Matt Olin and Tim Miner will moderate the Q&A. Panelists include the artists featured in “HOME,” as well as Goodyear Arts co-founder Amy Herman, McColl Center for Art + Innovation President and CEO Alli Celebron-Brown, President and CEO of the Mint Museum Todd Herman, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art Executive Director Todd Smith and Alexys Taylor, the former manager, collections & exhibitions at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture.

The conversation will explore the challenges Charlotte creatives face in the current climate, but also how cultural institutions and local creatives can better connect.
“There’s a lot of challenges, but a lot of opportunity here,” Butler said. “It’s like a duality that exists here, because of how our cultural sector exists. There are a lot of barriers, and a lot of things that need to be changed in my opinion, but in reframing those things, it just means there are a lot of opportunities to do a lot of good work for artists to bring a lot of value, and for us to set a standard to be an artist and be based in Charlotte.”

Butler’s work for “HOME” is themed around puzzles, while still using his medium of choice—photography. Using polaroid and disposable film, he created puzzle pieces. When the pieces are connected they create an image of home, or express it in the literal sense of the city.

The show is a transition for Butler, a Charlotte native who is still establishing the foundation of his art practice. It serves as a commercial debut for showing his work in a formal space.

“Everything I’ve done up to this point has kind of been independent,” Butler said. “I’m excited to crossover a little bit, and display some work in my hometown and kick off what I feel is the beginning of a solidified art practice. To be able to do it in my hometown, in a show called “HOME” is very, very meaningful.”

Butler is a graduate of Victory Christian Center School and Winston-Salem State University. His father David W. Butler was a career educator and coach for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and Butler High School in Matthews is named after him. The elder Butler died saving his family from a house fire. Young David and his family spent time in other parts of the city and Michigan before he returned home as a sophomore in high school. He returned from WSSU with a degree in management to take a job in corporate at Coca-Cola.

“That was the original reason that brought me back home after college,” Butler said. “As I was exploring some of the cultural elements that I was interested in, I just started to notice that there was a gap between representation of the things and the mediums that I was interested in and the larger cultural sector.

“Part of what motivates me to stay home and do the work is to provide that representation and build those bridges, and to see the elements of culture that I value, especially as someone who is from here, be represented in our highest and most revered spaces in the city, and to push that narrative to the forefront.”

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