{"id":29712,"date":"2015-09-06T01:41:38","date_gmt":"2015-09-06T07:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=29712"},"modified":"2018-09-26T08:47:21","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T14:47:21","slug":"paul-butlers-wendover-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/paul-butlers-wendover-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Butler’s Wendover Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"080823.3104-2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0These beings arrived as strangers \u2013 and then it began \u2013 they became less strange. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013Paul Butler<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For nearly two decades, Ogden-based artist and international photographer Paul Butler has directed the annual \u201cWendover Project,\u201d which on Sept. 12 is expected to draw more than 100 women. Most, at first, will be strangers. The majority will stand nude and barefoot on private property in the hot sun while being artistically body painted by the other women in a design created by Butler. They then will pose as a group for his camera, followed by cool showers in a nearby hotel. Make no mistake: It\u2019s a long, often miserable day \u2013 tired legs, sore feet. But more women are welcome to contact Butler and take part, as painters or posers. He says the project offers great discussions, new friends, self awareness and freedom. \u00a0\u201cOften tears and hugs come my way for the positive experience,\u201d Butler states.<\/p>\n

He got the notion for the Wendover Project some 18 years ago while drawing figures in the studio and \u201cdiscovering how common it was for women to \u2018hate\u2019 things about their bodies,\u201d Butler recalls. He found it painful to see them feeling inadequate or insecure \u201cconsidering how temporary we all are.\u201d (He finds that men, whom he also sketches and photographs, are significantly less body-conscious.)<\/p>\n

Butler knows all women are beautiful, despite age, weight, color, ability, stretch marks, an off-kilter nose, or any other misperceived \u201cdifference\u201d or \u201cimperfection.\u201d And if that<\/em> is the message, the human body then actually becomes his medium. \u201cAt Wendover, there are no good or bad shapes,\u201d he says, \u201cjust human shapes, alive and celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n