Cover for Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes
Tang Museum at Skidmore College
Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes
A showcase of more than 200 of Butterly’s evocative small-scale porcelain and earthenware pieces from the past three decades.
Edited with interview by Ian Berry. Text by Forrest Gander, Theodora Bocanegra Lang, Nancy Princenthal, Elena Sisto
Designed by Conny Purtill, Purtill Family Business
Published 2026 | ISBN: 9781636812182

Clever, mischievous, seductive, defiant—for over three decades, American sculptor Kathy Butterly (born 1963) has captivated viewers with her experimental and expressive ceramic works. Her signature small-scale porcelain and earthenware pieces evoke a range of moods, incorporating surprising color and textures in her masterful deployment of ceramic techniques. In a gesture that veers towards iconoclasm, Butterly contorts traditional vessel forms, producing biomorphic, individualistic creations that seem to bend and fold. Every detail of a Butterly sculpture—from pools of orange glaze to pearlescent beads of clay—is an essential part of its composition. Published concurrently with Butterly’s expansive exhibition at the Tang Museum, Assume Yes is a major monographic survey of her sculptural and ceramic work. It spans over 30 years and features color plates of more than 200 artworks from 1994 to a selection of brand-new pieces.